The room had fallen into a hushed stillness, the kind that carried weight, as though even the air itself was watching. Paolo sat rigid, his concentration flickering between hope and fear, his fingers curled tight around the arm of his chair. If this worked, it could be the key to unravelling the disappearances that plagued Stonebridge. If it didn’t, they would be no worse off—but no closer to answers.

Del leaned forward slightly, eyes fixed on Naomi as she breathed in slow, measured intervals. The quiet settled into his bones, a lulling presence that threatened to dull the edges of his focus. His fingers brushed over the rough stubble on his chin.

‘Beard needs a trim. I wonder if they have scissors.’

He hadn't seen any, but then again, back home, he kept his own tucked away in a drawer. He blinked and forced his mind back to the present.

‘Stay focused, Del.’

His gaze drifted to Elara, seated beside Naomi, her fingers wrapped around the child’s small hand. The calm in her expression was almost unsettling, her stillness so absolute it felt as though she herself was slipping into meditation. Willing the girl to be a Dreamwalker.

That was the question, wasn’t it? Did Naomi truly have the gift? Her dreams could have been no more than that—fragments of subconscious thought, twisted by hope and fear. Perhaps there was some prescience in them, but flashes of foresight weren’t the same as controlled Dreamwalking.

‘And what are you basing that on, mate? Shit from my own time?’

He exhaled through his nose.

‘What real rationale do I have for assuming anything from the old place applies here? None. So shut the fuck up and watch.’

Then—something.

A flicker. A stirring deep in Del’s gut, faint yet undeniable. It wasn’t like Elara’s magic—the gentle, familiar brush of a thousand tiny butterflies taking flight. This was different.

This was raw.

Naomi’s magic stuttered, like a breath drawn in too sharply, then held too long. It sparked, shuddering within her, a hesitant pulse of power trying to take form, but faltering before it could settle. Del felt it—a presence not quite fully shaped, like the first sluggish turn of a wheel in deep winter, the groan of something that should move freely but was stiff with inertia. The effort was there, the potential thrumming just beneath the surface, but the connection refused to catch.

Naomi’s brow furrowed, her small hands curling against her lap. Her breathing remained slow, controlled, but a fine tremor ran through her fingers. The magic inside her wasn’t flowing yet—it was stalling, spluttering against unseen resistance, like an ember buried too deep in cold ash, reluctant to ignite.

Del leaned forward, his fingers twitching as if he could somehow reach into the moment, steady her, help her push past whatever barrier held her back.

You’re doing good, lass. Keep with it.

The thought surfaced unbidden, slipping into the heavy stillness.

Naomi’s face remained placid, yet a subtle war waged beneath her skin. The tiniest shifts of expression betrayed her effort—the way her brow creased and smoothed again, the flutter of her lashes as she fought to hold focus. The tension built, a coiling pressure in the air, stretching the moment thin.

Then—

A sharp intake of breath.

Her entire body jerked as if struck by an unseen force, and she gasped, bolting upright.

“I can’t do it, Elara.” Her voice quivered, barely above a whisper. “I can see them in my head, but I’m scared.”

A single tear slipped down her cheek, catching the dim light as it fell.

Elara moved without hesitation, sliding from her chair to kneel on the floor, wrapping the girl in a gentle embrace.

“It’s alright, Naomi,” she murmured, her voice a steadying thread in the uncertainty. One hand stroked through the child’s dark curls, fingers threading through the tension held there. “Magic can be scary at first, but you have it—I felt it in you.” She eased back just enough to meet Naomi’s eyes. “You just need to trust yourself.”

Naomi sniffled, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand.

Elara shifted, settling onto the seat behind her and guiding the girl’s small frame back against her lap.

“I’m right here with you,” she promised. “I’ll protect you. Do you want to try again?”

For a long moment, Naomi said nothing. Then, with a final, decisive sniff, she dragged a hand across her damp cheeks, rubbed her nose, and gave a small, firm nod.

Once again, she closed her eyes.

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And breathed.

In. Out. In. Out. In…

In his gut, Del felt it again—that tiny butterfly. But this time, there was no hesitation, no faltering beat. Its wings stretched wide, dry and steady, and with a sudden, exultant pulse—

A rush.

The air in the room seemed to tighten, charged with something unseen yet unmistakable. Naomi’s breath hitched, then released, and in that instant, it was as if the space around them shifted, just slightly. A ripple in reality.

The magic surged—not chaotic, not wild, but deliberate. Focused. It poured through her like a river finally breaking through ice, flowing free and unimpeded. The moment stretched, stretched—

Then settled.

Naomi’s lips parted in quiet astonishment, her small frame still as though she feared the slightest movement might break the spell. The light in her eyes was something new, something changed.

Elara’s smile was slow, filled with a quiet satisfaction. She had known.

Del exhaled, barely realising he’d been holding his breath. Success.

The sensation ebbed, drifting away like ripples fading on still water, and Naomi slowly opened her eyes.

“I flew,” she whispered, the awe in her voice fragile, reverent, like something too precious to say aloud.

Elara nodded, her voice warm with encouragement. “You sure did.” She squeezed Naomi’s hand gently. “And now that you know you can fly, you just need to learn how to control where to go.” Tilting her head slightly, she asked, “What did you see while you were flying?”

Naomi frowned slightly, concentrating, her small mouth pressing into a thoughtful line.

“It was strange,” she murmured. “I was in here, but looking down—so I guess I was up by the ceiling.” A grin broke through her uncertainty. “I could see all of you, and you were funny colours.”

Elara leaned in slightly. “What do you mean by different colours?”

Naomi nibbled at the tip of her finger as she thought. “You were all sort of wobbly, and there were shiny rings around you.”

Elara’s expression brightened. “Those are auras. That’s good—because you can use auras to find people. Do you remember what they looked like?”

Naomi nodded quickly. “Yes! Yours was sort of green, and the elder’s was dark blue.” She paused, then turned to Del, studying him with quiet curiosity.

“Yours was strange,” she said, eyes narrowing in thought. “It was red, but it kept changing—dark to light, bright to dim.” She giggled. “It was funny.”

Del smirked.

‘Elara’s aura being green makes sense. No idea about the meaning of colours in this sort of thing, but I guess blue is good.’

His brow furrowed slightly as he considered the last one.

‘Red, huh? Well, well. Probably just means I’m a confirmed shit magnet.’

Del exhaled through his nose, shaking off the thought.

‘The key thing is, can she find Vita and the others?’

He offered Naomi a lopsided grin. “I’m okay with being red. My cat’s a ginge, so I might as well be a red’n too.”

Naomi giggled at that, her earlier apprehension melting away, but Elara gently guided them back to the task at hand.

“Alright then,” she said, her voice steady and grounding. “Now we need you to fly outside this room, outside the house, and take a little fly around the village. Get used to how it feels.”

Naomi nodded but hesitated, her small brows knitting together. “How do I do that? I was just floating before.”

Elara smiled reassuringly. “That’s true, but in the astral, you can go anywhere. Just look in the direction you want to go and—” she waved a hand in a small, circular motion, “—think or imagine yourself moving there. Since it’s not your body but your mind, you can just fly through walls and things as if they aren’t there.”

Naomi’s eyes widened slightly at that, as though the idea of passing through solid matter had only just occurred to her. She nodded again, slower this time, absorbing the instructions.

Del glanced at Paolo and noted how the elder had leaned forward, his entire demeanour caught between wonder and apprehension. No doubt he was as new to this as Del himself.

Elara continued, ensuring Naomi was still following. “As you explore, if you look behind you, you’ll see a silver line connecting you back to this house. That’s your tether—it always leads you home.”

Naomi’s head tilted slightly. “Like a string?”

Elara nodded. “Exactly. It’s a part of you, so no matter how far you go, you’ll always be able to follow it back.”

Del noted the way Paolo was absorbing every word as keenly as Naomi, his fingers tight around the arms of his chair. There was something hovering in his expression—something unspoken but tangible.

“Is this safe?” Paolo asked at last, his voice quiet but weighted.

Elara met his gaze, calm and unwavering. “As safe as sleeping.”

Paolo exhaled slowly, nodding, but his grip on the chair didn’t loosen.

Naomi fidgeted slightly, running her fingers along her sleeve. “It feels… funny,” she admitted after a moment. “Like I’m too light, like I might float away even though I’m still here.” She pressed a hand against her chest. “And my belly feels like when I go really high on a swing and come back down really fast.”

Del gave a slow blink.

‘That’s… an unsettling thought.’

He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of this tiny girl being untethered from reality, no matter how much they insisted it was safe.

‘You don’t just drift out of yourself. That’s not how things work.’

Only, clearly, it was.

He shifted uncomfortably, rubbing his knuckles against the grain of his trousers.

“What about when you first started floating?” Elara prompted gently.

Naomi’s expression scrunched slightly in thought. “At first, it was scary. I felt like I was stuck in-between—not here, not there. But then it was like… like stepping onto a cloud, and I just knew I wasn’t going to fall.” She glanced up, hesitating. “Even though I thought I might.”

Paolo sucked in a breath, his jaw tightening. Del caught the flicker of protective instinct in his expression—the same kind that had been there when Naomi had faltered the first time.

“That’s why it’s important to practise,” Elara reassured them both. “The more you do it, the easier it will be to stay grounded.”

Del frowned. “Grounded? She’s literally floating through the bloody air.”

Elara shot him a look, equal parts amusement and exasperation. “You know what I mean.”

Naomi grinned, amused by their exchange, then sobered again as she let out a breath, her small hands pressing against her lap. “So… if I see something scary, I can just come back?”

Elara nodded. “Yes. Just use your trigger, and you’ll return in an instant.”

Naomi considered that, then nodded firmly, as if steeling herself.

Paolo cleared his throat. “And there’s nothing… out there? Nothing that could—” He hesitated, his fingers flexing against the arm of his chair. “Nothing that could follow her back?”

Elara was silent for a beat too long. Not long enough for Naomi to notice, but Del caught it.

“There shouldn’t be,” she said carefully.

That wasn’t exactly the reassurance Del had been hoping for.

Paolo’s jaw twitched, but he said nothing, just gave a stiff nod.

Elara clapped her hands lightly, bringing the focus back. “Alright, Naomi. Are you ready?”

Naomi took a deep breath, her small frame rising with the effort.

“Okay.”

Elara gave her an encouraging nod. “And this time, try to tell us what you’re seeing as you fly.”

Naomi closed her eyes.

And let go.