by Sophia Sharp
Gabrielle moved his hands over the torrial, looked across to his partner – who, from close up, looked to be in even worse shape than he – and extended an arm to Nora. “Just like last time, now. Close your eyes.”
Nora did so. Again, she felt that strange distortion occur in front of her. She felt a pull start to form, but it took more time to build up than before.
“One more thing,” Nora asked quickly, suddenly remembering. “I never found out what happened to Rafael.”
To her surprise, she heard a chuckle. “I will tell you that when you get back.”
The pull increased, and Nora fell inside.
~~
Nora spun through an inescapable void. She knew where she was, this time, and knew what to expect. She slowed herself, coming to a stop in mid-air. Darkness surrounded her, broken weakly by hundreds of pale little lights. She reached out for the lights, pulling them closer. The darkness receded, and in a flash, all the millions of stars representing every living being sprang into shape.
Nora knew how to navigate, and this time, there was no uncertainty. She closed her eyes and felt all the need she could summon within her.
Swish.
The darkness shifted away, the stars going with it. Nora opened her eyes, looking around. There, far in the distance, she recognized a familiar cluster of stars. They were the ones that belonged to the elders. But even from afar, Nora could tell they were different from last time. One was missing, first of all, but she could easily attribute that to what she had done. The real difference was that all of them looked weaker. The darkness did not shy away from them anymore.
She did not repeat the mistake of floating toward them as she had the first time. Instead, she closed her eyes and felt the same need that drove her here. The need to see her friends safe, to see the elders wiped out, and to see revenge exacted for the angels. The need that made her sacrifice everything for the smallest chance of success.
Swish.
Opening her eyes, Nora found herself face-to-face with the cluster of stars. She could – if she had hands here – reach out and touch them. However, despite the proximity, she was unable to see within them, as she thought she might. They were just the round glowing shapes she remembered from before. Though the glow was duller.
She was close enough to reach them, but now what? Gabrielle had given her no hints. She could not enter any of them. That would not help. Somehow, from where she was, she had to direct enough energy at them to destroy them.
Only where that energy would come from, what shape it would take, Nora had no idea. There were unseen rules to this place, and overstepping even one might have horrible consequences. Nora racked her brain for ideas. Here she was, outside the stars, able to see all of them at once. Yet she did not have the physical presence to do anything about it. She could not touch them, she could not hit them, she could not bind them. She had no body, not in the same way she did in the outside worlds, and would have to rely entirely on her mind.
She shifted her gaze around her. All the other stars she could see meshed with the darkness quite well. There was an equilibrium here, she remembered. A delicate one, and it could be upset by the smallest thing.
And yet the cluster of the elders’ stars somehow seemed to exist outside of it. The darkness shied away from them, though definitely not as much as before. Still, it seemed to Nora that the elders’ stars were not…welcome…here to the same extent that others were.
In fact, there was more to it than that. It was like the elders’ stars had carved out this space by themselves. It was not given to them naturally, as it had been to everyone else. They forced their way into it.
Maybe that was the key to the whole thing. If the elders’ stars were not wanted here, perhaps this entire realm, or abyss, or whatever it was, could aid her somehow.
She took another look around, and her eyes stopped on the darkness that tried to surround the elders’ stars but couldn’t. What if she could strengthen it, somehow? That way, she wouldn’t be fighting against the equilibrium, but rather enhancing it. It was worth a shot.
She had to move fast. She didn’t know how time flowed here, but suspected it did not align with the dream realm or the human world. Seconds here could be hours for Gabrielle.
She concentrated on the darkness. The edges by the cluster looked like they were stretched thin. She could not pull them in further. Rather, she had to build on them.
But, how? Always, she had to be careful of the equilibrium. She didn’t think she could make more of the darkness form by itself, but if she added from somewhere else…
She reached out with her mind, stretching as far away as she dared, and picked off a speck of darkness from some distant place. It was a tiny speck, and it came with her easily. She brought it back, placed it on the edge of the cluster and waited.
Nothing happened. The world didn’t explode, the equilibrium didn’t tip, and she didn’t die. Instead, everything was as it was before. Except…the darkness was now a sliver closer to reaching the cluster of stars.
That was it! In a flash, Nora started working as quickly as she dared. She reached out and brought tiny pieces of darkness from far away to her. She pulled from different places, bit by bit, in tiny amounts that would never be noticed as missing. And yet, together they would add up to make an immeasurable difference here. She reached in all directions, as far as she could, and built upon the darkness. Little by little, she closed in on the elders’ cluster. Their glow was suppressed even more, and the darkness came closer and closer to overwhelming them.
And then, the most magnificent thing happened.
It was like this realm had noticed what she was doing and decided to help. She saw flashes of black moving through the air and settling to augment the dark around the stars, all without her help. She kept going, picking up the tiniest specks of dark, from places she didn’t even know existed, from the deepest nooks and crannies within the torrial, and placing it on the edge, building it up like a brick wall. And the realm around her kept going too, adding to her momentum, until the darkness started moving toward the elders’ stars much like a rising tide.
The cluster of stars tried to fight back. Their shine doubled, tripled, but the wave of black was too much. It did not retreat under that glow. Nora kept building, and the realm kept assisting her, pressing in on the light of the stars. Nora did not know what would happen when the black finally reached the very surface of the stars, but suspected it would be very bad. For the elders.
Abruptly the shine from the stars vanished, like a popped balloon. And Nora could see through the translucent surface that made up each of the stars.
She kept building, but at the same time peered into those stars. It was like looking at individual tiny planets. The details were very small from afar, but Nora could see representations of land and water and other terrain elements that made up the elders’ representation of the dream.
The darkness was getting very close to the stars. Nora prayed that Gabrielle had warned the others by now. She did not think she’d be able to see their representation out here as they fled, so there was no way to be sure they left. They needed to get out in time. If she destroyed the elders’ stars from the outside, and anybody she knew was caught inside…
Nora was abruptly overcome by a terrible feeling that something was very wrong. The feeling first began when the stars became transparent, but now, as the darkness was getting closer and closer to overtaking them, roared into something so large Nora could not ignore it. She stopped what she was doing. But the building of the black continued by the elements of this realm. The feeling of wrongness did not go away.
Nora panicked and tied to stop the flow of darkness. She felt resistance against her, and the darkness pulsed around her, pushing in on her, threatening to overtake her as well as the elders’ stars. She fought against it, and just when she thought she was going to lose herself, ripped free from it. The building stopped. But the darkness did not retreat.
The f
eeling that had alarmed her did not go away. And Nora knew that here, of all places, feelings were of the utmost importance. Had she done something wrong? Was building the darkness toward the stars the wrong action?
Nora looked at the stars again. For the first time, she really looked at them. None were distinguishable from the others, save for one. That was the one that was farthest away from her, all the way across the cluster. For some reason, she felt a draw to it. But that particular star had always been on the other side of the cluster from her. As if it were hiding.
But, why? Nora tried to move closer, and everything shifted in protest. She jolted back to where she was. Things came back into place.
She couldn’t get any closer like that, and she should have known so. But the strange feeling that was radiating from that star compelled her to try. She realized that if she focused, she could see enough of the star from where she was.
She concentrated on it. And to her immense surprise, realized that she recognized it. It was like seeing somebody you swear you’ve seen before, yet not knowing where or when. It was the most uncomfortable feeling, and it didn’t make any sense. Yet she was sure she knew that star.
She focused on it more intently. And abruptly, she realized why she recognized that star. Because it belonged to Hunter.
Her head spun. That made no sense! But she knew, just by looking at the star, that it was true. Much the same way as she had known Gray’s star was his after he revealed himself to her. But, what was Hunter’s star doing here? Why was it in this bunch? Had the torrial malfunctioned when Hunter came in somehow? She couldn’t take any chances.
She made sure the swell of darkness had ceased. It had. She could not destroy the cluster, not like this. Not if Hunter’s star was caught in there. She had to find out what it was doing there.
Against Gabrielle’s warning, she threw herself at it.
Chapter Nineteen
~Succubus~
Nora shut her eyes. The need to figure out what Hunter’s star was doing here superseded everything else. She felt it intensely in her mind. Need.
Swi—
Something else yanked at her. From another direction. Nora thought she would be entering Hunter’s star, but instead she found herself being stretched thin beyond hope. Part of her was already inside, but another part was being pulled elsewhere. She did not know if she could handle the pressure. She was thin, frail, fragile. And getting thinner by the second. She was going to snap in two. She was—
Nora blinked and found herself inside a dark but familiar room. She stood up cautiously, feeling her body with her hands. She was whole and still alive. What was the interference she felt, and how did she end up here, of all places?
She looked around. The room was in exactly the same state she remembered it. It was small and still barren. A few tables and shelves stood in various places, but all were empty. Their contents had all mysteriously disappeared overnight, in a time that felt so very long ago. Nora was in the room that used to be the second floor of Selaine’s shop.
But it wasn’t that long ago. And, as far as she knew, Hunter had never been here. So if she entered his star, if she was now within his dreams, how could she possibly have ended up here? How could—
“You are wondering what you’re doing here, girl?”
Nora spun on her heels. She hadn’t heard anyone approaching. But sure enough, out from the corner stepped Selaine.
Nora’s jaw dropped open. She didn’t know what to think. She had always suspected there had been more to the elderly woman than she let on, but she never thought it would manifest itself like this. “Selaine…?” Nora gasped. “What are you doing here? What is this?”
Suddenly Nora noticed a swirling glass globe on the table. She didn’t know how she possibly overlooked it before. It was just like the one Gabrielle used. But there was only one of those in existence…?
“I brought you here,” Selaine said simply. She motioned idly to the globe. Then, she turned her head to look back around the corner. “Come on,” she said to somebody there. “You can come out. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Nora heard footsteps against the wood floor, and a figure emerged slowly from behind Selaine. Nora gasped when she saw who it was.
Hunter was there. At least, she thought it was him. She had been tricked in the dream before. His head was down, and his long hair covered most of his face. Briefly, he raised his eyes to meet hers, and Nora felt an explosive surge of emotion rise within her. Those eyes could not be faked. It was him!
She started toward him, but Hunter recoiled as if hit on her first step. Nora stopped. Hunter’s eyes were glued to the floor. He wouldn’t look at her.
“Hunter…” Nora began uncertainly, “…what’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to tell you,” he said in a tight voice. “But I could not. I had to lie to you. It was the only way.” Still, he didn’t raise his head. Selaine had stepped back and was watching Hunter with arms crossed. How did they know each other?
“Lie to me?” Nora repeated. “About what? It was the only way for what? Hunter, what are you talking about?” Selaine had shifted her gaze and was now looking squarely at Nora. Nora could feel her eyes on her. Judging and weighing.
“In time,” Selaine said smoothly, “all will be revealed. I’ll address your most pressing concerns first. Yes, Hunter and I know each other. We have for a long time – don’t gape girl, the look doesn’t suit you. There’s plenty more you don’t know yet, but that is the reason I brought you here. To explain it all.”
“Who are you?” Nora asked. Hunter had retreated behind Selaine again, almost as if he were using her as a shield. He held a definite deference to her. Nora did not know what to think of that. But she knew one thing. The old woman was a lot more than she let on.
“I’m afraid I was not entirely truthful with you either, girl, when we first met,” Selaine said.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Nora said again. She felt…not helpless, but confused. Some of those things the elder told her started circling in the back of her mind once more. She knew them for lies, but…
“Well, let’s start at the beginning,” Selaine said simply. “You may sit if you wish. This could take a long time.”
“I’m fine, thank you,” Nora said curtly.
“Very well. The first thing you should know is that I know who you are, Nora. I know what you are.”
“Well, I kind of figured that, at this point.”
Selaine tsked in annoyance. “I don’t mean simply that you are Vassiz, Nora. Rather, I mean that I know of the prophecy, and I have for a long time.”
Nora blinked. “The prophecy? How? Who are you?”
Selaine ignored the question. “I also know what you’ve been trying to do. Your vendetta against the elders has not gone unnoticed.”
“How could you know about that?”
“You think the elders are the ones who pull the strings. That’s what you’ve been told. That they are the ones who lead the Vassiz race. Isn’t that right? It’s what everyone believes.”
“I don’t understand how you know that,” Nora muttered. “Are you Vassiz too?” If that was the case, why did Selaine have that distinctly human scent when Nora first met her?
“There are more powers at work in our worlds than you know, Nora.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, my dear, that not everything you know about the elders is accurate.” She inclined her head toward Hunter. “He would be the first to tell you so.”
Nora stared at Hunter, who had fixated his attention to something on the floor. He seemed to cringe when Selaine motioned to him, but did not move otherwise.
Selaine waved it away. “You can ask him later, then. What I’m telling you is that the elders are not the ones with the final say over what happens to the Vassiz. Even they answer to a higher master.”
Nora’s eyes widened. She had thought the elders were the pinnacle of th
e Vassiz race. She had thought they were the ones responsible for imprisoning the angels, for chasing after her, and for corrupting the whole population of Vassiz. But there was somebody above them? Somebody that…gave them orders?
That changed everything. Could it mean that what she’d been doing had been wrong? Had she made some terrible mistake in her effort to see justice served? Had she mistakenly focused on the wrong enemy? Suddenly, the elder’s last words exploded in her mind. He spoke of Selaine, of all people. But, why…?
“Who?” Nora asked.
“Girl, you’re looking at her.”
The casualness of Selaine’s answer caught Nora off-guard. Selaine was the one who ruled over the elders? If that was true…but of course it had to be true. Nobody would be mad enough to make something like that up. But then, did it mean that Selaine was the cause of all of Nora’s problems? That she was the one Nora should have focused on?
Nora felt her body instinctively tense. If Selaine was the one in power, it meant that she was the enemy. But she had helped Nora once before! None of it was making any sense.
And what was Hunter’s role in all this? He said just now he had lied to her. About what? Was he in on it too? There was no shock on his face when Selaine revealed herself. All of it was adding up to something Nora did not want to fathom.
Nora thought she could make out the hint of a smile form behind Selaine’s ancient lips. Despite the revelation, Nora did not feel threatened by Selaine. But if she were the one in control, the one in power, Nora should very definitely have felt that. Something about the entire situation was off.
“Of course,” Selaine said, after pausing for a moment, “that’s the way it is supposed to be. In truth, the elders have not paid heed to the hierarchy for generations. They have grown rebellious, and I suppose I have gotten soft.”
“What?” Nora shook her head. The shock had just worn off. But nothing was making any sense! Selaine oversaw the elders? How? Who was she, to inherit such power? “How do I know this isn’t another lie?”
