Nora~~

I raise my hand and knock against my own door, something I've hardly ever needed to do in my life. There isn't any time to gather my thoughts before the door is thrown open by mother, and she's wrapped me in a hug, breaking my grip on Charlie.

I lock my arms around her as the tears finally come. "Mom."

"Your father . . . he called . . . he said what happened."

"Is he here?"

She shakes her head against my neck. "I had been waiting out here, but Keagan said if I kept watching for you, you would never come."

The smell of cooked chicken wafts toward me from the kitchen. "Is that—"

"Your favorite."

Chicken and noodles and crackers. I haven't had it since before I fell asleep.

I squeeze my eyes shut to fight the tears.

Two new sets of arms wrap around me, one higher up than the other.

I lose to the tears but gain the prize.

I pull away from my mom to see Kandice and Keagan. My arms encircle them both. Keagan's never been a hugger, but right now he is the best.

"Who's this?" My mom looks at Charlie who's been standing off to the side silently.

"I'm Charlie, ma'am."

Mom might not have noticed that he neglected to mention his last name. I don't know how much she knows about Richard Pace, but just hearing his last name could be enough for her to refuse to let Charlie inside.

"He shut down the dream. I wouldn't be here without him."

            A light blush colors his cheeks. "Your daughter asked me to help. She was already planning to do it with or without me.

Keagan eyes him up and down. "Are you two a thing?"

Now it's me who blushes. We never spoke about what we were. "Something like that." I arch an eyebrow at Charlie. A smile tugs at his lips.

Kandice wraps her arms around my leg, and I bend down to pick her up. "You left," she says, poking my nose.

I brush my hand through her blonde hair, my fingers tangling in her ringlets. "I didn't mean to." This is the girl who appeared on Radia's couch. Before we left the facility earlier, Radia was reunited with her dad.

Sighing and burying her face in my shoulder, she loops her arms around my neck. "Don't leave again."

I pat her head. "I won't." I swallow the lump in my throat and angle toward the sidewalk where Kiernan lingers. "Mom, there's someone who wants to see you."

I track her gaze across the lawn. She blinks as if she hasn't noticed the man before now and maybe that's true. Maybe Charlie's and my appearance distracted her enough that she didn't need to look elsewhere, and if she did, she probably didn't recognize him. I wonder if his hair was that long before, what he was like before I was born. Before he was trapped in a sixteen-year sleep.

"Who . . ." Her brows furrow. Kiernan seems to realize he's the center of attention now and walks straight through the grass. Usually Mom would scold anyone who did that.

"Heather."

She takes a shaky step forward.

Kiernan stops a couple feet away from her, at the edge of the grass and the cement pathway.

"Kiernan?" Her face looks as if it's drained of blood as if she's the ghost and not the person seeing one.

His throat bobs as he nods.

"Richard said you were dead . . . that there was an accident . . ."

"Richard lies."

"I always hoped that maybe . . ."

He pulls her against him, and she cries into his shoulder as he sobs into her hair.

Adjusting my hold on Kandice, I look away, meeting Charlie's eyes.

He raises and lowers his shoulder, a slight tilt to his head and a soft smile gracing his lips. "Welcome home, Nora."

"And welcome home, Charlie," I say because he is welcome here. This can be his home if he wishes it.

"Who's that?" Keagan inclines his head to Kiernan.

"My—" I clear my throat. "That's my father."

"But Dad?"

"I'll explain everything over food." My stomach growls, eager to be filled with real food.

Charlie cringes. "In her defense she has been force fed fluids for two months."

*****

Seated at my dinner table, I take turns with Kiernan and Charlie explaining Kiernan's last sixteen years. Mom is horrified. Keagan keeps his face twisted in what could only be called bitterness. And Kandice understands none of it.

The meal Mom prepared keeps me from breaking under the tension even if I feel full after only a few bites.

I hear the front door slam, and Dad appears, bracing himself against the wall. His eyes flick between all of us.

"Nora." His jaw trembles, and he rakes a hand through his thinning black hair.

Rage builds, and I grip the napkin in my lap. He gave me over to Pace. He let Mom think Kiernan was dead all this time. I know he didn't have much of a choice when it came to me, but I can't stop the anger from bubbling up. 

"I'm so sorry," he says.

Mom pushes back her chair and rushes over to him. She wraps an arm around his waist, supporting him, and he shifts away from the wall.

"I've hated myself every single day since you went to sleep and long before that. Please know that."

"You gave me to Pace to be a lab rat."

"I had no choice. I tried to think of some way out of it, but by now you know what happened to him." He tilts his head toward Kiernan. "Pace was going to have you. With or without me, and I couldn't abandon your mom or your brother and sister."

I've wanted to hate him. All this time, that's what I thought I wanted. But now looking at him, seeing the pain in his eyes, I'm having a trouble putting kindling on the fire that was steadily building in me. Parents have no choice about giving up their children when they work at OneirTech, but they had a choice whether or not to work there. They could have turned away when they read that contract.

But did Dad expect to have me when he signed his contract? Did he expect to marry Mom?

This is the man who raised me like his daughter, the person who played my first video game with me. When I found out my fate was to sleep in the dream, his betrayal shot straight through me. Those feelings I felt then still run deep in my veins.

Dad scratches at the stubble on his cheek. "And, Kiernan, I'm sorry as well. It was never my desire to replace you. It was an order, but I do love Heather. I genuinely care about her. It hasn't all been a lie."

Kiernan taps his fingers against the table. "I'm not going to ask her to leave you. I only want to be part of her and Nora's lives—that is if they want me."

All eyes land on me, while mine seek out Mom's.

"I'd like that," I say as she nods.

Dad settles into a spot at the table between Kandice and Keagan who scoots his chair closer to Dad's.

I stare down at my hands in my lap, counting my fingers.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

This is real. It's not a dream. But to be with them—my family—for as long as I can is the only dream I have.

Underneath the table, Charlie places his hand over mine, hiding three of my fingers. I turn my hand over and lace my fingers through his.

Nightmares are real but so are dreams.

All right, all we have left is the epilogue! Thank you so much for reading this far. It means the world to me. I'll be posting the epilogue on Friday.

Lots of love, Mikaela