Page 38 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

But it also brought up another question.

“Why haven’t I heard of this before?” I asked. “You’ve taught me all about witches and the different types of magic. Why not this one?”

Minerva smiled at me. “Because I’ve only met one other dreamwalking witch in my lifetime. It’s a very rare ability. One that has its dangers and requires a great deal of training. It never even occurred to me that your power might be something so rare.”

“But I’ve only been able to talk to Talant,” I said.

“As I said, it requires training. All mental magic does. You’ve connected to Talant because it’s your destiny to wake him and he’s quite powerful. But, with some time and practice, you’ll likely be able to make a connection with anyone you wish as long as they don’t have a protection spell in place.” She paused. “And if you’re strong enough and have the training necessary, you might even be able to get through their protection spells.”

Minerva came over to the bar. “And even if this wasn’t case. Even if the only person you were able to dreamwalk with was Talant, I wouldn’t care. I would still work with you and train you if you wanted, or, if you didn’t want to train, let you be. It’s up to you what you do with your power.”

“But you just said I’m supposed to wake the blood god.”

“That may be,” my aunt replied. “But I would never force you to do something like that. If you want to, I’ll work with you and help you figure it out. If you don’t want to do it, then I’ll focus my efforts on tracking down and containing Sommerton and Leona. You are what matters to me. Not my premonitions.”

That damn lump was back in my throat. I cleared it and said, “I want to help Talant. We’ve been talking for a while now and he’s become a friend.”

“Then I’ll keep training you until you can access your power,” she replied. “Have you been practicing?”

“Yes. I practiced with Talant last night.”

Minerva grinned. “See? There are already benefits to dreamwalking with the blood god. He’s teaching you how to use your magic.” She paused. “Then again, that may be a bad thing. Gods are notorious for not caring about what happens to humans.”

“I think he cares about me. He promised to help me.” I cleared my throat. “But Sommerton said something yesterday when he called that worries me.”

She cocked her head but didn’t speak.

“He said he was with Talant’s brother,” I continued.

Her brows rose. “His brother? As in, another god?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t get a chance to clarify much before a pissed off gargoyle took my phone out of my hand.”

“Hmmm.” She hummed, her eyes narrowing.

“Does that change things?”

“Maybe.”

“Do you think he was telling the truth?”

It was Minerva’s turn to shrug. “Possibly. I’ve read histories of witches and warlocks siphoning power from a god. It never ended well or without bloodshed. And I’ve also read about gods possessing witches and warlocks who call to them. But all of these stories are so old that they’re considered legend, and I don’t know how accurate they are. There’s a lot of hyperbole in legend and sometimes outright lies.”

“So, what do we do?” I asked.

For the first time in my life, my aunt said, “I don’t know.”

“Well, if Talant is actually the brother of whatever entity Sommerton is gaining magic from, he should be able to protect me, right?”

My aunt looked relieved. Well, more like slightly mollified but she did relax.

“That didn’t happen tonight, did it?” she asked, answering my question with a question of her own.

She had a point there. We hadn’t even discussed it, but there was little doubt that Sommerton (or whatever was possessing him) had been the one to cast the spell to draw me out of the protection ward. As far as we knew, no one else wanted to harm me. Or in his case, use me.

“I’ll talk to Talant about this the next time I dreamwalk,” I said.

“Good. Keep me apprised. And I’ll do what I can, too.” She cleared her throat. “Just stick close to Dax.”

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