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Please let there be monsters.Anything to jolt me awake.
Since there was no discernable direction but forward, I took a few measured steps into the mist. As soon as I moved, the fog rushedupward like a waterfall careening toward the sky. A bed of sable stones stretched out before me in a slender, straight path leading into the horizon. Craning my neck, I glanced behind me. The path abruptly stopped a few inches from my heels.
“Forward it is.” There was no sense in fighting it. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner I would wake. Still rushing ever upward, the walls of mist showered me in a faint vapor as I walked. Gooseflesh rippled across my bare chest and arms, and I frowned. Kost had mentioned that the undead were rarely bothered by the cold. I wasn’t exactlybothered, but… A particularly chilly stone rolled along the arch of my foot, and a shiver shot down my spine. Something was different about this place.
Just more proof you’re dreaming.Shaking my head, I kept walking. Minutes ticked by in mind-numbing silence. Where were the terrifying demons? The heart-wrenching flashbacks? Hireath on fire? I’d grown accustomed to those images, and yet this total absence of, well,everythingwas somehow more unsettling.
Or more peaceful.That thought stopped me in my tracks. Again, I looked behind me to find the ever-present mist had eaten away at the path, making it look as though I’d hardly moved at all. There was nothing but emptiness around me, and that lack of judgment, of fear, was startling. Agony had become part of me, etched so deeply into my bones that I could never escape the pain or despair. But here, I was weightless. Here, I was free.
It was as if that realization broke the muffled silence. Something fractured in the distance, and suddenly I was enveloped in the sounds of night. The soft, questioning hoots from owls, the faint chirp of crickets on repeat. Even a breeze toying with leaves. Outlines took shape in the fog on either side of the path. Dark, blurry shapes—unformed but recognizable—bled against the gray backdrop. A thicket of trees surrounded me, but they thinned in the distance.
It wasn’t anywhere I recognized, and that only filled me with a deeper sense of serenity. A slow, relaxed smile pulled at my lips.
Finally.Starting up again, I dragged my fingers through the fog walls. Mist swirled outward at my touch, dispersing, and re-forming as I continued onward. With every deep breath, the faint mineral taste of the air sharpened to something familiar—salt. Soon, the trees gave way to large boulders, and just out of sight, rushing water crashed against something solid. The path beneath my feet widened until it pooled outward onto a black, sandy beach. A full moon sat heavy over ink-black water, and jagged sawtooth rocks pierced the surface. Angry waves crested against the boulders, and the white, churning foam spilled over their porous surface before rushing up the sand. Frigid water circled my ankles and soaked my linen pants, but the icy sensation couldn’t damper the sense of wonder in me.
The veil of fog had vanished here, revealing a crystal-clear night dotted with millions of burning stars. It was unlike any place I’d ever seen, and I never wanted to leave.
As I stared at the raging ocean before me, I spied a sphere of whirling darkness hovering above the water. Shadows. Even here, I couldn’t escape them. But maybe here I could control them. Raising my hand toward the orb, I focused on the snarling, writhing tendrils. And then I beckoned to them with the slightest curl of my fingers.
The orb went still. Satisfaction bloomed in my chest, and I tried to force them to disappear. But instead of fleeing and leaving me in peace to enjoy my foreign surroundings, they exploded. In a virulent frenzy, they multiplied until they blanketed the night sky and extinguished all light. A piercing whistling shredded my ears, and I slapped my hands against the side of my head and winced. Pressure built in my chest, and I struggled to breathe. Fear gutted me as the shadows cocooned me in a wild tornado. I couldn’t control them. Not in real life, and not in my dreams.
So thisisa nightmare.Squirming my eyes shut, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Fire burned my throat as I pushed myself louder and louder. I needed to wake up. Ihadto wake up. But when I opened my eyes, I was still lost in the flurry of darkness. It was so similar to the maelstrom I’d endured earlier that a disastrous, small doubt crept from the recesses of my mind. One I refused to examine. Trembling, I reached toward the tendrils.
Another hand shot out of the shadows and snared my wrist. I choked on my scream and stumbled backward, but the iron grip kept me from tumbling into the oblivion. Calluses scratched against my skin as they dragged along my pitiful Charmer’s emblem. The nails were chewed to the quick, and where wrinkles should have been, lines of dried blood ringed the knuckles. The hand jerked my wrist upward, as if bringing it in for closer inspection, though I couldn’t glimpse a body.
Until suddenly there was a pair of haunting, faded-blue eyes staring first at my emblem, and then at me. A burning, crimson ring encircled their pupils, and my body filled with an unbearable sense of dread. Warning bells clashes in my mind.
Danger. I was in danger.
Yanking my hand out of the stranger’s grip, I fell back into the snarling shadows. They sliced against me like they’d done earlier on Cruor’s lawns, and blood welled along the cuts. I couldn’t tell if I was falling or if the rushing sound in my ears was the raging tendrils lashing out. All I knew was that I didn’t care, so long as that gaze wasn’t boring into my soul any longer.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I pressed my chin to my chest. “Wake up. This is just a dream. Wake up!”
The shadows howled in response. There was no end to this nightmare. No end to the darkness. No end—
A pair of hands gripped my shoulders tight, and I let out abloodcurdling scream. I clawed at them frantically, trying in vain to pry them from my body.
“Gaige!”
The hands dug deeper, cupping beneath my bones and rooting me in place. And still, I raked my nails along the skin on their forearms. Blood trails followed in my wake, but my assailant didn’t budge.
“Gaige, snap out of it!”
A flicker of awareness triggered in my mind. That voice was familiar. I cut a quick glance to the hands on my shoulders. The nails were neatly trimmed and pristinely cleaned. No dried blood to be found, save where I’d ravaged the skin around their wrists. The shadows around me faltered.
“Please, Gaige.” Soft. Broken.Broken? Why?My body went limp with fatigue, and I gave up trying to fight. My bedroom slammed back into view so abruptly that my stomach dropped, and I keeled over the edge of my bed to vomit in the bin. My vision swam in circles, black dots dancing across my eyes, until everything slowly steadied. Breathing deeply through my nose, I focused on the pair of bare feet before me. Then, I pushed myself into an upright position.
Face ghostly pale and eyes wide, Kost stood before me. His hair was ruffled, spectacles missing. Judging by his lack of shirt and loose, wrinkled pants, I’d somehow roused him from sleep. Deep gouges lined his wrists, as if a deranged beast had attacked his forearms in desperation.
“Are you all right? What happened?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” The words burned against my vocal cords, and I rubbed my throat. “What happened to you?”
“What happened to me?” He blinked. Slowly. “You happened. Look.” He nodded at my chest. With an absent hand, I brushed my palm down my sternum, expecting to wipe away beads of sweat.That dream had been all too real. No doubt I’d been screaming in my sleep, sweating through the sheets…
My breath hitched as I glanced at the red sheen of blood across my fingertips. Launching from the bed, I crossed the room in three quick strides to stand before the floor-length mirror. At least a dozen cuts stretched across my exposed skin. Of course, they were already rapidly resealing before my eyes, but there was no erasing the smeared trails and splatters of left behind blood. I caught a small rivulet on my shaking fingers and stared at it. Real. It was all real. Even though I’d been dreaming, I’d lashed out in the world around me. Ringing crested in my ears, and I sank to the floor in a heap.
Kost was at my side in less than a breath. He crouched before me and placed his hands on my shoulders, right where they’d been when he’d pulled me out of my nightmare.
