Page 133 of Fae Farewells

“Now you want to force the dream?” Novak asked.

“Yes.”

He shrugged, then tipped his head. “Find what you’re looking for quickly so we can pull you out.”

“I’ll force the dream as a vision,” York explained. “Just be ready, Novak.”

My druid sat up, crossing his legs as he rested his hands on his knees. I’d experienced York’s dreams before, but I hadn’t ever tried to manipulate them.

We began in a white space, absent of walls or corners. It went on forever, no end in sight, no matter which way I turned. My eyes and ears ached, the brightness and silence damaging to my senses.

The fucking abyss of purity was never-ending… But a small black spot appeared in the distance, growing as I moved closer. Or maybe it wasn’t growing. Maybe I was further away than I thought.

Once I reached its edge, I realized the whiteness of this dream was the locks on my mind. Diving into the hole would shatter that illusion and leave me defenseless until I was out.

But I dove in, anyway.

I fell upward, landing on my feet in some Wonderland bullshit that wasn’t a part of my thought process. An image hung in front of me, a brunette man gazing out, the background dark glass in a window frame.

It reminded me of those creepy portraits in museums that follow you with their eyes.

Except this one really was watching me.

“Well, hello there,” he purred, looking at himself in the mirror.

But he was seeing through himself, into me.

“Come to pay your brilliant uncle a visit?”

“Out,” I screamed, reaching for York and Novak.

Alric sunk inky fingers into my mental presence. I lashed out with the electricity that used to surround my mind, but it didn’t hurt him. He moved right through it.

His image bled from the mirror into my mind, where he physically struck me. Pain bloomed across my face as red and green threads wrapped around my waist.

They jerked me back, sending me flying through that black hole. My force shredded the white mindscape, as if talons raked through it, determined to tear it down.

Alric chased me, and all I could do was stare into his eyes as he got mere feet away from catching me.

I needed a new plan.

No.

We needed two plans.

“Are you okay?” Novak asked frantically, moving my hands to look at my nose. “It took me a second to figure out that was my signal. We need a safe word for this kind of shit.”

Monday, June 22th

Morning

I knew that look, that twinkle of wicked destruction in her eyes. The one that said she was about to do evil shit with the sole purpose of fucking someone up.

Even as I knew I wouldn’t like whatever it was she was about to do… I still loved that villainous streak.

There was no part of me that didn’t adore her.

Although, some days, I did want to throttle the sense back into her.