where we should start practicing, he says he’s hungry, and we should go out and get something to eat.”
Laylen gave a soft laugh and started chopping onions again. “Yeah, that sounds like Nicholas. He’s always been a little…”
I lifted my head up. “Annoying?”
Laylen laughed again. “I was going to say difficult, but yeah, annoying works. When he was younger, he went through this faze where he would answer every question with a question.”
“That sounds fun,” I said sarcastically.
Laylen shrugged, cutting the onion again. “He can’t really help it—it’s a faerie thing. They have this way about them, where they can trick you into doing things—or saying things that you shouldn’t. That’s why you should be very careful around him.”
“Yeah, Alex warned me about that.” I fanned the front of my nose as Laylen dumped the chopped pieces of onions into a skillet, and the smell over took me. “And he told me not to take my necklace off.”
Laylen scooted the onions around in the pan with a spatula. “This is probably the only time where I’m going to have to agree with Alex. You should be careful around him.” He lowered his voice. “You can’t let Nicholas know about the star.”
I nodded. “I won’t.”
The pan sizzled and it reminded me I was supposed to be getting Nicholas something to eat. “So…what do faeries eat?”
Laylen busted up laughing.
I gave him a mystified look. “What’s so funny?”
It took him a second to gather himself. “Sorry. But it’s just so funny.” He laughed again. “What do faeries eat?”
“Hey, I don’t know much about this stuff,” I said, half joking and half defensive. “I mean for all I know they could eat leaves or something.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Leaves?”
I shrugged. “They live in forests, don’t they?” At least in most of the faerie theme books I had read they did.
Still laughing, he wiped a few stray tears from his eyes. “Leaves.”
“Oh, shut up.” I gave him a playful shove. He continued to laugh, so I changed the subject. “How did Aislin take it when you told her about Alex having to go to the City of Crystal?”
That stopped his laughing. “I haven’t told her yet.” I opened my mouth to say that he probably should—that it would be worse the longer he kept it from her, but before I could say anything, he said. “I’ll tell her. I promise, just as soon as she’s done helping Adessa with her store. I think it’ll be better if I tell her when no one else is around.”
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll get back to my training.” I turned to leave.
“Don’t forget your leaves,” Laylen called out with a chuckle.
I ended up making Nicholas and myself a sandwich. We didn’t really speak to each other while we sat on the floor and ate, and I had a feeling something was bothering him, but didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask him. Besides even if I did, he probably wouldn’t tell me. At least tell me the truth, anyway.
When we were finished eating and had slid our plates out of the way, Nicholas put the crystal ball back between us.
“So, the first thing that’s going to happen is I’m going to go into a vision with you,” Nicholas explained, spinning the crystal ball like a top. I wondered how he could touch it and not be pulled in. “What we want is for you to eventually be able to go into a controlled vision by yourself, gracefully and without any bumps.”
What did he mean by gracefully—without any trips or injuries? “Okay, so how do we get me to be able to do that?”
“With practice.” he shrugged. “Seeing visions is like riding a bike. The more you practice the better you get.”
But I didn’t know how to ride a bike. At least I don’t think I did. No resurfacing memories had contained me riding a bike. “Okay, well how much practice is it going to take for me to be able to be graceful and bump free?”
His mouth curved up into a smile. “Well if I had my way, it would take a very, very long time. But in all actuality, with you being as powerful as you are, it shouldn’t take that long.”
Thank God. “So where do we begin?”
He held out his hand. “First, give me your hand so we can go in together.” With reluctance, I took his hand, his skin clammy and cold against mine. “Now we need a simple vision to go into. I