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“Trust me,” I say, squeezing her hand.

She nods, and Mara stops beside me.

“Be safe.” Mara smiles gently.

“Don’t worry.”

As she walks past me, I notice Rome standing close to Archer, speaking softly. Their trust and respect are clear. I’m glad my bond has someone to depend on, but from what I've learned from Lace, his parents were absent most of his life. She didn’t tell me why. I’m curious about many things.

“We are here to help, Savy,” Rome states as he reaches the door.

“Thanks. I hope I don’t need it.” I smile, and he nods.

I lean against the doorframe, watching them leave. Archer is standing behind me, and I feel the heat from his body.

“Will you tell me the reason?” Archer asks, and I straighten.

Easing back, I shut the door and face him.

“Should I pretend I don’t know what you're talking about?” I tilt my head.

“Up to you.”

I sigh. He noticed I glossed over many facts. “Dream-walking didn’t show itself until I was eight. Aria was six and hadn’t come into her gifts.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms. “Granny isn’t our biological grandmother. Her friends had a daughter, and when they died, she took in my mom. I didn’t care about the details because she was my family, and it didn’t matter how. She told us we were her gift since she never found her soul bond. I don’t explain to anyone because to me, she's family, and there is no need to clarify. We lived with our parents, but Granny visited often. She knew they weren’t great to us, so she watched and asked questions. As children do, I talked about my dreams. I thought it was weird to have a dream about a girl from school. She was sick, and I predicted she would get better. Although I didn’t know it was a premonition.” I push off the wall and walk toward the living room. “My parents realized what was happening. I saw the greediness enter their eyes,” I snort, and sit on the couch.

“They saw possibilities,” Archer says, lowering beside me.

“Big possibilities.” I roll my eyes. “I knew they didn’t love us and barely tolerated us. I didn’t understand my power or know how to control it. They thought they could train me to predict things on demand, such as the lottery numbers. In my gut, I knew it didn’t work that way, but I soaked up their praise. They were paying attention to me for once, so I tried to do what they wanted. Sleeping became a chore and scary. They demanded I go to bed early and do their bidding. It never worked. Eventually, I disappointed them too many times, and all they did was yell at me. Instead of predicting anything, my dream-walking was released. Talk about scary.” I rub my palms down my thighs. It’s been years since I’ve talked about the early years. “I never wanted to sleep.”

“You must have been terrified,” he says.

“I didn’t tell them. I waited for Granny to come and confessed to her. She was horrified by their behavior and didn’t think they would go that far. At her demand, I swore I wouldn’t tell them, and she started to plan to take us away. The last night with them, they wanted to try again and instructed me to get them the information they wanted. I had hoped Granny would get us out. I went to sleep and floated into a dream. There was a bad man who lived on our street. He was creepy when I was awake, and terrifying in his dream.” I shudder, and Archer grabs my hand. “I remember it so clearly. He was sitting on a throne in his house. The robes he wore were extravagant and long. Women were kneeling in front of him, bloody and crying. He enjoyed hurting them in the dream and in life. We locked eyes, and I could sense his surprise. I ran. I heard his footsteps and anger as he followed. At the time, I didn’t understand how I was changing the dream and creating different paths.

“I was lost for hours and hours. How could I wake up? My mind was frozen. All I could think of was to escape. I could touch things and smell the fear, blood, and sweat of the bad man. There were women throughout the house, chained to walls, and screaming. One woman reached out to me, begging for help. I stared at her hand that was searing my skin. I wanted to rescue her and thought she belonged in a safe place.” I look at Archer. “She disappeared. I wished for it, and she left the dream.”

He inhales sharply. “You changed it.”

“Yes. At the time, I didn’t realize what happened, just that I was glad I could protect her.” I shake my head. “The time meant nothing, but it felt like forever. I took too long with the woman, and the man caught me. His hands were cold and stained red. I screamed, and suddenly I woke up. Granny was gripping my shoulders, shaking me, and whispering a protection spell. It was the first time I saw her cry. She made my parents leave. We packed our things, and she took us away. It wasn’t until we were safely on the road that she told me I was asleep for two days. She called to speak with me, and my parents admitted that they couldn’t wake me up.

“Through the rush of leaving, I couldn’t think about what happened. We were consumed with the need to leave. As I sat in the car, I realized my arm hurt. There were bruises on my skin in the shape of five fingerprints, and blood streaked around them. That’s when it hit me that my dream-walking was the same as being awake to me. I could feel everything, smell everything, and change the fate of the ones in the dream. Since that day, I've worked with Granny to understand and control it. We hid everything from my parents.

“Granny bought a home and land. We settled there, and she began to research my spells. I practiced every day, trying to figure out how to protect myself and control my gift. Sleep was dangerous. I didn’t understand how I could leave the dream. It was the scariest time of my life,” I whisper, and shake my head. “Granny tried every spell she could think of, and some worked for short periods of time.

“In the search to find answers, she called Mateo. He was an old acquaintance, and she believed he could be trusted. He knew someone who could dream-walk, but had lost touch with them. Everything he could remember was used to help me.” I turn my hand, gripping his. “You have nothing to fear from him.”

He briefly looks at our joined hands. “What is his gift?”

“Illusion manipulation. He helped me when I got anxious or scared. My favorite illusion was sitting in an oasis of flowers.” I smile. “Changing the environment around me calmed my racing thoughts.”

“I’m grateful he used it for good,” he says softly.

“I admit that it’s a gift that could be deployed for bad, but he never would.” I lean back, lift my legs, and curl them underneath me. “He lived with us for a few years. We worked together to protect our home and land. Aria began to show signs of something beyond basic powers. Granny was worried, but tried to hide it. We knew we had to protect her, too.”

“Is that when you separated?” he asks.

“No, but Granny decided we shouldn’t go to a human school anymore and taught us at home. Aria had just turned thirteen, and we were at the store. She accidentally stopped time.”

“Were you affected?” He frowns.