Page 26 of Sky’s Guide To Getting His Man & Banishing Ghosts (The Dreamwalkers #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Skylar

“I’m almost there,” I said to King as I pulled into the Willowhope Manor driveway. I had to check on my cousin. It wasn’t quite dawn, and I’d probably wake everyone up, but…he was my family. Gah. I wish my precious psychopomp was with me, but he’d disappeared as soon as we left the Dream-veil.

“We’re right behind you,” he assured me. “Before I left the house, Pops said there shouldn’t be any visible signs of what Ego went through.”

“Unless…is he spiritual, Sky? Or does he like to work on himself? Oh, how about yoga or meditation?” Gran asked.

I’d forgotten she was in the car with King. For someone who usually had a lot to contribute to a conversation, she’d maintained her silence up until now. If he hadn’t told me when he first called that she’d asked to come with him, I’d never have known.

“Um. I’m not sure, Rosie.”

“Gran,” she corrected sweetly, but there was a note of steel in her tone.

I couldn’t help myself. As worried as I was about Ego, I grinned. “Sorry, Gran.”

“Mhm. Better. Now King said Ego was a relative?”

I heard the censure in the question. How could we be related and I not know? “Yeah, he’s my cousin. My favorite family member. Well, really, pretty much the only one I talk to. He’s kind of a big deal, so we don’t get to spend much time together.”

She tutted. “I’m sorry, dear.”

“Me, too. I’m here, though, so I’ll see you guys soon.” Without waiting for a reply, I hit end on the console, parked right in front of the entrance, and ran inside.

“Everyone’s in the kitchen,” Buck whispered as soon as I got inside, scaring the crap out of me.

“Jesus. God. Goddess. Err…” I growled, clutching my chest. “Buck. Why are you practically translucent?”

“Ego. Duh .” He disappeared.

Rolling my eyes, I ran down the hallway and into the kitchen. I couldn’t be mad at Buck. He didn’t know what kind of night I’d had or that my arm hurt like the fire of a thousand suns. Did one need a tetanus shot after being beaten by some old-ass spook with piranha teeth?

Ego was standing by the kitchen island, so I ran straight for him, barreling into him and wrapping him in a death grip. He chuckled, but it had no humor. I was freaking the poor guy out. He patted my back awkwardly and asked, “Skylar, you okay?”

I should let him go. I knew that. I was worrying him, definitely worrying Chance, and Elyse would have a fit tomorrow hearing that I’d been so emotional without calling her. But I couldn’t. Seeing my poor baby cousin getting attacked by those spooks had really freaked me out.

“Kingston?” I heard Jetty ask through a fog. “We didn’t know you were coming over, too.”

“Yeah, sorry. I guess I should’ve called,” I heard him say.

“Okay, someone needs to tell me what’s going on.”

Uh-oh . That sharp voice belonged to Elyse, and I was right, she didn’t sound happy.

“I agree with my mother,” Chance said.

The weight of one of Ego’s arms left my body as he said, “Me, three.”

Another pressure hit the small of my back, and I instantly recognized King’s touch. “Come on, Sky. Let your cousin breathe.”

Several gasped, and, “Cousin?” rang through the room.

Stepping back into King’s side, I looked around the large kitchen.

Oops . Buck hadn’t been kidding. Legit, everyone was awake and here.

Scotty and Stevie were sitting at the table with Buck and Marc—not that Ego could see the two ghosts.

Chance had an arm wrapped around his mom’s waist, and Jetty stood behind them like a sentinel.

Harry, hovering behind Ego, snorted. “Of course their cousins. Their smiles are exactly the same.”

I was dying to ask when he’d figured it out and why he hadn’t told me, but King and I had been through enough last night. I couldn’t deal with the fallout of Ego finding out that spirits were real.

Ego’s gaze went from me to King, then over to his grandmother. “Okay, so. What’s going on?”

Gran bumped me out of the way with a flick of her hip, which was when I noticed she was wearing a housecoat that should’ve been burned a couple of decades ago, and that King and I were both in pajama bottoms and t-shirts, too.

Good grief. I really had no chill, and my panic must’ve rubbed off on them.

“Hello, young man. Ego, is it? I’m Sky’s boyfriend’s grandmother, Rosie. And you’re his cousin, right? So call me Gran, we’re practically family, after all.”

Pops choked at her words, but he managed to keep his composure enough not to reveal himself to Ego.

Ego’s eyes widened in confusion, then narrowed as he saw King slip his arm around my waist. “What’s up, though?” His gaze found mine. “Is something wrong with you?”

“Um.” I licked my lips.

King stepped up next to his gran, pulling me along with him. “Hi, Ego. Sorry we haven’t met yet. I was having an…interesting week when you first arrived. I’m Kingston, though.” He held out his left hand.

It would sure be easier to know where I stood if Kingston was the one to call himself my boyfriend. I’d said it. Pops had insinuated it—and more. Gran said it repeatedly. Kingston still hadn’t said a thing one way or the other.

Ego stared at it, then shook it while asking, “But why are you all here so early? Did you have to wake up the whole house?”

I did have an answer for that. “No, we didn’t,” I said, shooting daggers in Chance’s direction. He shrugged with a small grin, still looking concerned about me. Gah . My bestie was the bestest.

Gran took back over. “See, our Sky spent the night with my grandson at our house.” Well, that wasn’t true, but was it untrue? I mean, technically, I went where King dreamed, but he’d been at home in his bed. “Then Sky had a nightmare that rattled him so bad he had to check on you.”

Ego’s head reared back. “It was about me?”

“Yeah, sorry. I can’t remember what it was about”—I lied—“but I couldn’t shake having a bad feeling. I know I’m being a lot, but?—”

Ego shook his head. “No, you’re good. I’ve been having nightmares for the last week or so. My sleep has been junk. I must’ve really been having a bad one tonight because I woke up, and my body feels all bruised.”

My lower lip trembled. My poor cousin. What would it have been like if he’d been haunted and hunted by those spooks indefinitely? If there’d been no King and me? No Dreamwalkers?

I looked up at King, and I saw resignation pass across his face.

He got it, and unfortunately for him, he agreed.

We’d provided a service for my cousin tonight—an important one.

Based on how Gran had rated things, Ego being in pain now meant that he was in-tune with the spiritual realm—at least to some degree.

Without what we did tonight, he could’ve lost his mind.

Chance and Jetty ended up cooking a big breakfast. Harry cursed his own rule not to tell Ego of their existence now that he knew he was family and finding out that the prima donna popstar didn’t sleep in but was up with the birds. His presence was seriously cutting in on Harry’s kitchen time.

Elyse shot me several frustrated glances. She was my mentor, and she took my training seriously, and with this Dreamwalker stuff, she was terribly out of the loop. But until Ego napped or something, we couldn’t talk about it.

Stevie whined almost nonstop through our breakfast about how unfair it was that Ego was my cousin, demanding information. He begged Scotty—since he was the brother with the heartbeat—to ask all his questions, so that I could answer them without it looking like I was babbling.

Scotty glanced at Ego’s purple silk pajama shorts set with the matching sleep mask pushed back over his head, rolled his eyes, and ignored everyone until he was done with his meal and doing dishes. Yep . Ego’s ego hadn’t endeared him to my sweet friend.

So yeah, me running out of the house like a babbling fool, begging King to come with me to check on my cousin, ended up being kind of a bad call. We had nothing to say to each other, Ego was confused, the ghosts were bored, and my friends were worried. Yay me .

“You should tell Kingston to tell your cousin the story of how you got together,” Buck whispered in my ear.

I giggled to myself since I’d love the answer to that, but I’d never embarrass King like that. For all I knew, he thought we were fated for the tethering, but he didn’t have any intention of more than that. Although, did I really believe that?

I didn’t know. Too much had happened, and I was so confused.

King cleared his throat next to me and raised an eyebrow. Oh shit. He’d heard Buck. He put his fork down, grabbed my hand, and tilted his head with a soft smile on his face. Ask , he mouthed.

Ha. I knew it. He wanted me. I so knew he wanted me. Turning to Ego, I said, “Want to hear how King became my boyfriend?”

His face lit up. “Yes. I want the full story now.”

I opened my mouth and froze. Oh crap . What did I say? I couldn’t tell him about the dreamwalking or the ghosts or any of it.

Snickering, King wrapped his arms around my shoulders and said, “First, you have to understand, I’m pretty shy. But your cousin was there, all the time, chatting me up, befriending me, listening to me, and hanging out with me. Really, it was just a matter of time.”

Elyse and Gran awed. Chance and Jetty laughed, but my cousin was intrigued, so I told him stories about camping at the pond, checking out haunted places, and having breakfast with his grandmother.

When I was done, he pointed at Rosie. “So this was really all you? You finally helped push them together?”

“Yeah, yeah, she did,” King said fondly.

So not only did we banish some ghosts and I got my man, my puppy-Psychopomp—who needed a name—but I knew even with all the deception and lack of communication, King and his gran were going to be okay.