Bloodbond

Chapter 30

I smiled at her. "Do you have any idea how I might go about doing this?"

She furrowed her brows and scrunched up her mouth in concentration. "Hmm, well the book doesn't say much beyond what you read and I can't recall reading anything else on the subject, but my memory could be a bit lacking. I'll look around a bit more to see if I can find anything else that might give me some more clues. If not, we'll have to take it by ear. Why don't you go and check on Gabriel. You can come back to help me after you've finished."

I nodded my head and passed her back the book she'd handed me. I turned on my heels and headed out of the shed and back to the house.

As I was walking, I kept going over what this dream sharing thing meant. I know that both books had expressely pointed out that it was a useful form of communication when one or both mates were not conscious. What irked me was that the second book had stated "when they discover how to share dreams", without giving any information that would teach me how to actually do it.

It was becoming obvious that the fates, and anyone else involved, wanted bonded mates to figure things out on their own. The problem was, what if they ran out of time?

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After quickly checking on Gabriel (who hadn't moved an inch since I'd left him earlier) I went back downstairs with the intention of going to the shed to assist Madame Lavoie. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that, right?

As I walked down the hall, my curiosity was peeked by a door I hadn't noticed before that stood slightly ajar.

Yes, I hated searching other people's houses, but people do get curious. I was certain that the door had been shut earlier when I'd been looking for Madame Lavoie. I don't remember looking in it either. Weird, I thought I'd checked all the rooms to make sure that she hadn't been in any of them.

I took a step closer to the door but hesitated when I reached my hand up to push it open. Decisions, decisions. I didn't want to invade Madame Lavoie's privacy, but I couldn't exactly make myself turn around and head back to the shed either.

After going back and forth for another minute or so, I finally nudged the door open and took a peak inside.

The room was lined with shelves that were filled with odd looking books and an assortment of other items. I slowly walked inside and stood in front of the shelf that was directly across from the open door. This one had no books on it, but it was filled other...things?

The shelf held a few figurine like things; some were easily recognizable as lycan or some other quite beautiful night scene. Others were indistinguishable to my eye. An array of jars filled with some less than appealing objects covered the shelves as well.

Before I had a chance to examine what was actually in the jars, I heard the door creak open and I whipped my head around, a guilty look plastered on my face.

"And what might you be doing, my dear?" asked Madame Lavoie. Her face was unreadable. It was impossible to tell if she were angry with me or not.

"Well, um...I was just...the door was open and I hadn't noticed it before, so I got...curious...," my terrible explanation drifted off as I ran out of things to stutter.

We spent a few minutes in silence. Each second that passed by made me that much more nervous and uncomfortable. After everything she'd been doing for me, I went and snooped around her private things? Yeah, I was quite skilled at showing my gratitude, wasn't I?

"They're just personal items that I've collected over the years. A few have a more...significant purpose," she said out of the blue. "Don't worry. I'm not angry with you," she said with a smile. "Back to the books, hmm?"

I took the hint and made my way out of the room, Madame Lavoie closing the door behind us both. When we got back, I took a seat and began going through book after book.

After what felt like hours, I looked up to see Madame Lavoie on the other side of the room doing exactly what I'd been doing. From the frustrated look on her face, I knew that she'd been having just as much success as me.

As if sensing my gaze, Madame Lavoie looked up. "No luck, hmm?" she asked.

I shook my head. "None."

"I guessed as much." She sighed heavily. "I don't think we'll find anything more about dream sharing. I'm fairly certain that the fates would be sure to keep this information private. Which means..."

"Which means they wanted us to figure it out for ourselves," I finished dejectedly.

She looked at me with sympathy. "I'm afraid so." We lapsed into more silence for awhile. I'd been afraid of this. The two books that had mentioned dream sharing between bonded mates had been so vauge. I felt so frustrated that we couldn't find more details about how to actually go about doing it. The fates really knew how to be irritating. Way to seriously kick someone when they were already down.

"Well, shall we then?" came Madame Lavoie's bright statement, shattering the silence.

"What are you talking about?" I asked in confusion.

"I'm talking about your dream sharing. Let's get some food and then head upstairs to have a go at it?": I just looked at her, completely thrown off guard by the huge shift she'd taken. My brain was having a little trouble adjusting to the one eighty.

"You're kidding, right?" I finally managed.

She cocked her head to the side. "Of course not. This is no joking matter. There is nothing here that will help you learn how to access your ability, so you'll just have to go upstairs and start trying. The longer you wait, the longer it will take to work." She sounded completely rational and I knew what she said was right, but I was just so worn out. It felt like this day had been going on forever and it still wasn't over?

Apparently Madame Lavoie could tell that I was hesitating, because her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Cassia, my dear, I understand your frustration and I empathize. But putting this off will do nothing for you and it could very well only make things worse for Gabriel. I do not want to heighten your guilt, but you must see the gravity of the situation."

"I do see it!" I growled in irritation. "It's been a long day, I'm sorry."

"I understand. Let's get you some food and we can discuss things a bit further, alright?" she said gently. I nodded and stood. Madame Lavoie placed her hand in the middle of my back and led me out the door of the shed and inside the house to the kitchen.

She sat me down at the counter and began cooking something. I paid little attention to what she was doing, instead, losing myself in my thoughts.

When a plate of food was placed in front of me, I started eating it, barely glancing at what was there.

After a few minutes of eating, I felt Madame Lavoie's heated gaze boring into me and I looked up. "Your thoughts are elsewhere."

I closed my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. But now, you need to focus. I will be right there with you. We'll figure this out, Cassia." I looked up into Madame Lavoie's eyes and a small burst of determination ignited within me. I wanted Gabriel back now and there was no other way to do it. I may be walking into this blind, but it was the only hope I had to save him. Madame Lavoie believed in me and now I needed to believe in myself.

All that was left was to go upstairs and take a leap of faith.