Her eyes brightened. “Well, I already started Micah on a dream journey.”
Charlotte’s panic button went off. “You what now?”
“A dream journey.” She stated again. “Basically, I took him back to a good memory and let him hang out there. When that one’s over, he’ll move to another one.”
“What–” Charlotte cut off. There were so many questions she started firing them at Hazel. “What was his memory? Can you see into his mind? Can you stop it? Does he know you did this? Did you talk to him? Was he willing to participate in your plan? Wait, whatisthe plan?” She had no idea how dreams played into all this.
“Our plan is simple.” Robyn reappeared, her hands tucked into her apron pockets. Behind her, the store was immaculate. “Micah dreams of Christmases. The ones from his childhood where he felt the Magic. You do the same. And then we bring your two dreams together, and you work things out. When you wake up–poof! You’re back together, and this Christmas wish bounce situation is all taken care of.” She pointed her finger at Charlotte’s wish.
“That’s the plan…” Hazel trailed off. Twirling her hair around her finger, she looked less than confident with the idea.
“I completely understand why I’m hesitating about doing this–but there’s no way Micah agreed.” Charlotte folded her arms, daring the two of them to contradict her. “If you jingled into his bedroom, he’d call the cops.”
They exchanged a glance.
“Ha! I knew it. You gave him a sleeping potion–didn’t you?” She pointed to Hazel and then to Robyn, and then back to Hazel.
Hazel huffed. “I don’t need a potion.”
Charlotte took another step away from her in case she got any ideas about putting her out with a twitch of her nose or a snap of her fingers or, however, she did her thing. “No way! I’m not turning into the Christmas version of Sleeping Beauty.”
Robyn gave her a don’t-sass-me look. “We wouldn’t be here if the situation wasn’t serious.”
“What do you mean?”
“The bouncing thing? It’s spread,” Hazel explained.
“How?” Charlotte watched both of them as she made her way to the door.
“The North Pole.” Robyn held out a flat hand and then bounced it. “It’s doing this. About every minute. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make divinity when the whole castle does this?” She moved her hand again. “I thought I was going crazy, and now I really am.” She shook out her fingers.
“Where’s Nick?” Charlotte asked, desperate for someone to be on her side. Not that he would be–maybe he could be? He was an enigma wrapped in tinsel and hidden behind the tree.
“He’s sick. We have to do something.” Hazel wrung her hands.
“Sick?” Charlotte rubbed her forehead, trying to think of a way around this. When she glanced up, Hazel was right in front of her.
“It’s the only way,” she said before reaching out and touching Charlotte’s arm.
Charlotte sucked in air, and the world went black.
ChapterEighteen
Micah sat on the sky-blue linoleum floor and played with a new Lego set. Happiness filled him because this set was the one he’d asked Santa for–not ever telling Mom he wanted it–and Santa delivered it this morning. Mom worried about money, and Legos weren’t cheap. He’d stared longingly at the set every time they walked down the aisle at WalMart, but hadn’t said a word.
The fact that Mom didn’t have to worry about paying for it made the present all that much cooler.
He was so close to finishing the T-rex! He’d never gotten this close to finishing a build before. He may have on a child’s pair of pajamas, but he was all grown up. This dream world was a strange mix of his adult and child selves. Like when he’d come down the stairs and seen all the presents under the tree, he’d jumped up and down like a kid.
Which was so unlike him.
And when he opened the presents, he tore at the paper and threw it to the side–making a mess and not caring. The adult version of him cringed, but the child lived in the moment. Under his mom’s watchful eye, he felt like everything was right in the world, and there was no reason to hold back. Mom and Jonah went upstairs to change clothes. They’d been gone a long time, but it didn’t bother him in this strange state.
He decided to let go of all his worries. Not having to think about what was for dinner or if Lizzie ate breakfast took a weight from his mind. Someone else was in charge of all that. Being a kid was awesome! Why did anyone ever grow up?
He clicked the last brick in place and sat back to admire his work.
“Hmmm,” someone cooed from the couch on the other side of the room. The sound tugged at his awareness in a way that was definitely not childlike. He jumped to his feet with surprising agility and ran over his feet thumping on the floor.
