Page 16 of Sky’s Guide To Getting His Man & Banishing Ghosts (The Dreamwalkers #1)

Chapter

Thirteen

Skylar

Kingston’s grandmother had completely thrown him for a loop with her talk of him coming into his power.

After her ominous, we have some work to do , she sent him to get dressed and then explained the difference between Elyse’s mysticism and what I had.

Without everything else that she’d said this morning, I’d have been excited, but Kingston had gone white as a sheet, and his color hadn’t returned yet.

I glanced into the rearview mirror to where he sat hunched over in the backseat and mumbling to himself. His gran reached over and patted my leg. “He’ll be fine, Sky. He just needs to come to terms with this.”

“With what exactly?”

“With the fact that his dreams take him into the veil, just like they did his pops. I wasn’t sure if he’d ever have the same sight, and I really sort of hoped he wouldn’t since it can be such a burden.

The flipside is his gift shouldn’t have manifested in its entirety without a partner, that special connection.

That’s where you come in, dear. I won’t lie, I was worried at first since he’s never introduced us. ” She sent her grandson a stink face.

Her words roused the gentle giant in my backseat. “So you expect Sky to, what? Work for me as my witchy guide?”

“Mhm, something like that.” The little grin she shot me had my cheeks flaming red. Apparently, Gran and I were on the same page. Partner for the win! How did she expect me to get that through to him, though? That was the real mystery, if you asked me.

As I turned into the long drive for Willowhope Manor, she clapped her hands. “Oh, it’ll be so nice to officially meet Mr. Harry. I’ve heard so much about him.”

I glanced in the mirror again, and Kingston’s dark gaze met mine this time, and he looked just as bewildered as me. “How do you know about Mr. Harry?” I blurted.

She clucked her tongue. “The ghosts at the pond have been talking about him for as long as I’ve been alive.

Pops says I’ll be able to officially meet him now, which is quite a thrill.

As you know, before your buddy Chance, Mr. Harry was quite tied to the manor itself.

It must be wonderful for him to be able to wander around now. ”

Kingston’s face grew pinched as I parked the car. “Gran, I don’t know what you think you know, but Mr. Harry is still in the manor.”

She ignored him and opened her door. We both scrambled out, as well.

Instantly, Harry was there, bowed low at the waist before Gran. “It is an honor, High Priestess.”

She tipped her head back at him. “The honor is mine. Please forgive me, Mr. Harry.”

Harry stood tall and straight before us, that old stern expression he once wore softened by the love of Buck and respect for Gran.

“Dear lady, there’s nothing to forgive. You did what you could for this land while the curse existed, and I always appreciated it.

It strengthened me more than you’ll ever know. ”

He bowed his head again. “And, please, there’s no formality in family. Call me Harry.” Aw. I knew Harry loved us.

Kingston stomped his foot, drawing all of our attention. I’d only thought he couldn’t get any cuter, but over six and a half feet of man throwing a temper tantrum like a three-year-old? Yeah, so adorably cute.

“Will someone please explain what in the hell is going on today? I feel like I went to bed and fell down a rabbit hole. Nothing’s making sense.”

Gran smiled sweetly at her grandson. “It can feel that way sometimes. I’ll teach Sky how to help you. It’ll be fine.”

Harry’s back stiffened as his gaze swung to Kingston. “I’m sorry I couldn’t speak to you of all I knew. Your grandfather explained the situation, so I’ve been waiting patiently.”

Kingston threw his long arms in the air, reminding me of one of those tall inflatable tubes that blow in the wind. “Patiently for what? And why does everyone keep mentioning Pops? Is he?—”

“Right behind you,” I said, cutting him off, while pointing at the older Black gentleman who’d appeared at Gran’s side.

“Hello, grandson.”

Kingston gasped. He stepped toward the old couple. “Pops? How are you here?”

“I’ve always been with you. With you and my Rosie. She walked by my side no matter where I needed her to go. Is it any wonder I stayed by hers even in my death?”

Kingston squeezed his eyes closed. “I think I need to lay down.”

Wrapping my arm around his waist, I was pleasantly pleased when he leaned into me. I wouldn’t ever be able to carry the big lug physically or anything, but a feeling of rightness settled in my chest as he allowed me to be a crutch for his weary trudge into the manor.

Jetty and Chance bounded down the stairs, and Buck popped into being in front of us. I directed Kingston toward the parlor with his grandparents and Mr. Harry following right behind.

“I got everyone like you said, Mr. Harry,” Buck said.

“What’s going on?” Jetty asked, rushing to Kingston’s side. “Are you okay?” His eyes widened, and I knew he’d seen the couple behind us. “You’re out of the house, and you’re…” He pointed from Gran to Pops.

Gran giggled. “Jetty, it’s so good to see you. This is Kingston’s grandfather, Lee, but you can call him Pops.”

“Okay,” he said, drawing the word out. “It’s really nice to meet you, sir, but is someone going to tell us what’s going on?”

Scotty walked into the parlor, waving his cell phone around as Chance moved the pillows out of the way so I could sit Kingston down on the sofa. “I called Elyse, like Buck told me to. She said they’ll be here in the blink of an eye.”

Chance rolled his eyes. “My mother doesn’t actually move that fast. She has to?—”

Gran’s cackle cut him off. “She’ll be here soon.

Don’t underestimate what your mom is aware of.

You young ones set off a whole sequence of events when you rid the world of the girl in the pond and helped the other spirits cross over.

My grandson’s gift is all the way open now. He’s going to need all of you.”

Chance stretched out his hand and walked toward Gran. “Sorry. I didn’t formally introduce myself. I’m?—”

“Chance Chancellor,” she said, interrupting him and taking his hand between both of hers. “I knew you’d be back someday. My Lee saw you in a vision when you were a little boy. We knew that you were the answer to what my ancestor started so many years ago.”

A vision? If Kingston took after his grandfather, did that mean he’d have visions, too?

“What does that mean?” Jetty hissed at Kingston.

Kingston opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, and shook his head. I noticed he hadn’t taken his eyes off his grandfather, and the older gentleman hadn’t stopped staring at him with the softest expression of tenderness I’d ever seen.

Taking a risk that he wouldn’t reject me, I stroked my fingers through the soft hair on top of his head. “We’re not sure what’s up. Gran keeps saying snippets of things and then kind of rambling off about something else.

“All I know for sure is that Kingston’s dreams have become full manifestations, and that I’m like, the witch he needs with him when… when exactly will I know he needs me?” I asked Gran.

“Not happening. I will not put him in harm’s way,” Kingston said with a jut of his chin.

Gran didn’t respond to that but turned to Scotty and Stevie. “Hello, boys. It’s so nice to meet you. My husband’s told me so much about the two of you.”

Scotty dove in and hugged her. “Your husband is the best. He’s explained so much to us about how we can co-exist with my brother by my side in his afterlife. It must be nice that he’s stayed with you all these years.”

Chance plopped down next to Kingston. “Did anyone else know that Lee was related to Kingston?”

“I’ve never even seen him before,” Jetty said.

Chance waved that off. “Yeah, but you don’t see all of the spirits I see.”

“But I thought I did on this property.”

Chance shook his head. “No, no matter what your link is to me, they still have to want to be seen. Obviously, he wanted to talk to Stevie and Scotty. Probably stayed away from you since it would’ve been hard for you to keep it from Kingston.”

“I can fix that for you,” Gran piped up.

“I can spell the whole property so that whoever owns the estate, and their people, will always see the spirits who live in their midst.” Her lips twitched.

“Although, I’d understand if you don’t want me practicing on your property.

” She frowned, looking slightly disappointed in herself.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

My bestie’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Wow.” He shook his head so hard his whole body moved with it. Like a dog coming in from out of the rain. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable at all.”

“What’s she talking about?” Jetty whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“High Priestess, I think that’s an excellent idea,” Harry said, taking over as he often did.

“We got lucky that Chance’s gift is seeing and talking to entities and helping them move on, but that won’t always be the case.

It’ll be terribly inconvenient to have to train a new owner.

Much easier if they have the sight from the beginning.

“As for you not practicing on the property, banish the thought. Elyse could use your help with Sky, and I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to have a witch of your caliber to talk shop with.”

Kingston yanked me down over his shoulder and hissed into my ear, “I don’t understand what’s happening.

All I wanted was to know that you’re safe.

That’s it. Maybe a straight twenty-four hours of sleep, too.

And I definitely don’t want you seeing what I did last night. ” He shook his head. “Just no.”

The poor guy’s face looked so panicked, and the energy rolling off him assured me that he was headed toward a spiral of overwhelm if we didn’t do something fast. Moving in front of him, I held my hands out. “Let’s go for a walk around the pond.”

He cut his gaze toward his grandparents, and Lee nodded.

“I think that’s a good idea.” Rosie just blew him a kiss, so he placed his palms in mine, giving the impression that I actually helped him lumber to his feet.

He tightened his grip on me as soon as he was standing, making me want to shout with joy.

I kept my cool, though. As exciting as all of this was, and as thrilled as I was to be alone with Kingston, I didn’t think this was the right time to beg him for a date and confess my undying love. Or was it? Hmm, I’d need to think about that.

We were halfway across the yard when I heard Elyse yelling a greeting from toward the front of the house. Her and Marc really had arrived quickly. “Where’s the, uh, popstar?” Kingston asked.

My eyes widened. “Oh, shit. Wow. Okay, we dodged a bullet on that one.”

He stopped. “What do you mean?”

“While Ego and I work on his new sanctuary, his personal assistant is working out of a space in NYC. She needed him to go in so they could handle some business, so a car service picked him up at like three AM this morning, and he won’t be back until sometime tomorrow.”

“Ah,” was his only response to that.

As disappointed as I was that he hadn’t met my cousin yet, I knew now wasn’t the time to prod him about getting over here or coming to the castle to meet him.

Until one of them figured out we were related or it stopped being fun because no one had guessed yet, I wouldn’t bother him.

If they still hadn’t met once everyone knew, though, my feelings were going to be hurt if he didn’t show more interest in him as my family than he had in him as my client.

We’d circled the pond halfway in silence before I felt Kingston start to relax next to me. “How you feeling now?”

He chuckled humorously. “Out of sorts. I can’t believe that my grandparents kept so many secrets from me.”

I leaned into his side. “Are you mad?”

He stopped next to the Hallowed Tree, and his expression screwed up into what I’d dubbed his thinky-face.

“I get their reasoning about the dreamwalking. Sort of. I think they should’ve told me before I hit thirty, but whatever.

It’s the not telling me about my grandfather still being with us I don’t understand. ”

“I’m sorry ‘bout that, King. That would be my fault,” a deep voice said from the firepit area.

Lee stood in the middle looking hesitant and unsure, so I said, “You call him King, too?”

Kingston’s gaze turned from his grandfather to me. “What do you mean, too? No one else calls me King.” I felt my cheeks warm, and for the first time all morning, I saw Kingston’s eyes twinkle. He snorted. “Excuse me, I meant, no one called me King that I was aware of.”

Well, I sure wouldn’t be telling him that I primarily called him King during my sexy-fantasies. Like, how embarrassing. I definitely wouldn’t be admitting that tidbit out loud in front of his pops. I cleared my throat. “Why don’t I head inside so you two can talk?”

Kingston’s hand tightened on mine. “I’d rather you stay, if you don’t mind.” He put his back to his grandfather and mouthed, For moral support.

Me? He wanted me to stay? Hell yeah. I knew I should probably be inside twenty-questioning his gran because, from the sounds of it, my life was about to have even more of a transition than Kingston’s, but I wasn’t giving up any opportunity to be by his side.

Even if this new spiritual track we were on was apparently going to involve us having to spend lots of time together—at night, hopefully—I wanted more than paranormal geek, ghost-obsessed Kingston.

I wanted the whole man. The one who wore goofy pajama pants and who wandered into his gran’s kitchen with bedhead.

The one who spent too much time behind his computer and needed reminders to eat.

I wanted to take walks around the pond and text each other all day.

I wanted to call his grandparents Gran and Pops without it being weird for him.

I bumped my elbow gently into his side. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”