Tales & Dreams

by G. Bailey

  “Sin?” I whisper again. Tears drip into my mouth as I take one more step closer. I slowly reach a shaky hand out to touch him, to see if he is real, but his voice stops me.

  “Don’t. I’m not really here, at least the physical side of me isn’t,” Sin tells me. My chest hurts, feeling like it’s burning in pain as I stare at him. This is cruel. It’s like death itself is teasing me.

  “How are you here? I watched you die,” I manage to whisper.

  “Death can’t take my soul, Madi. I promised it to you a long time ago,” he tells me. A pain-filled gasp leaves my lips as more tears roll down my face, and I taste the saltiness of them on my lips. I’m sure he is here to say goodbye and break my heart when he goes. “Don’t cry. I can’t touch you, hold you and tell you it’s all going to be okay. Please…just please don’t cry.”

  “I want you back. I never got a chance to tell you—”

  “Don’t say it. You can’t love a ghost, Madi. You need to find a way to be okay,” he pleads with me, and I step closer. I feel colder near him like this, and it’s like he wants me to move away.

  “I’m not okay, though. I never will be without you,” I honestly say. My fingers itch to try and touch him, despite his warning. “And you can tell me not to love you, but that won’t stop how I feel, Sin.”

  “I know,” he says, smiling sadly, and his eyes drift over to the door. “I must leave, but I’m always here, Madi. I’m always around…for now at least.” Sin fades away into nothing, literally nothing, but it feels like he took another part of my very soul with him. I sob for a second as I reach a hand out into the air where he was, but there is nothing there. It makes me think I might have lost my mind somewhere along the way. Did I really just see Sin here?

  “Miss Dormiens, you are requested to return to your room,” the spear guys says as he walks out of the door that Sin was looking at, his heavy boots slamming across the gravel.

  “What is your name? Or should I keep calling you spear guy?” I say, and I can feel his smile, even though I can’t see it under his hood. Something about him gets my attention, and I’m not sure what it is. I want to try and be friends with him anyway, considering his new job is to stalk me.

  “My name is Warren. I would prefer you call me that instead of spear guy,” he sourly replies. I nod and walk over to him with a smile, seeing he has a plastic bag in his hand which he hands to me. “Your new cloak and schedule for classes. Breakfast will be brought to your room at six a.m. every morning, and first class starts at eight thirty a.m.”

  “Is there food in there? I’m pretty hungry,” I admit, being they haven’t fed us and I’m trying to avoid going back to my room because Tavvy is going to have a million questions I don’t have the answer to. I want to stay out here…just in case he comes back. Which he might do.

  “No, but I will order food to be served to you,” he replies.

  “And all the students while you are at it. I can’t be the only one hungry,” I say, crossing my arms.

  “You’re rather bossy, you know that?” he mutters.

  “You have a lot to learn, Warren,” I chuckle before walking through the door into the academy. My smile doesn’t last long when reality soon hits home, and my body aches to go back outside where Sin was. That can’t be the last time I see him…I’m not ready to say goodbye to him yet. I doubt I ever truly will be.

  I’m trapped in an academy full of dark tales, and it looks like no one is going to be able to help me. I stare around at the entrance hall, which is being redesigned with everything black, by the looks of it, by some dark tales in large hoods. It’s almost funny to see guys that are dressed like Grim Reapers painting walls. We head up the stairs and to the right, straight to my room, where Warren stays outside as I shut the door on him. Arms wrap around me almost instantly, and I turn, smiling as I hug Tavvy back.

  “I was worried! What happened with—” she stops as we both hear a small buzzing before there is a white flash in the room. A portal burns into existence, and seconds later, Noah steps out. His eyes are bloodshot, his gaze is serious, and I just know he knows about Sin without saying a word. Tavvy links her hand with mine as I stare at Noah. I don’t know what to say and neither does he. I’m just happy to see him alive and well. He doesn’t say a word, he just holds out his hand, and I walk to him, taking it before letting him pull me and Tavvy through the portal.

  Chapter 4

  “So this is where you’ve been?” Tavvy questions as she gapes at the other dimension, Knox’s secret hiding place, which is not that secret at all now by the looks of it. The last time I was here, there was just Knox’s hut, a little pool and not much else in a big forest. Now there are dozens of huts spread all around Knox’s in the middle, with people walking around. The biggest of the huts is to our right, and it’s one massive building. “Who are all these people?”

  “The Masters and what is left of the council. We got everyone we could out before they destroyed the building and the entire tales town,” Noah explains, even though he sounds very tired, and he looks just as bad. Noah usually has golden skin, but being here, he looks very pale, and his soft brown hair is messy, matching the beard he is starting to grow. Noah has the same clothes on from the party, the handsome tux which is now covered in dust, burns and holes. The tie is missing, and the white shirt has a tear down the middle of it. They must have been here all day, and it looks like Knox has been doing some renovation at least. That gives me hope he isn’t too lost in grief.

  “How many got out?” Tavvy asks. “I’m so glad my parents are hiding in the human world and they are safe, but I know a lot more couldn’t have been.”

  “About one hundred got out, so we lost well over seven hundred men, women and children. They killed them all,” Noah answers, and I tense. “Are your parents doing the same, Madi? When we realised that you weren’t with…that we didn’t know where you were but we expected that Sin was keeping you safe. We went to your parents’ house, but it was empty, so we assumed they are alright.”

  “Yeah,” I answer, as we just stare at each other. I want to throw my arms around him and kiss away the pain in his eyes. He looks tired with the world, with the pain it causes and, right in this moment, I do not blame him.

  “I’m going to look around,” Tavvy awkwardly says, clearing her throat and walking to the hut.

  “I’m so, so sorry about Sin,” I say, but my voice comes out like a whisper. “I miss him so much already. I miss him so much that it doesn’t seem real that he’s really gone.” Noah pulls me into his arms, tightening them around me as we both figure out how to cope with the loss. I don’t think I ever will learn how to cope with it, but here we are. Noah eventually pulls away, and I lift my hand, wiping his wet cheeks.

  “I need your help,” he asks me, reaching up and tucking some strands of my hair behind my ear.

  “Anything,” I immediately answer. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them.

  “I need your help with Knox. He is out of control,” Noah admits. “I’ve tried reasoning with him or just getting him to think logically, but that didn’t work.”

  “Where is Tobias?” I ask, because if Knox is out of control, I can’t imagine how Tobias is coping. He never takes change or grief well.

  “Tobias has disappeared into the forest, and we haven’t seen him since we got here,” he explains, which is more than concerning.

  “What do you mean Knox is out of control, then?” I ask. “One Tale brother at a time.”

  “His powers are strongly tied to his emotions—” Noah stops, nodding his head to the building Tavvy just went into, where fire is suddenly pouring out of the roof, along with water and lightning. Holy Batman, that looks scary.

  I’m running towards the building before Noah can stop me, but I hear him following me anyway. I push the door open and see the large room we are in is slowly being destroyed by Knox. He doesn’t look like my Knox though; he looks like a shadow of the man I know. His hair is all over his fac
e, almost covering his eyes, and his clothes are a total mess. Death does that to a person...and Sin was his twin.

  Everyone in the room backs away from him. The fire, water, air and even lightning blasts out of his hands in his anger and grief.

  Noah grabs my arm to try and stop me when I take a step forward. He can’t though.

  Knox Tale doesn’t frighten me.

  I walk straight to him, through the elements that brush close to me but never quite touch.

  “Knox,” I only have to whisper his name, and he snaps out of it.

  Anger turns to pain in a matter of moments, and Knox falls to his knees. And I fall right there with him. I wrap my arms around his chest, holding him tightly as he holds me back just as strongly. It’s hard to breathe as I hear him sob into my neck, his grief is overwhelming, and he is shaking from it. I hate seeing Knox like this. I’ve never seen him so…broken. The worst part is that I have no clue how to fix it.

  I look behind me at Tavvy, Noah and the bunch of people I don’t know except for two. The Tale brothers’ parents. They stand there like statues, staring at me holding their son who is breaking down. I want to throw something at them, make them show some sort of emotion for him. For Sin. Other than the thick dark rings under Mrs. Tale’s eyes, indicating she hasn’t been sleeping, I wouldn’t suspect anything is wrong. Mr. Tale is a little different though; his clothes are wrinkled and his eyes red from crying. His hands are in fists at his side, but he doesn’t move to comfort Knox. That should be a parent’s first instinct: to comfort their child after a great loss. Not just watch him like a spectator at an event.

  “What did you say to him this time?” Noah asks his mother, who just stares at us for a second longer before turning and walking away. Noah rubs his face and looks to the crowd. “Everyone out. The show is over!” Noah’s voice echoes, and everyone quickly makes their way out, including Tavvy, with Noah closing the door behind her after she flashes me a worried smile.

  “How did it happen?” Knox asks me, his voice is hoarse and rugged. The pain in his tone is hard to hear. How do I tell him any of it? I know I need to. I planned to, but now that I’m here, the words don’t want to leave my lips. They are frozen. Knox pulls back, placing his hands on my shoulders as Noah gets to us, and he looks at me. Those dark silver eyes look so hollow now. He is still so beautiful, but it’s a dark sort of beauty now. Everything has changed.

  “We ran to the forest to escape, but—” I pause. “Quinton was there. He is a dark tale.”

  “Did he kill my brother?” Knox coldly asks, but he doesn’t look shocked about Quinton at all. He just wants to know who took Sin’s life, which I understand. “Did he freeze him so he wasn’t looking? Did he make an ice sword and stab him or something? I’ve seen the wound, I know it was ice, so don’t protect him. Tell me.”

  “You knew he was a dark tale?” I ask him, and his hands tighten on my shoulders.

  “Did he kill Sin, Madi?” Knox growls back at me, keeping his eyes locked on me. I know he wants to push me away because I can see straight through his anger and bullshit. I know him too well, and he hates that right now.

  “No, it was his uncle, Rueben Frostan. He is some sort of king of the dark tales, and I guess that makes Quin the prince,” I reply, and Knox clenches his jaw before standing up. I stand with him, grabbing his hand when he tries to storm away from me.

  “I need to be alone,” he states. “Alone means without you, Madi.”

  “No, you don’t. I think you need some sleep, if I’m being honest,” I suggest, but before he can protest, I slam my hand over his face after calling my powers, and he falls to the floor like a brick. I cringe at the fact that must have hurt him, but I knew he would never let me do it otherwise. Noah walks to my side, placing his hand on the middle of my back as he looks down at Knox with me.

  “Good call. He needs to rest,” Noah says.

  “I hate doing that to him,” I admit, but he would have just pushed me away and said things he didn’t mean. He isn’t thinking straight, and I can’t take anything he said to heart, even if all I want Knox to do is hold me and protect me. For now, I need to protect him instead.

  “Most the time, we hate doing the right thing. The right thing is never easy, remember?” he says, smiling at me, but I see the pain in his eyes. He looks tired too.

  “Any chance I could convince you to sleep for a bit?” I ask.

  “We need to call a meeting about what the next step is,” he says, rubbing his face with his hands. “Then I promise to rest.” I nod, because what else can I say to that? If we don’t have a plan, we are going to be stuck in here while the rest of our world burns.

  Chapter 5

  “That is so weird how it fixes itself,” Tavvy comments from my side as we watch the roof of the room Knox destroyed put itself back together and almost heal itself in a way. Tavvy says she picked a flower outside, and the flower just grew itself back as she watched. All magic must have some price though, and this is a lot of magic. I need to speak to Knox and make sure he can handle it. I don’t know exactly how this place works, but it can’t be free. Nothing good is free.

  “Noah says everything here can only be changed by Knox, and so everything goes back to the way he made it unless he wants it changed. The water is endless, and the fruit always reappears seconds after you pick it. In reality, everyone could stay here until they die, and it would be perfect,” I explain the little I do know thanks to Noah.

  “But everyone back at the academy and the world would be in danger,” she replies, and I don’t have a clue what to say back to her. She is right of course, because staying here wouldn’t make the rest of the world be at peace. Noah steps in front of the crowd of people who stand just behind us, and each one of them feels like they are nervous. His parents move to stand at his side, his mum keeping her eyes fixed on me.

  “Thank you for coming here so quickly for a meeting. As you know, the tales community has fallen and, with it, many people we all loved. We all miss them, but we must look to the future now to save what we have left,” Noah says, and I’m super proud of him for being the one to stand up alone in front of them all and say it. I can see how Noah feels without him saying a word. He feels like he has lost more than just one brother. Tobias is off god knows where, and Knox isn’t coping with the world enough to wake up right now. If Noah doesn’t make a stand, then who else is going to? The two Masters that are left, in my opinion, don’t seem to want to take control and save everyone.

  “How can we do that? The tales’ army was destroyed protecting the community, and we have nothing left,” a man asks, stepping forward. He has big horns instead of ears, and the horns stretch up into his hair before sticking up in the air. Noah doesn’t look like he has a clue how to answer that, and when it becomes clear his parents aren’t going to step in, I have to say something. I have to do something.

  “You have us. We are from the academy. My name is Madilynn Dormiens, and this is Octavia Bell. I can get close enough to the dark tales’ leader, Rueben Frostan, to kill him,” I say, because it’s the truth. It would take a while to get him to trust me, but I think being at the academy and behaving would eventually get me where I need to be. “Or I can get him alone for the Tale brothers to open a portal and drag him here then kill him. Either way, I’m in the academy and the best chance we have. I’m powerful enough to defend myself and more than willing to take the risk.”

  “You think he would be so easily tricked or killed?” Mrs. Tale asks and laughs. “He killed all the Masters and nearly us, but we just about escaped with our lives due to Knox and his power. A girl like you wouldn’t stand a chance against him.”

  “He asked me to come to him every Sunday for private lessons. I’m close to his heir, someone he trusts. I know I can get them to trust me, and then I can finish this war,” I say. “And, no offense, Mrs. Tale, I don’t see you volunteering to save us all.” Mrs. Tale shakes her head like I’m a silly, clueless girl, but she doesn’t say anyth
ing. It’s Noah that looks at me next like I’m mad.

  “No,” Noah says, shaking his head. “That is too dangerous. You are not going back to that academy alone.”

  “She won’t be alone; I will be there. None of the students in the academy want the dark tales to rule, and they will help us too,” Tavvy says, stepping to my side. I nod once at her, appreciating that she is doing this.

  “I don’t think putting our entire future in the hands of a—”

  “Mother, enough. The Masters failed, you failed and it cost Oisin his damn life. Do not insult Madilynn for coming up with the only plan on the table right now. We don’t have a choice here, and the last thing I want to do is send the woman I love back to that academy, but here we are,” Noah snaps at her. I’m shocked silent because that is the first time Noah has said he loves me, and I really wish it wasn’t in a conversation with his crazy mother. Still, I love that he defended me like that. I know it must have been hard for him to do that. Noah and the rest of the Tale brothers have always believed in the Masters and the plan they had for the future.

  Mrs. Tale walks off in a huff, with Mr. Tale quickly following behind her. I mouth “thank you” to Noah, who smiles at me before clapping his hands to stop the quiet whispers spreading through the small crowd.

  “I’m sorry about that. You are all dismissed,” Noah says, and the crowd awkwardly starts to leave except for Tavvy, who stays as I walk to Noah. He tugs me into his arms, holding me closely to him as he presses a kiss on my head.

  “Don’t take any crazy risks. I mean it,” Noah says, pulling me back to make sure he meets my eyes as I nod. “Knox will open a portal every night around eleven p.m. for you to come here. Time works differently here now; Knox managed to slow it down. So an hour here is about three minutes back there. You could spend some more time here before you go back, if you want.” I’m happily relieved to hear Knox has slowed time down. I didn’t know how I was going to explain my absence when I got back.