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18
Elodie
I’m running.
Old Man Bruno’s house has all the lights on and Margo is already through the door. I make it to the porch and turn to look back into the forest.
There’s a mist shrouding the brush. It’s so thick, almost like Bresian, the path between, has slipped through the entire woods. My bones are cold. The air is almost a beast itself with the frigid assault on my lungs and limbs. I turn to follow Margo into the cabin, but Old Man Bruno is standing there. He’s different now—younger. I only recognize him by the oversized overalls and the light in his hazel eyes.
“Bruno? You… you’re young again.” I study him, feeling like we’ve met before. His youthful face is familiar, yet so distant in my memory.
His eyes are soft and a frown forms on his lips. “Elodie—you’ve been cursed.”
I lift a brow. Technically it’s a dream, right? It’s not so far-fetched that he’d know about my blood-repulsion curse.
“It’s not so bad. I have Rune.”
His eyes are blank. There’s only the frown and the tick in his jaw as he continues. “You. Are. Cursed.” He raises a finger at me and goosebumps ripple up my arms at the act. “Run, Elodie. You must run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. RUN!” He screams the last part and my heart drops.
The door slams shut and I’m fucking running, because what in the gods was that? My heart is beating so fast at the cryptic message and my brain is in overdrive. I can’t find a sliver of trees that isn’t shrouded in the horrible mist.
Bresian is everywhere.
Where the fuck am I?
“Wren!” I call out to my Cypress, sweating horribly at the way Bruno just kept telling me to run. “Rune! Kastian!” My knees hit the forest floor and my hands are stuck in something wet and thick. It’s hot and steaming against the cold air.
I lift my hands, eyes wide, and I’m shaking because I already know what it is.
But of course I look anyway.
Blood and guts are beneath my knees, the crimson seeping into my pants. My hands are covered in red, and just as I lose the hold on my sanity I catch eyes with a grungy and decrepit skull.
It’s the same skull from the last dream… the one from the basement.
But it’s fleshy now, with peachy-colored skin that’s half torn from its face, and eyes that have no lids. They’re the color of the sun, yellow. So yellow and filled with evil that my marrow freezes within me.
Bruno’s voice rings in my ears until I’m nearly deaf.
“Run, Elodie. Run! You need to go home!”
* * *
I wake up standing in the frame of my window. It’s still dark outside. My knees struggle not to buckle under the panic that seizes me.
“Elodie!”
My tattoo heats. I turn to look at him. He looks as fucking scared as I feel. My bones are freezing. How long have I been standing here like this?
My Dreadius approaches me slowly with both hands out, carefully easing up to me like I’m going to jump to my death.
Was I? What the fuck is happening to me? My heart lurches in my chest at the thought of seeing my parents but them not being able to see me.
My spine warms.“Are you okay, pup?”
I nod slowly.
Once Rune secures me from the window, he brings me to the bed and sits me down. His brows are furrowed with worry and my heart’s curling in its cage.
