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Back Reverie Save as PDF
Chapters (53)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Letter from the Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. • One •
  7. • Two •
  8. • Three •
  9. • Four •
  10. • Five •
  11. • Six •
  12. • Seven •
  13. • Eight •
  14. • Nine •
  15. • Ten •
  16. • Eleven •
  17. • Twelve •
  18. • Thirteen •
  19. • Fourteen •
  20. • Fifteen •
  21. • Sixteen •
  22. • Seventeen •
  23. • Eighteen •
  24. • Nineteen •
  25. • Twenty •
  26. • Twenty-One •
  27. • Twenty-Two •
  28. • Twenty-Three •
  29. • Twenty-Four •
  30. • Twenty-Five •
  31. • Twenty-Six •
  32. • Twenty-Seven •
  33. • Twenty-Eight •
  34. • Twenty-Nine •
  35. • Thirty •
  36. • Thirty-One •
  37. • Thirty-Two •
  38. • Thirty-Three •
  39. • Thirty-Four •
  40. • Thirty-Five •
  41. • Thirty-Six •
  42. • Thirty-Seven •
  43. • Thirty-Eight •
  44. • ∞ •
  45. • Thirty-Nine •
  46. • Forty •
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Excerpt from Be Dazzled
  50. One
  51. Two
  52. About the Author
  53. Back Cover

Mr. Abernathy laughed, a boisterous and booming noise. “All righty, we’ve had enough heroes and monsters for one night. Time to wash up and head to bed, right boys? Sorry, Urs, sorry, guys.” Then he spotted Kane. His face was craggy and hard, but in that moment of recognition a sweetness shone in his eyes as tender as his grip on his children. He let the boys down and scooted them toward Ursula and Elliot, who had retreated into the hall.

“Kane,” Mr. Abernathy said. “Haven’t seen you around here for a little bit. I’m glad you’re feeling better. Ursula and I—we’ve been praying for you before dinner. Mason and Joey, too, and Gail even, although she doesn’t believe in that.”

“Thanks,” Kane said quickly. “I appreciate it.”

Mr. Abernathy put his hands on his hips and surveyed the kitchen as though seeing the mess for the first time. “Ursula’s been pretty busy, I guess. More for the poker club, am I right? They’ll be over in a bit, if you’d like to join. I’ve been showing Elliot the basics, but to be honest I think he’s gonna be better than all of us. You two interested in sticking around?”

“Sorry Mr. A., but we were actually just heading out,” Adeline said. She grabbed her jacket. “Kane, I’ll drive you home.”

Mr. Abernathy went off to find Ursula and Elliot. Adeline pushed Kane from the house before he could protest.

“We need to talk. Alone,” was all she said.

But instead of talking, a heavy silence fell as they pulled out. She drove with smooth turns that went on and on, never nearing Kane’s house. She was waiting on him to start.

“I’m sorry about your grandmother,” Kane offered.

“It’s okay. That wasn’t your fault. She was fading anyways. Alzheimer’s. It runs on my mom’s side. I like to think I gave her some peace once all her good memories left her, and the bad ones became their own kind of reverie.”

“Still,” Kane said.

“Still.”

He wasn’t sure how to ask this next thought. “You said a person needs their reverie, that they’re not the same without their dreams. How are you sure this isn’t better for Helena?”

Adeline thought about this at a stoplight. “Because it wasn’t a choice she made for herself. We can’t be sure, because she can’t be sure. She doesn’t know any better, and she never will. We have no idea what Poesy does with those reveries.”

“She said she would help Helena fix it. Maybe she’s like a reverie doctor.”

“Or maybe she crushes them into bronzer? Why are you so confident she knows best, Kane? How did she win you over so quickly, when we can’t get a word out of you for two whole days?”