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Chapter Forty-six: Cassidy

David was awake. And I was pretty sure Rosie was the only one that was happy about it. What could I think? He was himself now, that much was clear. But the words that he had spoken and things he had done before were still fresh in my mind and I wasn't sure forgetting them would be so easy.

Brandon looked at David carefully with glints of repulsion in his eyes, but I didn't think David noticed since his eyes were on Rosie, staring at her. He was probably still thinking about the kiss she'd left on his cheek.

I thought that maybe now that David was awake and back to normal we would no longer have to open a portal, but now that Ivory had made it clear that she was alive and angry that thought quickly vanished. The portal would have to be opened, and I was glad that Rosie agreed to help me.

I glanced at her, giving her a quick nod of approval to start. But Brandon touched my shoulder from behind suddenly.

"What do you need me to do?" The words came out quickly but his voice was genuine.

I caught David's confused face out of the corner of my eye. "Just...keep an eye on him." Though I only told him this I knew I could count on him to distract Ivory if she did come back too.

His eyes wandered to David. "Already on it."

I turned back to Rosie who looked hesitate. I wondered if she was really comfortable with doing this.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah," is all she said and I left it at that.

As I stared hard ahead, I drew in a breath. Was I actually doing this? What if it didn't work? What if something went wrong? But those were thoughts I had to leave behind as I stepped forward. The portal would have to be opened one way or another.

As Rosie and I stood side-by-side I took in amother breath and let it out slowly. I nodded at her again. Now we would begin.

I cleared my mind completely until all of my focus was on opening the portal. I remembered my grandma's words and all that she'd taught me. Now I was more thankful than ever that she did.

When I opened my eyes I saw the faint cloud of fog appear. It was the first time I'd seen it since I was thirteen. I was amazed at how similar it looked, and that was good because that meant that we'd done it right.

But as I stared at it with wide proud eyes I saw the faint light of it swirl round and round, the speed increasing by the second. This hadn't happened when my grandma had done it, and so I did not know what was going on. I turned to Rosie for an answer, but it wasn't until the portal exploded that I knew.

We were thrown back, hitting the wall with one sharp thud. Rosie and I both recovered quickly but when I looked over at her I saw shame laced on her face. And then I realized. How could I have been so stupid? Of course she wouldn't know how to open a portal. The skills needed were not something her kind practiced.

David was at Rosie's side in an instant. I didn't say anything. Rosie didn't either---or if she did I didn't hear her.

Brandon's eyes caught me and when I looked behind him I saw Ivory's broken figure starting towards us, her dark eyes fixed on David, filled with rage.

I felt my heart flip in my chest. Now I would have to open the portal all on my own.