it sound like they’re the same age when they do it. It’s something about halves of a whole and bringing their lives together would be what brings him down. So Myrddin was smart. Had Dean stayed on the Earth plane, he would be Lee’s age.”
I couldn’t even think about that now. “Let’s not borrow trouble. We’ll have the academics and Gray look at the book. Maybe they were never talking about Lee at all. Perhaps there’s someone else who is supposed to help Dean.”
“I think you’re right. I think I’ve been dreaming about him,” Dean said. “I had another dream last night. This one was about the guy from the first dream. I have to find him. I don’t think it’s a lost cause. I’m ready to go. Summer, when you can, I left a letter for my parents.”
Summer gave him a hug. “I promise I’ll get it to them as soon as possible. Be safe, Dean.”
“We’ll take care of him,” Kelsey promised.
“Let’s go because if I don’t go soon, I’m afraid I won’t go at all.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “I have a feeling we’re needed at home.”
I held my daughter one last time and then turned to see the door she powered with her magic. I couldn’t believe I was leaving, but Danny was right. We had to get home, had to save our world from the wizard who threatened it.
I looked back one last time before the door closed and Summer was waving, holding Marcus’s hand, and I knew that she was safe and happy, that she was loved.
It was enough.
The door closed behind us and we found ourselves in that same field, the long grass swaying all around us. I clutched the crystal Summer had given me. It held a bit of her power and would point us in the direction of the door. She’d tuned it to find the portal’s odd energy.
Daniel held his hand out and took it. “I’ll find it and we’ll get home. Kelsey, be ready. You’re going first.”
She gave him a jaunty salute. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Your Highness.”
Danny took off and Kelsey turned my way. “When you go through, keep your head down. I’ll check the office out. If there’s trouble, get behind me. The king will come in last and then we’ll all get behind him and let him do his thing.”
Despite the fact that I was full up on king’s blood, I agreed. The night before Daniel had taken both Dev and I to bed and fed us, making sure we would heal if anything happened. Then they’d lain with me, rubbing my belly and talking about what we would name her.
Her. Our daughter. It was handy to have a fertility god around.
Daniel flew down and held out a hand. Kelsey took it.
This was the moment, the moment I would take back if I could. This is the moment I would return to and begin again. But I can’t. If I could stop the story here, I would, because in that moment we were happy and we knew what we would find behind that door. We might have been worried about the danger, but we knew our world was waiting for us.
We were wrong.
* * * *
Kelsey
This is the moment I think about all the time, the moment that changed everything for me. As Donovan flew me up to the door, I was eager to get home, to see Fen and my guys.
But if I could go back, I would find a Planeswalker. I would sell my soul and get home that way so I could avoid what happened next, what they took from all of us. It was Myrddin’s magic that did it. One final trick in case we escaped the trap.
The queen would later tell me that the prophet Jacob had told her she must begin the next battle with a loss.
Not all losses are blood and death. There are worse things to lose.
Donovan pushed me through that invisible barrier and I found myself in a dark room.
This is the moment I regret most of all.
* * * *
Zoey
I was the last to take that trip with Danny. He’d pressed Dev through that invisible door and come to get me.
“When we get home, I want you to fly with me more.” He picked me up and we floated through the air. “I miss our adventures.”
I loved to be in his arms. “I do not miss all the terror. Little adventures