Honesty Falls

6ix

As soon as she materialized at home, her feet went into motion. She grabbed some supplies she'd need, others just floated to her.

Sitting all of it on the coffee table, she called to her ancestors. "Lend me your magic, Roe sisters. Someone is in need of our help."

Holding up her hand, a sweater in a plastic bag appeared in it. Bethany's sweater. It was covered in blood now. Most of it Pikes, but she hadn't had the heart to throw it away. Once she connected with a person, pieces of them are always left behind. She'd felt this girl's hopes and dreams. Her fears, and Nevaeha had always planned on checking on the other girl.

She would have by now if her life wasn't such a mess.

She took the sweater out of the bag and place it into the large bowl. After sprinkling some ash and feathers over it, she began chanting. The voices of her ancestors joining hers.

Before long, sadness engulfed her. Despair overwhelmed her. Bethany's boyfriend was the boy who didn't make it back. A good kid, just too daring for his own good.

He'd cared for her and now, with him gone, she had no one again. Her parents were thinking of moving. Bill collectors were making too many house calls.

Bethany was lost and didn't know if she was strong enough to hang on. Not anymore. Not after this.

"You should think before you dally with other people's lives."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She dried her tears and looked at Conway. It wasn't the first time he'd sneaked up on her and probably wouldn't be the last.

"Come to tell me to stop?"

"You know better than that. I believe people are free to make their own mistakes." He smoothed out his navy-blue pinstripe suit. "I'm here because Sebastian feels he should advise against it."

Curious to see her book out when it hadn't been the last time he visited, he went to stand before it.

Before he could see too much. The book closed.

He smirked. "Very powerful book. You must be pleased to have it returned to you."

"More than I can say. It's like a family member to me."

"Sebastian believes that once you use your magic to change people's lives that it's hard to stop. Then, before you know it, you've led them too far from their destinies."

"What do you believe?"

"I believe it takes extra care to guide a path when you don't know where their path lays. You need to proceed with caution. Sometimes your heart being in the right place isn't enough."

"Why didn't Sebastian come himself?"

"He tries to stay out of other people's business when at all possible. Or so he says."

Now he was looking at her collection of supplies.

She was proud of her collection, but she was sure his was much more advance. Everyone knew that sometimes Conway dabbled into things that he shouldn't.

"She's a good kid and life hasn't been easy on her. She just needs someone to care. No one should feel so alone."

He studied her, and she knew he was thinking about her own loneliness over the years.

"Since you are preoccupied today, tomorrow I want you to give more effort into finding the answers to your own problems. Churchill is correct. The best place to find those answers is in your dreamworld. If you need any help, all you must do is call out my name. Or, most likely, Sebastian will know you need help before you do."

"Before you go, I would like to talk to you about the underworld. You once said that you went there. Do you think you could help me find my way there?"

His long nose flared in distaste. "Most try to escape the underworld. They do not visit it, though once I did. Back before I moved here. I've made many mistakes, and that was one of them. Passage was expensive."

"My mother said I'd be able to come and go when I was ready. If I could get to her, then she'd could give me answers."

His stare was intense. "I believe you have your answers. As much as she tried to steer your life in a certain direction, everything she feared still came to pass. Destinies are not to be trifled with."

"Isn't that what we did by making Vallen forget me?"

"I believe all we did is prolong the outcome."

"You don't believe I can be saved?" Sometimes talking to Conway required all the patients she possessed, but he was wise, and she did appreciate his council. He was wise through trial and error, which she'd like to avoid if possible.

"Save you from your destiny? No. Saved you from the wolf pup, I'm unsure. Depends on if he is your destiny or not. Perhaps that is the answer you should search for."

"In my dream world?"

"Within yourself." His smile was slight.

"The spell might be weakening. Today, Cato was looking at me funny. Like he remembers something."

"That one is stronger than he thinks. By shifter standards, not so much, but he has an inner strength that most never possess. Imagine what he could do if he knew he possess such strength."

"Like his ability to feel ghosts? I thought that was unusual. His mother believes it's because he's touched death before."

"Very real possibility. Insight into death is something that piques my curiosity. As for your other question, the underworld differs from what you're used to. Be careful there. No one can be trusted. Remember, there is only one thing that beings in the underworld want and that's freedom. Beings tether to the underworld are like the beast trapped in the forbidden forest. The difference is the creatures in the forest know one day they will find freedom, even if it's only through death. The creatures in the underworld know there's no freedom to be had, and that makes them long for it even more. Unlike the forest, it's a world that mimics are own, so never forget it's not the same."

With a nod of his head, he was gone.