Glancing behind me, I found an identical chair had just formed behind me, so I cautiously sat.
“Who are you?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at the old man, who I doubted was an old man at all. With everything going on, with Kit’s magic and all the people wanting to use and abuse her, no one could be trusted outside our team.
“Who? That’s for me to know and you to not. The ‘who’ does not make my knowledge any more or less valuable to you.” He blinked his eyes at me, and I noticed they were an unnatural shade of rustred, rather than the blue the shopkeeper’s had been.
“Fine,” I gritted from behind clenched teeth. “What should I call you?”
The man grinned, and I saw a hint of razor sharp teeth within his borrowed mouth. “Ah, you’re not as clueless as you look. You may call me Gaelin.”
“Gaelin,” I repeated. I really wasn’t as clueless as I looked. I’d played plenty of Dungeons and Dragons in my time and had enough of a grasp on the theoreticals of magic to bluff way way through. Whatever the case, I sincerely doubted Gaelin was this creature’s real name.
“Why am I here, Gaelin?” I asked, looking around us and finding nothing but more mist. Experimenting, I tried to create a table from the mist the same way I’d been able to manipulate the scene whenever Kit and I met. Nothing happened.
“Oh, well here is your first lesson, child. I brought you into my dreamscape. You can’t influence anything here unless I let you. Same as if you had brought me into your dreamscape, you’d have been the one in charge.” Gaelin clicked his tongue and folded his legs.
“So you’re... what? Here to teach me?” I frowned. This guy—at least I was going to assume guy for now—didn’t look particularly interested in helping me.
“Apparently.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’re the first of our kind to surface in the human realm for a very long time. The higher-ups are worried you’ll make a mess of things, and I drew the short straw. So here I am.”
“Our kind?” I exclaimed. “Wait, what the hell is our kind? What am I?”
Excitement, anticipation, fear, and frustration battled for supremacy within me, and I struggled not to reach out and throttle this weird man. I needed something from him, though, and my mother had always taught me it was easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar. Reluctantly, my death grip on the arms of the chair eased, and I forced my face neutral.
Gaelin snorted, watching me with mocking eyes. “Well, I’m not telling you that. Where’s the fun in just handing you all the answers on a plate? No, Wesley. You’re going to bumble around in the dark for a bit longer to make up for me getting stuck with this bullshit assignment.”
I took a few slow breaths, calming myself so I didn’t wring his wrinkly old neck before speaking again. “Well, Gaelin. Thank you but no thank you. If you’re just here to be an annoyance, I can work this all out on my own.”
“Hah, like you have a choice, foolish child.” His rustred eyes hardened, turning mean. “I have no choice in this, so neither do you. I will bring you here every time you try to dreamwalk until I am relieved of my assignment. That means no more chasing away the boogeyman for your girlfriend at night. Is that clear?” He didn’t wait for me to respond before sneering. “I don’t care if it’s clear or not. It’s what is happening. Enjoy the rest of her dream tonight, child. It’s the last you’ll be seeing for a very long time.”
Gaelin snapped his fingers, and the familiar pull of the evaporating dreamscape deposited me back into normal sleep.
16
KIT
The morning after my flight with Cole and Vali, I found Austin still in a foul mood, and it was seriously wearing thin on my patience. Vali’s words of advice kept me from punching him clean in the teeth, as did my own insight into his conflicting emotions, but a girl can only take so much surly behaviour before she’s going to crack.
“Okay, I’m done,” I announced around lunchtime when Austin had been giving me all but the silent treatment for going on five hours.
“Excuse me?” he snapped, and I couldn’t help myself, I flicked him in the forehead.
“You’re being an asshole. Like, way more than usual. Our bet is over, and there is no pressing need for me to learn this all today, so I’m done. We can pick up again tomorrow when you’ll hopefully be in a better mood.” I beat a hasty retreat out of the den while Aus sat there with a stunned look on his face, like he could hardly believe I just done that. I guessed he didn’t get flicked overly often, but it seemed to have the desired effect of shutting him up.
“Hey sweetheart,” Wesley greeted me with a tired smile as I entered the kitchen. “You done already?”
“Um, yeah. Sort of. What are you up to?” I nodded to the car keys in his hand.
“Just on my way out to grab a part for something I’m working on. Or... hoping I can grab a part. There was a little computer shop in town, but I have no idea how well it’s stocked.” He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “Want to come with?”
I considered it for a moment, then shook my head. “Nah, I’m thinking I might bake something. For some reason I’m super in the mood for sugary baked treats today, and there’s nothing in the pantry.”
“Okay...” Wesley frowned slightly, looking concerned. “Do you know how to bake?”
I gasped dramatically, pressing a hand to my chest as though clutching at invisible pearls. “Wes, how dare you imply I can’t bake!” I grinned as I said it because, admittedly, I might be a little rusty on my kitchen skills. It wasn’t my fault though; I had six guys in the house who seemed perfectly happy handling all of the cooking!
“Okay, sorry, sweetheart. I should never doubt you. Um, the rest of the guys are still home, so you’ll be okay for an hour or two... right?” He frowned again, this time looking more nervous than my questionable baking skills really warranted.
“I’ll be fine, Wes. I promise not to burn the kitchen down.” I pulled him close using the pockets of his hoody and kissed him. “Go have fun in the tech store. I’ll have awesome cookies ready when you get back.”
He still looked worried, but nodded and left all the same, leaving me to make the cookies that I knew he’d love as much as I would. I wanted to cheer him up a bit. After what he’d told us about his dream visitor, I could tell he was getting down on himself for not being able to chase away my nightmares. As amazing as it was having him do that for me, it wasn’t necessary. I’d survived them my whole life.
I could do it again.
Pulling out my phone, I quickly brought up a recipe I knew I’d made successfully before and hunted through the pantry and fridge for everything it might need. Luckily we had everything already stocked, so that was the first hurdle tackled successfully. I had in the past made substitutes for ingredients that I didn’t have, and the results varied from passable to downright awful.
Just as I was measuring all the dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl, the door to the kitchen slammed open and Austin stormed in.
“You flicked me!” he exclaimed, coming to a stop right beside me at the island counter.
“Ah yeah,” I agreed, continuing with my flour measurements. “Like fifteen minutes ago. Don’t tell me that was your off switch and it took you this long to reboot?”
“Christina,” he growled, and I could feel his anger coursing hot, stoking my own back up once more.
“Kit,” I corrected him with narrowed eyes.
“We aren’t done with your lessons.” He spoke with a jaw clenched stubbornly and his brows drawn into a tight line.