by Sariah Skye
So why all of a sudden, was I freaking out? The other day, I was ready to go and even downright disappointed to the point of offense when he shot me down?
"I don't know what's wrong with me," I said, rubbing my temples with my fingers and letting out a pained groan. "The other day, I was all—"
"Leo, it's okay." Gabriel assured me. He sighed and inched closer to me again. "I should have known better, but I just couldn't help myself. You looked so damn beautiful in that starlight and, the wisps made me feel so happy and for the first time in a while I felt so relaxed, I got carried away. Of course you're not going to want to sleep with me right now; look at everything that's going on! Your friend is missing, we're in some strange new place, your entire government is after you..." he trailed off with a dry chuckle. "Geez, I don't even know what came over me, exactly. I promised myself that I'd wait awhile before propositioning you like that again."
My head snapped up and I raised a brow. "Why?"
"So we can both get our shit worked out. Listen, Leo," he reached for and grasped one of my hands to him, placing it against his bare chest. My heart skipped a beat, feeling his warm skin underneath my touch but I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. "I know how I feel about you. You're amazing. You're beautiful. You're…. perfect. But everything is complicated, and this," he said, motioning between us, "Will just complicate things right now. Don't you think?"
I let out a heavy, low groan. "Perhaps. I don’t know what keeps stopping me. It just feels like…something is keeping us apart."
He ruffled his hands through his hair and gazed at me questioningly. "Something keeping us apart? Like what? The Shadows?"
I shrugged slowly. "I don’t know. Maybe it’s just my own anxiety getting in the way. Something just feels…off."
Gabriel exhaled a soft whistle. "Maybe it’s just too much, too soon. Especially for two people—two mythos— with relationship problems."
I nodded. "Maybe."
Gabriel looked to me earnestly and opened his arms for a hug, sensing my insecurity. I allowed myself his safe embrace and snuggled into his chest. I guessed this was all I was ready for, for now.
"Besides...I have to admit, I'm sort of relieved," he said, with a nervous laugh.
"Relieved?" I asked in dismay. I pulled myself out of his hug and glowered at him. That's not something a female ever wants to hear from someone they've just come on to; relief that they didn't follow through with it. Nothing like saying, "Oh, I wasn't that into you, really, after all" to make a dragon—or person—feel just great!
"No, no. Not like that. I mean...it'd be your first time. I'm not sure I could live up to the pressure and would probably last all of five seconds after all," Gabriel said, his voice somewhat lighthearted but I could sense the truth behind the words.
I wrinkled my nose. "Yeah, that would be a problem," I said, with an uncomfortable laugh. "You know, most dragons just don't give two shits. They want to hit it, they hit it—no regrets."
Gabriel leaned closer to me and kissed my cheek gently. "I guess you're more human than you thought, huh?"
I turned to him and smiled. "Guess so." I reached up and traced his jawline with my fingers gently, gazing into his deep brown eyes, happy and relieved. His eyes shied away but he still smiled.
Involuntarily, I felt waves of fatigue wash over me. I tried to stifle a yawn but, wasn't successful. "I don't think I would have made it, anyway. All of a sudden, I'm exhausted."
Gabriel chuckled. "Well, get some sleep." He flung open the heavy curtain on the window with a flick of his hand and the moonlight came pouring in. Somehow, being this far up north, it seemed to be larger and brighter here. It was a comforting thought as I carefully snuggled underneath the covers, tucking my wings tightly against my back and pulling the blanket up as far as I could before it became awkward for them, I lay face down on the pillow. I reached my left arm out for Gabriel and found him sitting upright nearby. "You’ll stay, right?"
He ran his fingers gently down my forearm, pulling my hand into his lap. "I’ll always stay, if you want me."
"Good." Another comforting thought as I sighed and drifted off; happy that no matter what, I knew he’d always be there.
Chapter 20
My eyes flew open suddenly, only to be replaced with more darkness. It was hard to tell if I was really even awake or not.
"Hello?" I called out into the pitch black. I felt a shiver down my spine, causing my skin to goosebump when my voice didn’t reverberate back.
A very faint mist began to collect at my feet. I stepped backward slowly trying to escape, but it just followed and became thicker.
I swallowed. "Hello?"
Footsteps. Very faint in the distance. Branches rustling, leaves crunching. "Hello?" a voice called out, faint but vaguely familiar.
I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness but there was just nothing to see. I felt around me and stepped closer to the voice cautiously. "Is someone there?" I called out. I noticed the closer I became to where I’d heard the voice, the denser the mist.
"Leo?" asked the voice, surprised.
I stopped in my tracks, listening closer to the voice. "How do you know me?"
More rustling, the footsteps grew near and quicker. "Leo! It’s me!"
I paused again, trying to get the voice to register in my head. "Daniel?" I saw a figure part the mist before me; a strong, broad shouldered, familiar figure and I could barely make out his face in the fog that surrounded us.
"Yes!" I felt a strong pair of arms around me suddenly in a relieved embrace. "Holy shit, it really is you!" His hands patted my back. "No wings?"
I reached behind me, suddenly noticing they were gone. I looked down at myself, realizing that somehow, I was wearing a set of robes but nothing else, no shoes or anything—but at least, no wings. "I guess not."
"Where the hell are we?" he asked, nervously.
"I don’t know…but this is like where I was attacked by that…shadow thing," I said, trying to gulp down the nervous fear that was rising in my throat.
He gasped. "Are we in the shadow realm?"
I shrugged. "I…don’t think so. I was just asleep; I don’t think you can get to it by dreaming."
"This is a dream?" He patted himself down. "Feels real enough." He reached out blindly, his hand running over my face. "Yeah. Huh. This is…. weird."
"Were you asleep?" I asked.
"Yeah, but not for long." Daniel reached for my hand and I clutched it, thankful for the anchor. "This is odd."
"Yeah. Usually by now…something has jumped out at me. Like…these little…things that crawl up your legs and arms." I shuddered, recalling the fear and emptiness I had felt as the dark tendrils crawled up my body like a hundred creepy spiders. I glanced around hesitantly. Besides the mist, and Daniel I didn’t see anything else. "This is the first time someone else has been with me in the ‘dream’ or whatever the hell this is."
"I wonder…why?"
We jumped suddenly, hearing a terrified shriek in the distance.
Daniel grasped my arm. "What was that?"
"I don’t know," I said, shushing him, listening closer for the sound again.
Another shriek. I started walking carefully and quietly towards the sound.
"Leo…are you sure we should be going after it? Maybe we should be running away?" he said nervously.
"There is…something about that scream…" was all I said, tiptoeing through the leaf litter, the mist that had surrounded Daniel was the only light we had, lighting our way and it wasn’t much but it was enough to make out faint outlines nearby and illuminate that we were in fact walking on piles of leaves and brush through some wooded area somewhere.
"Help!" the voice was louder now, a little more terrified and then quieted to a panicked whisper.
I began walking a bit faster now, listening for the whimpering, dodging twigs and tree branches sticking out at me everywhere, Daniel on my heels muttering nervously to himself but I
ignored it.
I was listening so intently for the noise; I didn’t see the large mound at my feet. I stumbled over it and landed face first in the leaves and dirt.
The mound was crying hopelessly. I wiped the dirt off my face with the sleeve of my robes and looked at it. Daniel was right beside me, helping me stand up when I cried out.
Whoever it was lay in the fetal position on the ground, long light brown, wavy hair matted and messed, splayed out around her head like a disheveled halo, her clothes no more than torn, tattered rags (which looked like they could have been a white t-shirt and jeans at one time). The most disturbing thing about the image was the black, oozy tendrils that had attacked me before were completely enveloping her and she was trembling uncontrollably.
I knelt down, despite warnings from Daniel and reached out to touch her shoulder. The tendrils screamed and hissed as I gingerly touched her, with a finger.
She gasped, and laboriously lifted her head, revealing bloodshot blue eyes, rimmed with black shiners, cheeks pallid, lips dried and cracked like she hadn’t drunk in about three days.
"L…Leo?" she asked weakly, trying to reach out to me but the tendrils growled and forced her hand back down.
I let out a cry of surprise, and then horror. "Kit? Oh my god, Kit!" I threw myself over her body, not caring that the tendrils were hissing at me. I growled, and shooed them away and reluctantly, they listened and continued to envelop her more, with each squeeze she shuddered and wheezed for breath.
"You know her?" Daniel asked, cautiously kneeling down at Kit’s side, and attempted to stroke her hair which was the only part of her that wasn’t covered in suffocating, dark tendrils.
"Yes. My friend…she went missing and we found her car by the portal. I assumed she’d been captured by the Court, and were using her to find me…" my lower lip trembled at the thought, and I couldn’t fight the tears that stung at my eyes and fell on her body.
"Leo…what are you…" Kit began, but a tendril wrapped itself around her throat, cutting off her air supply.
"No!" I screamed, trying to shove at it with my hand. A small beam of light shot out of it and at the tendril and it screamed and recoiled back to the ground.
"Oh my god…" I pulled myself up to my knees and held my hands over my friend, closing my eyes and willing light to leave my hands and attack the dark tendrils. I exhaled and opened my eyes as a brief shock of bright electricity left my hands and attacked a tendril on her back. It too recoiled with a pained scream, but slowly began crawling back. I attempted this several more times, the electric light getting weaker with each shot I tried.
Daniel put his hand on my shoulder, as I unsuccessfully tried to shoot the light from my hands. I whimpered when nothing came, and the little bit I had freed her had enveloped her again.
"Leo…just go. There is nothing you can do," she panted, her voice raspy and strained.
"No! I can…I can—" I shook my hands, trying to shoot magic from them. "Work, dammit!" I sank back to my feet, defeated.
"You can’t help her here…wherever this is." He pulled me back from Kit and I yanked away, throwing myself over her in a fit of sobs and rage.
"Kit!" I cried, "I’m so sorry! This is all my fault! I—"
I sat up abruptly and my eyes flew open, heart pounding so furiously in my chest I thought it was going to explode. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with my fists and scanned my surroundings. I was no longer with Daniel, wherever we had been. I was sitting in the bed upright in the bedroom that I had fallen asleep in, and apparently, Gabriel had later at some time at least. He allowed me the blanket and, still shirtless was using the robes as a blanket; he pulled them up to under his arms and rested his head on a pillow, one hand tucked under and the other dangling off the side of the bed. I smirked briefly, watching his peaceful rest and nearly reached over to trace the outline of the geometric patterned tattoo on his shoulder when I suddenly was slammed with a realization that I had been dreaming. I gasped, noticing the moonlight was gone, and was instead replaced with the hazy oranges of the morning's impending sunset. "Shit…" I couldn't tell if it was night or day in—wherever we were—but if it was morning now, chances are that was hours ago. If it was in fact, for real. "Kit!" I exclaimed quietly, in a panic.
I reached out, fumbling for my phone on the nightstand: 6:15 AM.
I threw off the blanket that covered me, tossing it over Gabriel that still slept peacefully and stumbled out of bed clumsily, landing instead of on my feet flat on my ass in a tangle of limbs and robes draped over my shoulder. I winced at the sensation of air being briefly slammed out of me as I struggled to get to my feet.
"Kit…" I said, under my breath. If that was you, I'm coming. Somehow. I wrapped my arms around my chest to avoid the bounce of my nearly naked chest under the robes as I dashed into the bathroom next door where my clothes were. I frantically dug into the suitcase I had brought, full of clothes and toiletries, tossing things aside on the floor until I produced underwear, a t-shirt, a pair of black yoga pants and a heather gray sweatshirt.
I quickly pulled on the items, catching my reflection briefly in the mirror as I did. I barely had time to notice that just like in the dream, my wings had disappeared. No time to breathe in relief I just fastened the bra strap around my chest and shoved my arms through the straps, not caring if it was even on correctly before yanking the white t-shirt over my head, pulling on the pants and grabbing the sweatshirt and draping it over my arm.
I re-entered the bedroom, hunting on the floor for my sandals. I found them near the door and tried to balance against it while trying to get them on my feet and fastening the Velcro, I lost my footing and slid down the doorframe, bonking my head against the wood trim.
"Fuck!" I cried out in pain, rubbing the injured area at the back of my head.
My cursing startled Gabriel, who snorted and sat upright in bed. He groaned. "Leo. What’s going—" he started, but I interrupted.
"Kit. I saw Kit." That’s all I needed to say. He flung himself out of bed and rummaged around the room for his clothes, alarmingly alert for someone who’d just been sound asleep a few moments ago.
I tugged the sweatshirt over my head and began to dash outside before I paused. "Daniel…" Instead I dashed out to the hallway, intending to go to Daniel’s room but the second I flung open the door, there he was outside of it, prepped to knock, looking panic stricken.
"Shit…it wasn’t a dream." He took one look at the urgency on my face and knew it must be true. I nodded frantically.
Daniel hadn’t even put on a shirt, he still carried it in his hand at his side and he wore a pair of plaid sleep pants and flip flops on his bare feet.
"But…how did we…?" he began to ask, befuddled. He jerked the gray I Love Canada shirt over his well-defined chest and crossed his arms over it, shaking his head. "I thought I was having a vision. But how could…?"
I seized his forearm and yanked him into the room, letting the door slam loudly behind him, probably waking up anyone else in the building who happened to be asleep.
"Phone?" I patted my body for my phone, realizing that I had left mine on the nightstand. He produced his from a pocket in his pants.
"Text Kiarra. Tell her we need Finnian. Now."
He nodded vehemently and tapped into his phone. I didn’t bother waiting for a response, I pulled him through the room and out the door leading outside.
Before the door could shut behind us, Gabriel emerged.
"Leo, what is going on?" he asked, confused. He ran his hands through his messy hair, wedged up on one side and attempted to smooth it out. Daniel looked between us momentarily, and raised his brow. I suddenly was aware of my own hair and its disorder and yanked it over my shoulder and tossed it back, not really caring. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
"Not now," I said sternly, and the lilt of a smile wiped off his face. I began storming through the center of town, barely noticing the wisps had disappeared from the sky and the light fro
m above was from the sun beginning its ascent into the sky for the day. Gabriel called to me again.
"I’ll explain on the way." Gabriel and Daniel, both taller than me with longer legs struggled to keep up with my determined power walk.
"I saw Kit. She was in that…Shadow place." I explained, briefly. "Daniel was there too."
He nodded frantically. "I saw everything."
Gabriel blinked, confused. "How is that possible?"
I shrugged. "I don’t know, but it should mean something because however it happened, we were both there. She’s close, Gabriel. I know it. I have to find her; the darkness is getting to her. She’s dying." I paused in my tracks to flash a look of desperation at him, tears prickling my eyes for real this time. I wiped one away as it fell. "It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t—"
Gabriel reached out and brushed my tear away with the side of his hand. He began trying to pull me into his chest for a comforting hug but I pulled away. "No. Must find Finnian. Hear back from her, yet?" I tossed my words over my shoulder at Daniel as I continued to storm through town to the main Loremasters office nearby.
"No," he answered back. We reached the building and I shoved the heavy doors aside with little effort and stomped down the hallway.
"Finnian? Finnian!" I yelled, not caring who I disturbed. We reached his "office" at the end of the hallway and I shoved through the doors. They slammed against the wall with such force that the surrounding walls shook.
Finnian was in his office but he appeared…catatonic. He was sitting cross-legged on his desk, amidst a mess of papers and various office items, his palms resting upright in his lap. His face was expressionless and I might have thought he was asleep if it wasn’t for his eyes—they were open wide but there were no irises—they were blank. Fully white.
"Finnian! Finnian!" I demanded again, getting right into his face. No response. I slapped at the side of his cheek with moderate force and called out his name again.
"Finnian, goddammit! Wake up!"
He gasped, and he blinked in surprise revealing his "normal" pale blue eyes. He winced, surprised to see me.