AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shook her head. “You’re scaring me, Eden. You need to calm down before you do something you’ll regret.”
I glared at her. “Are you going to cooperate with me or not?”
Her eyes widened at my biting tone but she remained unyielding. “No.”
I gritted my teeth. Fine, I’d do this without her help. I stomped to one of the rainbow bridges and climbed onto the railing. Angel, Iris, and Caspian finally caught up, panting.
“What are you doing?” Iris demanded.
“You’ll see,” I said cooly.
She reached out, as if she meant to tug on my sleeve. “Get down and let’s talk about this.”
I clutched Darius’s bottled nightmare more tightly. “I already triedtalking,and it didn’t work.” I glared out over the Cultivating Fields, sprinkled with Cultivators tending the plants and Dreamers gathering their materials for their upcoming Weavings. It didn’t take long for them to notice me. A hush settled over the fields as I captured their attention one by one, their foreheads furrowed in confusion to see a Nightmare in their fields.
I held up the nightmare jar I’d selected. The orange dream flickered within its prison, but I was the only who could see this; to everyone else it was only an empty jar. They would soon find out itwasn’tempty.
“Do you know what this contains?” My voice echoed across the fields as I twirled the jar casually between my fingers. “This contains a nightmare captured after it successfully terrified a young Mortal. Not to worry, it’s perfectly harmless...when bottled up.” I smirked at Angel. “You don’t believe I can see and capture dreams? I’m about to prove you wrong in a way no one will ever forget.”
Iris stared at me, eyes wide with horror, while hatred twisted Angel’s expression, similar to whenever she’d discussed her weaving partner, Blaze. I’d never imagined such a look would one day be directed towardsme; it shattered the last of my hopes of reclaiming the friendship that had meant so much to me—proof that no matter what Stardust and Darius seemed to believe, the Dream Realm would never let me to return.
I tightened my jaw. “Last chance, Angel. I didn’t mean to steal your dream dust. I never would have stolen magic on purpose, much less from one of my best friends. Please believe me. I want to be friends again.”
“I’d never be friends with a Nightmare likeyou,” she spat.
Although this was the answer I’d expected, it still pierced me. The pain within me festered and swelled, and despite my attempts to quench them, my tears escaped. Iris stepped forward, hand outstretched, but Angel yanked her back. Iris lowered her eyes and made no more move towards me. Her silence was her rejection, Angel’s defiance her own. I glared at them both.
“Wrong answer,” I hissed. “Very well, if you want me to be not only a Nightmare but your enemy, then I’ll comply.” The bottled nightmare glistened in the morning light as I held it up, so innocently, with no hint of the upcoming storm it would soon unleash. “Here’s a riddle: what happens to a dream when the jar containing it breaks? Well, you’re all about to find out; a nightmare is about to become your living reality.”
“Eden,don’t!“ Iris leapt forward and Stardust lurched towards me to snatch the jar away, but it was too late. I threw the bottled dream across the fields and heard its very satisfying tinkling shatter, the only sound that pierced the deathly silence.
The nightmare of the volcano erupted with a deafeningboom, filling the sky with white smoke and raining volcanic rock. Blistering molten lava spewed everywhere, extending its fingers in all directions through the rows of flowers, destroying everything in its path. I watched it all with a satisfied smirk.
Screams filled the smoke-filled air as Dreamers scrambled away from the spreading lava, but Angel and Iris didn’t move. Angel’s glare was as fiery as the lava seeping over the Cultivating Fields, whereas Iris gave me the most heart-wrenching look. At her pity, I felt my smile fade.
I slowly stared at the lava, which had already covered half the Cultivating Fields in the space of less than a minute. The release of the nightmare seemed to slightly quell the emotions that had raged within me moments earlier, and finally midst the sharp, ravaging pain, I felt the tiniest glimmer of regret.
Chapter 21
The stirrings of remorse I’d felt following the volcanic explosion in the Cultivating Fields had been only a pinprick of the whirlwind of emotions to come. I’d thought that the pain from my old friends’ rejection would dissipate once I set it free, but I was wrong—it grewworse, gnawing at my heart until I thought it would eat me alive, especially when Mother learned of what I’d done.
I’d never forget her look of delighted glee nor the sharp regret that followed, clenching my heart until I was certain it would shatter. I’d struggled in vain my entire life to earn Mother’s approval, wanting nothing more than for her to be proud of me, yet I’d never been able to earn the acceptance I yearned for. Now I had it but I didn’t want it, not when it’d come at too high of a cost: that of me being my worst self, someone I desperately didn’t want to be but feared I’d never be able to escape.
“You destroyed the Cultivating Fields?” I’d never seen Mother smile so widely.
I swallowed. “Half of them.” I still couldn’t believe it. What had I done? “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. I justlostit and now—”
“Oh Eden, this isbrilliant.” She wrapped me in a tight, suffocating hug. “I knew you had it in you. For a while I was worried my faith was misplaced, but all of that is forgotten after this incredible triumph of yours. Now that you’ve destroyed most of the Cultivating Fields, Dreamers will be limited in the details they can gather for their Weavings, which will result in weaker dreams, allowing nightmares to dominate. The Nightmare Realm will finally get the power it deserves. I’m so proud of you, Eden.”
She squeezed me again until I felt I couldn’t breathe, but it wasn’t her hold that suffocated me so much as my smothering emotions swirling within me, which became more agonizing at Mother’s next words, sharp as an executioner’s blade.
“I always knew you were a Nightmare.”
My heart twisted, yet almost at once a foreign thought filled my mind, the only antidote to Mother’s attack:But I’m not a Nightmare!
I didn’t want to be this person—one who delighted in fear, sought revenge midst my pain, and destroyed. But was it too late? Was my identity predetermined by the Universe, a magic so deep it couldn’t be changed, only accepted? Was I forever stuck being this person I loathed and feared, with no hopes of escaping?
I couldn’t think, not with Mother’s gleeful laughter filling my ears. I needed to leave, go somewhere to escape these poisonous thoughts and fears, but where could I go in this horrible place filled with nothing but shadow? I needed light. Slowly, the perfect destination occurred to me, the only place in this world where I’d ever felt a glimmer of peace.
