Aeryn opens his mouth to argue but stops himself. “I’m sorry, let me ask again. How did that go?” He asks with an overly fake cheerfulness. The corners of his mouth turn up into a surreal smile.
“It actually went better than I imagined.” I smile ignoring his sarcasm, I’m happy to reconnect with my father.
“What was his excuse for leaving you alone the last few years?” He continues with the fake cheerfulness.
“You can stop with the patronizing tone. He was trying to keep me safe, and the last few years weren’t entirely his fault. I separated myself from him too.”
“What you did is immaterial, he had a responsibility to protect you.”
“Isn’t that what you guys hired Hanna for?”
“We didn’t hire her, and he is your father. It has always been and will always be his job to keep you safe.”
“And I’m still here, so I guess he did his job.”
Aeryn closes his eyes and lets out a sigh that sounds more like a growl. “It was too big a risk, anything could have happened to you.”
“But it didn’t.” I turn and lock eyes with him.
After a few moments, he shakes his head and focuses on training. “I know I’m pushing you hard, but we don’t have a lot of time, and I need to get you up to speed.”
My whole body aches, but lying here isn’t going to get anything accomplished. “Ok then, let’s get back to it.” I rise as quick as my aching body allows, which isn’t very fast.
“Are you sure?” He watches me fight to stand.
“Yes, let’s go.” I ready my stance, as he flies to his feet in one fluid motion. My mind is still processing that move when I gasp, the wind knocked out of me, and I fall back to the ground. “Is that how it’s going to be?” I grunt pushing myself back on my aching feet. He readies himself, and I run at him, blocking his punch and kicking him in his stomach. He stumbles backward but doesn’t fall.
“Not bad grasshopper.” He charges at me, and I blocked his kick, then his punch. He backs up and comes at me again. I sway on my feet. Knowing I can’t fend off another attack, I dodge and trip him. He falls to the ground and laughs. “You’re getting better. Using your wit as much as your strength. Now let’s really train.” A smirk slinks across his face making my nerves tingle. Has he been taking it easy on me? I run at him, with a slight limp. Blocking my punch, he spins me around into his kick. How has my rib cage not given out yet? I suck in a harsh breath and let the pain course through me, trying to use it as motivation, but adrenaline is working against me. He runs at me, sweat dripping from his hairline, and I slide taking out one of his legs. He tumbles to the ground but grabs my foot and drags me under him. His fingers snap around my neck, cutting off all oxygen.
“St...op...” I try to talk but barely a sound squeaks out.
“Fight me, Nadia. Stop me.”
I kick and scratch at his hand, but he doesn’t release. “I c...ant...breathe.” My lungs begin to ache now.
“Stop me, Nadia, you can do it!” He yells, tightening his grip.
I thrash as much as I can manage in my weakened state, but he doesn’t let up. “I c...can’t.” I struggle feebly as the corners of my vision grow dark and hazy. I desperately grasp at the dirt around me, searching for any kind of leverage or weapon. Sweat from Aeryn’s brow drips onto my face. My stomach heaves, trying to empty its contents, but there’s nowhere for it to go with my windpipe being crushed.
“Yes you can, do it. Do it NOW!.” As he yells, I feel a warm sensation building in my chest. It burns hotter and hotter until my skin feels like dancing flames. With a flash of golden light, he is thrown back, and the rushing air burns my lungs. I cough and grasp at my throat. Desperately gasping for stale air.
He laughs as he stands, dusting off his clothes. “I knew you were ready.” He walks over and reaches his hand out to me. I slap it away.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” My voice dry and scratchy.
“I was helping you find your light.”
“What?” I ask scooting farther away from him.
“Remember when I told you we can tap into our light? It’s our best weapon against the Nightmares.” He notices the confused look on my face. “Look at your arms.”
I look down at my arms, and the veins from my wrist to my elbow are glowing with a golden light. “What is that?”
“When we channel our light, it becomes stronger, and you can see it. Pretty soon you’ll be able to fully control it.” He pushes his sleeves up, flexing his arms. His eyes close, and his mouth twitches. Blue sparks rise out of his arms like lightning.
“Whoa.”
He opens his eyes and smiles. “When you can control your light, you can make it do whatever you want.” He opens his right fist, and a bolt of blue light shoots into the sky. I look down at my hands. The glowing has stopped. “Do you want to practice?”
“You’re not going to try to kill me again are you?”
He smiles. “No, I promise that will be the last time I try to kill you.” He shakes his arms, and the glowing fades. “The easiest way to tap into it is to either be in danger or infuriated, thus the reason I tried to kill you earlier. Do you think you have a memory that could make you angry enough?”
I think about my mom, dad, and Hanna. “Absolutely.”
“Great. Close your eyes and feel the anger. Think about everything that has ever upset you, everything that has been unfair.” He’s talking about my mom. “Give in to that anger, let it consume you.”
I think about Hanna and her lies. How she was only there for me because she was told to. I reflect on my father and how he lied to me for years about who my mother was and her death. How he wouldn’t allow us to ever talk about her. I think about my mother and how her life was taken from her, and about how everyone here knew her better than I did. I can feel the anger as if it’s a volcano in my soul. It boils under my skin.
“Now control it, bring it to the surface, and push the anger out.”
I focus all my energy on containing the anger. I fight it into a small ball of fire and push it out through my hands. When I open my eyes, a small orb of warm yellow light spins between my hands. “I did it!” Laughter erupts. I can’t believe it.
“Not bad young grasshopper.”
I hold the ball there suspended in the air for a moment and then release it. It swirls once more and disappears. “Will I have to do that every time? Think of everything that makes me angry?”
“Only until you can control it. Which I don’t believe will be too much longer. You’re a natural.”
“I want to try again.”
“That’s not a good idea. When you’re first starting out, it takes a lot out of you. And you’ve done it twice already. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow when your energy is not so expended.”
“Are you going soft on me already?”
He hitches one eyebrow. “Ok, have it your way. Try again.”
I steady myself, focusing on all of the same thoughts. Hanna, my dad, and my mom. The fact that Aeryn had to tell me what my mom was like, the fact that so many people in my life knew what I am and wouldn’t tell me. I feel the fire again. I keep feeding it, building it up. I think about Drake and how Aeryn suspects Will of being a Nightmare. I try to contain it into a ball now, but it doesn’t work. I can’t control it. The fire continues to build until it feels like my entire body is on fire. I scream, there’s a flash of light, and then darkness.
CHAPTER 12
WHEN I COME TO, I’M back in my mother’s house, tucked in bed in what would have been my room. The mattress is a little too soft, and my legs stick out a couple feet from the end, but otherwise, the tiny toddler bed is relatively comfortable. I sit up to find Aeryn leaning in a chair beside me.
“Welcome back.” His grin almost reaches his ears.
“What happened?”
“You blacked out after putting on a pretty good light show. It’s a shame you missed it.”
“You knew that was g
oing to happen, didn’t you?” His smile says it all. I groan and move to stand when a sharp pain stabs at the front of my head. I gasp, pushing the palm of my hand to my temple.
“Yeah, you’ll have a killer headache for a few hours. There’s some medicine on the table there.” He points to a small paper cup and bottle of water sitting on the table beside me.
“Why did I black out?” I press down harder trying to alleviate the building pressure.
“The light you produced was too powerful. You were already weakened by the first two blasts, so you were unable to control it. It kept building until it, well, basically exploded. You’ll be ok, the only side effect is a headache.”
I gently lie back down, any sudden movement and my head feels like it will combust. “How long did it take you to control your light?”
“Longer than I like to admit. I wasn’t strong enough to control the anger at first.”
“What memories did you use to draw out the anger?” I don’t realize until after the words leave my lips how personal that question is.
He doesn’t hesitate to answer me. “My parents, their death to be more specific.” His hands smooth the creases in his pants before crossing in front of his chest.
“You seemed at peace with your parent’s death the last time we talked.” And again, another stupid and overly personal statement.
“I made peace with their death, not how it happened.”
“How did it happen?” There’s no stopping myself now. I might as well not even try.
“They were murdered by someone they trusted.”
“I thought they were killed by a nightmare?”
“They were.”
“Why would they trust a Nightmare?”
“Nadia, Nightmares aren’t born, they’re made.”
“What?” I cringe as I force myself to sit up again.
He grabs the medicine and water from the table, holding them out to me. “Take the medicine, it will help. I promise.”
I oblige, and in one quick gulp, the pills are gone. “What do you mean they’re made?”
“The Nightmares used to be Dreamcatchers.”
“But. How does that happen?” I take another sip of water.
“Our light gets corrupted. We all have darkness inside us, but for most of us, the light is stronger.”
“And for the others?”
“For the others, the darkness takes over. Slowly their light is diminished, and once the darkness destroys all of their light, they become Nightmares.”
“It happens slowly over time?
“Slower for some than others, but yes.”
“Is there a way to stop it?”
“Only if it’s caught soon enough when there is still more light than darkness, and they willingly make the right choices. But if they kill another Dreamcatcher, there is no going back.”
I think about my mother. He said she was murdered by a Nightmare. “Did my mom know the person who killed her?”
He hesitates, shifting in his chair. “She did.”
“Who was it?”
“The one person who she trusted more than anyone, her mentor.”
“Her own mentor killed her? Why?”
He runs his hands down his pants, working on the persistent crease. “Most Dreamcatchers who are looking to become Nightmares choose the quick route and take the life of a fellow Dreamcatcher. Her mentor, however, was already a Nightmare. We...we don’t know for sure, but we believe he was trying to bring her to his side.”
“And when it didn’t work, he killed her.” I finish for him when he looks away from me. “How does the darkness grows stronger than the light?”
“Because of the decisions we make. We all have a tendency to go one way over the other, but ultimately, it’s our choices that define who we are. It’s our actions that strengthen our light or feed the darkness. I meant it when I said you always have a choice.”
“That means I could become a Nightmare?”
He smiles. “Not a chance, your light is too strong for that.”
All of this makes my head hurt even more. I’m finally able to drag myself out of bed when there’s a knock on the door. I look over to Aeryn. He shrugs and follows me into the living room. I open the door to a tall, man standing with his hands behind his back as if standing at attention. The only hair on his head is the stubble going from one ear to the other, and his dark eyes fit the hardened look on his face.
“Gavyn?” Aeryn slips in front of me.
“We’re needed.” The man’s face barely moves as he speaks. Aeryn nods, and the man turns around and leaves.
“Hey!” I shout after him pushing my way past Aeryn, but the man doesn’t even flinch. Aeryn grabs my arm, pulling me back to shut the door. I lift my hand to my temple again. The pressure seems to help a little. “Who was that?”
“That was Gavyn.” He stops like the name should tell me all I need to know.
“I’m going to need a little more than a name.”
“You know how there are Colonels in the Army that command the units? Well, Gavyn is like our Colonel.”
“He leads the Nightstalkers?”
“Basically.”
“Why are you needed?”
“I’m not sure, but a house call from Gavyn usually means something big. We should follow.”
“We?”
“Yes, until you choose not to be, you’re a Nightstalker.”
“I thought this was still too dangerous for me.”
“Do you ever stop questioning things?”
“No.”
Aeryn smiles. “Gavyn is going to love you.”
…
Aeryn leads me to the Elder’s castle and up into a large chamber on the opposite side of where I was taken on my first trip here. In the middle of the room stands a long rectangular wooden table with about 30 people congregated around it. They all fall silent when Aeryn and I walk in. Similar to the first time I walked into the castle, they all gape at me with wide eyes. Except for Gavyn. He looks at me like I’m invading his personal space when Aeryn and I take our seats next to him. At the head of the table sits Gideon and Faerah. Gavyn leans over and whispers into Aeryn’s ear who in turn, whispers back. Gavyn sneers before returning his gaze to Gideon.
“Thank you for joining us,” Gideon says nodding towards me.
“Yes, thank you for honoring us with your presence.” Gavyn’s words drip with condescension.
I nod back at Gideon, trying to shrink down in my chair. I don’t want to draw any more attention to myself. “What did he say to you?” I whisper to Aeryn.
“It’s nothing.” He whispers back, but I know he’s keeping something from me. I want to inquire further, but Gideon begins speaking, commanding everyone’s attention.
“We have asked you all here to join us because we have confirmation the Nightmares have created a portal to the human realm.” Gideon pauses, but nobody responds. “We were hoping this day would not have come so soon, but I do believe we are ready.”
“What’s the plan?” The question comes from a small mousey woman on the opposite side of the table. Her messy, brown hair only reaches the top of her ears, and her wide eyes make her nose appear almost too small for her face. She isn’t what I was expecting someone who fights Nightmares to look like.
Gideon motions to Gavyn who then stands, clearing his throat. “Our plan is to act quickly and cover as much ground as we can. We believe they have already penetrated several cities, so we need a team to go after the portal and smaller teams to track down possibles. We’ve compiled the list and divided them among the sectors. As for the portal, I will be taking three sector leaders with me. We need to keep this as quiet as possible, I should not need to remind you what could happen if the humans are made aware.”
Gavyn reaches his hand out, and the muscular, freckled face man sitting next to him, hands him a small stack of paper. “Blaine, Rick, and Quinn will be joining me to close the portal.” I’m pleased when he doesn’t call Aer
yn’s name for that group. There’s something about him I don’t like, and I’m almost certain he feels the same. I look around at the Nightstalkers as Gavyn calls out the rest of the sector leaders, trying to put names with faces, but there are too many for me to remember them all. He slides a piece of paper to each as he calls them out. My attention diverts until I hear Aeryn’s name.
“And finally, against my better judgment, Aeryn will be taking Nadia with him to cover the southeast area.” Gavyn catches my stare and holds it there for a moment. Maybe he’s this way to all of the new people, but he obviously has a problem with me. He finally looks away and slides a piece of paper to Aeryn. Aeryn grabs the paper and slips it into the pocket of his jeans.
After the teams have been made, everyone files out of the room two at a time without another word. The ones called Quinn and Blaine stride over to shake my hand. If nothing else, I remember the names of those in Gavyn’s group. “It’s nice to meet you, Nadia, I’m Quinn.” I look up to meet his warm eyes. As they light up, he thrusts our hands up and down way too enthusiastically.
“You too,” I say trying to hide the apprehension.
“Bring it back a little bit Q, you don’t want to scare her off.” Blaine pushes Quinn back and gives my hand a quick yank before releasing it. I’m not sure which handshake was more awkward.
“I doubt she scares that easily,” Quinn says, coming to my unmerited defense.
“I doubt you realize how uncomfortable you make people feel.” Blaine fires back.
“I’m not uncomfortable.” Lie. But it’s the least I could do for the one who stood up for me.
“See, she likes me.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders, squeezing. I smile, trying not to give away my lie.
“Oh, Q. You can be so naïve sometimes.”
Quinn releases his hold on me. “Don’t listen to Blaine, and don’t worry about Gavyn. He always acts like a wounded lion when there’s new stalker. The rest of us, sincerely, are excited you’re here with us.” Quinn is quickly becoming my favorite stalker. They turn to leave, and suddenly it’s only Aeryn, and I left in the room.
“Why does he have a problem with me?”
“Quinn? Even though he hides it well, I’m pretty sure he’s already enamored with you.”
The Other Side of Dreams (Nighstalker Novels Book 1) Page 12
