Page 24 of Sky’s Guide To Getting His Man & Banishing Ghosts (The Dreamwalkers #1)

Chapter

Twenty

Kingston

My day with Sky had been nice. Hell, who was I kidding?

We hadn’t done anything special or anything, but it had been extraordinary.

Just being able to do normal things with him without the pressure of worrying if he really wanted to hang out with me or was just being kind made all the difference.

I was able to relax and be myself. And he seemed to really enjoy who I was.

It would’ve been cool to spend more time together, maybe spend the night at the pond or even in his bed again, but I didn’t want to risk him ending up back in my dreams. Not until I really understood what it all meant.

My grandparents had told us things, all kinds of things, but I still got the impression that, at times, they were being purposefully vague.

If it had just been about me, that would’ve been fine, but I wasn’t willing to risk Sky.

“My little prince,” Gran called. “Do you need anything?”

“No, thanks, Gran. I need to get some rest.”

She sighed but didn’t push me. I had a feeling I had my pops to thank for that.

As bad as I felt low-key blowing her off, I was angry with her right now.

I knew it. Sky knew it. And she definitely knew it.

My feelings were hurt, and I needed some time to process all the things.

If I talked to her too much right now, I might say something I’d regret.

Gran and I had always had a good relationship and been super close, even when I was a teenager. I didn’t want to end up blowing that up. Given time, space, and understanding this gift of mine better, I was pretty sure I’d be able to accept her decisions. I just needed time.

Besides, this was just as much my pops’ fault, and I wasn’t mad at him at all.

Having the opportunity to spend time with him and get to know him meant…

everything. It would’ve been nice if we’d had the opportunity before all of this weighed me down, but they’d made their decisions and now we all had to live with it.

I was honest enough with myself to admit that if Sky wasn’t a part of this, I wouldn’t be mad at anyone.

I’d probably be spending all my time with Pops during the day and working the rest of it out at night, alone, while I slept.

It was figuring out how Sky factored into this that was messing me up.

The thought of anything happening to him made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

Gran said that it was never my choice, the birthmarks proved that, but I didn’t care. It felt like knowing me, being in my sphere, had put him in danger. I didn’t like things I couldn’t understand. It was half the reason making friends was so hard for me. People were weird.

I’d skipped Gran’s hot chocolate this evening, and I told her to keep her tea potion far, far away, but I was exhausted. I couldn’t wait for sleep to claim me.

“Damn.” I was back on the path that led to the castle. The good thing was, I was alone.

“Holy shit!” Sky appeared at my side and spun around. “Woohooee!!!” He gripped my arm. “It didn’t matter that we didn’t drink the tea or spend the night together. I’m here! Your grandparents have to be right, don’t you think? We’re fated. I’m your tether, and this is our destiny.”

Scrubbing a hand over my eyes, I prayed to all that was holy that he wouldn’t be there once I was done.

Yeah, wishful thinking.

“King, are you okay? Are you mad?”

Sighing, I shook my head. “I’m not mad. I’m just…worried.”

He chuckled. “Why? What’s the big deal? We’re in front of Ego’s sanctuary.”

I felt the color drain from my face. Ego, the guy Sky was working with, the rich, famous, popstar was the one who’d been dreaming about Sky? What did that mean? Did he like him? Did he want him? Would I stand a chance once Sky realized that the guy had been dreaming about him?

I knew it changed everything for me once I stood in Sky’s and found out how much he desired me. It had made me braver and more confident. Ready and willing to risk all those hopes and desires that I’d kept buried in the recesses of my own mind.

“King?” he asked, stepping into my space. “We don’t have to go in. We can just stay in this one spot like we did in the field. I don’t mind. This is really your gift, and I’m not pushing you until you’re ready.”

Was it, though? Was it really only mine? If Sky and I carried the same mark, if Dreamwalkers needed a tether, didn’t that essentially make him one, too? Shit . I couldn’t lie to him just because I was jealous of the guy inside.

“Sky, this is the mansion I told you about. The one that scared me so bad.”

He blinked at me like he was confused, then nodded slowly. “The lady with the missing eye?”

“Mhm.” And the guy who was dreaming about you, I thought, but I kept that part to myself. If he figured it out on his own, fine, but I didn’t have any intention of helping him along.

He frowned. “King, we have to…” He trailed off.

“You want to go inside, don’t you?”

“I have to. It’s Ego .”

He said that name with such feeling that something inside of me died. I’d had one good, perfect, magical day. Glad I enjoyed it. If he was already feeling this dude, his soft, compassionate heart wouldn’t keep him away from him once he saw what was living in the house with him.

“Come on. We have to be quiet, though. Scary-lady didn’t see me before, but now that we’re here together and linked, we’re on the same plane as the spirits, so they’ll come after us.”

Sky shuddered, then slipped his hand in mine. “You’re in charge,” he said.

Great . Dorky, goofy, awkward me was in charge.

How would I ever keep him safe? This gift should’ve gone to someone like Jetty, athletic and strong.

I spent most of my time sitting behind a computer or studying old books and records.

Sure, I loved nature, sitting by a pond or hiking out into the middle of the woods, but once I was there, I was a thinker.

Now that we were on a mission to find the man whose dreams we were in, Sky didn’t seem to care much about our surroundings. But then, he’d been out here, on this property during the day, redesigning this monstrosity for Ego. We’d probably be better if I followed him.

There was no way. If something as creepy as the lady was coming, I wanted to be between her and Sky.

“Sure wish Gran would’ve told me exactly how to claim my psychcopomp,” Sky muttered.

“Me, too.” Like everything else, she’d been vague. If we asked her a question point-blank, she answered every time, but we didn’t have enough information to even know what to ask. I hadn’t ascertained a thing about Duchess but that she was a little bit of a snot and a lap princess.

Once we were in the doors, I looked both ways but didn’t see or hear the man. When we heard, “What the fuck?” we spared each other a glance and headed that direction.

The place was even more eerie than last time. There wasn’t much light, and long shadows stretched up the walls. The place was barren, echoing at the slightest sound. “I swear there was more furniture here last time,” I said quietly.

Sky shrugged. “Then it had to be a dream. He hasn’t picked exactly what he wants yet. It’s taken time to get us down to his final two choices.”

Huh . Time? How much time? Had they been speaking on the phone before the guy showed up in town? How much longer would he stay if his damn castle was unfurnished? How many more times would Sky have to see him?

Right before the entrance into the room, I pulled Sky into a hug and whispered in his ear, “Don’t put yourself in danger.

If you see something creepy, run. If it chases you, try to wake yourself up.

From what my grandparents said, the longer someone’s owned a haunted home, the worse it is.

Ego hasn’t been here long, so no matter what we see, he’ll probably be fine in the real world. ”

He squeezed me around the waist, then whirled around and peeked around the corner. At his gasp, I stepped up close behind him, put a hand on his waist, and peeked, almost throwing up at what I saw.

Ego sat on the stone ledge of his fireplace, strumming a guitar and singing softly. His head twitched to the side like a bug was bothering him, and his face contorted in pain every so often. But to him, in his dream, he was doing something that he obviously loved since he was a musician.

What he didn’t know, couldn’t see, that Sky and I could, was the stuff of horror movies. The lady I’d seen before was there, flicking her tongue out and dabbing at his face. It didn’t look as bad as I knew it would if we could see her missing eye and the goop that I’d seen slipping down her face.

But there was more. She’d been joined by two other…entities. Ghosts, I guessed, but these weren’t what I was used to. If I never saw anything like them again, it would be too soon.

One was a man whose coloring was shades of brown, looking dusty and old, with an elongated neck that bent to one side as if it was dislocated.

He bent at the waist, making his head almost look like it wasn’t part of his body, like he was holding it to the side.

He kept ramming said head into the side of the dreaming man’s back. Hard.

The last spirit was the worst, by far. The torso was missing huge chunks from all over his body.

Like he’d been ravaged on by an animal, chewed up and spit out, and this was all that was left.

But it was his mouth, dear goddess, his mouth, opened wide and full of black, pointy, razor-like teeth.

He stepped back to observe Ego, then he leaned down and bit some part of his body.

In the moments we watched, he’d repeated the whole process four times, first biting Ego’s arm, then his leg, his elbow, and then his hand.

As each one of them fucked with him, Ego showed more signs of distress, but he couldn’t see them, didn’t know they were there, and damned if I had even one idea of how to help.

Standing back, I dragged Sky by the waist farther down the hall to make sure there was no way they’d see or hear us. “We’ve gotta get outta here,” I hissed. “With us together, they’ll see us. If they do to us what they’re doing to him, we’re screwed.”

Sky’s jaw jutted out, and he narrowed his eyes. “No. We’re not leaving him.”

“Sky, we don’t know what to do. After we wake up, we ? —”

He smacked my pec—hard. “I’m not leaving him.” Tears popped into his eyes. “Please don’t ask me to desert him.”

My stomach sank. By the tone of his voice and his tears, it was obvious how much this guy meant to him. “I get it, he’s your client, but ? —”

Skylar grabbed my shoulders. “He’s not my client. Well, he is, but more importantly, he’s my cousin.”

The world went out of line, distorted, then came back into focus, giving me a fresh perspective. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t tell anyone,” he said, wiping at his nose. “I wanted to see if anyone would guess, and you never came over, so you never met him, and he’s my cousin, and now he’s being… What? Tortured? Are they trying to make him lose his mind?”

Running a hand through my hair, I tried to think. Sky was right, we couldn’t leave him. If his cousin was in any way hurt or mentally unstable tomorrow, Sky would never forgive himself. But I also didn’t know what to do.

“Youuuuu,” came a low creaky voice. Not male, not female, scratchy and gruff.

I pushed Sky behind me, and she was back by the entrance. The spooky lady. She lifted a finger and pointed, goop sliding off her face. We turned and ran.