The continued hint of trouble she fights lies in the knitting of her brows and the rapid movement of her eyes under her closed lids. Her heart rate is still too fast, but at least now it doesn’t sound like it’s about to burst from her chest.
“Callie, you’re safe. Wake up,” I murmur against the top of her head, shaking her gingerly, but no response.
I feel spent, my insides hollow, making room for indecision to worm its way through. Inside my wolf whines, as lost as I am.She looks calmer, so the spell helped, right? Or did I trap her in a prettier prison?
Mildred releases a weighty breath then sits back on her heels, jarring me from my thoughts. “Now, we hope she hears us or comes back to us in her own time.”
“That spell,” Kaleb comments into the waiting silence. “It sounded more like a prayer.”
She rises carefully, her gaze focused on her niece. “Magic answers in different ways to each witch. How you ask matters.”
“What do you mean ‘in her own time’?” Donovan demands. “What did you do? Is she asleep?”
“Yes and no,” Mildred answers, cryptic as ever.Witches.“She’s no longer suffering the physical effects of her flashback, but she is still likely reliving the trauma. Like a nightmare she can’t wake from.”
“How do we help her wake up?” Nolan asks bluntly.
Kaleb sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I have an idea.”
“Great. Going to keep us in suspense or share with the class?” Donovan bites out.
“It’s not that simple,” Kaleb replies, his face pulled with indecision. “I wouldn’t recommend something like this if it wasn’t dire, but with how long Callie’s been…” He swallows heavily, trailing off. “Now that Callie is in a dream like state, I think Felix can help lead her out of her nightmare…” He pauses, his lips pressed tight before he admits, “by entering the dream with her.”
“What?” Donovan and Felix both shout, but in very different tones.
“You can’t be serious,” Donovan bellows. “You’re essentially telling Felix to possess her.”
“Why am I only now finding out about this?” Felix yells, then shakes his head. “Forget it. How do I do it?”
“Possession?” Mildred cries, her eyes going steely. “If you think I’m going to…”
“Enough!” I roar the room to silence, then focus my gaze on Kaleb. “Explain.”
Kaleb nods, rolling his shoulders like he’s bracing himself for an onslaught. “When a person is asleep their minds are unguarded, which allows ghosts the ability to enter their dreams. Within the person’s mind, the spirit has the facsimile of a corporeal form and the potential to control and change the narrative of their dreams. For our purposes, this can be an invaluable tool, because Felix will be aware and able to help Callie realize what she’s seeing isn't real.”
He shifts his gaze to Felix, his expression one of warning and foreboding. “The reason I’m only now telling you, beside entering another person’s mind without permission being a huge invasion of privacy, the spirit can just as easily get lost in the person’s thoughts, losing their sense of self and touch with reality. There have been cases where people have fallen into comas, because a spirit has entered their mind and refused to leave.”
Felix, looking properly chastised, nods his head in acknowledgement.
Kaleb scrubs at his face. “I only know about this, because my parents told me about it as something to watch out for. In these cases… I’m supposed to forcibly move the spirit on to the afterlife and hope that the innocent doesn’t end up going with it.”
“And you suggest that this Felix should enter the mind of my… of Callie?” Mildred asks carefully. “You trust him this much? You trust him with her life?”
Nolan gets up, exchanging looks with Kaleb and Felix, before taking Mildred’s hands in his. Her face is pinched, as she looks up into his eyes.
In a low soothing voice, he says, “I know you don’t know us outside what Callie has told you, but we care about Callie. We would never intentionally hurt her. All we want to do is help, and yes, we trust Felix that much. You can’t see or hear him, but I assure you, he cares just as much as we all do.”
She gives him a calculating stare. “You’re the vampire, aren’t you?”
Nolan, bewildered, blinks at her, while like a popped bubble, there’s a muted rumbling of wet laughter.
He clears his throat. “Yes. I’m Nolan.”
“Nice try, but your charming needs some work,” she snorts, slipping her hands away. She sighs, “But I know Callie trusts you, and well… that matters more than you realize.”
He has a confused look on his face, like he was just shown proof that the sky is green not blue. Nolan shakes himself out of his stupor. “I, uh… yes. We care about Callie, so please, let us help.”
“Where’s this Felix?” Mildred asks, looking lost around the room. Nolan points Felix out next to the broken lamp.
