Worried he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep, Aiden had put the enchanted dagger back under his pillow. Just for a few nights so he could figure things out. He’d talked to Dylan and Tiago about it. Dylan, for a change, urged him to be cautious, while Tiago told him to go for it.
“If I had other family out there that cared about me, I’d do anything to see them,” Tiago had said.
Poor Tiago. He had two bad parents, and here Aiden might have an extra mom and a brother.
Even with the dagger in place, Aiden didn’t get much sleep. Anxiety yanked him around for almost a week, and he had to step out of Major Magical Control one day and spend the period in the counselor’s office.
If he was going to freak out about it no matter what, Aiden decided to go ahead and take the risk. And his birth mom had been right. The truth of their connection vibrated through him, coming from the same deep place his magic did.
So he and Dylan walked out to the edge of Dylan’s property where the barrier surrounding Shadow Valley started. Rather than grabbing a twig or a dead leaf, Aiden used his magic to call a flower out of the snow. A delicate purple hepatica bloomed against the white, and Aiden plucked it carefully. He hoped it would bring him good luck if he used something infused with his own power.
Aiden touched the petals to the shimmering, barely visible barrier. Three years ago he’d done the same thing with a leaf when Morgan asked him to strengthen their dream connection.
“Tell me this isn’t monumentally stupid.”
“I’m kinda the king of monumentally stupid ideas, huh?” Dylan said. “Well, as the resident expert, I’m saying this isn’t. It’s a risk, sure, but it’s not for a bad reason.” He glanced away into the dark forest.
Dylan had let Morgan out because he wanted the dark fae to get rid of all the wardens. Morgan had promised to kill them so Dylan could be free. Although Aiden’s reasons were technically selfish, they weren’t in the same league.
“You were younger then. And you regret it, so don’t keep beating yourself up over it.”
Dylan kicked at a snowdrift. “Yeah, but the consequences are still happening. Like a fucking snowball rolling downhill. Morgan is still out there, and I’m worried what’ll happen next.”
Aiden didn’t know what to say to that. People had been murdered by Morgan and at least one other dark fae he’d let out. That same dark fae had almost killed Aiden and Dylan two years ago.
Yes, it was due to Dylan’s actions. But it wasn’t like he could go back in time and change it. And he couldn’t catch Morgan and put him back in Faery. Unless that was what Mr. Johnson intended them to do when they became wardens.
A few hours later, Aiden crawled under the covers with the flower clutched tight in his hand. The scent of it made him think of the clearing in his dream, and he held on to that image, focusing on the positive. He was going to see his birth mom again, and this time he’d be able to talk to her for a longer time.
Both fear and anticipation kept him awake for what seemed like forever. Eventually he drifted through a few hazy dreams and then found himself in the hyperreal forest.
The orange bird chirped from a branch hanging over the path. Aiden looked down to find the flower in his right hand.
“Here we go,” he muttered.
In a few minutes he reached the clearing, and his birth mom greeted him with a hug. “Precious child. It is so good to see you again.” Her clean, floral scent surrounded him.
This has to be real. His magic hummed like a tuning fork, a stronger version of the connection he had with the forest around Shadow Valley.
“I brought this.” He held up the flower.
The dream walker stepped up from behind his birth mom, holding out a hand. “Ah, yes,” she said when Aiden placed the hepatica in her palm. “Very strong magic, woven together from many different kinds.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “A concealment spell?”
Aiden nodded. “To keep Shadow Valley hidden from the human world.” As the woman curled her fingers around the purple petals, he asked, “Are you… dark fae?”
Anger flashed in the dream walker’s eyes, and Aiden’s birth mom held up a hand. “He does not understand.” To Aiden she said, “No, she is not.”
“Dark fae and light fae hate each other, right?” The books in the library only had sparse information, some of it contradictory, but animosity between the two major types of fae was a common theme.
“We have long been at odds with our cousins. The Summer Court and Winter Court have often warred,” his mom said.
“I met another dream walker before.” His gaze flicked between his mom and the other woman. “A dark fae.” He told them about Morgan coming to him in dreams, how he’d shut the man out, and after an internal debate, he told them about how Dylan had let Morgan out.
They reacted with shock and dismay. Aiden’s mom grasped his hands. “Has this Morgan contacted you again?”
“No. But he sent one of his”—Aiden didn’t think “friend” was the right word—“companions to Shadow Valley to collect powerful blood.” He told the story of the murders and how he and Dylan had killed the dark fae.
“You killed a dark fae?” his mom asked.
“Dylan is the one that stabbed him, but I helped.”
“Still, it is an impressive feat. Perhaps I do not need to worry for your safety.” She brushed her fingers along the side of his face.
“Is my brother safe? You said he was okay, but…” His brother was human and wouldn’t have any magic in a world where everyone else did.
“He is protected.” A flicker of something in her eyes made Aiden wonder if the protection wasn’t enough, or if bad things had happened to him before. “Some suspect he is human, but many believe he is desolate—one born without magic.”
It would be a handicap in Faery. “Is he happy? Can I meet him?” Would they have anything in common? Did they look alike? Did his brother even know he was adopted?
“I am able to convey another if you wish,” the dream walker said. “Even one without magic.”
Hope filled Aiden’s chest.
“I will bring him next time.” His mom smiled. “He is called Oisin.”
Aiden repeated it in his mind. His brother having a name made him more real. “And what’s your name?” He already had a mom, and thinking of this woman as “birth mom,” while accurate, seemed awkward.
She made a face. “Names have power. True names are dangerous to share with another. I trust that you would not use mine against me, but it is safer to tell you what I am called—Nuala.”
Yes, right. Morgan had called himself that with Dylan, and Uncle with Aiden. The dark fae had shared his true name with Dylan so he could cast the blood spell, but Mr. Johnson had told them not to speak it out loud because it could draw the fae’s attention.
“Nuala. That’s pretty.”
“I will tell you your true name in time. I do not know if you have the proper training to handle it.”
Aiden thought Aiden was his real name, but that was what his human parents had given him, what his brother should have been named. It wasn’t what Aiden’s birth mom had actually named him. “Oh. And what about my father? You said he didn’t know about me, but why not?” Aiden had about a million questions, but the most important thing was knowing who his other family members were.
Her expression tightened. “Perhaps we should save that for our next meeting. It is… complicated.”
“Yes,” the dream walker said. “Though I can now hold us together longer, I require rest.”
Aiden wanted to whine that it wasn’t fair, that they’d barely gotten a chance to talk. “Can I see you tomorrow then?”
Nuala looked at the dream walker for confirmation, and the woman nodded. “Tomorrow,” Nuala said.