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“Eden?” Angel yanked herself away from him in order to glare at me. My stomach clenched at her hostility, but I forced myself to bury my hurt at having one of my former best friends look at me with such hatred. I could feel later; right now I had an escaped nightmare to tame.
“Someone released one of the nightmares I captured,” I explained over the howling wind. “It’s come to life, just like the lava nightmare that destroyed the Cultivating Fields.”
Angel eyes narrowed. “You expect me to believe you didn’t release it yourself?”
“If the nightmare was unleashed during our Weaving, then Eden isn’t the one—” Caspian began, but his words were cut off by Angel’s glare.
As much as I didn’t want to lay claim to the events currently transpiring, I knew I wasn’t entirely without blame, not when my past choices had led me to this point.
“She’s right: this is my fault. I bottled it, and I left it where it could be found.” Though I’d tried to hide it, I should have instead made a greater effort to get rid of it.
Angel appeared to have a great deal more to say to me, but before she had the chance Iris stepped forward, wringing her hands anxiously. “Do you know how to stop it?”
I shook my head. “I only know how to view, enter, and capture dreams. Once they come to life, I believe they last as long as the duration the nightmare did.”
“But can’t you recapture it?”
I nibbled my lip, deliberating, as I watched the tornado rage on the other side of the studio, a thick wind of fury. I’d never considered recapturing a dream, but it was definitely worth a try.
Despite Stardust’s wariness about the idea, she determinedly agreed to help. I settled onto her before turning to Iris and Angel. “Do either of you have something I can use to contain it?”
“You can use this.” Iris seized a jar storing paint brushes, dumped them out, and handed it to me. I smiled in gratitude and was delighted when she returned it.
I balanced on top of Stardust as she rose into the air. I studied the tornado; its edges were shimmery, a sign it’d been created from magic. I summoned my powers, seeming so small compared to the whirl of energy before me, and pushed them towards it, but I was too far away to encircle it.
“Fly me a bit closer,” I instructed Stardust. She gulped but did as I asked. I tried again, pushing as much of my magic as I could, but the tornado was too large and fierce for my small amount of powers to have any effect on it.
As if it sensed I was trying to thwart it, the tornado turned its swirling rampage in our direction and twisted towards us. Before I could summon my magic and make another attempt to capture it, it fell upon us, snatching me in the claws of its fierce wind. I was surrounded by grey as I twirled, twirled, twirled, broken debris scratching and bruising me within the whirling storm...until I was ejected from the monstrous nightmare to fly across the studio, where I collapsed against a pile of broken pieces of cloud statues whose jagged edges cut me in several places.
For a moment, I stared dizzily up at the ceiling, every inch of me throbbing, particularly my head, which had whacked against the wall in my fall. I struggled to wriggle my arms and legs and sighed with relief that nothing appeared to be broken.
“Are you alright, Eden?” Stardust appeared at my side and morphed herself into a cushion to slide herself gently beneath me. Iris arrived shortly afterwards and knelt beside me, surveying my body for injuries, her eyes wide with worry. Her compassionate look did wonders for the pain lacing my body, as did the surprising concern from Angel and Caspian standing several feet away.
“Are you alright?” Iris asked. “Can you sit up?”
I groaned and with her help slowly managed to do so. My gaze settled on the tornado still wreaking havoc on the other side of the studio. Despite my aches, I wasn’t ready to give up. I set my jaw. “I want to try again.”
Stardust gasped. “Don’t be foolish, Eden. Your powers were no match—”
I ignored her as I limped closer on foot, my magic already cupped in my palm as I gingerly cradled my injured arm against my body. This time I focused on trying to capture the tornado by its base, but once again my powers were nothing compared to the storm, and it wasn’t long before it once more seized me and flung me across the room, a fall more painful than the first.
I struggled to get up...only to stumble at the sharp pain piercing my limbs. It was only slightly alleviated by Stardust’s soft body as she slid herself beneath me. “You’re hurt,” she scolded as she fussed over me. “It’d be foolish to try again.”
“But I have to—” I protested, but she immediately cut me off.
“I don’t think you can fix this, Eden.”
My chest constricted. She was right. Once again I was forced to face my mistakes and their consequences, ones I could do nothing about. I’d hurt the world I loved and yet I was powerless to fix all I’d broken. I felt lost, as if I was drowning in a swirling sea with no idea how to navigate these churning waters.
“I can’t recapture a nightmare after it’s been released,” I murmured. “I’m so sorry.”
“You did your best.” Iris knelt beside me and once more assessed my injuries, using her magic to heal any cuts and bruises she discovered. I pushed my own healing spell towards anywhere she didn’t reach that hurt, which was practically everywhere. Gradually my pain soothed.
“Itismy fault. If I hadn’t used my magic to steal so many nightmares from Darius—” My words faltered at his name.Darius...
I bolted upright, nearly knocking into Iris as she healed a spot on my aching shoulder. I summoned my powers and twisted it to form the magical ink used to send messages. I wasn’t sure how Darius could possibly help, but I did know I needed him, my constant life preserver in any storm. Unlike in the past when I’d tried to walk alone, I refused to do so any longer.
While I waited for him, I dusted myself off and had another go at the tornado, but with the same results. By the time he showed up I was exhausted. He’d come immediately at my summons, as I knew he would.
