Skylar felt Luke resting his head on her and glanced over to see him fast asleep. Although they had been together for months now, she had never really seen him asleep. At least, not as peaceful as he was at the moment.
His expression was blank, but he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. It was enough to make her relaxed.
She momentarily remembered how at the beginning, they had been in a similar situation after they had encountered the witch. Skylar had fallen asleep and then Luke fell asleep next to her, their heads resting on each other in the end.
At the time, she had panicked when she woke up in the morning but now, she felt comforted by his presence.
It wasn’t long before she drifted off as well.
…
Skylar woke up–or…thought she woke up alone. She looked around and didn’t see Luke, Luna, or the others.
“Hello?” Skylar called out but was met with silence.
“Hello!” she began to panic, not sure where everyone was. “Luke! Alice? Helen!”
Skylar whirled around, and this time was aware that the entrance of the cave was gone. In fact, she wasn’t even in the cave anymore. She was surrounded by darkness.
“Richard! Adalene? Peter…where is everyone?”
Her breath was coming in short, panicked gasps, as she was stuck in the mindset she was in months ago.
She was…alone.
“Skye,” came a voice.
She turned around, greeted by a presence she hadn’t seen in forever.
“Papa,” Skylar gasped, her eyes widening as she saw once again the ghost of her father.
“Where…where have you been?” she slowly asked, “You said you’d visit me again, but…it’s been weeks!”
“I know,” he nodded, his face earnest, “It’s taking a lot for your mother to even get my voice through to you.”
Moved by the emotions growing in her by the second, Skylar rushed over to the figure of her father, throwing her arms around it.
There was substance there for a moment, as she was hugging him again before she fell forward through the ghost.
“I’m sorry,” Jackson Verlice’s ghost continued, “I’m afraid I can’t maintain a form for very long.”
Skylar tentatively reached a handout toward him, yearning to touch him, to feel the presence of her father again.
Her hand grasped his for a moment, the familiar feel of his calloused palm before her hand fell through his again.
She bit the inside of her lip, fighting the tears that were pricking at the corners of her eyes. She was so close. So close…yet she still couldn’t even hug her father.
“Skylar,” his gentle voice came to her ears once again, and she looked up through the shine of her tears to see his eyebrows knit as he tried to keep himself together as well, “Look at how much you’ve grown.”
She couldn’t respond, couldn’t find her voice through the sadness that choked her throat.
Why couldn’t she just move on with her life without the grief of her father’s death coming back to haunt her?
Skylar closed her eyes tightly, the tears falling faster than she could stop them.
“Skylar,” his hands reached for hers and she felt their weight again, as they faded in and out of solidity, warming her cold hands every so often.
“I wanted to say…that I’m sorry,” his statement surprised her.
She looked up at him, his face one that she would never forget.
“You are more than any father could ask for, and I’m sorry that I left you, even if it wasn’t my choice.”
But she didn’t respond to his question, instead demanding an answer to one of her own. “Who is my mother?”
This time Jackson was the one taken aback. “What?”
“Who is my mother?” Skylar repeated, her voice breaking as she stared into his eyes.
He sighed, his eyes sad as he said, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”
“What-what do you mean you can’t tell me?” the anger was growing in her voice by the minute, “It’s as simple as a name and you can’t tell me?”
“You will meet her in time,” he offered.
She crossed her arms, glaring at the ground. Skylar knew it was useless to be angry at him, and she knew that it wouldn’t get her anywhere.
“She does the same thing when she’s mad,” Jackson’s voice returned to a gentle whisper, “She’ll cross her arms and stare at the ground until she gets her way. And she has the same birthmark as you.”
“Like it will help anything,” Skylar muttered, although her voice was losing its frustration as well. She was too much like her father in that aspect and could never stay angry for too long.
He reached out his hand for her to take, and she eventually gave in, as it remained solid for longer than it had in any of the other times, she had taken it.
His thumb rubbed over the back of her hand, a comfort she had missed.
“It may in time,” he told her, before reminding Skylar, “You are strong. Find the courage to keep that strength.”
Skylar found her lungs and took a deep breath before looking back up at him. His form was already beginning to flicker.
“My time has come,” Jackson realized as his ghost began to fade in and out of visibility. “I am sorry, but your mother’s powers are not as strong in this land. She is blocking her power.”
“Who?”
“You must not say her name. I would not want her to know your location.”
Although she knew this time how short her visits from her father would be, she still didn’t want him to leave her.
She didn’t want to be alone.
“When will I see you again?” she asked, unconsciously reaching out to her father again.
He sighed once again, his expression sad. “I am not sure.”
“But I will see you again, right?”
“Yes,” he smiled.
That was when her father wrapped his arms around her, a final embrace that she would never forget.
The warmth of his hug comforted her for a moment until she was met with the cold wind.
Skylar opened her eyes to find herself in the cave again, Luke’s head resting on her shoulder.
And although she was surrounded by her friends, Skylar had never felt so alone...
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