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“Sorry.”
“You need a shower.”
“A shower won’t help. I’m a revenant. Undead. Last year, Morningstar managed to kill me.”
“You told me he can’t.”
“He didn’t do it himself. He paid an Unseelie mercenary. I was dead for three days. They buried me in the forest outside the Academy. My friends found me, dug me up, and…” I hated this part, especially because I had to tell her about the Great Old One, and I’d hoped with all my heart that I’d never have to drag her into this disgusting story. I’d hoped that Yolanda would never have to know about the monster. “Are you sure you want to hear this? You won’t be able to unhear it.”
She nodded, and I told her everything, made it as short and as quick as I could, gave her minimal details. But even without the details, facts were facts. There was a terrible being living underneath the Academy, and it had the power to bring the dead back to life. In exchange for immortality, it required blood sacrifices every three or four months, and I’d already stretched my deadline too thin.
“So, that’s why I stink. Happy now?”
“You’re dying…”
“Yeah. In a very physical sense.”
She was silent for a while, and I respected her silence. It would’ve been hard for anyone to wrap their mind around the whole thing, and she was only eleven.
“Do mom and dad know?”
“No.”
She nodded, and I hoped she understood why they never had to know.
“I’m sorry this happened to you. It wasn’t your choice, and now you have to deal with it.” I nodded. For a kid, her wisdom impressed me much too often. “It’s not your fault. I mean, I can see why you don’t want to shout from the rooftops that you’re a revenant, but you shouldn’t hide it either. From your loved ones, at least.”
“Being a revenant means keeping the secret. There are few of us, and not many people know. I’m talking about supernaturals. The Council knows, as well as a very small circle of trusted friends. It’s the way it has to be. Otherwise, they would shun us. What we’re doing to stay alive and immortal is horrible.”
“I’m glad I’m part of that small circle of trusted friends.”
She smiled, and I smiled back. Well, that had been easier than I thought, and I felt like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders. The vise grip on my heart loosened up a bit.
“Your turn,” I said. “Katia.”
She dragged in a deep breath and blew out her cheeks.
“Where do I start… I found her some weeks ago. She was actually the one who taught me how to better navigate the dimensions and find the exact one I’m looking for on first try. Before her, it was hard for me to return to a dimension I’d already discovered. It usually took me at least three or four nights to find my way back. She showed me how to fixate on solid reference points, and I started noting them down in a diary.” She went to her desk drawer and pulled out a pink notebook. It looked so cute and girlie… No one would’ve thought it contained crucial information about inter-dimensional travel. “So, I visited her a couple of times after that.”
It hurt to hear it. That someone else had seen and talked to my mother so many times, and I was trapped here.
“She asked me about you and why you haven’t come to see her after that one time. I didn’t know what to tell her. I thought you weren’t a great dream traveler, but your mom told me you were one of the most gifted in the family. She’d been worried sick. She thought you were dead. Well… now I know she wasn’t far from the truth.”
“Wait a second.” It suddenly dawned on me. “If she knows how to return to dimensions she’s visited before, then she knows how to get back here.”
“She does. She spent years dream jumping and mapping the parallel universes. When she finally found her way back, she realized she couldn’t return for good. She didn’t have a body here anymore. So, she gave up. When you were little, she watched over you from the shadows. She never dared to come up to you and tell you the truth because she thought it was better for you to live a normal life. Later, she stopped visiting because it was too painful to watch from a distance as you went to school, made friends, and built a life where there was no place for her. She was happy to know that you had a family and a chance at a decent, average life – something she never had in this dimension. And anyway, she fell in love with the man your father had delivered her to. Oh, you wanted to know how it was possible for your mom to switch places with a version of herself
that had long passed away.”
My ears perked. “How?”
“It appears the Valentine Morningstar in that dimension truly is the best version of your father in all the parallel universes. When his wife died, he asked a mage to make her a special coffin that would preserve her body in perfect condition. That’s why it worked. Basically, your mother’s consciousness entered a body that was as fresh as the day the soul had left it.”
“Wow! I would’ve never thought of that. Smart.”
Yoli shook her head. “It wasn’t that. It was love. He adored her so much that he couldn’t stand to bury her or burn her body. He was rewarded by getting her back. Well, at least another version of her.”
“And she fell in love with him…”
