Insomnia: Faction 9 (The Isa Fae Collection)

by Noree Cosper

  “She’s lying to you,” Colin expels the words in one quick burst.

  He must hold them in every time Nimue brings him into this dream. My chest seems to expand and my heart lightens as my respect for Colin grows. Colin put himself through a lot for the chance to save his father and me. I would do whatever was necessary to save his father from this.

  Rhydian blinks. “Colin?”

  He takes a step forward and raises his arms. Nimue screeches and her face twists into a scowl. In a flash of movement, she grabs Dafina and rakes her nails over the witch’s neck. Blood flows down Dafina’s chest. Rhydian cries out, leaping for her. As her body falls, everything fades to black.

  We are standing in the front of the small pub with three obscured figures in the back.

  “And so it begins again.” Colin sighs. “He fights it and she restarts the whole dream.”

  “He’s been in this the whole time?” I cast the trio a horrified glance.

  “I think so.”

  I grit my teeth. “Okay. I know what I need to do. Go ahead and do what you did before.”

  We walk to them again. This time I position myself closer to Dafina, near the wall of the corner that is opposite from Nimue. She spares me a glance and a little shooing motion before going into her spiel. I step back a little farther, so not to disturb the scene as it plays out yet again.

  “She’s lying to you.” There’s Colin’s line.

  As Nimue attacks, I jump forward and put myself between her and Dafina. Nimue gasps in surprise as my hand clamps down over her wrist. My fists slams into her face hard enough to crush her nose. Down she goes.

  I rub my hand with a grin and turn to Colin and Rhydian. “Please tell me I can do that in real life.”

  “By all means,” Colin says. “If you can sucker punch her like that.”

  “What the…” Rhydian looks to Colin. “What is going on? How are you even here?”

  “Hmm.” I frown. “I was hoping that would startle him enough.”

  “Dad, this is a dream Nimue has you in. You need to wake up.”

  Rhydian looks between us to Dafina, who is holding her hands in front of her mouth. His gaze comes to rest on the downed Nimue. His face contorts into a mask of rage and he goes for her throat. Colin grabs one of his arms and I grab the other.

  “Not like that,” I say. “As good as it feels to hit her, that’s not the real one. You need to concentrate on the world outside of here. Listen for sounds that don’t match.”

  The bar begins to crumble around us. Dafina and Nimue dissipate into wisps of shadow. The chairs stretch and pop out of existence.

  Colin grins at me. “It worked. Time to blow this joint.”

  “You just said that because we’re in a pub, didn’t you?”

  His laugher is the last thing I hear.

  I opened my eyes with a deep breath, and quickly blinked at the brightness of the light. Colin was still holding my hand, but his gaze was on his dad whose eyes fluttered open. Colin and I pulled the straps from Rhydian. He sat up, putting his face in his hand. He turned his head in our direction.

  “All right,” Rhydian said. “Where is Nimue so I may kill her?”

  31

  Colin grabbed Rhydian’s shoulder. “Hold on, Dad. She’s not here. She went to see the Prince.”

  “She’s still gone?” Hadn’t she left right after handing me off to Vaughan?

  “She’s been gone for a couple of days.”

  Oh, only a couple of days. Being with Vaughan had felt much longer than that. I gave a hysterical chuckle. Rhydian raised his eyebrow at me before turning back to Colin. He yanked him forward into a hug.

  “It feels like an eternity since I saw you,” he said.

  Colin patted him on the back. “You too, Dad.”

  I cleared my throat. “I hate interrupt, but we should get moving. Nimue’s bound to notice that Rhydian’s not in her dream trap.”

  “Right.” Colin pulled away from his dad. “So, short version. Nimue’s got some power source external from the Well of Dreams that she created from her Dreamless army, those guys that attacked us. We need to find it and destroy it. I was hoping you might know something.”

  “Maybe.” Rhydian pulled the circlet from his head and tapped it on his knee as he stared at the wall with an unfocused gaze. “Because I’m Fae, she had to do things differently. Her dream connected her mind to my mind. I’m getting flashes. I think it’s below us…an underground lake.”

  “Can you take us there?” I asked.

  He rubbed his forehead. “You’ll have to give me a little time. I can try and meditate on it.”

  My shoulders slumped. We didn’t have much of a choice, but to sit here, wait, and hope Nimue didn’t come bursting through the door. My gaze fell on Vaughan where Colin had dumped him in the corner.

  “What do we do about him?” I asked Colin.

  “I have an idea.” Colin smirked and pointed to the circlet still in Rhydian’s hand. “Can I see that?”

  Rhydian shrugged and handed it off. He then stood, walked to a corner, and sat in a lotus style, closing his eyes.

  Colin took a small knife from his pocket and began etching runes into the circlet.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Reprogramming it,” Colin said. “As much as I’d love this guy to feel some torment, maybe a good dream will keep him locked in for longer.”

  “You’re doing this with witchcraft?” My brows drew together. “That won’t hold.”

  “Nope, I’m doing it with our magic,” he said. “There. Let’s get him on the chair.”

  I grabbed his feet and Colin grabbed under his shoulders. After some huffing and dragging, we got him into the chair. His head lolled to the side and his mouth hung open. Colin clasped the straps on his wrists and clamped more on his ankles.

  “Wait,” I said. “Unconscious people don’t dream.”

  Colin crossed his arms, his mouth scrunching to one side. “We’re going to have to wake him then.”

  “I have an idea.” I held up the choker.

  With a grin, Colin took it from me and attached it around Vaughan’s neck. The cloth straps size adjusted to a snug fit.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “I’ll wake him, and you put him to sleep,” Colin said.

  I stepped closer to the chair to hover over Vaughan. “Okay, do it.”

  Colin leaned forward and touched Vaughan’s forehead. His eyes snapped open and they found me. With a guttural intake of breath, he lunged forward only to be stopped by the restraints. He looked down and then glared at me again. His mouth opened. The glare changed to surprise as no sound came out.

  I tapped my neck. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.”

  “Aneira,” Colin said.

  “Right.” I stared at Vaughan, focusing my will. “Sleep, fairy, sleep. Fall into a void so deep. We shake the dreamland tree. And from it falls dreams for thee.”

  My magic rushed through me and washed over Vaughan. His stiff form slackened and he fell back against the chair with his eyes fluttering closed. Colin slipped the circlet on his head and stepped back.

  “That should do it,” he said.

  “Until Nimue comes marching in and finds him,” I said.

  “That will give us more time at her power source if she has to sort it all out.”

  Rhydian stood from his corner. “I believe I know where it is.”

  He held out his hands to us. I took one and Colin took the other. The room blurred and melted away into an eddy of yellow and white. The colors muted, darkening to slate gray and blue. Then the area became clear. We stood in a cave with the roof at least a hundred feet above us.

  A lavender glow emanated from a thousand tiny alcoves along the wall, illuminating the lake that took up most of the cave. I stepped closer to one of the alcoves. A tiny glass figurine of a woman sat within it. The glow came from the magic flowing within the figurine. I picked up one. Strange. For such
a small figure, it weighed as much as a stone the size of my palm. The scent of roses, Nimue’s scent, filled my nose and settle in the back of my throat.

  I turned to Colin, who had moved to look into the lake. “I think I found her power source.”

  In a couple of steps, Colin was at my side. He stared down at the glass person in my hand. His finger ran over the smooth crystal.

  “This looks like a person,” I said. “This has to be a physical representation of her connection to a Dreamless.”

  He lifted his chin to scan the wall of alcoves. “Then all of these…”

  My lips set in a grim line. “Are her army.”

  Rhydian gave a low whistle from behind us. He turned to look upon the alcoves along the wall.

  “This is worse than we thought,” Colin said.

  “Where is she keeping them all?” I mused.

  “The Palace is large enough to hold a majority, but she most likely has many spread through Arcadia and Wyrdlands,” Rhydian said. “She’s also probably using most as spies instead of an army at the moment.”

  I swallowed as my mouth went dry. “So, how do we get rid of them?”

  “Break them?” Colin asked.

  I shook my head. “What does that do to the witch, though? Are they stuck forever in a coma?”

  “Coma is better than death,” Colin said. “We’d still have a chance to rouse them.”

  The cave shook around us and an ear-piercing whistle filled the air. I winced, hunching my shoulders and covering my ears. Twenty blue-white portals formed into existence around us. Dreamless stepped out in twos and threes with guns aimed at us. A new portal opened near the lake. Nimue stalked out with a look of murder on her face. My heart twisted in my chest and my lungs tightened at the three Dreamless that stepped out behind her: Leri, Eryn, Gwen, and Dylan.

  A weight settles on my lungs, making it difficult to draw a breath. Nimue had been keeping what she’d done to the others from Colin. She’d wanted her own insurance, it seemed. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as I stared at Dylan. I’d failed him again. I’d known he shouldn’t have come, that he’d fall into her trap again.

  Nimue waved to them. “You four, point your pistols at your chins. If they do anything, shoot yourselves.”

  “Damn,” I murmured.

  She waved at one of the many other Dreamless. “Take them. If they resist, kill them.”

  Nine marched towards us, splitting into three groups. One hung back from each group and aimed their guns at us while the others moved to restrain us. One grabbed my wrists and pulled them behind me.

  The urge to fight rushed through me as my eyes scanned the army in front of us. We’d never make it out, even with our magic. My body slumped with my hands going limp and a heaviness weighed on my shoulders.

  A Dreamless gripped Colin’s wrist. He gave a startled grunt, dropping the figurine from his hand. Clever. It fell to the ground and shattered into hundreds of splinters, the lavender light vanishing in a wisp of smoke.

  Nimue cried out and clutched her head.

  “You asshole,” she yelled.

  A fluttering feeling filled my stomach. She’d shown pain at just one of the Dreamless. How could I exploit it? Dylan tightened the trigger on his gun. My heart felt like it wanted to explode from my chest.

  “Wait,” I cried. “It was an accident.”

  ‘Shut up.” But Nimue held her hand to Dylan and he pulled back.

  “I’m sorry, Colin said. “My hand slipped.”

  Nimue’s glare landed on Colin. “You could have anything you wanted. Instead you chose the little witch, just like him.” She looked at Rhydian.

  “Hello Nimue,” Rhydian said. “I have to say it’s not a pleasure to see you again.”

  “That all will change,” Nimue said.

  “No matter how many dreams to put me through, I won’t love you again.” Rhydian’s usual silky voice grew rigid and spiky. “Not after what you did to Dafina.”

  “She was just a witch. A tool. You gave up everything we had for food.” The words exploded from her.

  A vein throbbed on her temple and a red flush suffused her cheeks. She had become so absorbed with Rhydian, she’d forgotten about Colin and me for the moment. Now, was my chance to end this, but how? If I murmured one rhyme, Dylan, Eryn, and Leri would be dead…and probably us along with them.

  Rhydian’s laugh was bitter. “You are so twisted. Do you even know what love is?”

  It’s just focus. The Sandman’s voice echoed in my forehead.

  The amulet had been, but what else? The rhymes? What if I didn’t chant them out loud? I raised my gaze above the heads of the Dreamless who stood ready and waiting for Nimue’s command. My eyes unfocused as I concentrated on the thought of the figures in the alcove shattering.

  Little witch figures sitting on the wall. With your destruction, the sorceress with fall. With my magic, your glass shall break. And from your dreams, you will wake. The words played over and over in my mind.

  The thousands of glass figures burst into tiny explosions in their alcoves. Nimue’s scream filled the cavern, bouncing off the walls. Blood spurted from her nose and poured from her eyes. With a throaty gargle, she collapsed.

  The sixty Dreamless in the cavern followed suit, including Leri, Gwen, Eryn, and Dylan. It was the last thing I saw before the light in cavern faded.

  32

  I pulled in a deep breath and rubbed my shaking hands against my pants. My breath came out in short little gasps. Had we won or was Nimue waiting in the darkness about to attack?

  Colin muttered something a few feet away in the darkness. A pale white light sprung from his hand and lifted up to hover above the lake, illuminating the cave again. Thousands of splinters of glass glittered in the glow on the cave floor and the alcoves. The Dreamless lay strewn across the cave. The three around me had slack expressions and their chests rose and fell in deep breaths. Nimue had collapsed in a heap.

  Colin and I rushed towards our fallen witches at the same time. Colin knelt down beside Eryn and ran a hand over her forehead. I leaned over and shook Dylan’s shoulder gently. Eryn groaned and her eyes fluttered. Relief washed over me. They were alive and sleeping. Effervescence filled my chest and burst in a small giggle. It was over, right?

  Colin’s gaze met mine. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded, tiny trembles running through me. “I still can’t believe I did it.”

  “What did you do, exactly?” Rhydian approached behind us.

  “I chanted to shatter the figures in my head.”

  “Interesting,” he said.

  Colin stood up and faced his father. “Not as interesting as you keeping the truth from me about my mother.”

  Rhydian grimaced. “I did mean to tell you, but it never seemed the right time.”

  “Why not tell me from the beginning? Why go through such lengths to hide it?” Colin threw his hands in the air. “I mean, you even had a fake tattoo put on me.”

  Rhydian sighed. “I didn’t want you to feel ostracized for what you were. It was better for you to think you were Fae.”

  “Instead of a freak?”

  Rhydian’s voice softened. “I never thought that. You were a gift. Perhaps I was selfish and wanted to keep you a child with me forever”

  I tuned them out and shook Dylan’s shoulder again. He woke with a start, his arms flailing about so much I had to duck away from him. He sat up, a gasp on his lips, and looked around until his gaze landed on me. His mouth gaped open.

  “What happened to you?” He asked. “Your hair…and your ears.”

  I brushed through a lock of my hair. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say, I’ve always been like this. Just never knew it. You okay?”

  He pressed his palm to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. “Yeah, killer headache, but yeah.”

  I nodded to Eryn, who was starting to come around, along with Gwen and Leri. “Can you see to them?”

  “Yeah.”

>   I stood up and walked over to Nimue’s prone form. The blood had stopped leaking from her nose and eyes and her chest rose and fell in a deep, slow rhythm. I frowned. I’d hoped the shock would have killed her, but no such luck. I scooped up a set of handcuffs on the belt of one the fallen Dreamless. The click of the lock echoed through the cave as I snapped them into place on her wrists.

  “You really think we need that,” Colin came to hover over us.

  “I’m not taking any chances,” I said. “We need to contact the Mara.”

  “The won’t be necessary.” The Mara’s voice flowed out from the darkness and sent shivers up my arms.

  She glided from one of the corners the light had not reached and came to stand beside me. She rested her chin on her forefinger and thumb as she stared down at Nimue.

  “Good work,” she said.

  Rhydian’s eyes widened. “What is she doing here.”

  “Completing the bargain your son agreed to for the training you never gave him,” the Mara said. “Nimue belongs to me.”

  “The Prince of Dreams will have something to say about that.” The expression on Rhydian’s face hardened as he stared at the Mara. “You have no jurisdiction in here. She’s the subject of Arcadia and its Prince.”

  “You mean the Fae she had already enchanted?” I asked. “No, I’m not going to trust him to deal with her. Who knows how many others she’s manipulated here?”

  “All the more reason to see her brought to justice here,” Rhydian said.

  The Mara’s dark laugh echoed through the cavern. “Your Prince of Dreams can take it up with his brother. Nimue did send her troops into Bedlam.”

  “It’s not like he’s going to believe a bunch of witches,” I said.

  Colin put a hand on Rhydian’s shoulder. “Dad, Nimue talked the Prince of Dreams into exiling you, what, almost twenty years ago? She’s had a lot of time to twist his mind even more since then.”

  “And her love can make people do crazy things.” Rhydian raised his hands up and sighed. “Fine. If the Prince really was influenced by Nimue, then I suppose the best option may be Bedlam. It’s not like I have any say here. I was exiled years ago.”