Wicked Dreams (The Dream Chronicles Book 2)

by J. Clarice

  Scarlett entered the tunnel and found them further inside. Training would have to cease for now.

  Cain carved the front with Raxon and Jayden while the rest packed the excess rock against the sides. Scarlett approached the crew and the yet-to-be-identified savior stopped her work.

  “Nice of you to join. I just finished telling them of the Nightmares I’ve come across.”

  Scarlett tore her eyes from a lean muscled back at work to focus.

  “I’m on my break, and I can catch you up. The Nether Wraiths you guys came across are – I’d say they are at a level 6 when it comes to the ones we have yet to encounter. The least dangerous are the ones that appear as things one would consider paradise in this place: trees, an oasis, a bush, a bird, a chicken, other animals – you get the gist. Things out of the norm,” the woman snorted. “There’s a reason the Nether Realm reels in the weak-willed. What we have waiting for us at the mountains is something I have yet to discover, but if you think the ones we got in the plains are our worst, we’re headed toward some bad shit.”

  Scarlett nodded. “We’ll make it through. Nothing is stopping us from what we need to do.”

  “Which is?” her voice trailed off.

  “None of your concern,” Scarlett clipped. “You signed up to go along on your own account and won’t tell me who you are. Until I feel you can be trusted, you simply won’t know.”

  Not waiting for her reaction, Scarlett stepped away and headed toward the front. The ball of power in her chest pulled her. It wasn’t to Cain, as when heat circled her spine. Instead, a chill filled her veins.

  “Hold!” Scarlett shouted over their harsh yet smooth carving. It took them a second, but they rested their hands and had sweat lining their heads. “Let me give it a go.”

  Raxon and Jayden quizzically stared at her while Cain kept himself impassive. That’d been expected.

  “By all means.” Raxon gestured toward the wall. “But I must warn, it’s not as easy as it looks.”

  Scarlett ignored the taunt and positioned herself in front of the rock wall. The others moved back without question.

  Crouching to one knee, Scarlett placed her hands on the ground and closed her eyes. A thin black thread appeared from her palms and scraped the floor as it neared the edge of the wall. It widened, cutting deeper, and kept going as far as she could hold it. Squeezing her eyes shut, Scarlett pulled at the strings of her power. She spread the thread like a sheet that wrapped around the cylinder she cut out. The sheet began to spin as it made randomly thin slices.

  A vibration filled everyone, and they saw Scarlett glow. Her short curls, as if electrified, rose as her hands were glued to the floor. The wall before them shook ever so slightly, yet its movement moved the tunnel.

  Scarlett held her position until the cylinder block was no longer stiff. With her power still wrapped around, she slowly rose from the ground. Black slowly retreated into her palms as she opened her eyes.

  The tunnel gave a shake as the wall before them crumbled to the ground creating a knee-level pile.

  Mouths fell open.

  “Holy shit,” Jayden let out.

  The tunnel stretched as far as they could see, with a precise level of rocks piled on the floor. She blended the cylinder.

  “That should help a bit?” Scarlett bit the inside of her lip as she held in her smile. She turned around and caught eyes with Cain as her knees weakened. On her way down, Scarlett’s eyes shut, leaving her in darkness.

  Well, shit.

  

  Her eyes fluttered open as a low throb subsided from her mind.

  “She’s waking up.”

  Jayden.

  “Scarlett?” the murmur sounded from her right.

  Cain.

  She groaned as she pinched her eyes before opening them. Grey lit the tunnel as the wall above stopped moving. “What-what happened?”

  “Calm down.” Jayden’s hand pushed her chest down. “Don’t get up too quickly. You passed out, Scar.”

  Again.

  “I’m beginning to hate that,” Scarlett grumbled.

  Crickets. Unease filled her face as she was allowed to sit up slowly. “What’s going on?”

  Trevor stepped forward as he rubbed his head. “We may have concluded something about your condition.”

  Scarlett swiveled her head to him. “Well, what is it then?”

  Knots twisted in the pit of her stomach.

  “From what they’ve said, you’ve passed out every time you use a big burst of your abnormal powers,” Cain gently said. She didn’t turn to face him and kept her eyes on the space in front of her. “They think it’s because of the amount of energy your body has contained that it isn’t capable of staying active after a use.”

  Bitterness filled Scarlett’s mouth at what their conclusion implied. “I only have one shot at killing Edgar with my newfound powers.”

  Scarlett’s heart constricted, having spoken it into existence.

  One shot.

  One shot to kill Edgar.

  One shot to free the Realm from his curse.

  Everyone’s lives hung on the chance of Scarlett using her one-shot correctly.

  Her breath shook as she tried to hold in her reaction to their news. “That-that’s great to know. We’ve just got to make sure I use it at the right time then.”

  She tightly smiled and knew everyone could see past the veil she attempted to hang. Everything got all the more real.

  Clearing her throat, Scarlett glanced around. “So where are we?”

  Jayden thankfully answered. “More than halfway through. We’re carving the rest of the way. You almost got us to the other end.”

  The astonishment in Jayden’s voice clipped away at the new weight that settled on Scarlett’s chest – a tiny piece.

  A redness barely illuminated by Cain’s power caught her eye. She squinted as it swirled through the rock wall and disappeared into the ground. Another stream followed closely behind, headed in the same direction.

  “What is that?”

  They turned to where Scarlett’s attention was caught, and their savior nodded toward it.

  “That is blood,” she started. “It comes from the Nightmares’ victims. You may have noticed that when blood spills, it gets sucked in as if it were never there.”

  Scarlett nodded.

  “I came to find that the Nether Realm is unlike any other and yet the same,” she started. “It’s alive and connected to its inhabitants. Unlike the Dark Realm and Ever Realm, which are mainly connected to Dreamers and Dreammares, The Nether Realm is one with its monsters. It brings them food and seems to take the blood somewhere in the mountains.”

  “A Realm automatically set against us, that’s great, right?” Jasper jibbed as he laughed it off.

  Scarlett cracked a smile his way. “This trip just keeps getting better and better.”

  Jude sported a smile in her eyes as she fought the one on her lips. She stood by Jasper and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Haven’t heard this chatter in a minute.”

  Jayden rolled her eyes but stopped walking. “Did you guys feel that?”

  “Feel what?” Trevor queried.

  “That-” A grunt left Jayden as she gripped her head. “Fuck!”

  Jasper rushed to his sister’s side before falling to his knees. He gripped his head and gritted his teeth.

  “What the hell?”

  “Jayden! Jasper!”

  Their concerned cries jumbled as they all crowded the twins. “What the hell is going on?”

  Their savior stood and only stared at the twins. Her lack of reaction didn’t go unnoticed.

  “What happened? What did you do?” Jude got up from Jasper’s side and rushed the woman. She grabbed her by the throat and shoved her against the wall. “You know what’s happening, fucking tell us!”

  Jude’s hands were pried from the woman’s throat, and she was yanked back.

  “Calm the fuck down,” Raxon harshly demanded
. “We won’t know anything if you fucking kill her.”

  Jude stopped her struggle and glared darts at the coughing figure.

  The woman wheezed as she stayed bent over.

  “Their human bodies are disconnecting from their minds,” she breathlessly answered. “They’ve been here too long. There’s nothing we can do but wait until the separation is complete.”

  “She’s right,” Trevor second. “We’ll have to rest here until it’s done.”

  Scarlett turned her head toward the grey figure who stayed bent over. “How did you know?”

  She swept her gaze and saw a grey mask resting on the ground. It fell off during Jude’s attack. Without another thought, Scarlett rushed forward. “Exactly who are you?”

  The woman scrambled to further herself, but Scarlett gripped her shoulder. Scarlett’s eyes widened as she forced her around and recoiled her hand.

  “Fucking hell.”

  “I want to be just like you,” the young teen glanced at her older sister. “Smart, pretty, awesome, and cool.”

  “You don’t want to be like me,” she sighed.

  “No one likes me, and it can get lonely sometimes. I mean, I don’t mind it, but at times I do find myself wishing I’d been more like you. Instead, here I am.”

  Her older sister lifted her head and gave a hard stare. “Stop saying that. You are the most beautiful and amazing person I’ve come to know. Those people, they don’t mean anything; it’s all fluff.”

  She pointed at her younger sister’s chest. “You are real, and you are rare. When someone gets close to that heart – and there will be people – they will be granted the greatest access of all because you are special, Scar. You don’t want to be me. I’m not special; I blend in with everybody for a reason. You don’t want to be me.”

  Tears graced the teen’s eyes as she stared at her sister. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I only agree because I wouldn’t want to be someone with a crazy obsession over the color yellow.”

  The older sister scoffed, but a smile twinkled in her eyes. “Shut up. Yellow is a very nice color. It’s sunny, it’s vibrant, and it’s happy.”

  “And it’s mustard.”

  They both laughed as they sat side by side.

  The younger sister laid her head on her sister’s shoulder. “I love you, Jen.”

  “I love you most, Scar. I’ll always be here for you. To infinity and beyond.”

  

  Scarlett’s nose flared as her expression hardened. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Jenna briefly closed her eyes before regaining composure. She straightened with a wince. “I was sentenced to the Nether Realms, remember?”

  “For a good fucking reason too. I asked, what are you doing here with us?” Scarlett snapped.

  “I’m helping –”

  “You know what, don’t even answer that.” Scarlett shook her head. “Did you really think helping us would redeem you of your fuck-ups? That saving us would make us see you differently. I know you, Jenna, you did it to save your own ass.”

  Jenna’s mouth bobbed opened like a fish. Heat crept into her cheeks as burning shame curled around her insides. “I saved you because I wasn’t going to watch my sister die in front of me. I did it because I cared for you.”

  Scarlett scoffed. “That’s exactly what you said when you betrayed Ever Realm and got all those people slaughtered.”

  “That’s enough.” Cain pushed himself between the siblings. “We don’t have time for this. Jasper and Jayden need to be cared for.”

  He placed his hands on Scarlett’s shoulders and peered into her eyes. “Go be with the twins and calm down, now.”

  Scarlett’s nose flared, and her muscles tensed. Every part of her wanted to continue tearing her sister apart. But she couldn’t. With a strangled exhale, Scarlett sharply nodded and went with the twins.

  With her out of earshot, Cain turned his attention to a shaking Jenna. “I’d suggest you make your presence as small as possible until she’s ready to talk to you. This arguing is going to screw with what she has to do, and we can’t afford that.”

  Jenna clocked her jaw and flashed Cain a tight-lipped smile as she nodded. With glossy eyes holding back a dam, she moved to the opposite end of the tunnel. She ignited her white power and set to continue the carving.

  Jude and Raxon glanced between the two sisters then at each other.

  “What happened between them?” she asked.

  Raxon lowly whistled as he moved to go help with the tunnel. “Just my handy work. I’d done what I do best – destroy.”

  A line etched between Jude’s brows as she watched him walk away.

  His words echoing in her mind:

  “I’d done what I do best.”

  

  The sound of rock being sliced poked at Scarlett’s mind as she knew it was her sister doing the work. The anger that took hold of her heart simmered beneath her skin.

  “You need to stop thinking about her.”

  Scarlett tilted her head in Cain’s direction. “And you need to stop putting in your two cents.”

  Air puffed from Cain’s nose as he stared at Scarlett. She sat on the ground beside the unconscious twins.

  “Why do you keep pushing me away?”

  Scarlett snorted. “The irony. Why do you keep trying when you know we’re not getting anywhere?”

  Cain clenched his jaw. That woman was grating his nerves, and his control could only go so far.

  She knew that, and yet she still pushed. She didn’t care anymore. As if her company couldn’t get any shittier, her treacherous sister decided to pop and say hello.

  The tunnel grew longer as Jenna and Raxon continued the carving. Jude, Cain, and Trevor stayed behind to watch over each other. Not all company was needed, but clearly, some thought otherwise.

  Jude sat beside Jasper while Scarlett stayed with Jayden. The two men didn’t want to be near and left space between them. Even from their distance, the way Jude grasped Jasper’s hand didn’t pass anyone.

  Scarlett caught Jude’s eye and rose a brow when she glanced at the intertwined hands. Despite Jude’s dark skin, Scarlett could recognize a flushed face. Jude pursed her lips as she swiftly separated their fingers.

  She’d been caught.

  “Don’t get embarrassed on my account.” Scarlett shrugged. “I knew it’d only be a matter of time anyway.”

  Jude’s eyes went round. “There is absolutely nothing going on between Jasper and me. That was strictly out of concern for his safety.”

  Scarlett playfully rolled her eyes. “Right, because holding hands – intertwined fingers at that – is just out of a platonic concern. This occurring from a woman who hardly shows any emotion other than attitude to everyone else.”

  She didn’t know what or how to respond. There was no point in denying it anymore. “His carefree persona and stupid – incredibly stupid – jokes and teases are so damn infuriating, but at the same time, I find myself intrigued. I don’t like it.”

  Her words struck memories in Scarlett. Apparently, the men in Ever Realm have a way of catching hearts that way. She shook her head of the grey eyes and gave Jude a small smile. “This may be weird, seeing as I’m younger, but that has a strange way of happening. Even I still don’t like it, but there’s that one thing allowing him to keep pulling me in –”

  “The bond,” Jude whispered as she shut her eyes. “He’s my partner.”

  Scarlett’s mouth fell open. Partners?! She could only imagine the cow Jayden would have about it when she found out. She would eventually, the bond between partners is impossible to hide for long once acknowledged.

  “What you do with it is up to you, but if my thoughts count for anything, you’re good for him and the same way around.”

  The tips of Jude’s lips twitched as she fought a smile. She couldn’t help the warmth that spread through her body.

  A shift came from the twins, and the women snapped their heads like hawks.
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  Jayden’s leg moved, followed by a twitch in Jasper’s finger.

  “Guys! I think they’re waking up!”

  Trevor and Cain’s ears perked at the news, and they rushed back.

  “Jayden? Can you hear me?” Scarlett asked. A faint groan escaped Jayden’s lips in response.

  Jude called for Jasper but didn’t get a sound; their breathing stilled as they awaited another reaction. The slight vibration from the carving filled the air.

  Jayden popped up into a sitting position gasping with round crazed eyes. Her hands frantically patted the ground before coming across Scarlett’s hand. Everyone’s heart exploded at the outburst.

  “Hey, hey!” Scarlett called as she gripped Jayden’s shoulders. “I’m right here. You’re fine. You’re back.”

  Jayden found Scarlett’s eyes and took solace in her brown orbs. Her chest heaved as she fought to get her breathing under control. “Where am I?”

  “You’re back,” Trevor lightly answered. “We’re still in the tunnel.”

  She didn’t respond right away and glanced around to take in the area.

  “It happened. I’m forever bound to the Realms.” She let out a strangled laugh before laying eyes on Jasper. “Holy shit, we did it.”

  Jayden poked her brother’s chest and pinched his cheeks. “Get up, Jasp.”

  A few seconds later, he rose in the same manner, and Jude placed her hand on his arm. “Hey, hey, we’re here.”

  Her gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Jayden’s face frost over, and before she could do anything, Scarlett stole her attention. “What happened in there?”

  Jayden reluctantly turned her head. She gritted her teeth, trying to relieve the tension that rolled through her shoulders.

  “I don’t exactly know.” Confusion overtook her features as she went deep in thought. “At first, it was this crazy pain as if something was pulling at my brain, and then I blacked out. I saw my gate and knew I had to walk through, so I did. The next thing I remember is getting sucked into more blackness and with a vacuum on my lungs. Then I wake up here.”

  “It was the same for me,” Jasper’s hoarse voice called their attention. He closed his eyes as he calmed his racing heart. At his side, he gripped Jude’s hand.