Beyond Wild Imaginings (6 page)

Kelly blinked rapidly, her mind turning as she tried to grasp onto his words. They had killed them. They had obliterated everything because they had gotten so wrapped up in life that they no longer had time for fantasy, for magic. They no longer had time for imagination. She fought tears as she looked up into Garren’s sad face. “But I forgot too,” she murmured. “I forgot you.”

He smiled just a little. “Not completely.” He knelt down in front of her. “You were the last one to let go. You held on the longest to me and my world. Even when you thought you forgot, you never really did. You stopped calling me to you, stopped talking to me. I became a ghost myself, unable to leave the Creative Realm. I was isolated in solitude for years, but I never ceased to exist. Somewhere, in the back of your mind, I still lived.”

She stared at him, her heart aching at the thought of him being stuck in seclusion for so long. “How are you with me now?” she asked with no more than a tiny squeak of sound.

He reached out and took her hands gently in his own. “You called to me. You started dreaming of me. You brought me back to you.”

“Whoa, that makes total sense,” Chad said suddenly. “You created Garren as a little girl to protect you, to be your guardian, right?”

Kelly nodded.

“It only makes sense that, during the worst trauma of your life, your subconscious would resurrect his memory to help you deal with your situation.”

She turned her attention back to Garren, studying his sorrowful eyes and his beautiful face. She definitely did not remember him being so sexy. She looked down at his hands on hers. They were translucent, but she could feel him as if he were as much a human as she was. His touch was warm, gentle, and so soothing that she wanted to curl into his arms and sleep for about a hundred years. “How come I can feel you?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“The same reason you can see me. The same reason Chad can see me. No one else would be able to feel my touch. Not really, anyway. You feel me because you believe in me.”

He smiled. “You grew up. Your thoughts, ideas, and creations changed with you. Before, I was the imagining of a little girl. I appeared how she thought a guardian should look. Strong, powerful, like a father figure or a super hero. You are a woman now. A woman who writes fantasy books and tells tales about dark, mysterious men. Your subconscious adapted me to fit into your world.”

She shook her head. “None of this makes any kind of sense,” she muttered. “I think I’ve finally gone insane. I’m probably imagining this entire thing.”

His chuckle was like a low rumble of thunder, and it made heat course throughout her entire body. He reached up to cup her cheek in his palm. “Your imagination is the cause of all this, little one,” he murmured. “And I thank you for it.” His smile was soft and tender. “You have become a very beautiful woman.”

He sighed. “The power my people had came from the creative magic of all the girls together. The more that believed in us, the stronger we were. Yes, Kelly believes, and you do as well, but it is not enough to make me what I once was. I am all that is left of the Lucienus, and I’m afraid this is as complete as I will ever be.”

He started to stand and pull away, but Kelly held onto his hands. “Garren,” she said. He kept his hands in hers and looked down at her. She swallowed hard and ran her thumbs along the back of his hands. She felt his skin, the tendons and veins beneath it, yet she could make out the shape of her fingers underneath. It made her sick inside. “Please, come back home with me.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she met his gaze. “Do you return to the Creative Realm when you are not with me?”

He nodded. “Until today, that is where I have remained. I only gained enough strength to travel to your world this morning. And it is a good thing I did. I saved your life today.” He fixed Chad with a glower. “Twice.”

Chad turned a shade of red and averted his eyes.

She shook her head. “I don’t like the thought of you going back there,” she said. “Not when I had you trapped there for so long. The thought of you going back all alone makes me sick. Please, stay with me tonight.”

His eyes turned from icy lavender to tranquil and warm as he studied her for a moment. He nodded. “Of course. Your wish has always been my command, little one.”

Chapter Five

Kelly’s fingers shook as she fumbled to unlock her door. Was this really happening? Was she really escorting a mythical creature she had created when she was eight into her apartment? She glanced over her shoulder and saw Garren standing there, leaning his shoulder against the wall as he waited for her to open the door. Yup, she really was.

She shook her head and finally got the key to turn in the lock. She had no idea what she was going to do with him now that she had him. She’d kept the guy locked in an isolated wasteland for almost twenty years. It wasn’t like they could have milk and cookies and play catch up all night.

“Well, this is my apartment,” she muttered as she threw open the door and flicked a light on.

Garren strolled in and took a quick look around. “It’s…very spacious,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes and flung her purse onto the sofa. “You mean it’s very empty. Yeah, you managed to fly into my life at a really bad time.” He flinched as if she’d hit him, and she instantly regretted her words. “That’s not the way I meant it, Garren. All I meant is that my life is pretty much a shambles at the moment.”

He raised inquisitive eyes to meet hers. “Chad mentioned something about you going through some sort of trauma,” he said, coming closer to her. “What has happened? And why did you wait all this time to call to me?”

She heaved a weary sigh and combed her fingers through her hair. “Garren, it’s not like I was purposely ignoring you. I didn’t even remember you, and I definitely didn’t think you actually existed somewhere in the universe.”

His lips turned up slightly at the corners. “You seem surprised.”

She stared at him for a moment. “Surprised?” She snorted. “No, surprised is when a friend you haven’t seen in a really long time shows up unexpectedly with two tickets to the Bahamas. I think having a mythical man I imagined up when I was a child save my life and then tell me there’s an actual realm of imaginary creatures in existence somewhere leaves ‘surprised’ in the dust.”

His smile grew, but it reflected sadness. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced down, a lock of hair falling in front of his face. “Fantastic and mythical things used to be what you believed in,” he said quietly. “Your imagination was the best of them all.”

“Yes, and I’ve made a living out of it, but that doesn’t mean I ever sat on my own and contemplated whether or not it could actually be true. People don’t think like that, Garren. Not in my world.” He still kept his eyes downcast, and her heart felt heavy in her chest. She didn’t like that he looked so sad. It hurt her inside in the most peculiar way. It was almost as if part of her heart felt like she was betraying herself by saying those very words. She reached out and touched his arm gently. “Humans are, in general, shallow, mass-produced people who rush through life with little regard for others and no time for fantasy. The world you speak of is an impossibility here where I live. Regardless of how great my imaginative capabilities are, the fact remains that all of this is outrageous and abnormal for me.” She slid her hand down so that she was circling his wrist with her fingers. A tremor ran along her spine much like it had when she had touched the feather. When he still didn’t look up, she smiled just a little. “It doesn’t mean that, beyond the part of my brain that is telling me all of this is insane, I am not very happy to see you again.”

That got his attention and he met her gaze, a spark of life entering into his eyes. “Are you?” he whispered.

Her smile was soft, and she tightened her hold on his arm. “Garren, you were my guardian, my companion, and best friend. After Rachel and the others decided they were too old to play with me anymore, you were all I had. I—” She swallowed hard, suddenly feeling tears sting her eyes at the memories of being all but abandoned by her playmates and being laughed at because she still wanted to believe that extraordinary things were possible. She shook her head. “I loved you, Garren,” she murmured. “I couldn’t have loved you more if you’d been made of flesh and blood.”

He stepped up close to her and his arm went around her waist, pulling her into his embrace. Kelly gasped and closed her eyes as warmth stole throughout her entire body. She bunched her fingers in his shirt and rested her head against his chest. It startled her somewhat to realize that he had a heartbeat, especially considering she could see through him and he was made of thought, but she was coming to realize that the world she knew was only a small part of a much bigger whole. She had spent the last ten years writing fantasy novels for people’s entertainment. Now she wondered just how much “fantasy” really existed. Humans were arrogant creatures to think that they were superior beings and the only things created to inhabit an infinite universe.

“I missed you, Kelly,” Garren said softly, stroking her hair in a comforting caress. “I’ve been so alone for so long. I didn’t know if you would ever call me to you again, if you would ever remember me enough to give me the ability to return to your world.”

She shook her head and held onto him tightly, feeling safe in his arms. She remembered how protected he had always made her feel, and she briefly wondered if there had ever been a time when she’d felt that safe since then. She certainly hadn’t felt that way with David, despite how much she had loved him. Maybe it was because she had created Garren to be her guardian, or maybe he was just magical. She wouldn’t claim anything as impossible anymore.

“I’m sorry, Garren,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry you were stuck there all alone for so many years.”

He held her close for a long moment before he took her by the shoulders and pulled back so that he could look at her. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I am just happy to be back here with you.” A shadow passed over his handsome face, and he averted his eyes. “You are the only family I have left now.”

Her heart lurched as his soft-spoken words reached her ears. She wanted to cry at the sorrow that she saw etched into his features. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what he must have seen. She didn’t know how things happened in the Creative Realm, but dying was dying regardless of how it happened. Because her playmates had turned their backs on their childlike innocence and had forgotten what it was like to believe impossible things, Garren’s entire race had been wiped out right in front of him. She couldn’t even imagine that kind of horror. She didn’t want to.

“Are you tired?” She gave a small, nervous laugh. “I don’t know if imaginary creatures get tired, but…”

He grinned. “I am weary, yes. It took a lot of strength to make the journey back to this world.”

She nodded. “I’m tired too. I fell off a building today,” she grumbled as she started toward her hall closet. “Twice, thanks to Chad.” She opened up the closet and pulled out a blanket. “I hope this is enough for you. Do you get cold?”

His smile was disarming. No one, imaginary or otherwise, should have such a beautiful smile. “I can feel chilled, but I do not get cold as you do.”

She gave him a playful scowl. “Well, excuse me. I’ve never had a Lucienus in my house before.” She flung the blanket out on the couch, and his chuckle made her smile. “My bedroom is on the left,” she said. “If you need anything, help yourself. Since you came from my brain, I think you’re safe around my stuff.” She frowned as she took a quick glance around her apartment. “Or lack thereof.”

Garren grinned. “Thank you, Kelly. Your kindness has always been something I admired in you. You were always so kind, compassionate, and trusting. You believed everyone good until proven otherwise.”

She rolled her eyes as she headed toward her bedroom. “Yeah, well, that may be an admirable personality trait to you, but it also got me cheated on while I was in the hospital.” She sighed and waved. “Goodnight, Garren.”

“Goodnight, little one.” He gave her a very gentle smile, and she took the liberty of looking over him for one glorious moment before she turned back to her bedroom. Despite the sorrow cloaking him, and the fact that his appearance had altered since she’d last seen him, he was still magnificent to her, strong and powerful. He was striking in a way that made real men seen dull and ordinary, and it made her wonder, just for a second, if any human man would ever be able to compare to Garren’s beauty.

She burst out laughing, and it felt good. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had laughed. “It’s a style of music. Emo fans look kinda like you.”

* * * *