by E. J. Mellow
“Well, well, if it isn’t the elusive Devlin.” A sweet, womanly voice chimes from behind us, echoing down the empty hallway.
Dev abruptly stops in front of me, his shoulders tightening. He’s slow to turn around, but when he does, he’s smiling. Intrigued by who could elicit such a reaction from Dev, I search out the source of the voice.
Boy, do I regret that.
The prettiest and perkiest—in all the right places—strawberry blonde leans casually against one of the walls that lead into another hallway. The quiver strap across her chest calls attention to her ample womanly features, and her legs remind me of Becca’s long, graceful stems. Even though she wears the black garb of the Nocturna, something seems off about her, like she doesn’t quite fit in here.
She’s with another guy about my age who has dark skin, curly brown hair, and model-like features—of course. His height is close to Dev’s, but I pay little attention to him, as I’m still transfixed on this gorgeous girl in front of us. I can hear every Victoria’s Secret model crying in shame just looking at her. Her almost-iridescent honey-pink hair falls in waves past her shoulders, and her delicate face has a feline quality to it, with almond-shaped eyes and pouty lips. Her emerald-green eyes approvingly appraise Dev and then light up in a strangely seductive way when they land on me. I have to admit, even I’m turned on by her.
“So this is what has our dear Dev rearranging his schedule and skipping his rounds,” she croons, circling me like a panther assessing its prey. “The notorious Dreamer.”
“Play nice, Aurora,” Dev says, his devilish grin spreading—a grin I thought he only reserved for me. Something hot inside my gut flickers on.
“You above anyone know how nice I like to play,” she practically purrs in his ear as she circles back around to his side. Sweet mothers of virgins everywhere, no man could resist this temptress—and judging by how Dev is looking at her, he hasn’t.
My stomach does a strange flip-flop again, and the blood drains from my face. Is this jealousy? Watching Dev and Aurora practically eye-fuck each other, I want to make the ceiling fall on them. Before I have a chance to rein in my inventive revenge, a familiar prickle of heat zooms to my head and cools.
“Shit,” I whisper as I stare at the cracks that have already gathered in the ceiling. A strange rumbling sound shakes the hall. Dev breaks eye contact from his flirty friend, glances to me, and seeing my face, stares straight to the area above his head. Without losing a beat, he grabs Aurora and moves them both out of the way with lightning speed while parts of the ceiling crash onto the exact place they were once standing. When the dust settles, the four of us exchange glances.
“What in all of Terra was that?” Aurora says in shock. I have to admit, I’m rather pleased to be the reason she’s lost her goddess-like coolness. I guess she’s human after all—well, as human as the Nocturna can be.
Dev catches me in my moment of triumph, and for an instant, a weird, wicked gleam passes over his features. Great, now he’ll think I was jealous. I take in the broken ceiling and the huge chunk of it that sits on the floor.
Yeah, okay, maybe I was.
But, holy Toledo, good to know these powers have that sort of benefit. If every woman had this gift, I don’t think there would be a man left alive.
As we walk on, leaving little miss sex kitten and her tall, hunky friend to do whatever it is they do, I can practically feel Dev’s smug expression.
“I guess you’re not too fond of Aurora.” It’s not a question.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dev chuckles. “Whatever you say, midnight.”
My breath catches. That name again. He gives me a wink without breaking stride. How did he… Rae. He was there that night at the bar with those popped-collar idiots. He must have told Dev. Something about the fact that Dev asked Rae to keep tabs on me makes me feel warm and tingly inside. I almost forget about sex kitten. Almost.
After a while, we make it down another stark corridor. Two guards—this time all in white and rocking the blond locks that seem to go hand in hand with most of the Vigil—stand outside a door. This area reminds me of the holding place I was put in; maybe it’s the same. I search around for my hawk-nosed bestie.
“Molly Spero, requested to be seen by Elena,” Dev says to the two guards, placing his hand on my shoulder. They nod, and one opens the door for us. Dev extends his hand for me to enter first, a gesture that will always remind me of Jared.
God, Jared. What would he make of all this? I know I could never tell him—he’d never believe me. Hell, I hardly believe it and I’m standing here. The thought that I could never confide in him, or really anyone when I’m awake, makes me sad.
When I enter the room, I immediately notice Tim sitting in one of the chairs around a plain chrome table. He’s a little on edge but manages a smile as I walk in. Aveline stands behind him, her expression growing more severe as our eyes lock.
There’s another Vigil in the room that I’ve never seen before who stands behind a lady who is seated at the same table with Tim, his face impassive. The woman wears an all-white wrap dress and has immaculate, shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes that are as intense in color as Dev’s. A strange energy radiates off her, and if I didn’t know better, I would think she was glowing. I recognize her immediately as the lady in white I saw that day in City Hall.
She smiles genuinely and rises with the grace of a queen. “Molly, so happy you could join us,” she says, her voice breathy but authoritative. “I’m Elena.” She holds out both of her hands, taking them in mine. A little jolt goes through me, and I stare at her in a trance. There’s a familiar pull between her hands and the strange energy that hides in my abdomen, coaxing it awake.
She lets go, and the sensation immediately disappears.
Before I have a chance to take in what happened, Rae walks in, giving me a lopsided grin. Seeing him here still doesn’t douse the shock that he’s actually a part of all this. What a sneaky son of a—
“I see you took the hint,” he says in his deep baritone voice, settling an arm around me for a half hug.
“Yeah, thanks for sticking around to explain all that.”
He laughs by my side. “I wish I took a picture of your face when I told you this was real. Well, that, and I wish I could have shown you how horrible you looked—”
“Thank you, Rae. I think Molly would like us to get started. Our time with her is ticking, as we all know,” Elena interrupts with a smile.
“Of course.” He steps back, but not before giving me a wink. I smile up at him. I don’t know Rae all that well, but having him here is a strange comfort. He’s the one connection to my normal existence beyond this world. Even though he’s from Terra, just looking at him reminds me of home, and that eases me a bit. I wonder what this means for him and Becca? Probably nothing good. My heart sinks.
“Shall we all sit?” Elena gestures to the seats around the table.
Dev pulls out my chair for me, wolfish smile present when he sees my suspicious glare. Only Dev can make a gentlemanly gesture seem like an amusing joke. But it’s easier to keep him at arm’s length like this, and the Molly that’s back in her bed sleeping knows that’s where he needs to stay. She really does.
“I’m sure you are all wondering why I have called you together,” Elena begins. Tim, Aveline, and Dev share a look. “First, I would like to say that none of you are in any sort of trouble.”
Tim softly exhales, and his reaction raises my suspicions that Elena must be the head of the household around here. I shift uncomfortably in my chair.
“Molly, I’m not sure how much you have learned since you’ve been here, or how much you’ve come to understand about your capabilities, but I would like you to please inform me of everything you know before we get into the details of why you are here.”
I instinctively glance at Dev, not knowing if I’ll get him in any trouble by telling her the things I’ve learned. His expressio
n is guarded, but he nods.
I recount to Elena all that I know—or at least all that I think I know: what Dev has told me about Terra, the things that I’ve learned I can control with my mind, what I’ve learned about the Vigil and the Nocturna and their duty, and about the Metus and the time one attacked me. I leave out some small details, like the teeny tiny one regarding Dev and me making out. No one really needs to know about that.
She asks me what happened prior to the nights I found myself waking up here, and when I tell her about the lightning, she doesn’t so much as blink. Throughout my whole spiel she remains expressionless but genuinely interested. I feel like I’m talking to a therapist. And just like a therapy session, I’m drained and in need of a nap by the end of it.
All eyes go back to Elena when I’m finished, expectantly waiting for her to yell at us or put us in some weird other-dimensional prison for all of eternity. I’m convinced she’ll at least tell the guard behind her that he must now cut off my head.
Instead, she smiles. A real, reaching-the-eyes smile. Then she turns to the room.
“I have called you all here because each of you now plays a part in what is about to happen. Normally, Nocturna are not involved, but because of the way Molly entered Terra, each of you deserves to know what’s going on.” Elena pauses a moment, letting her words sink in. “There is no easy or correct way to say this, and frankly, I’ve never had to explain this before in front of such a large group, so please refrain from any comments until I am done.” She looks each of us in the eye before turning her attention to me, like a doctor about to give her patient test results. My stomach tightens. “Molly, we’ve been waiting for you. You’re the Dreamer that has been sent to help us fight the war against the Metus.”
— 25 —
I MENTIONED ONCE before about that time I got stuck in advanced calculus trying to understand differential equations, failing to decipher whatever alien math mumbo jumbo my teacher was spitting at me.
This is nothing like that time.
This I hear loud and well-polished-crystal clear. Like Elena spoke the words inside my brain instead of to my face. Which is why I have left my body and am mentally sucking my thumb in the corner.
Everyone in the room remains silent. Tense and silent.
“In all of Terra…” Tim whispers.
After letting the echo of her words die down in my brain, I feel a bubble of laughter coming up my throat, forcing its escape. What I thought would be a huge belly laugh ends up sounding nervous and crazy. “Are you kidding?” I ask.
Elena ignores my reaction and continues to speak. “We are about to begin a battle against the Metus—an enemy that we have been fighting, as many of you know, for longer than time can recount. We don’t know what the initial catalyst is for their numbers to grow, but they do, and they now have grown to a dangerously high figure.”
I steal a glance at Dev, who is sitting next to me. He seems unfazed by the information about the Metus, which means this must have been what he found out in the last Council meeting that got him scared for my safety. This doesn’t shock him, but he does look absolutely furious about the other information Elena continues to provide. That would be the news that I’m some sort of Dreamer prophecy. He doesn’t acknowledge my gaze, fixed on a spot straight ahead. A muscle along his jaw pops.
“When this happens, it affects your conscious world,” Elena says to me. “War in Terra means war on earth. Our worlds are one in the same, connected in ways that we still don’t fully understand. As the Metus numbers grow, we find need to balance them. To do this, we are sent a Dreamer, someone to help us stop the potential war making its way from our land to yours. That is what your presence means, Molly—there is a threat of war reaching your conscious world through the overpowering number of Metus invading Dreamers’ minds.”
She stares at me intently, making sure she holds my attention. She holds a lot more than that—I think I see my sanity and my metaphorical balls in the palm of her hand.
“However, war is not an imminent or even guaranteed outcome for earth. It takes much longer to gain the full momentum of the conscious mind. If we defeat the Metus fast enough, this outbreak of evil won’t be seen on earth—we can stop a possible world war. This is the Dreamer’s destiny, their duty, to help stop the war before it’s begun.”
Nothing internally seems to work. I stare at Elena, transfixed, like a fish in a bowl staring up at the surface of the water, trying to make out the blurry form above. All I know is that if I get the courage to stick my little fish head out, I can never go back to swimming around innocently, oblivious to what’s outside my bowl. I can never go back to pretending it’s not there. If I peek out, I’ll have to acknowledge it, deal with it, and possibly change all that I am because of it.
“This story has a long history,” Elena continues in her soft, powerful voice. “A Dreamer is chosen, specifically selected by Destiny to break our dimensional barrier and help us defend against the Metus using the power that we harness here in small doses. This is the one force that assures their permanent demise.”
“Hold on,” Dev says. “What do you mean there’s been a long history of this? Dreamers have come here before?”
“Dev,” Tim reprimands, but I can tell he wants to know the answer as well. In fact, each of the Nocturna appears just as dumbfounded.
“It’s fine, Timon,” Elena reassures. “We can now open this up to a discussion.”
“How courteous,” Dev mumbles under this breath.
If Elena heard his blatant rudeness, she has chosen to ignore it and continues her speech. “Yes, Dreamers have been present at every major battle in our history. That is their purpose, to stop such catastrophes from happening. They take care of the threat in Terra before it reaches their conscious world. You yourself, Devlin, have seen a fraction of the power Molly possesses here in Terra. You were quick to pick up on it and test it yourself.”
Dev stands and begins to pace the room. “So there was a Dreamer present in World War II?”
“Precisely. There has been a Dreamer present at every war ever fought between mankind. They have also been present in wars that have just been fought here in Terra. The Dreamers are the main reason we win those battles.”
Holy shit! How am I supposed to fight all of those things? War? I can’t fight a war! I can hardly win an argument against my mom.
“But I fought in that, helped with battle plans and security. How was I never informed that we had this kind of”—he flicks his gaze quickly to mine—“of arsenal at our disposal?”
“Hold up.” I raise my hand. “You were around during the Second World War?”
He stops pacing. “Yes.”
“But then you’d be, like…really old.”
The corner of Dev’s mouth twitches.
“We don’t age as humans do,” Elena explains. “We age, but slower.”
Of course they do. “How much slower?”
“Five to ten years for a human can act like a year to us. Time here moves faster than in your world, but not in the process of aging.” This is unbelievable. “Our young grow into themselves quickly, but once they hit maturity, they age slowly.”
Speaking of children, I haven’t seen any around this place. “So where are they? The kids, I mean.”
“They are held in a different location until they come of age. Terra can be too dangerous at times to grow our young here. Because this city houses a large quantity of the Navitas, it’s too risky a target.”
The way she says “grow our young” creeps me out, like they are born from eggs. But hey, maybe they are. I’m not quite ready to dive into all the magic behind Vigil and Nocturna procreation. But what in all of creation is the Navitas? I think I’ve heard it before, but I put the thought in my pocket for now.
I turn toward Dev. “So, how old are you exactly?”
He seems to think it over. Which isn’t to say he’s thinking of whether or not to tell me—he seems to be trying to count. Not a go
od sign. “I would say I’m around one hundred and forty years of age to your standards of counting.”
“One hundred and forty…” Well, that explains why his position on the Council is so high. He’s not so young after all. Far from it. Should this gross me out? I take in his perfect physique, chiseled jaw hiding under manly scruff, perfectly kissable lips, piercing blue eyes, and thickly cropped raven hair. No, I would say I’m not grossed out at all.
“Shouldn’t you act more mature, then?”
Everyone in the room chokes back their laughter. I, on the other hand, am 100 percent serious, and by the way Dev regards me with his wry grin, he knows it too.
“I can act very mature when need be.” His eyes grow dark as they pin me to my seat. My breathing hitches. Did he really just pull a sexual innuendo right now?
Elena lightly clears her throat, bringing our attention back to her. Dev’s cocky half smile is the last thing I see before I turn around. I have a strange urge to smack it off his face. When did I become so violent? Probably around the same time I learned I’m destined to fight a multidimensional battle.
“As I was saying, when the Dreamers come to us, they are kept separate from the rest of the population, and when they do fight, they are placed in an area where not many can see them. They have always been kept a secret, and for good reason, which I will explain in a moment.” She places her delicate hands on the table, interlocking her fingers. “The manipulated energy Molly holds inside her, or as we call it, the Navitas, is in every human on earth, which you all know is what we harness here in Terra to power and create most everything we use.”
“I certainly didn’t know this,” I say, unable to keep the indignation out of my voice.
“Of course, I’m sorry. Let me explain.” She turns her full attention to me. “You have energy inside your mind that we call the Navitas. It’s the Latin word for energy. You will soon find that most of our names here derive from Latin origin,” she says with a gentle smile before continuing. “The passing Dreamers you see in our skies radiate with this energy as well, giving us strength and life through the very air we breathe. The same energy is used to power our world much like electricity is used to power your own. The Navitas in your kind is powerful, and it is the very essence of what we live on. It has always been this way.”