"I like him too. All your family is great, especially Gran."
"She"s everyone"s favorite."
"So, what do you think your dad will know about... this." I rubbed my arm where the handprint sat under the fabric. "Have you heard of this before?"
"Not me. Maybe he has. I"ll warn you though," he stopped me and looked at me pointedly. "I"m not thinking this is a good thing. But whatever it is, we"ll get through it, ok?"
"Ok."
"I"m not gonna let anything happen to you," he a.s.sured.
"I know."
"Good." He started towing me again, through the garage doors, and into the house. I was jumped by a big furry blonde creature and slammed into Caleb"s side. "Bella! Down!" He righted me and looked apologetic. "Sorry. She"s still only a puppy. Still learning aren"t you, girl. Bad girl," he said but crooned it sweetly like it was an endearment.
"A puppy? She"s huge? What is she?"
"She"s a Sheepdog. Only seven months old."
She was an English Sheepdog, I could see it now. She was big, up past my knee with long blonde and white s.h.a.ggy hair that hung over her eyes and legs.
"Well," I said and bent down to pet her. "She"s pretty." Bella nuzzled my hand and then my neck, making me giggle while Caleb tried to pull her back. "And sweet. She"s ok," I a.s.sured him.
I scratched behind her ears and she groaned a happy noise and flopped herself right on top of my lap almost. We laughed at her as she wagged her feet in the air and rubbed her head against my hand.
"She likes you. She usually doesn"t like strangers." Then he groaned and squinted. "That really sounded like some lame pick-up line didn"t it?"
"Kind of," I laughed. "How did you come up with Bella?"
"Don"t laugh," he said sternly, took a deep breath and muttered something under his breath I didn"t catch.
"What?" I asked and leaned closer.
"Twilight! Ok! Twilight!" He laughed. "Maria, it"s her fault. I told her she could name her and she"s on this Twilight kick." He shook his head. "Jen drew the line at putting a picture of Edward on her door."
I laughed and continued to pet Bella.
"But she"s only eight, right?"
"Yes, but she"s really smart. She"s read all the books."
"Well so have I but I would never have read them when I was eight."
"It"s not just that though. She reads everything. Murder mystery, fantasy, sci-fi. She"s a freak but, I love her."
"Wow."
"Ok, Bella. That"s enough belly rubbing," he crooned and patted her stomach. "I"m taking Maggie to see dad."
We got up and she whined and tried to follow but Caleb turned, put his hand up.
"No, girl. Stay."
She did but she didn"t look happy about it as her tail hung and she panted. He took my hand and pulled me down a bunch of winding halls and up some big white stairs.
"I can"t stay here, Caleb. I"ll get lost every time I go to the bathroom. It"s like the Labyrinth in here."
He cracked up.
"That"s a good name for it. My dad designed the house to confuse anyone who doesn"t live here. Burglars, ya know. There"s a trick to it. I"ll show you later."
"Ok."
The next hall we turned had black walls and floors. There were pictures lined with white backdrops of all kinds of funky buildings all down the walls, floor to ceiling.
"These are my dad"s designs," Caleb said proudly, pulling me to one that was particularly bizarre but in a good way.
"Wow, these are great. I had no idea you could do things like this with a building."
"Yeah. He"s the best. And he loves it which makes it even better."
"Caleb?" Peter shouted down the hall. "Are you purposely keeping Maggie from me?"
Caleb rolled his eyes and pushed me forward with a hand on the small of my back. Peter was sitting at an insanely large cherry desk in a huge office with black walls as well. He smiled hugely when we entered.
"Here you go, dad," Caleb said sarcastically and presented me like a gift. "I"ll just wait over here."
Peter guffawed and came around to greet me. He was wearing black slacks and a blue Oxford b.u.t.ton up with the sleeves rolled up.
"Oh, come on now, Caleb." He hugged me tightly. "This is the only time I"ll get this chance. Let me have my fun," he said just like Gran had yesterday.
"Ok, dad," Caleb said smiling. "But can we remember that I saw her first?"
"Absolutely." He pulled back to look at me with amus.e.m.e.nt. "And how are you, my dear?"
"Great. And I love your house."
"I love it too." He winked. "Did Caleb extend our invitation to you?"
"He did. Thank you, I really appreciate it."
"And?"
"And?" I said confused.
Caleb came over and stood beside me as Peter released me and leaned back on his desk.
"Dad. I haven"t had a chance to talk to you yet. You see, Maggie"s dad is gonna be more of a...problem that we originally thought," he said and looked apologetically to me.
Peter sat up straight and crossed his arms, looking pensive.
"That right?"
"Yes. We"ve already had a couple close calls. So, I told Maggie she can stay here when she wants to but she won"t be able to do anything more than that right now, dad."
"Hmm." Peter rubbed his chin just like Caleb does. "Well, we"ll have to figure something out."
"Yeah," I chimed in. "I don"t know what"s gotten into him but he"s all of a sudden decided to start parenting again."
"Tell me," he waved to the couch in front of him for us to sit. "Tell me what happened with him. Why he"s been so absent from your life until now."
I sat down with Caleb and thought how to process and word it all. With dad having confessed and apologized and now was being so awkward and upset with Caleb, it was like a fresh wound. Caleb"s hand came up to ma.s.sage my neck, calming, soothing. I smiled at him gratefully.
"Well, he hasn"t been absent. We"ve always been happy and together until last summer, before school started. My mom left. After that my dad has been like a zombie."
I told him the whole sad story up until present day. I watched his face as I told him and saw that he was concerned but didn"t pity me.
"Hmm." He rubbed his chin again and then ran one hand through his hair. I saw the same tattoo Caleb had on the inside of his wrist except his father"s half circle had Rachel"s name around the curved side. "Well, he must see that what is between you two isn"t going to just go away. That"s why he"s so frightened by this. I understand, I have a daughter myself. It"s hard to watch them grow up. I think this is just what he needed to wake up."
"Yeah, but it couldn"t have come at a worse time. He said Caleb can"t come over in the mornings anymore."
Peter jolted up.
"Now that is a problem. Hmm. I"d hate for you two to have outs with each other when you"ve just gotten him back in your life."
"Me too," I said truthfully.
"But you can"t deny the need for Caleb-"
"I know, believe me. Dad almost kicked Caleb out this morning and I...completely freaked," I admitted quietly. "I don"t know what we"re gonna do but...we gotta figure it out somehow. If I just leave him like that, I don"t know what he"ll do. I"m all he"s got."
Peter nodded and looked sincerely understanding.
"We"ll work it out, somehow, Maggie. We"ll figure it out. Don"t worry."
"Ok, dad. So one more thing," Caleb inched into the topic at hand.
"Ok," he said warily.
Caleb pulled my sweater open and pulled the shoulder down to expose my upper arm. Peter growled his words out, just like Caleb had.
"Again? How?"
"No, dad, not again. This was a dream."
His dad paled and leaned against the desk further to keep from falling. I jumped up to him.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"Dad, what is it?"
"They have an echoling," Peter answered breathless and then banged his fist on the desk.
"What"s that?" Caleb asked.
Peter looked at my arm and grasped it gently.
"This is an echo. A dream that is so real that it becomes real; tangible. They dream it and fashion it how they see fit and then send it, or echo it, to who the intended recipient is. They can imagine whatever they want and make it real. Make it happen to someone as if it were actually happening to them. They don"t have to even be aware that you"re asleep, you just receive the echo when you are sleeping. That"s why you have the offense mark. Because for all intents and purposes, it did happen."
I stared at him and waited for him to finish and to tell me that there was some way to stop it or make it go away. But he just sat there thinking.
"So, they can just climb into my dreams whenever they want and hurt me?"
Caleb came closer and laced our fingers.
"Yes," Peter said bluntly. "They can hurt you and drain you of your energy and essence. When you wake up you feel like you haven"t slept at all when they are in your dreams. Unless..." He sighed. "The solution is a little ironic I guess in this case."
"What? Whatever it is, we"ll do it," Caleb answered forcefully.
"Well, the only way to stop it is for Caleb to be with you. His touch calms you, it heals you and also keeps you from harm, from attack of another"s ability. He anchors you, grounds you, so to speak. He"s your shield." I guess Caleb and I continued to stare at him because he sighed and said more bluntly, "You have to sleep with Caleb. Just sleep," he insisted quickly, "but he has to be touching you while you sleep in order to keep Marcus or anyone else away. He"s your barrier."
I blinked.
"I don"t understand."
"Your imprint works so that you are always together, Maggie. You live best, work best, play best, love best and fight best when you"re together. You"ll even sleep best when you are. I know I do all those things best with Rachel."
"I have no idea how we"ll pull that off with my dad the way he is lately."
"Me either. Let me think on it. In the meantime, just stay together as long as possible. Ok?"
I nodded and then had another thought.
"I thought no one in their clan had ascended either? How can Marcus have abilities?"
"He doesn"t. Someone"s helping him. That"s what worries me most."
I let Caleb pull me from the room. He called out over his shoulder.
"Bye, dad. Thanks."
"Caleb."
He came to the hall to speak.
"I know this is hard for you both. You"re both young and you"re trying not to hurt Maggie"s father but, this is inevitable. You two can"t be apart." He looked at me. "Maggie, I know this is strange for you but I feel the need to stress the severity of the situation. It won"t just make you ill if you"re apart, Caleb will be ill too. I"ll work on trying to figure something out about your father but if it doesn"t pan out and he forbids you to see Caleb-"
"I understand. We have to be together, even at the cost of angering my father. I understand, I do."