Anne Bishop - Bridge of Dreams

“Told what?” Nadia asked at the same time Sebastian said, “Where’s Lee?”

Glorianna took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “Lee crossed over to another landscape, one that doesn’t resonate with me—or with anyone else in the family.”

“What do you mean?” “When did this happen?” “Glorianna…” Protests and questions from Nadia, Jeb, and Lynnea.

“Wait,” Sebastian said sharply. Nudging Lynnea out of his way, he walked up to Glorianna and studied her. “Why do you think he crossed over?”

“I don’t think it; I know it,” Glorianna said.

“He’s a Bridge and your brother. He wouldn’t leave.”

“You’re my cousin and you almost did.”

“No.”

“Yes.” This was why she’d come to the Den to tell the family about Lee. Because she’d almost lost Sebastian too, and she was hoping he would help the others understand. “You had grown away from the Den, had begun to want something else. If the Eater of the World hadn’t escaped when It did, if Lynnea hadn’t come to the Den when she did, you would have crossed over one night to rendezvous with a woman you had met in the twilight of waking dreams—and you wouldn’t have come back. Even if you’d intended to return to the Den, you wouldn’t have found your way back.”

“But I did stay,” Sebastian protested.

“Because things changed,” Glorianna said. “ You changed. You realigned with the Den in a new way and opened your heart to the daylight landscapes in order to make a life that included the woman you love.”

“What does that have to do with Lee walking away from his family?”

“I’m not sure he walked away from everyone.” It hurt to admit that.

“Nadia’s landscapes are in your garden,” Yoshani said quietly. “While we made arrangements for this meeting, you seemed certain that Lee couldn’t reach the landscapes held by your mother.”

“I did think that at first. But Mother’s landscapes don’t resonate with me; they resonate with her.” Glorianna looked at her mother, who was a Fifth-Level Landscaper. “Lee is a Bridge. He can pick up a stone and make a one-shot bridge to Aurora anytime he wants to without going through any of my landscapes. So I think he’ll still be able to reach you.”

“Or he could use that island of his, right?” Jeb asked.

She shook her head, her eyes still on her mother. “That island doesn’t resonate with him anymore.”

Nadia sucked in a breath and pressed her fingers over her lips.

“Damn the daylight, Glorianna,” Sebastian snapped as the door opened behind him. “Why did this happen?”

“Why did what happen?” Michael set his daypack by the door. He hurried over to Glorianna and wrapped an arm around her waist.

Sebastian stared at Michael, whose brown hair was always a little shaggy and whose smoky blue eyes usually held a friendly look and missed little about the people around him. He was a Magician, ill-wisher, and luck-bringer—and he was learning to be a Guide to the world. Ephemera called him the Music because he used music to reach people’s hearts and keep his pieces of the world in balance.

After a long moment of staring at Michael, Sebastian’s sharp green eyes fixed on Glorianna. “He’s acting like a brat because you and the Magician are playing house?”

“Don’t be snide about a heart’s journey,” Glorianna warned. “And Michael and I are not playing house.”

“Will somebody tell me what’s going on?” Michael demanded.

“Lee’s gone,” Teaser said. “Crossed over somewhere and poofed. Even abandoned his little island.”

Michael looked thoughtful. Then he shook his head. “No. He doesn’t want to be around me, and I’m sorry to say it, darling, but he’s a fair ways out of tune with the darker side of you these days. But he’s not out of tune with the Light. The music in him is still in tune with Sanctuary.”

“The island that was his personal landscape doesn’t resonate with him anymore,” Glorianna said.

Michael looked grim. “It should.”

She pulled away from him. Couldn’t they see she was struggling to accept this? Why wouldn’t they let her accept this? “But it doesn’t. Because he’s had enough. Don’t you see? Lee is twenty-nine years old, and he has never had a life of his own because of me.”

“Glorianna!” Nadia said sharply, rising to her feet.

“It’s true, Mother. You know it is.” Feeling desperate, she took a step away from them all. “He trained at the School in order to be a Bridge for me. He avoided making friends because he couldn’t trust anyone because of me. He’s never had a lover, never been a lover in the fullest sense, because he wouldn’t take the chance of the woman betraying me. Then I walked away from him, walked away from everyone. Well, now he’s walked away from me. ”

Silence.

“That was quite a performance,” Nadia said. “Should we pass a hat and throw in some coins?”

Stunned, Glorianna stared at her mother.

“We are not the only family in Ephemera who has had secrets,” Nadia said. “We’re not the only family who has had to take some care in what we say and how we live. Your brother wasn’t a Bridge for you out of some sense of family duty, Glorianna. He chose to work with you. He chose to stand with you. If he’d found a woman he loved as deeply as Sebastian loves Lynnea or Michael loves you, he would have brought her around to meet the family, to meet you. Lee isn’t alone because of you.”

Glorianna’s eyes stung with unshed tears. “Then why is he gone?”

“When was the last time Lee used the island?” Sebastian asked.

“He was doing a circuit, checking bridges,” Yoshani replied. “He returned to Sanctuary every two or three days to replenish his food and check in. When Glorianna noticed the island, I thought Lee had returned.” He tried to smile. “It was baking day, and Brighid always set some treats aside for him.”

“The music in a man’s heart doesn’t change that much that fast,” Michael said quietly. “I’m not saying Lee didn’t find a place of interest to him that isn’t within reach of the rest of us, but a man doesn’t change that fast.”

“Unless something happened to him,” Sebastian said.

“Or someone happened to him?” Teaser asked.

Glorianna stiffened. Why hadn’t she thought of that when she’d known it could happen?

“All right,” Michael said. “Who could change a man that fast?”

“Wizards,” Sebastian spat. “When I was held captive in Wizard City…”

“Your resonance changed,” Glorianna finished softly. “Because of what they did to you. We almost lost you, Sebastian.”

Michael turned to Yoshani. “You said Lee would check in. Do you know where he was?”

Yoshani picked up a small book from the table beside him. “Lee kept meticulous notes about the bridges he created—where they were, what kind, and what landscapes they connected.”

Glorianna pushed her long black hair away from her face and held out a hand for the book. “Let me see that. If he was avoiding my landscapes, he would have been checking bridges in Mother’s pieces of Ephemera.” She riffled pages until she reached the last notation, then tipped the book when Nadia came up beside her so that her mother could read it too.

“I know that bridge,” Nadia said. “It’s in the landscape that borders Aurora. It spans a creek near a village called Tully and provides a way to cross over to two of my other landscapes and one of yours.”

“So this bridge is in one of your landscapes, Aunt Nadia?” Sebastian asked.

“Yes.” Nadia paled. “If Lee ran into trouble…”