Page 100 of Dreams Do Come True

“Hey, Emily,” I say. “We’ve come to get drinks and snacks.”

Emily stops stirring and wipes her hands on a tea towel. “I made some lemon and raspberry biscuits earlier, and vanilla cupcakes.”

Sly walks over and kisses her cheek. “Thanks, Emily.”

Emily laughs. “You’re welcome, Sly. I know the biscuits are your favourite.”

“Not sure I’m going to share them though,” he says, grinning.

“You will, or you don’t get any,” Emily tells him.

I burst out laughing at the look on his face and start gathering the drinks.

“Fine, I’ll share,” he grumps out.

We’ve been in the kitchen a while, but I don’t hear loud crying, and Lyric hasn’t come to check on me, so he must be doing okay.

“I saw Kean and River going up for a nap earlier,” Emily says, putting a pot of grapes on the now full tray.

“Yeah, he’s having a nap with River, I’ll have one later with Lyric.”

“Good, you both look knackered,” Ben says, walking in with Temp and swiping a biscuit.

“Thanks for that,” I reply, laughing. I really don’t need it pointed out how tired I look.

Just then, Xander comes running in looking worried.

“What’s wrong?” Sly asks him.

“I’m really sorry, and I’ve no idea how it happened, but we can’t find Lyric. I swear we just looked away for a moment and he vanished,” Xander says, looking devastated.

I try not to panic. “He’ll be somewhere in the garden. Let’s go and look.”

“I’ll come, I can probably scent him,” Ben says.

“Thanks,” I reply, hurrying out of the kitchen and into the garden. The Lyric-free garden.

I see Nora and Enoch searching for him.

I’m about to call on my magic when Ben steps forward. “He went that way,” he says, pointing to a path that leads to the vegetable garden.

“I looked in there first,” Xander tells us, standing next to Sly, who has an arm around his shoulder.

“There are lots of places to hide there,” Ben says. “Come on.”

As we follow Ben, I do send my magic out, and yes, Lyric is in the vegetable garden. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I’ve not been in this part of the garden yet. It’s down a path and behind some beech trees, which give it an almost hidden garden look.

The vegetable garden is massive. It has ground beds, raised beds, things for climbing vegetables, and an orchard at the back. There are new shoots for some vegetables and some well-established ones, with thick leaves.

“He’s just down here,” Ben says, leading us to what looks like a freshly turned over patch of soil, behind some of those said leaves.

I see Lyric lying in the soil, picking handfuls of it up and dropping it all over himself. He has a big smile on his face.

I walk forward and smile down at him. “Having fun?”

“Mud Tus,” he says, grinning up at me, while grabbing another handful and dropping it on himself.