Chapter Thirty #2
‘Yes, well, his mistakes are also his to own,’ she continued. ‘You understand that, right, Orion? This is your choice, your decision. If you hate it down the line, you cannot blame us.’
My ears strained to catch Orion’s reply, but it was too soft. Finally, it seemed like his father was done with the conversation, because his footsteps left the room and were coming down the stairs.
Towards me.
Now, if I was a first-time friend, I might have panicked. But I knew the Hawthornes’ house, and I knew that behind the staircase was a hidden doorway. I slipped inside and waited until I heard Mr Hawthorne, and then his wife, go out of the front door.
When they were gone, I stepped back out and climbed up the stairs. I moved on autopilot, driven by a burning feeling to just make sure Orion was all right. When I reached the second floor, I looked up at the ceiling.
I reminded myself of my lessons with Orion. I raised my hand, my fingertips warm with magic.
‘Knock once, knock twice, open the door that’s out of sight.’
A small square of ceiling unlocked, and a ladder descended. My hands curled around the frame, a sense of familiarity washing over me.
Slowly, I placed one foot on the ladder, and I climbed.
All the way up to the roof.
I found Orion laying down on the tiled roof, his hands laced over his stomach, staring at the sky. A shot of déjà vu hit me, memories of seeing him in this exact same position playing over in my mind, again and again. Last summer was going to haunt me forever, it seemed.
‘You know, if you stare any longer, I’m going to develop a complex,’ Orion said, his head turning to the right to see me lingering at the top of the ladder. ‘Either come up, or let me wallow, Reverie.’
I should’ve walked away and let Orion deal with this on his own. But I couldn’t. I knew that if he had seen me here, in this same position, he wouldn’t have walked away. So, I wouldn’t either.
I climbed the last rungs, turned and shut the door to the roof gently. Then, I padded my way over and found my place beside him.
There was space between us, but I could feel the warmth radiating from him.
His wings were out, but tucked beneath him, and he was wearing his favourite blue sweater.
The smell of burning campfires filled my lungs, and, if the sky had been a darkened-sunset colour, I could almost imagine we were back in the previous summer.
But the sky was bright blue, and fluffy clouds filled the air.
We weren’t sixteen and eighteen any more, and there wasn’t a tentative something brewing between us.
Instead, there was this intense feeling that never truly left – this push and pull that would eventually cause one of us to snap and give in.
‘You heard the argument?’ Orion asked, his jaw set tight as he tracked the clouds with his eyes.
‘Kind of hard to miss it,’ I replied, absently tracing shapes on my shirt. ‘I’ve never heard your dad sound like that.’
‘Probably because he’s never raised his voice at Raven. She’s never really given him a reason to.’
‘And you wanting to follow your dreams has?’ I asked, thinking about the argument that was replaying in my head. I was angry, I realized. For Orion – for the way his wishes had been dismissed, and how he’d already been made to feel like he wasn’t good enough.
I loved the Hawthornes like they were my own parents, but I couldn’t ignore how unfair they were being; how much they were hurting their son, and how much that angered me.
‘It’s hard for my dad, and for my mum,’ Orion began, exasperated, but with understanding in his voice.
‘They’ve always had a such a set vision for me.
They’re hung up on tradition and legacy.
Like all dragons. They’ve groomed me for the role I was supposed to play, but I never really had space to dream. To want.’
‘So, what changed?’ I questioned, genuinely curious. ‘You left for MAC. You were planning to follow the path that they set for you. But, since you’ve been back, you seem … different.’
Orion was quiet for a moment; so quiet that I wasn’t sure he was going to respond. But then he did, his voice low enough that I had to strain to hear him.
‘I came back, and I saw you.’
I shifted entirely on to my side to look at him. ‘What?’
He turned his head to look at me, his hands laced tightly over his stomach.
‘I saw you,’ he repeated, and then he added, ‘at the Treasure Trove. Running the kitchen. Doing whatever it took to make it succeed. You looked so happy, and I just couldn’t help but think, was there something out there that would make me that happy and I was just ignoring it? ’
A tightness wound itself around my throat, a sudden ache that I had to swallow against. It was that feeling I always got when I felt so utterly seen by him.
‘I never dreamed about running the Treasure Trove, or any bakery for that matter,’ I said around the emotion in my voice.
Orion gave me this contemplative look, his brows furrowed slightly. ‘But if you did,’ he said, ‘get to dream. What would it be?’
‘My dream, Hawthorne, is to finally graduate, with no more points on my licence. Then maybe I can finally negotiate a salary increase with Ivy alongside my apprenticeship.’
A smile twitched around his mouth, but then he repeated himself. ‘Come on, Reverie. The truth. You must want more than an apprenticeship. Dream with me.’
When he said it like that, his voice soft and coaxing, I felt my defences fall. I couldn’t help it; it was like Orion’s command made a part of my mind unlock, and the dream was painting itself in my thoughts.
‘You’re right. I’d like to own my own bakery,’ I began, softly.
‘What would it look like?’ Orion prompted, looking at me more fully now.
‘No dark interiors. Lilacs and violets, the colour of wisteria.’ I let my eyelids close, as the phantom bakery, which looked too much like the Wishing Well and the Treasure Trove merged together, came alive in my mind.
‘A test kitchen of sorts, with experimental bakes every week, and your standard bakes, of course.’
‘Of course,’ he echoed, quietly.
‘I’d keep the little comment box you got for me. I’d make sure there was a sign outside that had a silly joke that changed every week. The display cases would always be full, but seasonal too.’ I hesitated a beat, and then added, ‘And I’d hold classes.’
‘Classes?’
‘For young bakers wanting to learn how to experiment. I’d teach them how to trust themselves.’ My eyes slid open, and I found Orion staring at me. Our gazes clashed, two strikes of lightning meeting in the middle. ‘I had a pretty decent teacher, so it’s only right to pass on the lessons.’
His smile was wide, so utterly pleased that I wanted to reach out and press my hand to it. I wanted it to imprint against my skin, so I’d never forget it.
‘Dreaming is dangerous. It makes you want things,’ I said, my heart racing in my chest, head full of whispers of a future I had never allowed myself to think of until now.
‘Dreaming makes you brave,’ Orion countered, gently. ‘And who says you can’t have the things you want?’
‘Our parents?’ I said, like it was obvious.
‘I think every parent has dreams for their kids, but there comes a time when we have to choose for ourselves. Like my mum said, if I choose teaching, that’s my choice.
I can’t get mad at her for it later,’ Orion replied, wisely.
‘Guess you have to decide, Reverie – what do you really want for yourself?’
We stayed on the roof for a while longer, just sitting there. When we heard Raven pull up, that’s when we decided to descend. Orion went to his room, and I went to Raven’s.