Chapter 393: Chapter 393

Lanie “I'm not sure I’m not dreaming right now,” | said to Malachi and Braden.

“You're not dreaming. If you are, we all are,” Braden said kindly.

I smiled at him gratefully. “So if I'm dreaming, | should be able to snap my fingers and the book should reappear. Right?”

is...

I snapped my fingers. No surprise, no book showed up. Malachi rolled his eyes.

“If the two of you could please be a little more serious about this,” he said.

| frowned at him. “Dude, all I've been doing is worrying about this. Give me a break.”

“Do not ‘dude’ me, please,” my grandfather said with a curl of his lip. “I find it deplorably distasteful.”

Braden chuckled and reached to squeeze my hand.

“You're not dreaming. | don’t know where the book went, but Malachi will be able to help you.”

My grandfather whirled, his expression stormy. “No, Malachi cannot. | have no idea where to even begin.

I've never heard of the book she mentioned, and the idea that Celestials control every talent imaginable.

Well, it’s unimaginable, to be frank. That kind of power...”

The smile I’d shared with Braden slowly faded.

“Well,” Malachi said finally. “It’s terrifying.”

Aso b twisted in my throat like a tornado. | barely held it back. Braden squeezed my hand again, and this time | turned it upward so he could hold it.

“There has to be something you can do, Malachi.”

Braden said the words quietly but with a firm conviction. “You're an Ancient. And brilliant.”

Malachi spun on his heel to tear across the room again. Then back. Faster and faster, until he was a blur.

| looked at Braden, my eyes wide. “Is he okay?”

“He does this when he’s thinking,” Braden said in a low voice.

After another minute, my grandfather slowed his pace. He hadn't even broken a sweat. His hair had gotten mussed from the wind he'd created as he ran, and now he smoothed it with both hands.

“The book said that Celestials could choose, from birth. So to me that says they’re born understanding what they are and how to present themselves,” he said with an edge of triumph in his voice.

Gently, | released Braden’s hand from mine and got up from the table. | couldn’t move as fast as my grandfather, or at least |

didn’t think | could. But sitting still was making my entire body tense up all over again. | went to the fake windows, turned and came halfway back.

“So, you think Stella has been choosing to act like an infant wolf?” | asked him.

Malachi nodded. “It’s possible. That would make sense, would it not? A brand-new Celestial entering the earth would still be tied to its parent. Surely, even a Celestial is able to feel love and concern. She would want to prevent you from harm, especially of her own doing. It’s totally feasible to me that your little Stella could have been choosing her form all along.”

right.”

| shook my head. “That's hard to swallow. | held her in my arms. | nursed her. | changed her. I.......

Braden got up and put his arms around me. “None of that is taken away even if what Malachi says is “And none of that means that she wasn’t aware, from birth, of how to behave. She grew faster than expected. Perhaps that was also deliberate.”

“But you can’t be sure!” | shouted, breaking free of Braden’s embrace and facing my grandfather with both myself fists clenched. “This is just a theory. She could simply be my little girl, not sure what she’s able to do! It could scare her as much as it does me! I’m her mother. | have to protect her!”

“And teach her,” Malachi said sharply.

| nodded, forcing my anger to ease. Nothing would be accomplished with a fight. “Yes. Of course.”

“Like | said before, no way to teach what we’re not even certain needs to be taught.”

“So, what do we do?” | asked helplessly.

“Keep an eye on her,” he began, and | cut him off.

“By the Goddess, of course | do that already!”

Malachi pointed a long finger at me. “Your anxiety is understandable. Your tone with me is not.”

“Sorry,” | said, although | really wasn't.

“Your generation is so enamored of ‘safe’ spaces.

Create one for your daughter so she can share what she’s feeling and learning about herself. The last thing we want is for Stella to feel ashamed of her talents or because she is different. If she is cognizant of her abilities as a Celestial, we want her to feel comfortable sharing that with you. Perhaps she’s sensed your fear on her behalf. You'll have to learn to let that go.”

“And if | can’t?”

“You have to,” he said. “Unless you're willing to lose her entirely.”