Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
We separated from the others after dinner. Galen suggested a walk to digest the huge amounts of food we’d eaten. I assumed he was going to take me to the cemetery so we could look for the door. Instead, he took me to the beach.
“This is nice,” I said after a few minutes.
He held my hand, easily swinging our arms. The rolling surf and balmy breeze eased some of the tension.
“Do you want to talk about what you’re thinking?” Galen asked after several minutes of silence.
“I’m thinking too many things,” I admitted. “One second I have an idea I’m committed to. The next I have an entirely different one.”
“Tell me your ideas.”
“Won’t that just confuse the situation?”
“I always want to hear how your mind works.”
That was possibly the sweetest thing he could have said under the circumstances. He had no idea what he was in for, however. “You asked for it,” I warned him.
He laughed.
“I’m committed to the idea that Bogdan crossed over,” I started. “He was here, wreaking havoc, and even though he’d supercharged himself he knew there were enough paranormals here to end him. He’d overstayed his welcome, but this is Moonstone Bay. There’s no easy way off the island.
“He could have tried to swim for it, but that would have drained him, even if he’d swum at night,” I continued. “He needed a quick escape, and what better way than to go to a plane that doesn’t look to me as if it sees any sunshine?”
Galen shot me a quizzical look. “I’ve never really thought about it that way, but it makes sense.”
“Even if Bogdan had heard stories about the door being only one way, he likely assumed that he was so powerful he could find a way back,” I said. “It would just take time.”
“Also a solid hunch.”
“Except he didn’t find a way back. He was trapped. His stuff was still here, his life was still here, and yet people seemed to forget him.”
Galen snagged me around the waist and pulled me down to his lap on the beach. “Make the water dance,” he whispered into my ear.
I gave him a derisive look over my shoulder. “We’re not in front of the lighthouse. What if someone sees?”
“I don’t care.”
“I do. I don’t want to traumatize a tourist.”
“There are no tourists out here.”
“Then some local.”
“You can’t traumatize them. I guarantee they know you’re magical.”
Because he was right and I was looking for a way to vent some magic, I sent his favorite spell toward the water. The waves reared up, forming faceless dancers, and they began their choreography.
Galen watched for several seconds, then frowned. “I don’t recognize this one.”
“Frozen,” I replied, leaning back into him.
“Isn’t that a horror movie? Three people are trapped on a lift overnight and can’t get down. Wolves show up and two of them die.”
“Not that Frozen. The Disney one with the ice princess.”
Galen’s eyes returned to the water and he grinned. “That’s kind of cute. Is Frozen your favorite Disney movie?”
I solemnly shook my head. “The Fox and the Hound.”
“I don’t know that one.” He looked troubled.
“It’s one of their least famous. I love it. It’s about a basset hound and fox who become best friends but are then separated by circumstances as they grow and are forced to fight.”
“That sounds awful. What happens?”
“They save each other even though they’re from different worlds. They have to separate — the fox won’t survive otherwise — but they acknowledge the bonds of their friendship will survive no matter what. It’s about loyalty and love surviving despite all the odds.”
He pressed his cheek to mine and went back to watching the dancing. “Now I kind of want to see it.”
“One day.”
He fell silent for a beat, then redirected the conversation back to where it had been. “Do you believe Bogdan is still over there?”
“Maybe. It’s possible he’s the shadow. Maybe Declan thought he could escape the same way Bogdan did, but on the other side he got cocky and Bogdan killed him.”
“I think there would only be room for one dhampir with a god complex there,” Galen agreed. “He didn’t let Clive live and Clive might have been useful if they ever found a way back to this plane.”
“Bogdan has been there for a long time,” I countered. “He probably knows that Clive can’t help him. Although … .” Something occurred to me and I swiveled in Galen’s arms to look into his eyes. “It explains one thing.”
He looked baffled.
“Bogdan and Declan — it doesn’t matter if they’re both alive or only one of them — want a way back but have no idea how to do it,” I explained. “They’ve been there for years.”
“You tell a story like my mother, Hadley,” Galen admonished. “Speed it up. The water dancers are putting me in the mood.” He waggled his eyebrows in such a way I knew I was losing his attention.
“Geez, you’re nothing if not predictable with the water dancers,” I complained.
“I can’t help it. The water dancing was the moment I knew it was going to be you and me forever.”
“We weren’t even officially dating then,” I reminded him.
“I knew.”
“That’s sweet.” I meant it. “Table that thought, though. I really do have a good idea.”
“Hadley,” he groaned, “we’ve been theorizing all day. I want to do more than theorize … with you.”
“Then focus on what I’m saying for five minutes,” I ordered. “The more you focus, the quicker the reward will come.”
That seemed to placate him. “Fine. Lay it on me.”
“We’ve been wondering why this is happening now,” I said, knowing I had only a few minutes to hook him before he would become lost to the water dancers. “If they’ve been over there for years, why is this the first contact?”
“I’m following,” Galen acknowledged. “I’m not sure I care right now.”
“What if they’re trying to make contact now because Clive started telling stories?” I asked.
Galen paused. He’d been tugging on my shirt sleeve — if he thought I was getting naked on the beach he had another thing coming — but he stopped and lifted his chin.
“My mother said Clive came over full of boasts and tried to take over right away,” I continued.
“He pushed too far and ended up dead, whether it was Bogdan or Declan who killed him. Apparently Declan was into killing the same way as Bogdan to prolong his life, so it really could be either — or both — of them.”
“Clive had magic,” Galen said, his palm pressing into my midriff to keep me in place. “He would have made a tasty meal.”
“And he would have said anything he could at the end to get them to spare him.”
“So if he started running his mouth about the witch who bested him, a witch who could open plane doors and was all-powerful, they would have been intrigued.”
My stomach did a somersault. “That’s why they — or one of them — want me.”
He tightened his grip on my waist. “They won’t get you, Hadley. I’ll make sure of that.”
Unease rolled through me but I smiled. “I won’t let them get you either.”
“They don’t want me.”
“They will take you if they think they can hold you to get to me.”
Against my back, Galen’s heart skipped. “I hadn’t really considered that,” he acknowledged.
“I’ll protect you.”
He scowled. “I don’t need you to protect me. I need to not be used as a weapon against you.”
“It’s too late for that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I love you, which makes me vulnerable to them using you against me."
He jumped to his feet and took me by surprise when he threw me over his shoulder and started marching toward the lighthouse.
“Hey,” I protested. “I just ate my weight in crab legs. Do you want me to throw up all over your butt?”
“If that does it for you.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
I couldn’t decide if I should be annoyed or amused. Ultimately, I decided on the latter. “Fine. But you asked for it.”
I DIDN’T THROW UP ON HIM. HE WAS decidedly gentle — and fast — for the walk. He whispered sweet nothings the whole time and somehow I wasn’t even angry.
Later, when we were both sated and sleepy, I curled up at his side. The fan blew directly on me so his heat didn’t overwhelm me. I slipped into dreamland.
I wasn’t alone when I emerged on a barren wasteland of a landscape that I recognized as the other plane.
For a moment I thought I’d been transported without my knowledge and against my will. Then I realized what was happening and I relaxed some.
It was May’s voice that quieted the tumult raging through me.
“Hadley.”
I turned quickly to find my grandmother, dressed in her favorite ghostly outfit, smiling at me. She looked tired. Could ghosts get tired? She looked relieved too.
“I’ve been trying to get into your dreams for days,” May said as she looked me up and down. “Your dream defenses are much better than they were. I haven’t had any luck … until tonight.”
“You’ve been trying to get into my dreams?” I asked. “Why?”
“I have a message for you.”
“Where are you?”
“I think you know where I am.” May gestured to her surroundings.
I absorbed the news like a fist to the gut. “I knew,” I said in a soft voice as I regained my bearings. “It was the only thing that made sense. When Wesley crossed, you went with him.”
May slowly bobbed her head. “We went for a walk after the barbecue. Most of his men can’t see me. They don’t understand.”
My heart went out to her. “I kind of figured that when we went to the ranch the morning after Wesley disappeared. I asked about you and they seemed confused.”
“It’s difficult to prove something to others when they can’t see it,” May said.
“Yeah.” I rolled my neck. “It is what it is.”
“When we got to the other plane I recognized what was happening right away,” she explained. “We hid. A shadow came by not long after and that turned out to be a good decision. It looked for us but couldn’t find us.”
This was my big opening and I had to know. “It’s a dhampir, right?”
“I believe so.”
“Is it Bogdan or Declan?”
Surprise had her eyebrows knitting. “Declan Wilkes?”
The way she said it served as a confirmation of sorts. “You haven’t seen Declan? That means it’s Bogdan.”
“I don’t know who it is,” May replied. “I’ve only seen a shadow. I don’t know what it means, if whoever it is turned himself into that, but I can’t make out any facial features. It could be either one of them.”
“Oh.” I deflated a bit. “I guess that makes sense.”
“I do my best to avoid him.”
“But there’s only one of them?”
“I don’t know that either. I haven’t been near the shadow by choice. There could very well be more.”
“Can’t you use one of the doors to come back?”
“I’m not coming back.” She looked pained to say it.
“Of course you’re coming back. Just find Mom and she’ll show you the doors … .” That’s when reality hit me in the face.
May nodded, recognizing the moment the truth became obvious. “It’s not safe for you over here,” she said in a soft voice. “I know you, Hadley. You’ll try to cross over just to make sure the shadow is no longer a threat. You can’t do that.”
“Why not?” I challenged, crossing my arms.
“It’s not worth coming for me. I want to stay.”
My heart threatened to rupture. “You want to stay with Mom. That is her.” It wasn’t a question. Something inside of me had recognized that as the truth from the beginning.
“I don’t know how it’s her.” May held out her hands and shrugged, “but it is. She knows everything from her childhood. She told me about planning for your birth. She remembers our fight.”
“What is she doing there?”
“She doesn’t know. The last thing she remembers is being in the hospital, having you. Then she was gone into … nothing. Then, somehow, she emerged over there. She’s been there ever since.”
“But that makes no sense,” I protested.
“It doesn’t matter.” May vehemently shook her head. “It is her, and I won’t leave her. Not again.”
My mother had technically left May. There was no point reminding her of that, however. May hadn’t gone after my mother. She said it was one of her greatest regrets. I took a different tack.
“Maybe we can get both you and Mom back here,” I said. “Wouldn’t that be better?”
May’s eyes filled with sadness. “Not if you put yourself at risk.”
“I won’t leave you there,” I insisted.
“You must.” May sounded exasperated. “Your life is on Moonstone Bay with Galen and your friends.” She swallowed a sob. “Your grandfather!”
Tears pricked my eyes. “Grandma—” I almost always called her May but that felt wrong in this moment.
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t leave my girl. Not again. I need you to take care of your grandfather. Tell him … tell him I’ve always loved him. Tell him I always will. He’ll understand why I have to stay with Emma.”
Wesley would understand, but he wouldn’t let it go. I thought about what Galen had said: “He’ll never stop trying to get you back.” I was broken inside.
“I know.” May looked troubled. “You have to help him. I can’t take care of him and Emma. He would want me to take care of our daughter. I didn’t even know she was here until you sent her looking for Wesley. You have no idea what that reunion was like.”
“Wesley doesn’t remember.”
“I made sure of that. I thought it would be harder if he did remember.”
“So you’re the one who helped Emma shove him through,” I realized. “There’s a door in the cemetery, isn’t there?”
“There always has been,” she confirmed. “Declan didn’t disappear twenty years ago. We made him disappear. We didn’t tell Jareth because we feared he’d fight us. Declan was his nephew.”
“He has no love for Declan.”
“I realized that after.” May looked sad. “We took an oath to keep it secret. We had no choice.”
“Who is we?”
“It doesn’t matter.” May was firm when shaking her head. “The decision has been made. I have to stay here with your mother. You need to take care of your grandfather.”
I was not going to accept this. “I’m not leaving you over there.”
“You have no other choice.”
She was arguing with the wrong witch.