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“Yeah, umm.” Carson swipes a hand down his face. “Pretty sure he’d want to be woken up for this.”
I nod. “Fair bet. He missed you.”
“Aww.” Gemma hugs Carson. “He’s such a good kid.”
“Wow, so you two…” I wag my finger back and forth between them. “...hit it off kinda fast?”
“Yeah.” Gemma’s cheeks redden. “I dunno what happened but as soon as we met, it justclicked.I thought I was going to grow old alone, but it’s like I’ve always known Carson.”
He seems speechless for a moment, then rests his head against hers. “I haven’t been truly happy in years. It’s like she gave me my life back.”
Okay, whoa. Talk like that so early would have had me running for the hills, but neither are running. Far from it.
“Umm, so Scott really hired you to find me?” Gemma bites her lip. “Oops. I should’ve called him. It is pretty out of character for me to do something like this.”
“Get abducted by aliens?” asks Carson with a hint of a smile.
“No.” She laughs. “Run off with a guy I just met. It probably looked super sketchy.”
“It did.” I whistle innocently.
Kingsley rolls his head around, cracking his neck. “So… about ready to get going?”
“Almost. Need a few minutes.” I shift my gaze to Carson. “Go on inside. I’ll be back with Shane in a few minutes.”
“Minutes?” He blinks.
“Your sanity will thank you for not questioning the how of it.” I chuckle.
“Fair enough. You’re sure he’s okay?”
“Positive. You’ll see for yourself in a few minutes.”
Kingsley and I head outside by ourselves. I take his hand.
Chapter Twenty-six
The Birth of Folklore
I appear inside Mary Lou’s living room after dropping Kingsley off at his mansion.
Breathing sounds tell me my sister, Rick, Ruby Grace, and Billy Joe are here, sleeping. Her oldest, Ellie Mae, is moved out already. So crazy to think about that. I still see her as a rambunctious, fearless six-year-old.
The layout of my sister’s house is as familiar to me as mine. Knowing her, she’d have put Shane in Ellie’s room. My sister is not one of those parents who turns the kid’s bedroom into a personal yoga studio two hours after they get their own place. No, she’s the type of mom who leaves everything exactly the same as a shrine to their childhood.
I poke my head in to find Shane curled up on his side atop the bedspread, not even under the covers. He’s still dressed except for his sneakers, which are on the floor. He’s mostly asleep. No surprise he’s not having an easy time passing out. Poor kid’s in a strange house, no idea what happened to his dad, and… he’d been anesthetized for over a week. His body is more than caught up on sleep.
He is groggy enough for me to rush over, grab his shoes, scoop him up, and call the dancing flame before his brain is conscious to the point of being able to understand why the bedroom has suddenly become sky.
Okay, little flair for the dramatic here, but I teleported into midair a few hundred feet above the cabin and about a quarter mile away. Wings out, I glide along. Yeah, when I dropped him off at my sister’s place, I let the kid see the wings so he’d think I’m an angel. Figured it would make him feel better than if he thought some ordinary person was going to find his dad.
“Whoa!” yells Shane, before grabbing onto me.
“I got you.” I glide downward into the trees.
“Did you find my dad?”
“Sure did. He’s at the cabin.” I flare my wings out to catch myself almost to a full stop before falling the last few inches onto my feet. “I need you to help me out, okay?”
