by Lola StVil
“The princess smiled at him and thanked him. She told him of the dread she had felt in the pit of her stomach when she had made the offer and how she had felt when each knight stood before her. She told him that when he had stood before her, she had felt differently. That she had been rooting for him, not just to save her mom, but to come back to her.
“The prince was skeptical, sure that the princess was just trying to keep her word. He told her he would only marry her if they shared true love’s kiss. The princess asked him how they would know, and he asked her about the curse on her kingdom. The failed crops. The famine. How there had been no rain there for over a year. He told her true love’s kiss could break any curse. The princess stepped closer to the prince, and he took her in his arms and kissed her.
“As they kissed, the princess felt cold water droplets scattering over shoulders and in her hair. She pulled back from the prince and looked to the sky, laughing in delight at the rain that fell around them. The prince was shocked, but deliriously happy, and he kissed the princess again. He instantly accepted her as his bride. And they all lived happily ever after.”
I finish telling the story, remembering my mom’s version of it word for word, and how after she had finished telling it to me, she would tell me that true love would always find a way, and that it was more powerful than any god’s magic. I smile at the memory and look at Sailor. Tears are running down her face, but she doesn’t seem distressed. I think they are happy tears brought on from the story.
I reach out and wipe one away gently. She stirs slightly.
“Please don’t leave me,” she mutters.
“Never,” I tell her again. “Sailor, I meant it when I said I wasn’t going anywhere. I’ll be right here beside you for as long as you want me to be. I failed you earlier; I let you down. I wasn’t there to protect you, and I promise you that will never happen again.”
“You didn’t let me down,” she mumbles.
She reaches out her hand and I slip mine into it. She tugs at my hand and I realize she’s trying to pull me onto the bed beside her. I lie down behind her, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her closely against me.
“Stay here with me forever,” she says.
I smile at the mumbling quality of her voice, but her words still make my heart skip a beat.
Sailor shifts in my arms and I tense up for a second, but then I realize she’s almost awake. She rolls over to face me and smiles at me. Her eyes are only half open and I don’t think she’ll be able to wake up fully yet.
She reaches up and strokes my face and then puts her hand on my hip.
“I love the team, Rye. All of them,” she says in a voice so quiet I have to strain to hear her. “But I feel a deeper connection to you than the others. Like, I don’t know, I’m stronger when I’m with you, braver when you’re by my side. When we’re together, I feel like I can do anything. I know I’ll never be good enough for you, but I just want you to know that you’ll always be my light.”
I lean forward and kiss her forehead.
“Don’t ever think you’re not good enough for me, Sailor,” I say.
I open my mouth to say more but I see her eyes have closed again and she’s back asleep. I snuggle closer to her and let myself fall asleep beside her.
***
I jump awake in the middle of what feels like an earthquake. The bed is thrashing around beneath me and I sit up in a panic. Sailor is still beside me. She’s flat on her back and she’s thrashing around on the bed, lifting into the air and slamming back down onto the mattress. It’s not an earthquake. Sailor is causing this. The Soul Gem in her tattoo is glowing, lighting up the whole room.
I glance at the time on my cell phone as I send Nexus a simple message: Get here now.
It’s almost half past three and I can’t help but wonder two things. First, why Adam didn’t wake me and send me home, and second, how the hell the noise of Sailor’s bed banging on the floor isn’t waking him up and having him come running in.
I know I have way bigger mysteries to deal with than that though. Sailor has stopped thrashing around, but she’s four feet in the air, lying as flat as if the mattress were still beneath her, her hair hanging loosely beneath her.
I jump to my feet, whispering her name and trying to pull her back down onto the bed, but it’s like she’s being held in place by some sort of force field and I can’t move her. I am trying my best to work out what’s going on, but I can’t. There was none of this trouble with the first Soul Gem, so why is this happening now?
Nexus and the team appear behind me, and I turn to Nexus.
“What the hell is happening here, Nexus?” I demand.
She avoids meeting my gaze for a moment and I know she knows something. She would look me in the eye if she didn’t. And her earlier comment to Sunday comes back to me about Sailor’s dreams maybe being important.
“Tell me,” I say angrily.
“When Sunday was able to pull Sailor out of her nightmare, I thought maybe that would be it, but obviously it’s not. This is a warning, Rye. Someone is trying to steal the second Soul Gem.”
CHAPTER FOUR: ABOUT TIME
“I don’t get it,” I say.
“The staircase, Rye. The second Soul Gem has to be down there. That’s why Sailor felt so drawn to it. And now the other gem is warning her that someone is trying to steal it,” Nexus says.
“How did they find it? Sailor only found it because she followed the pull of the first gem.”
“I don’t know for sure, but if I had to guess, I would say that whoever it was followed Sailor to the gate. That she unwittingly led them right to it.”
“That’s who slammed the gate, isn’t it? The Boundless wanted to kill Sailor so they could take the first gem too. When I find out who is behind all of this, I swear I will tear them limb from limb,” I say.
Before Nexus can respond, Aziza gasps and points to Sailor. The team have been silent up until this point, as mystified by all of this as I am. I turn to face Sailor and my jaws drops, my body freezing on the spot.
She’s floating upwards. I’m glad there’s a ceiling above her, or she might just go on floating away forever. I’m not quite so glad of the ceiling when her body slams off it and the spell holding her in place breaks. Sailor flies back down through the air, slamming down on the mattress with a bone-shaking crash.
She lets out a scream of such pain and terror that I feel my insides shrivel up at the sound of it. There’s no way her landing caused her that much pain. Something is going on in her head. Something awful. Something that feels real enough to her that she’s making that god-awful keening sound.
The keening sound stops abruptly, cutting off in the middle of it and leaving an empty silence that feels all too final. She sucks in a big gasping breath and I feel a moment’s relief that she’s still breathing.
She’s whispering my name, and I break myself out of my stupor and run towards her. I throw myself on the ground beside the bed, shaking her arm and shouting her name, pleading with her to wake up.
“Adam,” I say, glancing back over my shoulder as I hear footsteps running towards the room.
Nexus nods and clicks her fingers. She and the team become almost transparent, and I know Nexus has cast an enchantment over them. To a human eye, they will be completely invisible.
I turn back to Sailor, telling her I’m here and that she’s safe, this is all just a dream. Sailor’s bedroom door bursts open and Adam runs in followed by Raven.
“What the hell is going on?” Adam demands, looking at me.
“I… I’m sorry,” I say. “I must have fallen asleep. I didn’t mean to. I—”
He cuts me off with a firm shake of his head.
“I don’t mean that. I knew you were here. I checked in on Sailor before going to bed. She looked comfortable and content with you here, so I let it go. I meant what’s going on with her?”
“I don’t know. She wok
e me up screaming, and now I can’t wake her up,” I say.
I leave out the part about her levitating. He wouldn’t believe me anyway.
He moves towards the bed, and reluctantly, I step back, letting him try to wake Sailor. He shakes her, gently at first and then harder. I glance worriedly at the team, trying not to make it obvious as I don’t want Adam and Raven to think I’m crazy staring off into space like that. Raven follows my gaze and stares for a quick second. It’s almost as if she can see them.
Sunday steps away from the others, reaching out for Sailor’s hand, but Nexus pulls him back.
“No. If you move too far away, you’ll break the enchantment.”
He nods his head, understanding he can’t move away.
“I get it, Nexus, but I can’t bear to see her like this knowing I might be able to help. Don’t let my body wander too far from hers.”
Before Nexus can respond, Sunday collapses on the floor, unconscious. He shifted his consciousness from his own head to Sailor’s. I pray it works, because what Adam is doing is having no more effect on Sailor than what I was doing.
I glance at Raven. She’s still looking straight at the corner where the team are gathered, but I know she can’t see them. She must have seen me looking there and wondered what I was so focused on.
Adam’s voice draws our attention back to him and Sailor.
“It must be the sedative. She must be having some sort of a reaction to it. Maybe I gave her too much,” he says.
I think it’s more than that, but I can understand why Adam is looking for the most rational explanation, and I keep my mouth shut.
“I’m taking her to the hospital,” he says. “You should go, Rye. I have Aziza’s number and I’ll call her as soon as I know what’s going on.”
He stands back from the bed and I open my mouth to protest, but Sailor’s screams cut me off.
“Rye,” Sailor screams. “Rye. Don’t leave me here alone. Please.”
I feel as though my heart is breaking, and I take an involuntary step towards her.
“I can’t leave her. Not now. I promised her I would be here for her,” I plead quietly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Adam give Raven a questioning look and she gives him a nod.
“I need to get my wallet and my keys,” Adam says.
“Rye, can you carry Sailor down and meet us at the car? You can come with us.”
I nod, and Adam and Raven rush from the room. I step closer to the bed and wrap Sailor in one of her blankets. I pick her up, noticing how light she feels, how fragile. I know she’s anything but fragile, but it doesn’t stop me from shuddering at the thought of what’s going through her head and what it’s doing to her. I hold her tightly against my chest and she wraps her arm around my neck, clinging to me for dear life. She is so hot, sweat coating her face, and her body trembles in my grip. She’s chattering away but she’s talking so fast I can’t make out what she’s saying. If I didn’t know better, I would say she had one hell of a fever.
I turn to Nexus and the team.
“Nexus, see what you can find out about the second Soul Gem. The rest of you, meet us at the hospital,” I say.
I hurry out of the room and head down the stairs and out of the front door. I stand beside the car, impatiently waiting for Adam and Raven to show up. Sailor’s speech slows down, becoming a long, drawn-out moan.
“Rye, please help me,” she says, her voice shaking. “It hurts so much. It hurts all over and I can’t make it stop.”
“It’s okay,” I tell her. “It’s just a nightmare, Sailor. You’re fine. I’ve got you and I won’t let anybody hurt you.”
My words have no effect on her. She screams again, another loud scream filled with pain and panic. I feel so useless, and I realize that Sailor isn’t the only one who is trapped in a nightmare. The only difference between us right now is that I’m awake for mine.
***
When we arrive at the hospital, the woman on reception takes one look at Sailor’s shaking body in my arms and ushers us straight through. As we run along the hallway where a waiting doctor beckons us towards a room, I can’t help but think of Doctor Hill and the terrible mistake we all made. I push the thought away. Dwelling on that right now isn’t going to help anyone. I need to be alert, not distracted by past regrets. I need to be here for Sailor, all of me.
I step into the room the doctor indicates and I lay Sailor on the bed. Two doctors and a team of nurses swarm around her shouting instructions and fixing things to her body. One of the nurses tries to usher me out of the room, but not before I see that her shaking is becoming a violent jerking motion, almost like a convulsion, and that her veins are showing through her skin. Red bumps are starting to form around the tattoo, and the gem still glows brightly. Mortals can’t see Sailor’s tattoo or the gem, which right now, I’m not sure is a good thing, because the doctors can see her other symptoms and they could jump to any conclusion without the full picture. If I try to tell them though, they’ll just think I’m a nut job.
The door closes and I’m left out in the hallway. I’m not convinced it’s a doctor Sailor needs, and I send Nexus another message asking her to come to the hospital. I can’t stand the thought of Sailor like this and her not getting the help she needs.
Nexus arrives in seconds. She pulls me into her arms, and it’s only then I realize that my body is shaking too. I let her hold me for a second, and then I pull away.
“Nexus, what’s going on? This is more than a warning,” I say.
Nexus nods and gives me a grave stare.
“Someone has figured out where the first Soul Gem is and they’re trying to separate it from her body. That kind of separation could kill her. She’s stronger than they are; they aren’t strong enough to take the gem, but if they keep assaulting her like this, then she’s going to weaken. We need to be even more careful now, Rye.”
I shake my head, unable to take it all in.
“You have to do something. It’s you she needs, not a doctor. The humans have no idea what they’re up against.”
“Not yet. I can’t just barge in there and take over,” Nexus says.
“Bullshit! You can enchant yourself…be invisible. She’s fucking dying in there, Nexus,” I say, trying desperately to make her understand.
“Rye, listen to me. You have to calm down. I know how much she means to you, but we have to be sensible about this. We don’t know who is watching or how much they know. Not to mention Sunday. If he’s still in her head and we break that connection somehow, they could both end up dying.”
I don’t get chance to reply as Sailor screams my name loud enough for me to hear it through the closed door. I reach for the door instantly.
“Rye…” Nexus cautions me, but I shake my head and go in.
Sailor is still writhing around, clearly in pain. Her veins are so prominent now it’s as though her skin has become see-through. One doctor has a blood pressure cuff on her arm and a thermometer in her ear. The other one is attaching an IV line. None of that is going to save her.
“What the fuck is going on here? Why aren’t you giving her anything for the pain?” I demand.
The doctors just stare at me, their faces showing their fear as I stand glowering at them. One of them takes a half step towards me, although he doesn’t seem to know what he’s going to do when he reaches me, judging by his lost expression.
“It’s okay, Doctor. That’s her boyfriend,” Adam says.
I didn’t even notice him and Raven huddled in a corner, their faces tearstained as they watch on, as useless as I am.
“It’s him she’s calling for,” Raven adds when the doctors don’t look entirely convinced by Adam’s words.
I am still standing in the doorway, trying to process the scene before me, when the doctor speaks quietly. Raven’s comment seems to have convinced the doctors I’m not some crazed lunatic here to harm Sailor. Or them. Unless they let her di
e. Then I’ll fucking harm them.
“The IV line has a painkiller going through it,” he says.
I nod. At least that’s something.
“Rye? Where are you?” Sailor calls from the bed.
Her words snap me out of the paralysis that struck me when I saw her lying there so helpless, and I run to the side of the bed and take her hand in mine. One of the doctors is protesting, but I ignore him.
“Sailor? Can you hear me? I’m right here,” I whisper into her ear.
Her body stops shaking almost as though she hears me. I look up in surprise and catch the doctors looking at me with awe. One of them nods to me to carry on, and I lean back down to whisper in Sailor’s ear, momentarily forgetting about everything around us. There’s only me and her in the world right now, and that’s enough for me.
“Sailor, you have to come back to me. Please. I can’t do this without you. Come back to me. I… I love you.”
Her eyes fly open and she turns her head towards me. She gives me a sleepy smile and squeezes my hand. Her voice is quiet, exhausted, and raspy as she speaks, but I don’t care. All I care about is that she’s back with me.
“It’s about time.” She smiles.
CHAPTER FIVE: WHAT DREAMS MAY TELL
I keep my eyes fixed firmly on Sailor’s. I wouldn’t be able to look away from her now even if I wanted to. I can see the love I feel for her reflected back to me in her eyes. It feels like hours that we just stare into each other’s eyes, lost in each other, but in reality, it can’t be more than a moment of two before Adam and Raven come to stand at the other side of Sailor’s bed.
