Aspen and the Dream Walkers (17 page)

Dylan held out his hand and she slipped her
fingers through his. He pulled her up gently as his power seeped
into her.

“It’s okay. He would have wanted you to have
this. I’ve been trying to fix the place up and clean it ever since
I saw your room. You need somewhere to go when things get rough at
home.”

A smile crept over Aspen’s lips. “Have you
really been here all this time?”

Dylan smiled and nodded his head. What he’d
done was heartwarming, and she couldn’t believe that he’d cared
enough to do this for her.

“Yes, when Ruby told me that you didn’t need
people to look after you, I realized she was right. She said if you
were a princess, you’d want to be independent. I thought you’d like
having a place of your own, and I knew about your dad’s house.
Leeman told me it was all good after I’d spoken to him about
it.”

Aspen jerked involuntarily at his words. The
warm feeling she’d experienced evaporated suddenly. “That’s so
thoughtful of Ruby,” she said woodenly. She looked away from Dylan
as she spoke. “Has she seen the place yet?”

“She’s stopped by quite a few times already.
You can’t believe how much she’s done with the backyard. I cleaned
up there initially. I’m working my way forward, but it’s so handy
having a Fire Walker when you need to burn yard trimmings. Come
with me, I’ll show you what it looks like.”

“No, that’s okay. I want to spend a few
minutes here, if you don’t mind. I’ll look outside in a
minute.”

Aspen’s heart was crushed. He’d been with
Ruby all this time—she should have known.

Dylan frowned at her silence. It was hard to
muster the excitement she knew she should be feeling, knowing that
Ruby had been with him all along.

“I’ll ask Demothi about the spell he worked
on. He hasn’t had any success with it before, but he’s learned a
lot since then. We can keep fixing the place and as soon as the
spell is working, your mom can come and live here too.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, and this time
her words were heartfelt.

Leeman’s Solution

The house was quiet when Aspen finally arrived back.
She greeted her mother and ate supper before Stephan returned.
After a quick bath, she finished up her homework and slipped under
the cold sheets of her bed.

Dylan had said that her body would disappear
if she traveled to Lanta with the dream catcher, but it would
remain behind if she dreamed. It would be better if she was still
in bed when her mother checked on her at night, but she was so
eager to get back to her father’s house that it took a while to
fall asleep.

Stephan’s voice boomed and Miriam’s music
throbbed loudly while she lay on the bed in the darkness. This
would soon change, she promised herself. There was no way that
Stephan could interfere once her mother was in Lanta. Or was
there?

The weight of the dream catcher was
comforting around her neck, and her eyelids drooped gradually. With
a start, she woke to the warm light of Lemona on her cheeks.

Her father’s house was just up ahead, and she
ran as fast as the cumbersome leather shoes and skirt she wore
would allow her.

Once she entered the house, she saw that her
friends were already hard at work.

“Wow. Thank you so much, guys.”

“Don’t thank us, grab a bucket and cloth and
get started,” Sandy’s sassy voice shouted from the kitchen. Dylan
and Ginny were busy in the living room.

“There’s a bucket and soap near the sink,”
Ginny said, and wiped a strand of blond hair from her forehead.

Dylan nodded his head at her and then bent to
lift a couch in order to clean the floor underneath it. He wore a
white sleeveless shirt and his muscles bulged as he picked up the
piece of furniture. It took a few seconds for Aspen to realize that
she was staring, and she forced herself to walk toward the
kitchen.

“I put some clothes in the closet in your
room,” Ginny said. “You can work harder with the right gear.”

“Cool, thank you so much. I won’t be long,”
she murmured. She rushed into her old room and changed into a pair
of shorts and a T-shirt.

While Sandy cleaned the countertops in the
kitchen, she filled a bucket of water in the sink and soaped up a
cloth. She wiped the table and chairs, and within minutes the warm
water was filthy.

“I thought we didn’t have electricity here.”
Aspen pointed to the electrical appliances in the kitchen.

“Actually we do, but only for big appliances.
We have to get Fire Walkers to repair things if they break, so we
only use power for fridges and things like that.” Sandy
grinned.

“I know what you mean. I’ve fried so many
things in my life that I’ve been banned from touching them.”

“You should be fine now,” Sandy said. “The
leather wristband absorbs most of the energy, but you have to
concentrate, and don’t grab the microwave when you’re in a hurry.
The lights are switched on by sound. Clap your hands when you need
them.”

“Whew, I’m glad about that. I wondered how we
were going to cook food.”

After she’d finished cleaning the last chair,
Aspen stepped outside to throw the dirty water in the backyard. The
house was positioned slightly higher on the incline, and it had an
incredible view of the lake in the distance. When she looked to the
left, her breath caught in her chest. The yard was beautiful.

The grass was trimmed short, and a striking
tree covered in bright pink blossoms hung over a stone fireplace
close to her. If she placed a few chairs around the fireplace, it
would be an ideal spot for a barbeque. She saw an area next to the
fireplace that had been paved with chalky stones. They had a rough,
blackened surface, and small pieces of ash clung to the grass
nearby. Ruby must have burned the yard trimmings there, and she
wrinkled her nose in disgust. Trust her to notice that instead of
the magnificent view. With a sigh, she turned around and walked
back into the kitchen.

Once she’d filled the bucket with water
again, she was about to wipe out the fridge when Leeman’s voice
called out from the living room.

“Hello, Dylan, Ginny. Is Aspen here?”

“She’s in the kitchen, sir.”

Aspen poked her head around the door. “Uncle
Leeman. It’s so nice to see you again.”

Her uncle’s long dark hair was pulled back
into a ponytail behind his head, and he filled the doorway with his
huge size.

“Princess, come here and give me a hug. I’ve
missed you.”

The cloth she was holding dropped to the
floor as she wiped her hands on her shorts and ran to him. Leeman
enveloped her in a bear hug.

“Did you know about my dad’s house?” she
asked after he’d released her.

Leeman gazed around the kitchen sadly and
sighed. “Yes, he was so excited to finish it. He wanted to bring
you here permanently. Demothi did everything in his power to help
him.”

There was a slight pause before he looked at
her and pinched her chin affectionately. “Your father was so happy
when you were born. He was very proud of his baby daughter, and he
loved your mother very much.”

The air became colder in the house as he
spoke, and Dylan touched his arm as Lavendula fell. “Can you help
Aspen, please? She’s got a problem at home.”

Heat flared in her cheeks and she looked
down.

“What’s wrong, Princess? Is it your
mother?”

She stared at Leeman’s huge boots and
couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. After a short silence,
Dylan spoke for her.

“Her stepdad is a bastard. You should see how
he treats Aspen and her mom. And he makes her sleep in a room no
larger than a closet. Her mom can’t say a word because they don’t
have money or anyplace else to go.”

Leeman bent down so that he could look into
her eyes. “Is that true, Princess?”

Tightness gripped her chest. The constant
feeling of helplessness was difficult to bear on her own, and she
looked at her uncle with big eyes and whispered, “Yes.”

Leeman reached out and tugged her back into
his arms. “Why didn’t you say anything, Aspen? I didn’t know you
were unhappy.”

The light had faded in the room, and the cool
air of Lavendula made her shiver. She sobbed softly in his
embrace.

“Shh, I’ll fix it,” he said softly. “Don’t
you worry.”

With a sigh, he searched in his pocket and
found a handkerchief for her to wipe her face.

“Come on now, we’ve got some cleaning to do.
Where’s the broom?” Leeman’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, but Aspen
didn’t want to spoil the time she had there by crying. The house
needed to be fixed, and moping around wouldn’t get the job
done.

She stuffed the handkerchief into her shorts
pocket and dragged a broom out of the closet.

“Here, catch. We need all the help we can
get.”

• • •

The next morning was Saturday and Aspen’s body felt
stiff, even though it had remained behind in bed. Holding the dream
catcher, she waited for the yellow glow to heal her muscles and
sighed as soon as the light faded. She was eager to hurry back to
Lanta to work on the house later.

After eating the sandwiches her mother had
made, she was just about to do laundry when someone knocked on the
front door. Miriam was at cheerleading and Stephan was at work, so
she wasn’t sure who it could be. Uncle Leeman’s voice was
unmistakable and she heard him greet her mother from where she
stood upstairs.

Rushing down the staircase, she saw her
mother lead him into the living room. He winked at her as he walked
behind Norma.

“Mom, who is it?” Aspen asked innocently.

“My name is Leeman Walker.” He stopped to
address her. “Your father was my brother. You must be Aspen, you
have his eyes.” He held out a hand and she shook it politely.

“This is your uncle, sweetie. He was in Iraq
for a long time.”

With a blank face, she followed him into the
living room and hovered near her mother. Wearing khaki pants and
big black boots, Leeman looked completely out of place in the small
living room. He looked like a military soldier, tall and
intimidating. Dylan shouldn’t have said a thing. This was not going
to end well.

“Please, have a seat.” Norma motioned Leeman
to a threadbare couch. The look on Leeman’s face as he studied the
room told her he didn’t approve of the surroundings.

“So, Norma, how long has it been since I’ve
seen you last?” His huge body settled into the chair but he
remained alert, like a watchdog. Aspen sat close to her mother.

“It’s been way too long. Over a decade at
least. Is this the first time you’ve come back to town since
. . .” Norma’s voice trailed off.

“Yes, since Roman died. He asked me to look
after the two of you if anything happened to him, but I must admit,
I haven’t had the willpower to face you after his death. I think of
him whenever I see you, and it was just too painful to come back.”
His cheeks flushed as he spoke. “I know I’ve forgotten my promise,
but someone reminded me and I’ve come to find out if you’re okay. I
want to know what I can do for the two of you.”

Norma’s back was ramrod straight and she
hesitated before answering him. “Thank you, but we’re fine.”

Aspen frowned at her mother.

“I have a house nearby,” Leeman continued.
His tanned skin was smooth, and his face was handsome even with his
crooked nose. “It’s much too big for me. It’s got plenty of rooms
and I have a spare car that you can use. When I left the army, I
invested in shares in a newly built power plant. I’ve made quite a
bit because of it. I’m on the board of directors now, and have a
say in the running of the company. I’d like to hire a housekeeper,
Norma.” His steel-blue eyes stared at her. “Tell me that you need a
job and it’s yours.”

Norma’s lip trembled. Aspen could see her
hands as they shook nervously. Still, she didn’t speak.

“Mom, this is what you’ve been waiting for,”
she burst out. This was not the time to keep quiet. Help was
finally here, and she wasn’t going to let it slip by.

Norma glanced at her daughter and tugged her
short hair nervously. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” she
whispered.

“Mom, are you happy living like this?” Aspen
waved her hand to point at the room. “Do you think that Dad would
be happy if he knew how we’re treated every day? You’re just a
slave, and I’m nothing more than a mental punching bag for
Stephan.”

A tear slid slowly down Norma’s pale face,
and her big eyes shimmered in the dark room. Aspen grabbed her
hand. “Mom, you always said you would leave if you could. Well,
guess what? Now you can.” She stared into her mother’s face.

Her mom cried openly and Aspen held back a
sob. This wasn’t the time to be weak—her mother needed her to be
strong.

“Norma, what is it? What’s happened since
Roman died?” Leeman stood up and knelt before her, placing his huge
hand over hers.

She remained silent, and her petite body
trembled.

“Aspen, go pack your bags!” he ordered.

Without being told twice, she jumped up and
Leeman took her place on the couch next to her mother. The cushion
sagged beneath his bulky figure.

“Norma, I’m here now. Things are going to be
okay. I’ve got more money than I’ll ever need, enough to look after
you and Aspen forever. You’ll never be scared again.”

“He won’t let me go,” Norma whispered.

“He’ll have to,” Leeman said tersely. A
muscle in his jaw ticked as he spoke. “Pack your things, and I’ll
wait for you downstairs. My car is in the driveway. I won’t let him
hurt you anymore.”

Norma trembled as she stood up, but listened
to Leeman and headed for the stairs. Aspen climbed the staircase
ahead of her.

“Bring all of Dad’s stuff with you,
especially the dream catcher. Don’t leave any of it behind,
Mom.”

Norma nodded her head and felt for the dream
catcher around her neck as she walked up the stairs to her room.
Aspen was so glad that she’d continued to wear it.