Dream Dark (Caster Chronicles 2.5)

Before I could say anything, he let the door slam in my face. A cloud of dust rose up from the ground, and I coughed. “Thanks, man.”

“Anytime.” He yanked the door open again.

I stared into the abyss below, pausing for a second the way I always did when faced with a staircase I couldn’t see. But Link didn’t hesitate. He jumped, landing about halfway down. Usually I was the one who went first when we were faced with a potentially dangerous situation.

“You comin’, dude?” Link called from the darkness.

“I’m right behind you.” How often did that happen?

Macon’s study was at the base of the stairs that led down into the Tunnels from his old bedroom at Ravenwood—the room that was Ridley’s now.

“You sure he’s cool with this?” Link asked, reaching out to touch the carved oak door.

Before I could respond, the door swung open and Macon was staring back at us through the green eyes of a Light Caster. “I am nothing, Mr. Lincoln, if not ‘cool,’ as you boys say. Particularly considering the state of the climate in our fair town these days.”

“I—uh…I mean, thanks for invitin’ me down here, sir,” Link stammered. “This whole Incubus thing has kinda come outta nowhere and kicked my butt. No offense.”

Macon dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. “None taken. Though I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that the term Incubus no longer applies to my current state.”

Link scrunched up his forehead. “Sir?”

“I don’t bite, Mr. Lincoln. Not that I ever did.” Macon opened the door wider and stepped aside to let us in. “But now it’s not even within the realm of possibility. Why don’t you come in, so we can make sure that you can say the same?”

Link scratched his head, and I doubted he was catching more than half the words coming out of Macon’s mouth. It was going to be a long day.

“You see, Mr. Lincoln, there comes a time in a young man’s life when his body starts to change…” Macon kept talking, and Link’s face turned beet red. Guess there were birds and bees in the Caster world, too.

I was pretty sure I was going to have to do some translating, until Macon finally gave up and said something Link understood perfectly. Something I was pretty sure he had never heard anyone say to him, least of all his own folks.

“Let’s sit down, Wesley. You can ask me anything you want to know.”

The next time Link went to see Macon, he didn’t ask me to come. I felt guilty about it, like I should’ve been there for him anyway. But Lena and I had been apart in so many ways, for so long, that we had a lot of catching up to do. When Link told me he took Ridley with him instead, I figured their train wreck of a relationship was bound to take its course, sooner or later.

“So I don’t have to drink blood?” It was the same question Link had asked Lena the night he told us about the bite, and the same one he’d asked Macon the last time he was there. Link couldn’t seem to get enough reassurance about it.

“Ugh!” Ridley sighed dramatically. “Haven’t we been over this, Shrinky Dink?” She was sitting next to Link, filing her purple polished nails. She looked totally bored, but she had insisted on coming along.

“Sorry, Mr. Ravenwood. Lena told me some of the basics, but I was pretty freaked out that night, and I don’t remember much.”

“That’s quite all right and completely understandable.” Macon poured himself a glass of sweet tea. “And the answer is no, Wesley. You don’t have to drink blood. May I ask if you’ve experienced any other cravings?”

Link shook his head. “Not for blood.”

Ridley stopped filing.

“Have you been craving something else, son?” Macon asked.

Ridley examined her nails so closely you would’ve thought she was a professional hand model.

“Just a mother’s love,” she said. “And a record deal. Two things he’ll never get. Right, Shrinky Dink?” She made a little sound in the back o

f her throat that was probably meant to be a giggle, but it came out more like a snarl. It wasn’t a good sound.

“Ridley, let him answer.”

Link wasn’t sure he wanted to, or even knew how to, answer that question. “I don’t know exactly.” He hesitated. It was going to sound crazy. “Sometimes I get the urge to…I don’t actually know how to say this.”

“You can speak freely here, Wesley.”