by Peach, Hanna
Chapter 4
Alyx stood in front of the thick metal door of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. This late at night there wasn’t a mortal in sight. Lukas had said that she could find Jordan here; apparently he often came here to be alone. This was the cathedral that Jordan had taken Alyx to the first time they’d met. Or more precisely, after he had stalked her and knocked her out.
Alyx tested the door handle. It was locked. She scanned the building. Through the colored mosaic glass windows she could see a warm light shining from inside. Somebody was in there. Was it Jordan? There must be another way in.
Alyx made her way around the cathedral, slipping through the shadows and passing the gardens surrounding the building. A tall fence overgrown with vines separated the rest of the world from the cathedral grounds. An ornate black iron gate near the back led to a street where a thrashing kind of music played loudly.
She noticed a small door, dark and undecorated unlike the rest of the cathedral, nudged into a recess of the façade. She tested the handle, not expecting anything. She was surprised when it turned easily in her hand. Frowning, she unsheathed her sword before slipping inside.
Alyx moved carefully through a short dark corridor before entering the main cathedral. The cavernous space was dimly lit by four white candles flickering on a candelabra atop the stone altar. From where she stood she couldn’t see Jordan.
Alyx moved slowly down the aisle towards the front of the altar, her sword at the ready, not wanting to call out in case she alerted a mortal. As she neared the front of the cathedral she could see the candlelight falling across a body lying near the altar, face turned away. Alyx recognized Jordan’s muscular form.
“Jordan?” Alyx sheathed her sword and flew to his side. She leaned over him. His eyes were closed as if in sleep. His chest was still, unbreathing. This close she could feel the waves of DreamWalker magic rolling off his skin. Jordan was in a DreamWalker sleep. But seeing him so still, so like death, unnerved her. Should she wake him?
Jordan shifted. “No,” he growled. The strain in his voice caused prickles to shoot across Alyx’s neck. Was he in trouble? She had to help him. Alyx grabbed his broad shoulders with both her hands and shook him roughly.
“Wake up, Jordan,” she urged.
For a moment his body seemed to stiffen and the magic waving off him seemed to pause. Then, without warning, the magic swelled to consume her. Before she could react, she felt herself tumbling forward. And everything went black.
* * *
Alyx stood at the base of a grassy slope, looking up towards a cloud of smoke billowing out from a burning building. The air was filled with the char of wood and something sharply sweet. For a moment she thought she may be back at Aradale. But the landscape was different here. She felt a pang of familiarity course through her as she gazed across the nearby hills spared from the fire, covered with rows of curling vines. In an instant she knew that this DreamScape was a replica of Castelli del Grevepesa, the Florence community. It was then that she realized the sweet smell was of grapes.
Horror flushed in her. She turned her eyes to the burning building where Jordan and she were once welcomed in and helped by Bella and Luce. But this was just a DreamScape… wasn’t it? This couldn’t be real…
Alyx ran towards the fire. As she neared it she could make out two figures. A male and a female, clasping at each other. She recognized his wide shoulders and shoulder-length hair.
“Jordan,” she called out as she ran.
He turned slowly. He seemed to stagger. She neared enough to see his face. The tendons on his neck were sharp and strained, but his eyes… They were cold and dead, hollow orbs of green glass.
What had happened?
The other figure had turned as well. It was Belle, chief of the Florence community. She was grasping onto Jordan’s waist as if she couldn’t stand on her own. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her nose was running.
“You.” Bella’s face contorted when she saw Alyx. Bella tore her arms away from Jordan and her hands turned into claws. “This is all your fault!” she started screaming. “Look what you’ve done.”
Alyx froze, gasping for breath as she realized what must have happened. Samyara must have hidden a tracer on Fernando as he had done to Marin. His army must have traced Fernando to his community. And like Aradale, the Castelli del Grevepesa had been attacked and destroyed. This was what she was looking upon now; Bella’s memories leaking out to paint this DreamScape in a fiery landscape of horror.
Alyx remained stuck to the ground. This was all her fault. If Bella wanted to tear out her throat, Alyx wouldn’t stop her.
But before Bella could reach her, Jordan grabbed Bella and pulled her back against his chest. Alyx could hear him saying words in a language she didn’t understand. They sounded soothing, but the sterility in his voice was obvious to her.
Alyx stared at Bella, who sobbed incoherently in Jordan’s arms, the flaming building behind them blackening the sky. This was the ruins of her botched plan. How had she messed up so badly?
“Alyx.” Jordan’s strong voice broke through her thoughts. “You should leave. Now.”
Alyx nodded, blinking tears from her eyes.
Bella buried her face in Jordan’s chest. His hand rubbed slowly across her back, an automation. Even so, Alyx bit back a surge of… was this jealousy? Was it selfish of her to wish that Jordan was comforting her instead?
When he spoke to Alyx again his voice was softer. “Wait for me. I’ll be with you shortly.” Then he raised his palm to her and a cool pulse flooded her body.
Everything went white.
* * *
Alyx woke back up in the cathedral to find herself lying along something rigid and lumpy. She gasped when she realized that she had fallen on top of Jordan when she was pulled into the DreamScape. Placing her hands on the floor above his shoulders, she started to push herself up. She paused when she caught sight of his sleeping face. The candlelight basked his handsome features in warmth and turned the messy hair lying about his head into a golden halo.
Alyx found that she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face. Something about Jordan looked… different. Clearer. Like she had been looking at him with gauze across her eyes until now.
How had she not noticed how gorgeously carved his features were before now? Strong jaw dusted with stubble. Sharp cheekbones. Full, kissable lips. A warmth began to trickle into the void in her chest.
Alyx supported herself with her left arm and slowly reached out her right hand to brush the errant strands of hair off his forehead. His eyes snapped opened and he grabbed her wrist. Now it was his eyes that she couldn’t look away from. How had she not noticed how his thick lashes darkened his eyes?
His eyes focused on her and widened in surprise. His breath blew across her skin, making it tingle. He loosened his grip on her. Alyx pulled herself away and off of him, heat pricking at her cheeks, ready to explain away her closeness to him.
But he didn’t ask. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and slumped against the altar. He moved as if his body ached. Leaning his head back against the altar he raised an arm across his eyes as if he were shielding them from the sun.
Alyx wanted to touch him, to comfort him, but… would he even want her to? Did he blame her, too? Like Belle did?
“Is Belle…?”
“Don’t worry about it. Belle is just upset. She has… we have all lost so much…” His voice trailed off.
Alyx felt the blood draining from her face when she realized his implication. Please, no. Had there been more deaths? Who else?
“Is everyone… okay?”
Jordan’s face darkened. “Fernando didn’t make it. He was already badly wounded...”
Alyx closed her eyes in a momentary prayer as she thought about this daring Rogue who had helped them with their Black Stone heist at the Galleria dell’ Belle Arti. He had volunteered to help them. He had faced bullets without flinching. He had been a brave warrior. She hoped he had gone so
mewhere better.
“And Rosa…” Jordan’s voice trailed off, the flash of guilt obvious in his eyes. Rosa and Jordan had been close. Had been.
He continued, his voice hollow, “The last time Rosa and I spoke… well, you remember.” Yes, she did. Rosa stormed off after Jordan had ended their relationship. “She was so angry at me. I just took for granted that she would eventually forgive me. I didn’t get a chance to say sorry. She died hating me.”
“Jordan, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Alyx. This is war. People die. Shit happens. And more of us will die before this is over.”
Alyx stared at him, sure that her shock was evident on her face. How could he be so cold and callous about this? And she might have continued to believe this if she hadn’t caught that flutter of sadness behind his eyes, brief like the flap of a butterfly’s wings before it disappeared amongst the thorns.
He was pretending. Of course he was. Strong Jordan. Reliable Jordan. Always calm and cool, Jordan. God, how tiring it must be for him to keep this face up. To keep holding up the world around him without letting the strain show on his face. She knew what this was like.
Alyx crawled forward so that she was so close to his side her thigh was along his. Slowly, she slipped her hands under his jaw and tilted up his face so that he couldn’t hide.
She kept holding his face with her hands. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“What are you doing?” The strain was evident in his voice. Don’t let her see you break, Alyx could hear this in the silence between his words. He tried to pull her hands off him, tried to push her away. But she wouldn’t let up and she wouldn’t let him hide his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she just kept repeating.
Finally, Jordan’s face crumpled and his chin dropped. She felt the weight of his head as he accepted the gift of her support.
“You’re not alone. You don’t have to do this alone,” she said, using his own words on him. Words that had always made her feel better. “We’ll make him pay for what he did, Jordan. We will win this war. You and I.”
He reached out, pulled her into his lap and buried his face in the crook of her neck. He didn’t shake nor did he make any noise. He just gripped onto her as if his life depended on it. As if he was a drowning man and she was his lifeline. Alyx put her arms around him and closed her eyes.
As she breathed him in, a calm crept over her. The strange void in her chest continued to fill with warmth.
Alyx wasn’t sure how long they stayed there against the altar, him still as death, her stroking his hair, neither of them saying anything. Slowly, his grip on her loosened.
Finally, he pulled back from her. “What are you doing here, beauty? Were you looking for me?”
Alyx nodded. “I tried getting information out of Adere about what Israel had been poisoned with but… she is no help in her current state.”
“I doubt very much that she knows about it anyway. Samyara organized to have her killed with that poison.”
“I thought Mayrekk might know something about it. He’s so good with herbs and such. You used to get messages through to him. Could we get a message to him now? Will you help me reach him?”
“It’s a good idea. Just give me a few more minutes to recover my DreamWeaver.”
Alyx nodded. Then realized that she was still straddling him. She tried to slide off his lap but he held her in place. She gave him a questioning look.
He grinned. “It helps me recover faster if I have a beautiful woman right here.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You’re incorrigible.”
“If by incorrigible you mean adorable, then I accept that title.”
Alyx leaned her cheek against his chest to hide the flush warming her face. Jordan placed his chin on her head and tucked her into his arms.
“We met here,” he said. “Do you remember?”
Alyx let out a curt laugh. “You mean you took me here after you knocked me out.”
“You did get to wake up to this pretty face.” He pulled back so Alyx could look at him. When she glanced up he was cross-eyed and his tongue was lolling out of his head.
She stifled a laugh then rested her head back on his chest. “Yeah, about that… You may need to work on your ‘pretty face’.”
Jordan laughed. Then she felt his lips touch her hair. “If that’s what it takes.”
For a few minutes they sat in silence.
“Jordan?”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you come back here? To this cathedral, I mean. Lukas said you come here sometimes.”
Jordan pulled back to look at her, then gazed off into the distance. Alyx tried not to sigh as one of his fingers started tracing lazy circles on her arm.
“It’s quiet. I know I won’t be disturbed at this time of night. I like it here. It makes me feel…” Jordan glanced up to the large cross looming up over the altar, “closer to Him. It gives me hope that one day I may do enough to… redeem myself.”
She knew he was talking about the seraphelle, Lylianne. The one he caught Michael abusing. The reason he left Michaelea. Her heart ached at the sadness tugging at his handsome features. Jordan wiped a hand over his face and she could hear the scratch of his skin across his stubble.
“Jordan, it wasn’t your fault. It was Michael’s.”
“Just like what happened with Aradale and Castelli del Grevepesa wasn’t your fault.”
Alyx looked away. “Touché.”
“I know it wasn’t my fault,” he said quietly. “Just like I’m sure deep down, you know it wasn’t your fault. But as you probably understand, I still can’t help but wish I had done things differently.”
Alyx nodded. It was a curious and incredible feeling to know that she was understood without having to say a word. Jordan did know. He understood. Her skin began to heat as Jordan’s lazy circles became a slow exploration across her back with the flats of his palms. At that moment Alyx had to close her eyes as a wave of something amazing – like soaring above clouds – washed over her and into this strange void in her soul. There was an odd sense of relief with it, as if this feeling had been dammed up, prevented from pooling in her heart by… something. What? It didn’t matter. Or… did it? Alyx had a strange feeling that she was… forgetting something.
Alyx cleared her throat. “How did you get in here anyway?” she asked, trying to get her attention away from his distracting hands. “Don’t they lock this place up at night?”
Jordan smiled slyly and took his time in responding. “I may have a key.”
Alyx raised an eyebrow.
Jordan shrugged. “I have this… understanding with the pastor’s daughter. We’re friends.”
Alyx gave him a look of pure disbelief. “Friends? Really?”
Jordan grinned. “I can’t help if I’m irresistible.”
Alyx shook her head. “You are unbelievable.”
Jordan’s smile faltered and his voice dropped so low that she wasn’t sure that she was meant to hear it. “Irresistible, except to the one I really want.”
She chanced a glance at him, but his face betrayed nothing, so she began to think that she misheard him.
“I think I am sufficiently recovered now. Let’s find Mayrekk.”
Alyx leaned against him and gripped his shirt as the wave of DreamWalker covered them both.
Chapter 5
Jordan held Alyx’s hand as they floated through the DreamPlain, black and empty.
“Anything?” she asked.
“I can sense him. But he’s faint. Very faint.”
“What does that mean? Faint?”
Jordan paused before answering, “He’s either being hidden by DreamWalker magic or…”
“Or what?”
“Or he’s… weak. Maybe from illness, or injury.”
Alyx swallowed. Both these options filled her with dread. She shouldn’t have left Mayrekk alone in Michaelea. She should have tried
to get him out. She should have tried to recover his Prisoner’s apex, the key to his freedom, then.
“Wait. I think I have him. Hang on.”
Jordan tugged her and they began to speed through the dark, the DreamScapes looking like small points of light around them, blurred to lines as they moved. Soon they were approaching a ball of ebbing light. The way this light shone so pale and faintly added to Alyx’s feeling of guilt. In what state would they find Mayrekk?
They fell into his DreamScape.
* * *
The blinding light faded into speckles that floated through a high canopy above. Jordan and Alyx were now standing in a forest.
“Michaelea,” Jordan said. The instant he said it Alyx felt the familiarity coat her senses. This was the forest around Michaelea. Or at least it would be Mayrekk’s memory of the forest, this being his DreamScape.
“You shouldn’t be here,” a familiar voice said. Familiar but drained of life. “They’ll find you. They’re watching me.”
Alyx spun. Her heart tore open when she saw Mayrekk. He was slumped against the base of a tree. Slashes criss-crossed his arms and legs, oozing and raw. Alyx remembered how her own wounds had come with her into her previous DreamScapes. Which meant that these wounds weren’t just in this DreamScape, they were real as well. Black Stone wounds. From the Black Stone sword that Michael had taken from her when she had been captured trying to rescue Israel from the Hollows.
“Mayrekk,” she said as she flew to his side. “Oh God, what have they done to you?”
Jordan kneeled down on Mayrekk’s other side, his face hard like steel. “I’m going to tear him into pieces,” he muttered. “Then I’m going to kill him.”
Alyx didn’t need to ask who the he was Jordan was talking about. They both knew who did this. Elder Michael.
She cradled his head. Michael was torturing Mayrekk because he helped her get away. Guilt made her voice quiver. “I’m so sorry.”
“I like being here,” Mayrekk said. His eyes were dull and he looked as though he was having trouble focusing. “This forest is the only place I feel… free. I know why I’m here… why are you here?”
