Read Online Winter's Child by Cameron Dokey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cameron Dokey
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Kai replied without hesitation. “You cannot heal your own heart.”
I felt a sharp pain as my heart contracted, then expanded, opening wider than it had known how to until this moment.
“Can you do it?” I asked. “Are you the one who can heal my heart?”
Kai looked at me for several moments, his eyes still narrowed in a slightly unsettling way. It was as if he thought he could figure out the way I was put together, how I worked, if only he could stare at me long enough. Again, my heart felt a painful, hopeful pang. If someone can see the way something works, they can see how to fix it when it breaks, can’t they? Wasn’t this precisely what I did myself?
“I don’t know,” Kai finally said. His voice was troubled. “Is that why I can see you, because you want me to try?”
“You can see me because you believe in me,” I answered.
He gave another quick shake of his head.
“No,” he said. “There’s something more. It’s because you believe in me that I can see you, isn’t it? And because I want to try. I always have, I think, from the time I first heard your story when I was just a boy.
“I always knew there was more to the tale than just being a bedtime story. I knew that you were just as real as I was.”
“And so I am,” I said.
He smiled then, and I felt my own lips curve up in answer. “Yes,” he said. “I see that you are.”
My heart had become a rushing river. So this is what it feels like to hope, I thought. It makes you light-headed, and sets all your limbs to trembling with strength and weakness combined.
“And my heart?” I asked, amazed to hear my voice come out just as steady as his. “Do you want to try and heal it?”
“I think I must,” Kai answered slowly, as if the admission were welling up from someplace deep inside him. His eyes slid from mine to fix on something just over my right shoulder. At first I thought it must be Grace’s window, but when he spoke again, I realized I’d been wrong.
“I used to ask about your heart,” he went on softly, “when Grace’s oma would tell us your story. It always seemed so unfair to me, to give you the power to heal so many hearts but not enough to heal your own.”
The past. He is looking at the past, I thought. T he past that has made him what he is now. A past that would give me a chance for a future. We stood in silence for several minutes. I gazed at Kai. He gazed at his former self. With an effort I could almost feel inside my own body, Kai shifted his eyes back to me.
“Where must we go?”
I pulled in a breath before I spoke. “Just like that?”
He made a sound that reached toward laughter. “Well, hardly. I have been hearing your story my whole life.”
“Don’t you dare ask me how old I really am.” This time, Kai did laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of it,”he promised. “Besides, I already know. Grace’s oma used to say that you would stay the same age until your quest was done. You’re sixteen, just like Grace and I are.”
“Very cleverly answered,” I replied. “So what makes you think we have to go anywhere? Why can’t we settle things right here and now? Perhaps all you need to do is kiss me and be done with it.”
“I’m not a prince,” Kai said. “I think that only works for them. Besides ...”
He drew the second syllable out, as if he were formulating his answer even as he spoke. “Having an answer as simple as a kiss wouldn’t make sense. It wouldn’t fit with the rest of the tale. You’re on a journey, a quest, in search of all those other wounded hearts. So I think a journey must be the way to heal your heart as well.
“In which case I’ll repeat the question. Where must we go?”
That was the moment when I realized how very much I wished to be in love.
Certainly it was the moment that I felt the future begin to open up before me, as my heart had opened itself to hope just a few minutes before. Perhaps love and hope are one and the same. I don’t know. I do know
I felt a sharp pain as my heart contracted, then expanded, opening wider than it had known how to until this moment.
“Can you do it?” I asked. “Are you the one who can heal my heart?”
Kai looked at me for several moments, his eyes still narrowed in a slightly unsettling way. It was as if he thought he could figure out the way I was put together, how I worked, if only he could stare at me long enough. Again, my heart felt a painful, hopeful pang. If someone can see the way something works, they can see how to fix it when it breaks, can’t they? Wasn’t this precisely what I did myself?
“I don’t know,” Kai finally said. His voice was troubled. “Is that why I can see you, because you want me to try?”
“You can see me because you believe in me,” I answered.
He gave another quick shake of his head.
“No,” he said. “There’s something more. It’s because you believe in me that I can see you, isn’t it? And because I want to try. I always have, I think, from the time I first heard your story when I was just a boy.
“I always knew there was more to the tale than just being a bedtime story. I knew that you were just as real as I was.”
“And so I am,” I said.
He smiled then, and I felt my own lips curve up in answer. “Yes,” he said. “I see that you are.”
My heart had become a rushing river. So this is what it feels like to hope, I thought. It makes you light-headed, and sets all your limbs to trembling with strength and weakness combined.
“And my heart?” I asked, amazed to hear my voice come out just as steady as his. “Do you want to try and heal it?”
“I think I must,” Kai answered slowly, as if the admission were welling up from someplace deep inside him. His eyes slid from mine to fix on something just over my right shoulder. At first I thought it must be Grace’s window, but when he spoke again, I realized I’d been wrong.
“I used to ask about your heart,” he went on softly, “when Grace’s oma would tell us your story. It always seemed so unfair to me, to give you the power to heal so many hearts but not enough to heal your own.”
The past. He is looking at the past, I thought. T he past that has made him what he is now. A past that would give me a chance for a future. We stood in silence for several minutes. I gazed at Kai. He gazed at his former self. With an effort I could almost feel inside my own body, Kai shifted his eyes back to me.
“Where must we go?”
I pulled in a breath before I spoke. “Just like that?”
He made a sound that reached toward laughter. “Well, hardly. I have been hearing your story my whole life.”
“Don’t you dare ask me how old I really am.” This time, Kai did laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of it,”he promised. “Besides, I already know. Grace’s oma used to say that you would stay the same age until your quest was done. You’re sixteen, just like Grace and I are.”
“Very cleverly answered,” I replied. “So what makes you think we have to go anywhere? Why can’t we settle things right here and now? Perhaps all you need to do is kiss me and be done with it.”
“I’m not a prince,” Kai said. “I think that only works for them. Besides ...”
He drew the second syllable out, as if he were formulating his answer even as he spoke. “Having an answer as simple as a kiss wouldn’t make sense. It wouldn’t fit with the rest of the tale. You’re on a journey, a quest, in search of all those other wounded hearts. So I think a journey must be the way to heal your heart as well.
“In which case I’ll repeat the question. Where must we go?”
That was the moment when I realized how very much I wished to be in love.
Certainly it was the moment that I felt the future begin to open up before me, as my heart had opened itself to hope just a few minutes before. Perhaps love and hope are one and the same. I don’t know. I do know
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