Chapter Thirteen
I open my eyes in the waking world.
Virgil looks at me curiously as I lean back in the wheelchair to catch my breath.
That was a lot of information all at once. It’s a good thing I’d sat down before I started, as my legs are actually feeling weak.
Maxwell sits up on the gurney. He looks at his empty palms, then touches his fingers to his lips while looking at me as if for the first time.
“Do you remember now?” I ask cautiously.
“I remember everything.” His voice is choked with emotion.
For a few moments, we just stare at each other. Then Virgil coughs theatrically.
I have no idea what the vampire thinks is going on here, but I don’t care. I stand up as Maxwell slides his legs down the gurney.
As soon as he’s off the bed, he envelops me in a fierce hug.
My heart flutters even more rapidly here in the real world. My father’s scent, clean and woodsy, tugs at something in the back of my mind, evoking a feeling of comfort and safety. My usual germ fears are far from my mind, and even after we pull apart, I don’t feel the slightest urge to hygieia.
“Your mother,” Maxwell says raggedly. “Can you please take me to her?”
I glance at Virgil, who’s watching us with a puzzled frown. Catching my gaze, he nods and leads us out.
I use the time as we walk to compose myself. Just because my father now remembers me doesn’t mean all our problems are solved.
When we get to Mom’s room, the two gnomes are still chatting. Ignoring them and Virgil, Maxwell rushes to Mom’s tricked-out bed and stares at her greedily, eyes gleaming with moisture.
“Open it,” he says. “Please.”
Dr. Xipil pauses his animated discussion with Itzel, touches the remote, and the clamshell glass opens up. He and Itzel then tactfully step away, while Maxwell grabs Mom’s hand and closes his eyes.
“Are you going into her dreams?” I ask softly, coming up to stand next to him.
He shakes his head. “I’m no use to anyone if Phobetor takes me over again. Or makes me go insane.”
I lay my hand over his palm, which is still squeezing my mom’s hand. “How do we save her then?”
He looks at me. “We need to go to Soma to reunite with Asha.”
I gape at him, struck speechless.
I’m still wrapping my mind around finding my father. To also gain a sister? My twin? I can’t even—
“Once you and Asha meet, you’ll have to decide if you’re willing to follow the prophecy,” Maxwell says, and his words hit me like a bucket of crushed ice. “Once Phobetor is defeated, any of us can go into your mother’s dreams, give her back her past, and jolt her awake.”
Phobetor defeated.
Prophecy.
Until this moment, these were merely abstract concepts.
Now I have no choice but to consider them, even though my brain refuses to compute it all.
“I don’t know about my sister, but I’m not a hero from some fairy tale,” I say slowly. “Even if I were, how would I defeat a god?”
“By, among other things, believing in yourself,” Maxwell says solemnly.
Pom’s fur turns pitch black on my wrist. “Sure. Why didn’t you say so before? I’ll just believe in myself all the way to a miracle. Maybe I’ll turn lead into gold while I’m at it.”
My father shakes his head. “Even before Nostradamus, our people believed we would have to deal with Phobetor one day. Believed that he could be defeated.”
I take a step back. “I saw him close up.”
“And he had me under his power,” Maxwell says softly. “I understand the magnitude of this task better than anyone.”
I begin to pace the room.
Can I do this?
No clue. Probably not, though. My parents tried, and that didn’t work out so well for them. It would be a shame to find my twin, just to have Phobetor Overtake us and have us kill each other.
Still, going to Soma and meeting my sister is the first step in this insane plan, and it’s something I’d want to do even if Phobetor didn’t exist. Once there, if there’s no other way to wake Mom, and if Asha’s on board, we can revisit the whole battling Phobetor idea.
Who knows? I may not be a hero, but if I train a bit, maybe I could at least bluff Phobetor into letting me into Mom’s dream world. I did manage to jolt away from him the last time. That’s something.
I stop pacing and face my father. “Let’s do it. Take me to Soma.”
Chapter Fourteen
Maxwell smiles proudly. “That’s my girl.”
I’m not sure how to respond to that—or to the warm glow his words generate in my chest—but I don’t have to because Valerian walks into the room.
His gaze falls on Maxwell’s face, and his eyes widen. “Max? Max Spidi?”
Spidi? Is that my real last name? It makes sense that Mom would take on our current one—Spade—as a way to stay more incognito in her exile.