Page 85 of Ex Somnis

“My boys,” she greets warmly.

The tightness in my chest that has been there for days eases a little on instinct now that she recognizes him.

Jasper exhales hard enough that I realize he’d been holding his breath and crosses the garden quickly to her. She cups his face with both hands immediately, thumbs brushing over his cheeks like she’s making sure he’s real.

He says something quietly to her that I can’t hear, then he glances back at us over his shoulder. “She’s having a good day.”

Paul and Ridge exchange a look.

“Then let’s ask her,” Paul carefully suggests before he walks over and greets Mabel with a kiss on her cheek.

Jasper nods and helps Mom over to the garden bench while Mabel lowers herself beside her, then he crouches in front of Mom, one hand resting lightly on her knee.

“Mom, Nevan and the guys want to ask you a question. Can you tell us about soul contracts?”

Mom’s head tilts slightly. Her eyes drift past Jasper to the rest of us, then they stop longest on Ridge. Recognition flickers across her face.

“You all need to know,” she says quietly.

“Yeah,” Jasper agrees. “We do.”

Mom folds her hands loosely in her lap.

“A soul contract is made from the part of you that doesn’t sleep.” A breeze moves through the garden, and Seraphine watches it pass through the trees. “Soul contracts belong to the self.”

Paul frowns slightly. “What does that actually mean?”

“It means your waking mind cannot make one.” Her gaze drifts slowly between us. “Only the dreaming part can. The oldest part. The part underneath fear, ego, and loneliness. A soul contract is not words,” she continues softly. “Words are only how the soul shapes recognition into something the body can understand. A soul contract happens when one soul recognizes another soul completely and answers.”

The garden suddenly feels colder.

“Is there a way to undo one?” Paul asks.

“When you make one, there is no turning back.”

I feel the hairs lift slightly along my arms.

“So, if someone would make a soul contract to stay in her dreams, in 5D,” I start, trying to gather the facts the guys have told me that apparently Lennon told them.

“It locks, like a door closing.” Her gaze shifts to Ridge again. “Or opening. They cannot be undone. Not by regret. Not by fear. Not even by death, sometimes.”

“Well,” Ridge clears his throat, “That’s deeply horrifying. Thank you.”

Paul slaps him over the back of the head.

“Ow.”

“The sleeping part of you is small,” Seraphine continues as if she didn’t just witness a mild assault between two grown men. “The dreaming part is much older. It knows what you love before you do.”

“What you love?” I ask.

“When the soul chooses, it does not choose halfway.”

“Okay, so we have to make sure there won’t be any soul contracts.” Paul nods. “But if someone gets stuck between dreams and waking life, without any contracts being made, can they come back?”

Mom’s gaze drifts toward the trees again. “Yes.”

Every muscle in my body tightens at once.