A Thief of Nightshade(27)

and

hers

differed

considerably. This evening’s intention was for those in the Wright family’s economic peer group to meet the newest member of the circle. She hated every minute of it, aside from those spent in the company of her nieces and nephews.

“Dinah caught a rabbit yesterday. It was white and had huge front teeth,”

Pearson, her eight-year-old nephew, told Jullian. They’d managed to sneak away to visit the children.

“Who, may I ask, is Dinah?” Jullian sat down a beanbag chair with his long legs stretched comfortably in front of him, as though he’d lived in that chair his whole life.

“Our kitty cat,” Peyton said. She was almost three.

Aubrey

arched

one

brow

dramatically. “She’s something of a legend around here, what with her conquests with the other neighborhood felines.” She pulled Peyton into her arms.

“Brooke isn’t terribly fond of her, given her penchant for dragging dead things into the house. The cat, I mean, not Brooke.”

Pearson giggled but fell quiet when his sister spoke again.

“She isn’t even scared of the big, mean dog next door.” Peyton looked up at Aubrey innocently.

Jullian shifted positions, the beans in his chair sloshing loudly, so he could better see Pearson. “Are you afraid of him?”

Pearson nodded, wide-eyed. “He’s really awful. You’d be afraid of him, too, if you rode your bicycle around here.”

“Well,” Jullian said, “you know there is only one thing to be done when you fear someone or something like your neighbor’s dog.”

“And what would that be, Dr.

Sellars?” Aubrey asked, grinning.

“Well,” he leaned into Pearson, “you’ve got to close your eyes and, with your heart of hearts, believe in magic.

Believe in something beyond yourself, beyond what you know as reality.”

Peyton and Pearson, who had both been told on more than one occasion that daydreams and make-believe were for children who couldn’t afford decent toys, laughed. Pearson realized suddenly that Jullian wasn’t kidding and even Aubrey was surprised to see the seriousness in his eyes.

Jullian looked at her and spoke then as though he meant his words for her, not the children. “A very fine line exists between our world and magic. When emotions are strong enough, they will carry a person over. I’m not talking about if the dog is chasing you. If he’s chasing you, run.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And what good exactly will that do if the neighbor’s

dog doesn’t believe in faerie tales and bites you anyway?”

Jullian smirked. “How do you know he doesn’t? Have you asked him?”

More laughter erupted from the children. Aubrey no longer saw the humor in it, “Well, I’m not quite fluent enough in canine to do so. Perhaps you should do the honors next time we’re outside?”

“Yeah.” Pearson giggled, his eyes wide. “Make sure he’s eaten dinner, though.”

Jullian snatched up the boy and tickled him. “I’ll be sure to bring steak.”

“That went surprisingly without incident,”

Jullian said.

Aubrey buckled her seat belt, but remained quiet.

Jullian, who was driving, smiled without looking at her. “I can behave myself, you know. Don’t you think it went well?”

“I guess. Sure.”

“Oh, love, it went great. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just ... you did after all tell two very gullible children that nothing could hurt them so long as they wish on faerie dust.”

Jullian kept his eyes on the road.

“That isn’t what I said.”

“Yes, you did. Look, I’ve said it before, this is part of who you are and I love you for it, but what happens when they find themselves in a really bad situation and all they can remember is ...

is something from Neverland? Bad things happen, Jullian. They need to understand that. Fear isn’t always a bad thing, it keeps us out of trouble sometimes.”

He dipped his head once in agreement and looked at her sideways.

“What happened to you?” he asked carefully. “You’ve asked that of me, but something tells me you’ve got an answer of your own.”

She swallowed hard. “You know what happened, I told you. I fell. Broke my leg. Lots of surgery...”

Jullian shook his head. “That’s certainly affected you, but that isn’t what I’m talking about.” She paled as he continued. “It goes deeper than that. You shy away from my touch at times, usually when you’re half-asleep. As soon as you realize it’s me, you’re fine. Early on in my class we discussed the role of childhood trauma in faerie tales—you left early that day, to Samantha’s dismay. It isn’t like you to walk out of a lecture. I can’t help but to put two and two together.”

She turned to the window and stared at the streetlights as they drove. The view was mainly dark forest, with an occasional glimpse of the river through the trees. She couldn’t answer him. How could he have known? Surely Grant hadn’t said anything. She finally asked, “Did Grant tell you?”

“No,” Jullian said gently, “he didn’t.