AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucian glanced over his shoulder. “I’m getting pulled, Brin.”
She went and stood in front of him, putting her hands on his arms. “I’ll be okay,” she said, searching his handsome face.
“Yes. You will be,” he said, swiping a loose strand of her hair back and tucking it behind her ear. “You’re strong.”
The urge to kiss him hit her hard enough she had to look away, hopeful he hadn’t seen. Though she wasn’t sure she believed his words, the way he said them made her want it to be. She nodded.
“Next time,” he said, though she could hear he was unsure whether to make that kind of promise.
She understood. There was no way to ensure she’d see him again in this in-between world, and as quickly as she thought it, he was gone, and Sol with him as if she’d blinked it away, leaving her in the room where her body lay with her sleeping sisters.
Brinna sighed and glanced around the room, suddenly weary. She considered taking a moment to rest, the tug of something gray and threatening kept her from it.You’re strong.Lucian’s words echoed in her mind, so she resisted the impulse and focused on what she might be able to do: get into her family’s dreams—however that worked. And she knew exactly where she’d begin.
She made her way down the narrow stairs into the main living quarters of the cottage to where her parents were lying asleep. The main room of the cottage was bright with a fire, the light frozen in time but not the heat. Brinna wasn’t sure if it was truly cold or if it was her broken heart.
Looking down at her parents laid out on the wooden floor together, Brianna was filled with love, but deep disappointment as well. Her father was on his back, head propped on a pillow. He looked so peaceful. Her mother was on her side, head resting on her husband’s shoulder, her hand on his chest. The last to sleep, Brinna figured, after having taken care of the rest of them.
It hurt to realize that her mother had betrayed them this way. Brinna was sure her mother had a reason—just as she and Lucian had discussed—but couldn’t fathom something good enough to hide it from them.
She knelt next to them, angry tears now filling her eyes. “Why would you do this?” she asked and swiped her cheeks.
But her mother didn’t answer. Of course, Brinna hadn’t expected her to.
“Did you know?” she asked her father. But he remained silent, as she knew he would.
Her gaze jumped back to her mother. “I need to talk to you,” she whispered.
Scarlett’s face remained unresponsive. Brinna reached out, caught a lock of her mother’s auburn hair with her fingertip, and hooked it behind her mother’s ear. As she did, her fingertip brushed the skin of her mother’s cheek, and Brinna’s vision flashed, like lightning brightening the sky for a brilliant moment as her consciousness was pulled through space and time. One moment there, then gone.
Brinna blinked, then looked at her hand. “What was that?” she said aloud and reached out again.
The same sensation occurred. This time, a scene shimmered around her for the moment they were connected. Everything turned vibrant, then vanished when Brinna drew away.
I’m in a dream,Brinna reminded herself.This is a dream within a dream.
This time, she reached out and grasped her mother’s hand, and she was dragged through a swirling vortex of light and sound.
It stopped, on a scene of Scarlett in the woods, though the forest didn’t look realistic, rather like someone had taken varied colors of clay and smeared them to create a moving landscape. It undulated around her, but Scarlett looked like herself. She was dressed in a strange dress that appeared old-fashioned to Brinna. It was filthy, the lace accents dirty, the hem was coated in muck, and a dark cloak clasped at Scarlett’s throat. Beneath her dress, her belly protruded, heavy with a baby. Still, she walked, pulling an ox behind her as she hummed.
“Mother!” Brinna called and stepped toward her, then bumped up against an invisible wall. It shimmered with opalescence, rolling with waves as it resettled. She hit it with her hands, the sheen of the wall quivering under her force. But it didn’t break, just adjusted. “Mother!”
Scarlett continued walking with the ox behind her, humming a tune, oblivious to Brinna pounding on the invisible wall between them. And though Scarlett kept walking, it seemed as if she was walking in place. There wasn’t any forward movement, just the clay-like landscape shifting around her.
Scarlett stopped and checked the ox. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked the animal.
The animal looked at her with big, brown eyes. “I’ve grown thirsty,” it said.
“Let’s look for water.” She nodded. “Yes. Water is very important.”
“But this potion might be more helpful,” a bird—a raven— said from its perch on the back of the ox.
“I don’t trust your potions,” Scarlett said and started walking in place again, continuing with her song.
“Mother!” Brinna pounded against the shield between them, but there was nothing to be done to break it or to get her attention.
Unlike her ability to interact with Lucian, she seemed to only be an observer inside her mother’s dream.It must be the spell, Brinna thought, trying to work out the difference, but was unsure. She knew they both must be dreaming somehow, since they were both asleep, but whereas Brinna could Dream Walk, her mother couldn’t. And perhaps it was the magic keeping Brinna from her mother’s dreams? Except this reminded her more of her normal dreams, the distance, and the observation.
“Do you think he’ll find us here?” Scarlett asked.
