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I should have realized she was with both when I saw them sleeping in the cave together.
I nodded slowly. "I apologize. I have a theory as to why she is irresistible to me, but there is no excuse for causing any fractures in your relationship."
"Irresistible?" Charlie repeated, surprised. But I only stared at him, communicating with my eyes that I may be more involved with his familiar than as just her teacher.
Clawdia finally reached out to take my hand and whispered, "Thank you for saying that. But it wasn't just your fault that it happened."
I smiled down at her, softening at her touch, my fears and nerves fading away at her hushed voice. Her power over me was astonishing. While she rubbed her thumb over my knuckles, I felt Charlie’s burning gaze flicking between myself and Clawdia.
Charlie coughed. "Fine, forgiven, whatever. But don't think that Zaide is going to be so easy to convince. He was not a happy budgie.”
I nodded, having already prepared myself for a fight with the golden titan.But at least the witch has forgiven me.
Charlie clapped his hands. “Now that all that bullshit is over with, are we training or what? Teach us your ways, master."
"I can't teach you, Charlie. I'm not a witch."
His shoulders slumped slightly. "So, I'm here as a cheerleader for Clawdicat?"
"I don't know what that means, but no.” I continued before he could ask another question, “I think the best people to teach you would be your family.”
His deep sigh accompanied a brief closing of his eyes. “Well, I’m fucked, then, because I don’t have any family except Simon, and he's an arsehole.”
"I can help you find them."
He grimaced, unbelieving. "I've been looking for my birth parents my entire life. Apparently, looking for things is my superpower, and I still haven't found anything."
Changing the dreamscape with a moment's concentration, I moved us from the meadow to my rooms in the temple. They gasped and turned, nearly bumping into my furniture. I grasped each of their elbows and pulled them over to the far wall.
“What the fuck, Baelen? Where are we?” Charlie shrugged me off, disturbed by the change in location.
"My room in Tartarus. I have something here that can help us find your family."
Clawdia looked puzzled. “But this is just a dream. How are you using something that exists in reality?”
It was a good question and an opportunity for her to learn more about dream walking, so I explained, “Magical items like this have a kind of essence or spirit, which I can pull into the scape the same way I can pull your unconscious minds. So, it can respond to stimuli in the way it usually would. Just as you are doing.”
I pulled open the curtain that hung across the wall, displaying the mirror hidden behind it.
"A mirror?" Clawdia asked.
"With a personal object, this mirror can show you anyone in the realms."
Charlie pouted. "I don't have anything from my parents."
"Of course you do." He looked at me blankly. "Your blood."
He stepped back and made a cross with his fingers. "Stay back, Dracula. You aren't coming near me with those teeth. They're sharp."
I raised my brow at Clawdia, and the corner of my lips quirked up despite my attempt to suppress it. "You didn't tell him about the effect of my bite."
Charlie looked down at her, a blush staining her cheeks, and gasped theatrically, "Clawdia!" which only made her blush harder. He laughed. "Well then, I definitely don't want you taking my blood or my dignity. Thanks."
In a flash, I took his hand and pricked a finger with a conjured knife. As the blood beaded to the surface of his skin, I pressed his finger against the glass of the mirror. "There. Dignity still intact."
He huffed and took his finger away from me as though shielding a small child. "You could have just said."
"Charlie, look," Clawdia gasped, turning our attention to the swirling magic in the mirror. The picture sharpened and showed a middle-aged woman in a darkened room, tucked tightly into bed under a thick quilt of red and pink flowers.
