Chapter 23 King
King
The family room had been set up like one large slumber party. Elyse and Marc had run back to their place and picked up their queen-sized blow-up mattress for Sky and me, which was set up right in front of the couch, with enough room to get around easily.
Cassi and Carli had shown up after they closed the café armed for battle and for comfort.
They’d brought multiple handmade quilts that they said had protection spells sewn into the fabrics.
Before dispersing the blankets around the rest of the room, they’d created a nest for Booker where he’d be sleeping on the couch.
Chance had pulled other pillows and blankets from the rooms in the manor, as well, since they were all staying.
Sky and I might be the only ones who could go into the Dream-veil and meet Booker there, but the rest of our family would do whatever they could to make sure this ended tonight and that we all returned safely.
Malcolm spent the rest of the day with us, and he and Marc had hit it off. I couldn’t see auras or anything, but there was no question that the two older men were kindred spirits.
Cassi and Carli had also brought different crystals and herbs.
I was pretty sure that I’d seen all of those same things in Elyse’s shop, but Elyse and Gran had beamed at the wives for showing up and bringing parts of their own practice along with them.
No matter what, it meant a lot to all of us that even without really knowing us well, they were just as invested as we were in tonight’s outcome.
I didn’t totally understand what was happening, but the gratitude I felt for these people—both alive and dead—bolstered my spirit.
While Harry, Buck, and Scotty kept a steady flow of drinks and snacks coming from the kitchen, I sat with my pops and Jetty.
My grandfather’s memories were more intact than he’d originally made it sound like, but he was having trouble accessing what happened when it came to the vanquishing parts of his and Gran’s past adventures.
Malcolm wondered if it had something to do with me taking my place as his descendant and Dreamwalker heir.
Whatever, that was a problem for another day.
Catching Sky as he came down the hall, I grabbed him around the waist and swept him into the bathroom. He giggled as I shut the door firmly and backed him against it, bracketing him in with my larger body. “How are you doing?” I asked, cupping his face.
Sliding his hands around my middle, he admitted, “I’m a little nervous, but I’m ready to do whatever it takes. It helps knowing everyone will be back here holding space for us.”
As promised, Gran and Elyse had spent the afternoon training Sky.
Chance and Booker stayed with him, learning, encouraging, and supporting him.
Sky hadn’t wanted Ego to be stressed out, so he sent him out to the pond with Stevie and Trixie.
Ego had taken his guitar, saying he’d do his version of praying for the night ahead, and I saw him out there strumming away and singing to the spirits.
“We have a lot of support.” Leaning in, I kissed him softly, then whispered against his lips, “You can do this.”
He pushed into me, tightening his arms around me. “Thank you. I just hope I don’t let you or Booker down.”
“You won’t.” And I knew he wouldn’t. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he’d nail this. If not tonight, then tomorrow or the next night. We weren’t abandoning Booker now. “We’ll figure this out.”
Sky pulled back and reached up and gripped my chin. “You get us there, but don’t forget, you have to stay back, big guy. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you in there.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not leaving your side.”
His eyes narrowed like he didn’t believe me, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if I did either. We had no idea what this mimic creature would look like, but I wasn’t letting it anywhere near Sky or Booker once we could see it.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” he said, sliding his hand along the back of my neck and tugging me down for another kiss. I licked inside his mouth, savoring this minute of closeness when someone pounded on the door, making us both jump.
“What’re you doing?” Ego asked, loud and teasing.
“Are they in the bathroom together?” Chance tried sounding scandalized, but his voice was threaded with laughter.
“You’re just jealous that my man pulled me in here to maul me,” Sky yelled, winking at me before turning and opening the door.
Feeling my face flame red, I slid past them and ran straight into Jetty, who stood in the middle of the hall with his arms folded over his chest and a quirked eyebrow. “Whatcha doing in there, buddy?”
“Is this coming from the guy who’s been caught sucking his boyfriend’s dick in public spaces around the house several times?”
Jetty’s eyes widened, and he slapped a hand over my mouth. “Are you out of your mind?” he hissed. “Chance’s parents—”
“Are well aware that Harry has caught you boys with your pants down on more than one occasion,” Elyse said, strolling down the hall toward us with a smirk on her face.
Chance groaned. “Mom. Why?”
Elyse snickered, cracking me up. It was a welcome moment of silliness, leaving me feeling lighter and more optimistic. Tonight was nothing but another step forward in our journey.
We all took turns throughout the day running to our perspective homes for whatever we needed.
After changing into my gray sweats and a white t-shirt, I walked back into the family room and stopped short.
Other than a hanging Tiffany lamp in the corner, all the lights had been turned off, but the room glowed brightly from the candles distributed around the room.
All four ladies were in long white nightgowns with their hair hanging down and barefoot. I didn’t know if this was part of the ritual they’d perform while we were in the Dream-veil or what.
Booker sat on the couch with Carli and Cassi on either side of him, speaking to him softly. Chance and Ego sat on the loveseat with Jetty standing behind them like a bodyguard, and Marc and Malcolm were sitting in chairs by the window, observing.
“Wow,” Sky said, coming to stand at my side with his face freshly scrubbed, freckles on full display, and his glasses on his face. “This place looks incredible.”
Bending over, I kissed the tip of his nose. “You look incredible, sweetheart.”
He smiled, clearly pleased by the compliment. He patted my butt. “You’re not too bad yourself, big guy.”
“Boys, stop flirting,” Gran said. “It’s time for hot chocolate.”
In other words, it was time to begin.
Blinking at the scene around me, I cursed.
“What the heck? How are we here?” Sky demanded with a stomp of his foot.
“I don’t know,” I said grimly, viewing the field that we’d hung out at so many times before when we didn’t have a mission, or whatever we were supposed to call it when we had someone to help.
Sky clutched my arm. “Does this mean that Booker’s alone with that thing?”
Shaking my head, I looked around. The countryside was the same as it was each time we were here. It was nighttime, with a quarter moon this time. The trees surrounded us, and the sounds of insects sounded in the night. “I hope…” I trailed off, unwilling to give that dire thought voice.
“You don’t think we’ve been pulled from Booker, do you? Since we haven’t helped him yet?”
Welp, there it was. So I wasn’t the only one worried. “I don’t know, sweetheart,” I admitted.
Then that gurgle I’d come to recognize as a raven came from a tree limb nearby. Maybe I was slipping from reality, but it felt like it was trying to tell me something. Since I hadn’t suddenly gained the ability to speak bird, I wondered if the psychopomp would understand it.
“Where’s Patchy?” I asked.
“He disappeared right before dinner. I thought maybe he was tired, and I knew we’d need him, so I let him be. I’ll call him now.” He took a deep breath—
We were in the family room of the manor.
It was a distorted version of the scene we’d left behind.
Gran, Elyse, Carli, and Cassi sat on the floor in a circle, holding hands, and it looked like they were chanting.
Chance sat at the foot of the blow-up where Sky and I lay sound asleep.
Jetty, Marc, Scotty, and Malcolm were still as statues, like they weren’t real, and there were no signs of our ghostly found family.
Ego sat on the floor by the couch, near Booker’s head, stroking his hair back, his lips moving like he was singing softly. Booker’s body, the most solid image here in the veil, shook slightly. “Maybe we didn’t come straight here because it’s not attacking.”
Sky cocked his head, lifted a finger in a shushing motion, and closed his eyes. I opened my mouth to ask what he heard when I noticed the swirling red and purple energy beginning to settle over his skin. Then faintly, like whispers in the night, I heard the voice of the mimic.
“Youuuuu…you filthy human. Soooooo…dirty. Sooooo..alone. Soooo…broken. Youuuuu…are nothing. Youuuu…are evil. Unwooorthy…human.”
“I hear it now,” I murmured in Sky’s ear.
He opened his eyes and stared toward Booker. Holding out his arms, his voice was a mere breath as he called for his familiar. Patchy appeared, immediately growling low in his chest. Sky turned to me. “Stay behind me, please.”
“Be careful.”
“I will.” He kissed the top of Patchy’s head. “Let’s do this, boy.”
He set the pup down on the ground. “You know what I need.”
As he stood up, candles appeared around the room in the Dream-veil, layering perfectly over what they’d set out in the natural realm. Sky breathed out a sigh of relief as they flamed to life.
The mimic’s voice cut off, then there was a hiss before it began again, louder and more insistent. “Youuuuu…filthy human belong to me. Youuuu…are mine. Sooooo…alone. Soooo…broken. Youuuuu…are nothing without me. Youuuu…are evil. Unwooorthy…human. Youuuu…need me. Come…to meeeeee.”
Booker rustled, slowly waking up. “No. Go away.” He covered his ears with his arms, whimpering to be left alone.
It started up again, taunting Booker, but I was fixated on Sky as he raised his arms up in front of him.
“Light and truth, let me see.
“Your hidden lies are no match for me.
“Light and truth, let me see.
“Reveal the thing that hides from me.”
Patchy backed up, his little butt settled on my feet, watchful, staring at a single point to the side of the couch.
My gaze followed his, wondering if he could see the mimic already.
Sky continued, voice growing less unsure and more confident as the swirls of red and purple energy began sparking and deepening around him.
“Light and truth, let me see.
“Your hidden lies are no match for me.
“Light and truth, let me see.
“Reveal the thing that hides from me.”
“Nooooooo,” came the shriek of the mimic as a facsimile of a woman in yoga pants, a hoodie, and a baseball cap appeared, giving us our first view of this creature.
She looked like any grade school PTA mom on her way to pick her kids up from school.
Except she was unbelievably disproportionate at about eight feet tall with pure malice and hatred on her face as her gaze moved from Booker up to pin Sky in place. “You can’t be here.”
“Oh, shit. Okay,” Sky mumbled. He whipped his head around like he was looking for something, so I started gazing around, too.
Patchy barked sharply, and Booker woke all the way with a start, sitting up and looking around but not up. He didn’t see the mimic in its Godzilla version of who I assumed was his stepmom, until it hissed. “Mine…youuuuuu belong to me.”
Booker jerked his head up, finding the speaker of the voice, screamed, and rolled off the couch.
“Booker, get over here,” Sky demanded with a new edge of authority to his tone, purple electricity crackling off him.
My man was magnificent. We weren’t out of the woods yet, but I felt better in this moment than I had since we were first told he’d have to handle this on his own.
Scrambling toward us, moving on hands and feet in his haste, Booker knocked over two lit candles and fell.
I took a step, ready to grab him, when Sky put an arm out, restraining me, and Patchy sat more firmly on my feet, going from a simple pressure to the weight of a mini-boulder.
Had he increased his body weight to keep me in place?
As Booker reached me, tears trailed down his cheeks, and I pulled him into my side and watched as a compact mirror appeared in Sky’s hands. The containment vessel. We were halfway there.
Sky was going to end this.