“My pleasure. Call me if you need anything.”
I hung up. Corri flew over to rest on my shoulder, but when she got close enough to feel the sweaty heat of my body, she scrunched up her nose and went to sit on the kitchen counter. God, her nose was sensitive alright! Offensively so!
“What was that about?”
I quickly checked my account and cocked my eyebrow at the hefty sum. Well, being a Grim Reaper sure was a well-paid career.
“I’ll tell you what. Yoli’s getting new clothes.”
* * *
We went shopping, and it was the perfect excuse to get her out of the house and away from Stepan and Lena, who always seemed to lurk outside the bedroom door when I was visiting. I had to give it to them. They were taking care of this kid like they’d never taken care of me. Yolanda chose a few pairs of pants, a few sweaters, and a dress. She’d been wearing her old clothes from the orphanage for too long, and they were mostly second-hand stuff donated by people. My mom had given her some of my old clothes, but since I hadn’t had many myself, they were too worn out to look even half-decent. I didn’t want the kids to make fun of her at school. Been there, done that. It wasn’t pleasant, and it didn’t build character, either. It just made you sad, bitter, and insecure.
When she got tired, we stopped at a small family restaurant in the better part of town, and I chose the most isolated booth I could find. It was time.
“Yoli, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
She was stuffing her mouth with the complementary nachos.
“But first, you have to meet someone.” I figured it would be easier to convince her that I hadn’t gone insane, and there was a world full of supernaturals out there if I could demonstrate with… a pixie. “Promise me you won’t freak out, though.”
“I promise.” Her big blue eyes were trained on me.
“Like… seriously. You might feel the need to jump and scream. Promise me you won’t do it.”
She furrowed her brows and placed her fists on the table, taking the position I used to take at the doctor’s office, when I knew I wouldn’t like what the woman in scrubs was going to do to me, but I also knew it was necessary and I just had to suck it up for a few minutes.
“Good.” I opened my bag. “Corri?”
The pixie emerged slowly from the bag, making sure no one was around to see her. Her brown hair was disheveled, and her clothes were wrinkled. She’d been forced to ride in my bag the whole shopping session, and she wasn’t happy about it.
“Hi there!”
Yoli blinked, then blinked again. She pursed her lips, and I could tell she was biting hard on her tongue. Her reaction was priceless! I almost burst out laughing, but that would’ve been inappropriate, so I coughed and tried to stay focused.
“Corri is a pixie. My pixie.”
Yolanda shook her head as if to say she didn’t believe her eyes and didn’t believe me either. This wasn’t going to be easy, but at least her protest was silent.
“Yes, pixies are real, but not just pixies. Angels, demons, vampires, shapeshifters… I’m going to tell you a story. About how I came to study at Grim Reaper Academy. Me, a human, just like you. But if we’re only human, it doesn’t mean we don’t have our own powers and we’re not supernatural in our own way.”
“Are you saying I’m supernatural?”
Well, she did know how to read between the lines. But first things first, I had to start with the beginning. So, I told Yolanda everything, except two things: that I wasn’t human anymore, and that I found out about Katia, who was trapped in a parallel universe, because I used to be a dream jumper myself. I faded over those details, and in my opinion, the story didn’t have much to suffer because of it. It was overwhelming for an eleven-year-old as it was.
“Those dreams you told me about… they’re real, too. You have the same gift my mother has. You were born with it. So, you see, I need you to travel and find her.”
She nodded. “What about him?”
“I want you to stay away from him. Valentine Morningstar is dangerous. My mother… she knows him better than anyone. I have this strong feeling that if we get to her, she will tell us how to retire him.”
Corri looked at me like I was the eighth wonder of the world. That was the first time she was hearing this theory. In truth, it was the first time I had thought of it. After telling Yoli how awful Morningstar was and how important it was for me to retire him so I could take his place as a Grim Reaper, I felt like a needed to give her a solid incentive to look for Katia instead, and not for him. I didn’t want to send her after him, although I was dying to know what parallel dimensions he’d been traveling to lately. My mother could as well have something helpful, and if not her, then her husband – one of the few versions of Morningstar who weren’t mad and evil. Something’s gotta give. I was out of ideas, anyway. Yoli was my only chance.
“Now that you know lucid dreaming is a gift, you’ll be able to control it. We’re learning about it at the Academy. Corri, can you please get my notes?” The pixie swirled in the air, clapped her tiny hands, and a bunch o
f papers materialized on the table. “Even though I’m not a great dream jumper myself, I paid attention in class and wrote everything down for you.”
Yoli started going through my notes. “It’s strange that you haven’t inherited your mother’s gift,” she said. “I’m sorry. Life is just so unfair sometimes.”