Dad’s stomach grumbles. “It means I need dinner, and we’ll talk while we eat, little one.”
I don’t even mind him calling me that.
Frankly, it’s the best sound in the world.
* * *
By the timewe finish eating dinner, I’ve been dressed in some of Zuzu’s old clothes that fit me—sort of. They’re a little big. But Dad now knows about Dexter being a vampire.
And…Imarkedhim?
“This is good, though,” he says. “Having him marked and being so powerful, it improves his chances to use the ring. And possibly to help neutralize the virus.”
“Wait…what?”
He looks at Zuzu. “Did you explain the rangnork to her?”
He nods. “Briefly.”
Dad focuses on me again. “So, before that, before the sorting, there were humans, and the hybrids. There were the ones susceptible to the virus, and they were also of the same lines as the ones who carried sifting genes. The rangnork was to send all of them away to Earth, to keep the jotnun lines ‘protected.’” He scoffs. “Narrow-minded foolishness. Before that, it’s reported in the old histories that when a jotnun Alpha mated and marked someone with the virus, the venom usually helped neutralize some of the impacts. I mean, these are very old reports, passed down in the secret records of the old families who still controlled the rings, but it is worth exploring.”
“You mean it’ll cure him being a vampire?”
“Probably not cure. Perhaps help some of the symptoms. Especially if you mark him more than once. For example, instead of burning to ash at dawn, he might merely be sensitive to sunlight. Or, it might remove his need for blood. But, it could also change some of his other powers—being able to move fast, his extraordinary strength. It is difficult to know. You will need to test that out.”
I think about the hairs that day in my apartment. How theypoofedinto ash. “That would be…amazing.”
It’d also mean one massive logistical hurdle…gone.
“First of all, sweetheart, we’ll need to get you back. That might take some time. Probably more than one moon phase. Let us hope he is a patient and persistent man. Then again, you crossed without my assistance from just your memory. You may be stronger. I was…” He chokes up. “I was grieving your mother, and it might have impacted my ability to cross.”
It feels good-weird to eat as a family again. Tohavea family again. I grab my phone and power it on, putting it in airplane mode, so it doesn’t use as much juice. I take a shit-load of pictures and some video of the three of us before turning it off again.
At least I’ll have that when I go back.
Proof that I have a family.
I mean…ifI go back.
Once it’s dark, Zuzu packs us snacks and two water canteens, and we set out. Now that my brain has somewhat re-engaged, I recognize things here and there. Rocks, dips in the path, and my childhood feels like I can reach out and touch it.
I could only go outside at night here, because then we were alone, with no one to see me.
Those nights were magick and beauty and fun and full of laughter, except on the nights when I had to return to Cardiff and leave Zuzu’s.
When we approach the stone circle, I pause, staring at it. I have to ask it. “There’s no way for me to stay here?”
Dad hugs me. “One step at a time, angel.”
“What do I do?”
“We’ll stand inside the stones,” he says. “I’ll let Zeuzehn try to contact him first, since he knows how to do it already. Once you see how he tries it, then you try it, because you have the stronger connection to Dexter.”
We’ve been at it for hours when I finally feel a slight tingle, like what I felt when I brought us through. Before us, I see a faint shimmer, and there’s Dex, faintly, standing in the middle of the stones.
But before I can call out to him, everything fades, and that knifing pain in my soul returns.
Zuzu lets out a cry. “That was it! You did it!”
