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"Who the—" But he didn't finish his sentence. He stood closer to the mirror, peering closely at the woman. They had the same dirty blond hair and the same face and nose shape, and I presumed that if she were awake, he would be able to see more of himself in her smiles, her eyes, and expressions. "That's my birth mother," he murmured, dazed and taking a step back. He looked down to Clawdia again and whispered, "Clawdicat."
She took his hand, squeezed, and gave him a trembling smile. Knowing how much this meant to him clearly made her emotional too, and her empathy only made me appreciate her kind heart even more.She is special.
“This is great, Charlie. You’ve been looking for family your whole life. Now you can get the answers to the questions that have haunted you."
Charlie turned to me and asked. “Where is she? How do I get to her?"
"I cannot send you to her physically. But I can send you into her dreams. You'll be able to learn from her as Clawdia and Zaide will learn from me."
He nodded, and a focus appeared in his brown eyes that I hadn’t seen before. I was glad he was taking it so seriously. "How do I get out of the dream?"
"You'll need an escape word."
His answer was quick and automatic. "Jigglypuff."
I didn’t question it, although I did pause. "If you say … that word, you'll return to yourself and wake up."
"Will she remember? Will she know it's real?"
"Yes."
His gaze moved to Clawdia. “You’ll be okay?”
She smiled brightly. “We’ll be fine.”
"I’ll see you soon.” He pulled Clawdia into his arms, hugged her tight, and kissed her forehead. She whispered something to him, something I couldn’t hear, and his arms tightened around her before letting her go and giving her a soft smile. “Send me to my maker, Mr. Vampire.”
He disappeared in a flash, and Clawdia gasped as her hand suddenly only grasped air.
We were silent for a moment. Her eyes met mine, and we just stared, lost in the strange and muted sensations that washed over us. She was beautiful.My soul mate?I both anticipated and dreaded meeting her and Zaide together to find out.
She cleared her throat. "What do we do now?"
I crossed my arms behind my back to stop myself from touching her. "Let's see what became of your soul pair."
Closing my eyes, I searched for his consciousness and pulled him toward me. He appeared at my feet, curled up, terrified, and shaking. Nothing like the king I saw before.
His eyes were closed, and as I approached him, images of the suffering in his head bombarded me. He was having a flashback, unable to move except to flinch with the imagined beating that he was enduring.
I felt his desire to fight back, the core of him that remembered this was all past. Sinking further into his head, I saw exactly what he saw, and I was horrified. It was dark and cramped, without a shred of comfort or pleasure with damp, cold rocks surrounding us.
His master, the person beating him and responsible for the torture, was akari.
My heart sank. If there was ever going to be a relationship obstacle, it was that his master was the same species as me. I watched, helpless, as the lash of the whip came down on him and blood trickled over his face.
I answered the desires in his heart and whispered, "Why can't you do that? You aren't a slave any longer."
His mind replied with a pained cry."Aren't I? Are slaves ever free? Isn't the damage to their identity and will something they can ever truly heal from? Am I not too broken to be free of it entirely?"
I kneeled at his side and told him firmly, "You might be healing for a lifetime after your trauma, so you will never be as free as those never captured. But you are as free as you want to be. You can allow your trauma to weigh you down, darken your soul, or you can choose better for yourself. And every new day, you choose. You have always chosen well in the past. Why has this memory pinned you down so?"
His past and present flickered across his mind in pictures that caused my stomach to clench with the whirlpool of emotions attached to each memory.
“Yes, you have a lot crowding your mind, and your emotions are controlling you. But you are not weak. And you have so much more to lose if you do not fight. Don't be swept under the wave of your feelings. Ride it. Use it to strengthen you. You can conquer him. Fight.”
He looked up at me, his body unclenched, and I was struck by his big purple eyes filled with pain and anger. So distracted, I didn’t notice that he was looking through me. Not seeing me at all.
I wore his master's face.
