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“Alright, then let’s do it,” I urged, tugging him back toward the stairs.
He chuckled, following me up, and up, and up.
I was nearly wheezing by the time we finally made it to the top. “Whose idea was all those stairs?” I grumbled.
A deep laugh escaped him, and he signed, “We couldn’t have the view without the stairs. They were a necessity, not an idea.”
“You guys need escalators,” I said, leaning against his arm as we headed for his room to put our stuff down. He asked me what an escalator was, then wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close while I explained.
Exhaustion had set in by the time we made it to his room. I stared longingly at the bed while he hung my things in the closet. Though I was trying to remind myself how excited I was to see the ocean, I was really, really tired.
My lips stretched in a yawn, and I made my way over to the bed, plopping down on the edge. I hadn’t slept in it, but it had felt pretty damn comfortable when I was on it the last time.
Then again, what we’d been doing had probably distracted me from the actual feel of the mattress.
Zoran stepped out of the closet and looked me up and down, before signing, “You need sleep, Cier.”
“We’re going swimming,” I protested weakly.
“We’ll swim after we rest.” He crossed the room, pulled me into his arms, and then lifted me up to the head of the bed.
I relaxed completely as he tucked us under the blankets, rolling me to my side and pressing his front to my back as he spooned me.
Nothing in the world could’ve been anywhere near as comfortable as I was at that moment.
“Thanks,” I whispered, as my eyes closed.
He squeezed my abdomen lightly, twice.
Of course.
The nightmarethat filled my sleep was brutal.
I was back in the Aboa, running from the monsters that had nearly killed me.
Zoran’s water was no longer around my wrist, and he didn’t know where I was.
I was completely and utterly alone, with nothing to eat, and no way out.
Another one of the vine-tentacle creatures was chasing me, wanting revenge for the one I’d killed.
It snapped at my heels, and I screamed, running harder.
My magic was depleted, and I’d been running for so long that my legs were about to give out.
It was hopeless.
I was never going to make it.
The monster snatched me by the ankles, whisking me up off the ground, and I screamed again, louder.
I—
“Cier,” Zoran’s soft growl echoed through the caves of my nightmare, and the monster holding me upside-down halted.
I felt a warm hand moving over my abdomen, and looked at my belly.
I couldn’t see him touching me.
