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The mist grew thicker with every step, its coldness seeping into me to squeeze my chest with its icy fingers. A sense of foreboding filled the air, making me sense that this wasn’t an area I wanted to venture to. But Mother demanded it, and as her puppet I obeyed. I hadn’t the strength to say no to her, either now and in all the times she’d forced me to continue foraging for emotions within nightmares.
My hand shook around the package she’d given me, and once more I wondered what it contained, but Mother had remained elusive on that matter. My mind drifted back to our conversation:
“You need to make a delivery for me,” Mother had told me.
Apprehension immediately knotted my stomach. “What sort of delivery?”
Rather than answering, she handed me a small package wrapped in black paper. An unsettling feeling crept across my skin simply from holding it, as if whatever darkness was inside was seeping out to curl around my hand. I ached to shake the feeling away.
“It’s imperative this doesn’t fall into the wrong hands,” she told me. “The place you’ll need to deliver it is difficult to find, so you must leave immediately.”
My heartbeat increased as I filled in the words she hadn’t spoken: the place I was going to was secret, and anything secret in this world of darkness was surely forbidden. My apprehension grew. “Perhaps it’d be best if you went instead.”
Disapproval flashed in Mother’s eyes. “For reasons I can’t divulge,youare the one who needs to make this delivery.” Despite her vague words, she couldn’t conceal the truth: she was hiding something, and I had an uneasy feeling what it was.
This wasn’t about Mother’s delivery: this was a test of my loyalty, likely brought on by the wavering I’d recently been feeling that couldn’t be hidden from Trinity’s powers. Not for the first time, I wondered:wasI loyal to her? In truth, I wasn’t entirely sure. My fear was unwavering in its devotion to her, my terror over the consequences of any disloyalty more powerful than the old Eden’s desires for goodness, both of which compelled me to do Mother’s bidding without question.
But I had questions now. They swirled through my mind with every step deeper into Mother’s control and every glance towards the package. Just what was inside? Who were the Nightmares I was to deliver it to? What was their purpose? Whatever it was, surely it was nothing good, for whatever this package contained was undoubtedly something dark and forbidden, something which would cause harm to either the Dream Realm or the Mortals on Earth and cause the balance to tip further than it already had.
My dread increased, causing the weight pressing against my heart to grow even heavier. I didn’t want that to happen...itcouldn’t. Yet I was doing nothing to prevent it.
My gaze darted around the narrow road I walked, searching for escape routes midst the line of thick trees, ones that even if I found I knew I wouldn’t be able to take. Even though I wasn’t imprisoned by physical chains, I still felt entirely trapped, my fear and need to belongsomewherethe jailers that kept me prisoner.
A few more turns and I reached not only the end of Mother’s careful instructions but the path, the way blocked by a wall of thick, impenetrable trees. I slowly looked around, taking in the grey, crumbling columns ensnared by twisting black vines and the towering trees that grew between them, all shrouded in the fog that hung more thickly here. Prickles suddenly tingled the back of my neck. I wasn’t alone; someone was hidden in the mist, watching me.
My pounding heart escalated as two Nightmares cloaked entirely in black stepped from the long shadows, a man and woman, likely a Pair. Even without asking I knew they were who I was supposed to meet. A distrustful, sinister aura surrounded them, causing me to shrink back against the nearest column until its rough stones pressed against my back.
They seemed to delight in my fear. The male Nightmare smirked before holding his hand out, a silent command for the package. Rather than hand it over, I held it close to my chest, unwilling to relinquish it to his clutches. He waited patiently, the dark glint in his eyes almost daring me to refuse him.
I remained unmoving and his amusement vanished as his eyes narrowed, a silent order to give him what he’d come for. His Pair stepped forward, her look dark, a warning.
Don’t give it to them, Eden. But how could I disobey Mother? For the consequences should I fail...I couldn’t bear to even consider them. These Nightmares wouldn’t hesitate to inform Mother; I’d come too far to defy her now.
My ever-present fear swallowed my own will, becoming my master. It controlled my limbs, forcing me to stiffly hold out the package to the Nightmare, who immediately snatched it, leaving me no time for my obedience to waver.
The Nightmares disappeared as silently as they’d arrived, melting back into the mist, as if they hadn’t been here at all. But they had, as was evidenced by the cracks they’d inflicted on the walls surrounding the stronghold of my old self, fractures that allowed my buried remorse to seep through and pierce my conscience.
I shuddered. The old Eden never would have done this. Just who had I become?
I didn’t want to dwell on the answer to such a question, nor did I want to linger. I turned and made my way back up the twisting path, but I hadn’t gone far when an all-too-familiar feeling overcame me: the sensation thathewas near.
My heart leapt and my gaze darted around, searching for a place to hide, for the last thing I wanted was forDariusto discover me in such a place. I ducked behind the nearest column and curled up at its base before tentatively peering around it.
Darius appeared at the end of the path and approached slowly. As frightened as I was to see him, his presence was like a glimmer of light in this place of gloom; I felt as if I’d been granted a portion of dawn after an endless night.
But that brightness was quickly slipping away as my panic rose. Darius couldn’t discover me in such a place. Anywhere secluded enough to make secret exchanges was surely forbidden. Though I knew Darius was already lost to me, he’d become even more so should he find me here and realize just how far I’d fallen to give in to Mother’s demands so easily, despite my knowing they were wrong.
I wanted to duck away, but I found I couldn’t tear my gaze from him as he searched the nearby darkness, likely conducting an investigation of his own, for there was no other reason for someone so honorable as him to be in a place as dark as this.
He suddenly slowed, then stiffened, as if he’d only just noticed something...undoubtedly me, sensing my presence the same way I could always tell he was near.
Even though I’d longed for him moments before, the last thing I wanted was for him to discover me in such a place. I withdrew into the shadows and pulled my legs to my chest to wait. I didn’t have to wait for long before I sensed him come closer, and then he was upon me. I burrowed my face in my knees and didn’t look up as he stepped around the column that had failed to protect me from his discovery. Silence filled the space between us, thick and heavy.
He swallowed. “Eden?” His voice was hesitant, almost as if he secretly hoped it wasn’t me he’d found, just as he was the last one I wanted to discover me in such a place.
I still didn’t look up, unable to bear the inevitable disappointment that was sure to fill his eyes. I could have avoided his gaze much longer if I weren’t so drawn to him, like a plant in need of the sun. With a wavering breath, I slowly peeked up at him. I stiffened, for his expression was just as I’d feared: pure shock and disbelief.
He released a whooshing breath. “So it is you. I wondered, when I felt so strongly to come here...what are you doing here?” I had no answer, so I remained silent. He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You shouldn’t be here. This isn’t a place you want to be discovered in.”
