The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

Fractured - Part 31

When my eyes pop open, I'm in the huts on the Third Realm. Unlike the huts I remember which were cold, unfinished and deserted with a mix of granite and marble, this one feels like home. There are couches and chairs in this room in pale pastels and everything is rich and plush. I look around, amazed that the same space could feel so cold before and so comforting now. How do I know this place?

"Mason?" I call out tentatively.

He comes down the staircase to the left of me, the base of which opens up into the living room where I'm currently standing. He doesn't say anything for a moment; he stands there looking at me, as though he's taking me in. He sighs.

"If you're here in this place with me, it can only mean one thing: I'm not doing well."

"How'd you know?"

He looks up at the ceiling and all around the room. "This is my healing space. It's loosely modeled off somewhere I once lived."

"On the Third Realm? I thought you said you only spent a limited time there?"

His green eyes hold my gaze for so long that I start to feel uncomfortable. There's something going on here that I don't understand.

"That's true. Some places leave a lasting mark," he says.

"Can you get out of here?" I ask. He's still at the base of the stairs and I move closer to him. "Is it weird that this place feels familiar to me?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "It's the Third Realm. I'm sure all of it would feel a little familiar." He seems to be feigning nonchalance. Something is off here, but I can't figure out what I'm missing. "You want me to come back?" he asks, looking around the room, no longer holding my gaze.

"Yes," I say, feeling a touch of frustration.

"I don't know if I can yet." He pauses and pushes his hands deeper into his pockets. "You drained me almost dry."

He doesn't seem angry, but he's not himself. There's a weight to him in this place that doesn't exist in the First Realm. I don't know if I'm seeing the real Mason here or if the real Mason is asleep in a tree.

"Would that have killed you?" A frisson of fear shoots through my heart. I don't know what I'd do without him.

"No." He jiggles his hands in his pockets and for the first time, I realize he's also wearing Third Realm clothes, lightweight, beautifully cut, a sea green colour that matches his eyes. It's nothing like the leather outfit on the First Realm. How did I miss that?

I look down and notice that I'm still in my now disgusting wedding dress and my flower wool pants. Then, I look around the room again, taking in my surroundings. Something deep in me shifts and I catch a hint of a memory. When I look back at Mason, he's watching me carefully.

I cock my head to the side and scan his face. "The last time we ran into each other – well, the last time our souls connected – was it in the Third Realm?"

He shifts uncomfortably and sighs, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding my gaze. "I don't really want to get into this with you when I'm clearly not myself."

"Well, when are you going to tell me?" It's a question, but I'm starting to feel a little bit angry.

"I was hoping for never, to be honest."

"That's not going to work for me."

"I don't think it'll work for me, either. Those damn keepers will spill the truth without a second thought. They hate me."

"You're talking in riddles. It's annoying." I glare at him, not caring that we're in his healing place. I have a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. I already know that whatever happened between us was partially, if not completely, my fault.