AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Brilliant job, son!” Lucas said, clapping and laughing in disbelief at the fire, crackling and popping as it grew stronger.
“Why did you lie to me when I said I saw you?” Nox asked and pointed at the strap Lucas had tripped on. He would lie in the morning and it would still be years until Nox learned the truth in a cave not far from here.
Lucas’s smile faded as he stared into the fire. “I was scared,” he said simply. “I could see that you were changing.”
“Changing?” Nox asked. “Already? At eight?”
“You didn’t know you were doing it, but you were enchanting your tutors to get out of work and you were…absorbing Sorcha’s energy and her magick, the way you drew nourishment from her when you were nursing.”
“What do you mean?” That didn’t make sense at all to Nox. He remembered days in the kitchen at her side—when she wasn’t in the field—and playing with his mother outside—singing to the butterflies and bees amongst the flowerpots on the back terrace and playing hopscotch on the sidewalk in front of the townhouse.
“She would be completely depleted by the time she tucked you in at night. Not in the way most parents of young children are worn out at the end of the day. But she was bone-tired and her hair and her nails would fall out and her skin and her lips would crack if she spent too many days at home with you.”
“Mom!” Now Nox understood why all the hiking and camping trips with Lucas and Clancy had been necessary. They weren’t just bonding with Nox and passing on their knowledge and love of nature. They were also giving Sorcha time to recharge and recover from him.
“That’s why we were here,” Lucas said, looking around the clearing. “I was scared, but it was easier to forget when we were together like this. You were just my boy and we could leave time and the rest of the world behind for a little while.”
“But I wasn’t just a boy,” Nox argued. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you help me?” He’d never felt much regret or resentment toward his father for keeping the vow until New Castle happened and Nelson came along. Before, Nox had longed for moments like these with his father, now they felt like wasted opportunities.
Lucas threw up his hands, laughing. “I couldn’t help you! This little trick tonight, it’s all I could do. You were practicing better magick in your room and lying to me about it when you were ten and you were stronger and smarter than I ever was by the time you were sixteen. There’s nothing I could have taught you.”
“I could have learned more with your help,” Nox said, but Lucas shook his head.
“No! I was selfish. I held you back because I thought it would give me more time with you. It did. But you would be even stronger now if I had let go sooner.”
“What are you saying?” Nox pinched himself hard, then pinched himself again when Lucas didn’t disappear. His father would never say these awful, ridiculous things.
Lucas warmed his hands, waiting patiently. “You’re awake.”
“You know how I know I’m not?” Nox whispered loudly, making Lucas chuckle.
“Your body is resting and unconscious, but your consciousness is alert and focused here, on this memory. You are not dreaming.”
Nox nodded along slowly. “That makes perfect sense, except you’re not real.”
“I’m as real as any other memory in here, aren’t I?” Lucas asked. “And if you can come back to this memory from wherever you were, why can’t I?”
“That other place…” Nox felt like a fool and sick as he recalled his ecstatic joy when they were together before. “It wasn’t you.”
Lucas cast him a gently scolding look. “When aren’t we together, son? I don’t have to resort to trickery and sex magick to be near you. And I don’t have to shower you in golden rapture to make you believe I love you, do I?”
“No. I was such a fool.”
“I was the fool,” Lucas insisted. “Clancy and Merlin were right. I wouldn’t break the vow because I was afraid of what would happen to Sorcha and to me so I tried to keep you from changing for as long as I could.”
“But you had to die for me to have this power and I don’t even know what to do with it. I’d never want this over you and Mom,” Nox said and Lucas answered with a sad laugh.
“I know! We didn’t want this for you either and we tried to shield you from it. And we were wrong, Nox. I was wrong to tell you to hide but you can’t run from this any longer.”
Nox popped to his feet so he could pace. “Why did you wait until now to tell me?”
“I didn’t know what to tell you, then, and I don’t know what to tell you now.”
“Do you know what the Dagda wants? What’s going to happen if I fail?” Nox asked urgently but Lucas shook his head.
“You would have a better idea of what he’s thinking than I do these days. The two of you share a soul now. But the fact that you don’t know tells me that He doesn’t either. I think He loves this world and the people of this time as much as you do and that’s a good thing.”
“That is comforting,” Nox conceded. “Why can’t He tell me what’s next? Why does He have to play games?” he asked and Lucas’s lips split into a teasing grin.
