AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was the first time I’d heard him speak in weeks, and his voice did strange things to my heart before I once more forced the feeling away.
The Dreamer smirked. “Why shouldn’t I? It’s her fault the Council forced her Mortal on me. If she hadn’t been nothing more than a thief with abnormal powers—”
“Shut up!” His fists clenched as he glared at his partner. “You know nothing about what you speak of, nor do you even know her, so stop berating her.”
His defense surprised me, considering what had happened to me had beenhisfault. Perhaps his reaction only stemmed from guilt that he’d put his duties above whatever feelings he’d thought he had for me. Pain I wasn’t strong enough to feel pierced my hardened heart. Having him betray me despite what he might have felt towards me was infinitely worse than if he’d feigned his feelings all along.
Unfazed by Darius’s rage, the Dreamer continued to study him, her head tilted thoughtfully. “You seem to harbor a soft spot for your former partner. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such loyalty between weaving partners. Perhaps the explanation for such an anomaly is that your old partner turned out to be a Nightmare much like yourself.”
Darius’s jaw tightened as he returned to his weaving. “Stop stalling and begin weaving; it’s not in my nature to wait.”
The Dreamer rolled her eyes. “So I’ve noticed. It wouldn’t even matter if you did; I’d lose anyway.”
“That’s because you’re not even trying,” Darius snapped. “Shall I inform the Council you’re inadequate for this task? Because believe me, I will.”
The dragonfly Dreamer’s white-knuckled grip tightened on her weaving needle. “You wouldn’t.”
Darius cocked a single eyebrow. “You doubt me? That would be extremely foolish considering I’m not to be trifled with. If you fail to improve your performance, I’ll inform the Council of your lack of ability. Believe me when I say that you won’t only lose Maci; the Council will likely find you unsuitable for your other Mortals as well.”
“But I win the majority of Weavings for my other Mortals,” the Dreamer hissed. “I only do poorly with this surrogate assignment because she wasn’t chosen for me in the weaving pool like my others.”
“Nor was she chosen for me,” Darius said. “I did the unthinkable and requested her before the weaving pool could choose a Nightmare Weaver for her, but you don’t seemelosing every single night, do you?”
He smirked before returning to his weaving, his movements stiff and rigid. The Dreamer scowled as she yanked two dream flowers from her bag and frantically began weaving them together, all the while muttering darkly under her breath.
I couldn’t watch anymore. I pulled away from the curtain and settled myself more comfortably on the slated roof to lean against the chimney. Emotions swirled within me, emotions I didn’t want to feel. I commenced my usual nightly battle against these unwanted feelings until I’d once more succeeded in smothering them.
I peered into Maci’s bedroom to check on the Weaving’s progress in time to see heaps of dream dust soar into Darius’s spiderweb-shaped dream locket. He clicked it shut and glared at his partner. “You’ll never be half the Weaver she was.” And with a deafeningcrackhe disappeared.
The Dreamer glared after him before hopping onto her cloud, who’d passed the Weaving perusing a newspaper. I shrank into the shadows as they flew past me into the starlit sky, off to their other Weavings. After my suspension, Darius had returned to weaving for the Mortal he’d given up to weave for Maci. Even after they were out of sight, I waited several minutes more, time I needed to shove my unwanted emotions back into my locked heart where they belonged.
I crept across the slates and slipped inside the bedroom, which felt empty without the Weavers. I floated down until I hovered only a few feet above Maci’s crib. The moonlight illuminated seven-month-old Maci, her brow crinkled in distress, tears trapped in the creases of her eyes.
I felt the strangest urge to float closer in order to stroke her hair and wipe the agitated lines crinkling her forehead, or even to use my few remaining dream flowers from my old life to weave a pleasant dream for her, but I resisted both of these impulses. Those were thoughts a Dreamer would have, and I wasn’t a Dreamer any longer. Apparently I never had been.
I spent several unpleasant moments watching Maci toss and turn before turning my attention to the nightmare responsible for her restless night. I followed its movement as it slunk around the room, keeping my eyes narrowed to avoid tumbling inside; I only viewed Darius’s nightmares on nights I wanted to feel frightened, a state often better than feeling numb. That night was not tonight.
Like most of Darius’s nightmares, it was plump and olive green, though this one was unusually big even for Darius’s skills, which meant tonight’s win had earned him a lot of dream dust. If I captured this nightmare all of that magic would become mine. My powers curled against my palm. It would be so easy...but like every night,somethingkept me from stealing his dream, despite my anger being the perfect motivation.
His earlier words returned uninvited to my mind:You’ll never be half the Weaver she was. I pressed my hand to my heart as the feelings I constantly fought returned full force, filling me with a warmth and an aching longing I could never completely suppress.
With all Darius had done to me, why wouldn’t these feelings leave? How I wished they would.
There was only one way I could think of to get rid of them: I had to make him hurt, cause him just as much pain as he’d given me, and to do that I’d need to take from him. That was why I came down here every night, because if I had to steal from anyone I knew it would be from him.
I held the empty jar in my lap, the magic I’d borrowed from Mother brimming in my hand, ready for me to send towards Darius’s nightmare and pull it into its glass prison in order to claim its magic.
Do it, Eden. Do it now. But like every other night I couldn’t actually make myself steal from him. Instead, I sat rigidly as I watched Maci sleep restlessly and Darius’s nightmare float around the room as it shrunk smaller and smaller until it was entirely forgotten. When dawn tinted the sky I finally left, having passed another long night without doing what I’d been sent down here to do.
Dreams were far less interesting when I had to deliberately steal them.
Chapter 2
Sparks and I soared towards the Nightmare Realm, a place of constant grey overcast with no glimpse of the sun. Fog shrouded the landscape, clinging to the shadowy buildings and dark foliage and hovering over the streets paved with lava rock, while gloominess filled the air, suffocating my senses. Molten lava flowed through the cracks in the cobblestones and made up the river that twisted alongside the crooked paths.
Worst of all were my fellow Nightmares who wandered the streets and loitered on the lawns of amber grass that resembled crackling flames. Their eerie nightmare styles and hardened countenances as they appraised me sent shivers rippling up my spine. No matter how familiar the scenery was becoming, I felt as if I were trapped in a foreign land, a stranger who didn’t belong. It was such a contrast to how I’d felt in the Dream Realm.
I gave my head a rigid shake. Whatever feelings I used to harbor for my old home had been nothing more than an illusion, for I didn’t belong there; I’d been banished, an event that had led me to my true home. But no matter how many times I told myself this, a part of me didn’t believe it, even though I knew I wassupposedto.
