When I got to Madame Lavoie's side, I saw that she was holding a small book in her hands. I was willing to bet that this was the oldest thing in here. The leather was cracked and faded and the pages looked so brittle that I feared one small touch of my fingers would cause them to crumble. Even Madame Lavoie was holding it with care.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Take a look." She held the book out for me and I hesitated before taking it ever so carefully in my hands. When it was safely resting in my palms, she pointed to the center of the right page and I began to read.
A bonded pair is more rare than the lycan race is led to believe. An alpha who decides to participate in a blood bond puts his life and the life of his mate in extreme danger. Nearly every attempt will fall.The fates restricted a successful bond to a select few whom they chose themselves long ago. Even fewer of these bonded pairs will have the ability to dream as one.
To share a dream gives a pair near limitless power. The fates have already chosen which pairs will possess this ability and they chose each with purpose. A shared dream allows a pair to communicate without the boundaries of location and consciousness. The bond they share together intensifies, causing all other powers, both for themselves and their pack, to grow. Once the mates discover how to share dreams, they will have effectively placed themselves above all others of their kind.
This was the second time I'd read something that had mentioned dreams. I had an inkling that this was something I needed to pay close attention to. If I were being completely honest, it frightened me a bit. From what I could gather, having the ability to dream as one was dangerous. If the wrong people could do it, then who knew the kind of destruction and chaos they could create. It was so much responsibility to put on two people's shoulders. Somehow, I couldn't help but feel like Gabriel and I would be one of the "lucky" few.
I wasn't sure how I knew this or how I felt about it. A part of me was certain that it was hugely invasive and I was upset that anyone other than myself could enter my unconscious. My dreams were my private world, things even I rarely remembered when I woke. Why did I have to share that much of myself?
The other part of me felt complete elation at the thought that this could help me save Gabriel. It was really no fun having a personal battle going on in your head. It was amazing how much I was being forced to work through issues I'd struggled with for years in mere days since I'd stumbled upon Gabriel's world.
"The other book mentioned something about dreams as well."
Madame Lavoie nodded. "Yes, I do remember dream sharing between bonded mates, but it's been so long since I've thought about it. I can't believe I didn't think of it before. Then again, I've never encountered a successfully blood bonded pair, let alone one who could dream as one, so it hadn't been necessary."
I looked up at her, an expression of worry clouding my face. "Do you think Gabriel and I can do this?" I asked. Even though I had just felt like we could, that little nugget of doubt was eating away at my previous confidence.
Madame Lavoie spent the next few minutes just staring at me. I had the feeling that she was assessing me in some way and it was making me extremely uncomfortable. Eventually, she must have come to some sort of conclusion, because she nodded her head with determination and cleared her throat.
"You and Gabriel are something special; I knew that the first time I laid eyes on you both together. Human or not, as a pair, you two are remarkable. I know you feel like an outsider in our world, but you belong here more than you know. That being said, I am quite confident that dream sharing is only one of the many powers that you and Gabriel gained as a result of the blood bond." Her tone was so...resolute. Not one ounce of doubt could be detected in her words and, somehow, they lessened the doubt that had begun to grow. It was strange the calming effect that Madame Lavoie had on me.
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.