Page 165 of Carousel

How do I get to him?

Wake up, I will myself.

Nothing happens.

I feel arms sliding around me. Pulling me gently up. It must be happening to me, my real body. Because in here, I’m still alone.

“It’s no trouble. They will send over a medic quickly.”

“I will take her back to her keeper now, who can make that decision.”

Drake guides me, one arm around my waist, the other by my neck. My head rolls onto his shoulder. I can smell the familiar soapy, musky scent of him. There’s another scent deep in him I hadn’t noticed before. Something sweet yet tangy, like citrus fruits. It reminds me of the Palace. I think it’s magic.

I feel so comforted I almost lie down.

But I know that would be idiotic. I start walking circles, trying to find a way out of here. Because I know I need to get out. Get back to him.

I yell with everything I have. “Drake? Drake, can you hear me?”

“Did you say your keepers were speaking to Mel? They’re taking a long time.”

I feel tightening on the other side of my mind, as though rubber is being stretched. Drake’s emotions, I realise. He’s panicking.

No.

“Drake!” I shriek.

“Thank you,” he says, thinly. “We have completed our business⁠—”

But he’s interrupted by a jeering, unfamiliar voice from further away. “They’re playing you, Zander. The dirty Rhavnans are up to something. There is blood magic afoot.”

“Yes!” someone else shouts, voice echoing from the opposite direction. “Show us this letter from the Captain that condones a prisoner and officer relationship.”

The rubber-like tension that is Drake’s magic, or his emotions, or both, stretches further.

And I’m panicking now, too.

Please don’t snap. I need you to stay calm.

Why am I still here? Why can’t I wake up?

I’m running now. Desperate.

I shout his name at the air, but no one in the world hears.

“The Captain’s letter,” the guard, Zander, is saying. “I was satisfied by that, wasn’t I?”

Sisters. It’s wearing off. It’s actually wearing off.

I turn a full circle on the spot, dragging my hands down my face.

Wake up! I scream at myself. Wake up!

No light or warmth has gathered around me.

I’m going to get Drake killed.

I collapse on the ground. The insects are surrounding me, as if panicking with me.