Bridge of Dreams

Chapter 10

Michael tossed a few broken pocket watches on the sand inside Ephemera’s playground on the Island in the Mist. Then he settled on the bench in the gravel section and pulled out his tin whistle.

“We’re going to play the Lee-heart game,” he said cheerfully. “Take those pieces of time and leave them where the Lee-heart can find them.”

The only response he got was sharp bits of stone jutting up from the sand, as well as patches of bog and some foul-smelling water. He wasn’t sure if that was a location or a message—or just Ephemera’s effort to bring him something.

Closing his eyes, Michael played the last tune he’d heard in Lee’s heart. It wasn’t the same tune as when he’d first met the man. There was more hurt now in Lee than there had been a year ago, more shadows and sharp edges. While it was tempting to play the tune he remembered, he needed to give Ephemera the heart music of who Lee was now.

So he played the music and sent it out through the currents of the world to guide Ephemera to the heart that matched the tune.

He and the wild child had done this once before. He had sent the music in his heart and Sebastian’s into a place that couldn’t be reached in any other way. By doing that, he had reached Belladonna, the Warrior of Light who had become the monster that Evil feared. He had reached the woman he loved and found the way to help her come home.

Now he was trying to reach out again. Ephemera hadn’t found Lee yet, and that was a worry because it meant Lee had changed so much the wild child couldn’t match heart to music—or it meant Lee was dead.

No one in the family said those words, but after so many weeks without any kind of news, it was a possibility.

Possible, Michael thought as he began the song again. But I’m not giving up on you yet, you ripe bastard. I’m not giving up on you.

He played the song a third time, then lowered the tin whistle. The pocket watches were gone. Ephemera was following the music through the Light and Dark currents of power and had taken the physical messages with it.

Hoping that this time they might get a message in return, Michael went up to the house where Glorianna waited for him.