Can you die in a dream?
“I told you. This. Is. Not. A. Dream. You can run away, but we will find you. We will win,” Lydia said.
Her expression suddenly changed. She was frightened. Her strength began to fade.
She released her hold on me and I fell backward off the log. My hands went to my neck of their own accord, and I massaged the sore area while looking up at Lydia.
She was looking around all panicky. “No! Not yet! I need more time,” she yelled.
In a sudden poof of air, she was gone. I was alone in a forest in the middle of who-knows-where, with no idea of how to get out of this dream that was not a dream.
I stood and looked around. All I saw were trees upon trees. The surrounding forest was thick with them, but I could not tell how thick.
“Well, might as well pick a direction…” I said as I walked toward the tree line.
When I stepped into the forest, the ground became much softer, but I chalked it up to decaying vegetation and kept moving. The further I went, the softer the ground became and before I knew it, I sunk to my knees in the muck. I could no longer move. I was stuck.
“Help!”
But there was no reply from the blackness.
Trying to lift myself out of the pit, I pushed with all my might on the surrounding ground, but I only succeeded in sinking my arms. I was even more stuck, if that were possible.
“Ian?” With our connection, maybe he could hear me. Still there was no reply. I was on my own.
“Qadira Morrigana ó Cuinn, stop panicking! You can figure this out. You got this. It will be okay.”
My little self-pep talk didn’t work. I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t know where I was, or how I had gotten there. I didn’t know why I was stuck. Were there just random patches of quicksand in the middle of forests, and I just wasn’t aware? Was this another one of Lydia’s tricks?
How do you save yourself from a dream? Though, according to her this was not a dream, but then what the hell was it? And how the hell do I get out of it?
My thoughts were becoming too rapid and chaotic, but I couldn’t calm myself down. I was going to die in some pseudo-dream, and there was nothing I could do. I would never see Ian, or Bryce, or Seth… or even Rufus again.
I closed my eyes and started crying. I cried so hard and so much that at some point I tired myself out and fell asleep right where I was standing… uh, sinking?
I don’t know how long I was asleep before I woke again, but I was no longer in a forest. I was in a bed and free to move my limbs. Sleep was apparently the answer to escaping the dream-that-was-not-a-dream. I’d have to remember that just in case.
As my eyes focused, I saw a man sitting on the edge of the bed, his back to me.
“Ian?” He turned to face me.
“Goldie! I thought you would never wake. I tried everything.” I realized I was wet.
Between being wet and the soreness on my cheek, it was clear he had tried “everything” to rouse me.
“What happened?”
“I am not sure, actually…” I relayed most of what had happened.
“Well, you were correct about Lydia working with Matilda. We also now know that Gabriel was not working alone.”
“Fantastic. We should head back to the beach house. To Bryce.”
“I agree.”
Chapter Nineteen
The ride back to the beach house felt longer than it should have. I was so tired, but Ian and Rufus kept nudging me awake, scared that I’d slip into another reality-dream-nightmare and be lost forever. Being that she seemed to have been sucked out of my thoughts by an unseen force, I didn’t think Lydia was going to bother me again for the night, but I figured I was better safe than sorry. Besides, Rufus was having fun prodding me every few minutes, and who was I to ruin his fun?
Lydia had made it clear they would use my loved ones to get to me. I could not put them in danger by being near them. So, I used the time thinking of the best way to leave… just until we could stop Lydia and this Matilda.
Do I tell Ian, or do I leave in secret? Once I could think of a way to take care of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, I could come back. I would not risk Ian or Bryce or anyone just to stay with them. I had to go to keep them safe and that meant leaving. And I could not tell Ian. He would try to stop me, or failing that, he’d follow.
As we pulled up the driveway, I noticed the lights were on in the house. The stained-glass doors looked mystical with the lights shining through. I got out of the car and was awestruck by their beauty. When the wolf in the center turned its head to look at me, I rubbed my eyes trying to clear this vision, but it was still looking at me. I turned to ask Ian if he could see what I did, but when I glanced back at the doors, the wolf was in the same mid-howl it had always been.
“You okay?” Ian asked, sliding his arm around me, as Rufus passed us to enter the house.
“Yeah, just tired,” I said, turning to face him, and to stop him from following Rufus. “Before we go in, I have something to tell you. I am not sure how you will take it, but I think you should know.”
He stiffened and took a step away from me and losing his touch affected me more than it should have.
“Go ahead,” he said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, which made him look unusually vulnerable.
“Lydia has been bespelling you. That is why you are so weird when you’re around her. Rufus has even noticed something amiss.” I held up my hands to stop his interruption. “He has noticed that you have no control over your decisions around Lydia. I just thought you should know. Maybe Bryce can make you something to help prevent it.”
I shrugged and looked down at my feet. As I spoke, I realized that I may have embarrassed him.
He cleared his throat, and I watched his feet move closer to me. I gave him a little smile and shrugged again.
“Now you know that I did not welcome her affections tonight.”
“Yes, I realize that… now.”
“You are tired. We should get this over with,” he said as he ushered me through the door.
Bryce and Seth were in the living room when we entered the house. They were up and moving toward me in a blink.
“Whoa, take it easy,” I said when they both tried to hug me at the same time.
Ian wandered out of the room, presumably in search of Peder.
“Oh, my pip, are you okay? What happened? You’re pale. Are you hurt? I’ll make you some tea,” Bryce rambled as he began to wander over to the kitchen. Ian had called him from the road to let him know something strange had happened and we were coming back to the house.
“Hold off on the tea until after I’ve told my story, okay?”
“Of course, yes.”
I figured after my story he may need to make me something stronger than the regular restorative tea. Something to prevent Lydia from entering my dreams, or whatever it was she had done. I didn’t want to drink any more foul-tasting tea than needed.
When Ian returned with Peder, we sat in the living room. Even though it was in the high seventies outside, a bone-deep cold had seeped its way into me since I’d woken. Noticing I was shivering, Ian rose to start a fire. I could have helped him out, but I didn’t have the energy to muster up a spark, let alone an entire fire. It wouldn’t take away the cold, but the warmth was welcome, nonetheless.