“In,” Kail instructed as he shoved me through another secret door before I could get another word out.
My eyes adjusted quickly to the dark room. Too quickly to be considered normal. Behind us, the inner walls creaked and snapped, while the outer walls continued to shake. Kail kicked aside a woven rug and bent to lift a large trap door. Red and black flecks of dust rained down from the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Escaping.”
He shoved me forward, and I stumbled into the opening, slamming my chin against the edge before falling six feet. The landing sent a bolt of pain up my tailbone. It had to be broken. Could a tailbone break? It was fractured and bruised, at least. My wrists throbbed from catching part of my weight. Kail leapt down beside me, landing perfectly on his feet. A soft thump told me he replaced the trapdoor; though without the rug to hide it, I didn’t know why he bothered. I dabbed a finger against my chin and hissed. Blood dripped onto my chest.
“What the hell, Kail?” I cried.
“Would you have jumped if I told you to?” he snapped.
No. Because I would’ve needed to trust him to jump into a black pit.
“Exactly,” he said at my silence and hauled me up by my armpits. “Let’s move.”
“My bag—”
“It’s not worth it.”
“I beg to differ,” I said, unyielding. My weapons were in there. My clothes. Everything I owned was inside that bag. I jumped, trying to reach the overhead door, but didn’t even graze the wood. “I’m not leaving without it.”
“The Hours will eat you alive.” Kail lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder.
I pounded my fists against his back. “I’d like to see them try.”
But he was already racing down a dirt tunnel. Roots reached out for us, and worms snapped tiny mouths when he disturbed their hornet-like nests, but Kail didn’t slow. Didn’t stop.
“Kail! Put me down.”
“Sorry, Lady. You’re my only chance at getting fixed.” He swatted the back of my thigh. “Stop squirming before I drop you.”
“Drop me,” I demanded. Then I fell on my already bruised butt with a groan. Broken. Definitely a broken tailbone. “You’re such a jerk.”
Kail crouched down in front of me. “Keep talking the big talk. See what happens. But Rowan sent the Hours after you, which means she’s not planning to wait for you to learn how to walk the walk.”
“I’d rather face them than take your advice again.” I eased myself to my feet, wincing against the ache in my backside. At least my Swiss Army knife was still in my pocket.
He huffed and stood, looking down at me. “You’re a horrible liar.”
Dirt rained down on us as another fireball hit the tower, and I wondered how many it would take to bring the whole thing crashing down on our heads. I sobered, anger dissolving under the weight of my survival instincts. “Please tell me there’s a way out of here.”
“I did say we were escaping, didn’t I?” Kail held out his hand the same way Halven did, and I narrowed my eyes at the gesture. “Just take it. It’s easy to get lost down here, and we have to get to the safe house.”
I reluctantly took his hand. “What are the Hours?”
“Twelve nightmares you’re nowhere near ready to face,” Kail said, stoic.
I swallowed hard and ran beside him, taking turns I didn’t see until they were upon us. Not knowing our final destination was anxiety-inducing, but I understood why he wouldn’t vocalize it any of the times I asked. Ears were everywhere. I had to wonder if it mattered though, seeing as Rowan had been his partner for so long. Surely she knew the location of Kail’s safe house. “Maybe we should go somewhere Rowan doesn’t know about so she can’t send her minions after us,” I suggested.
“Rowan clearly doesn’t know or we’d go somewhere else,” he replied, guarded.
“Keeping secrets from your bestie?” I asked bitterly. It didn’t bode well for me considering I was far from being considered his friend.
Kail’s laugh held no humor. “Who do you think I needed safety from, Lady?”
14
The Sandman
Don’t do it. I stalked away from the sand-made sunflower I’d created beneath the brightest star in the Dream Realm. The place Nora and I met every night until we no longer could. Don’t go.
Nora walked into the Blood Tower of her own free will a week ago. If she wanted to talk, she would’ve sent a nightmare with a message or let her walls down so I could feel her—her what? Guilt? Remorse? Longing? What did I expect her to feel? I’d done nothing but ask her for more time even though she constantly told me she didn’t have more to give. It had to seem like I didn’t care, or at the very least, like I didn’t take her feelings seriously. And now she no longer trusted me to do what was best. She hadn’t even tried to send word that she was okay, though she must’ve known how worried I would be. That hurt the most—that she would allow me to think the worst.
Well, almost the worst.
Everything was upended, my soul ripped apart, but there were bigger things to deal with. If we were to survive long enough to fix this new rift between us, Nora first had to take control of the Nightmare Realm. Then we had to deal with Mara before both the Day and Night Worlds ceased to exist.
I wanted to rage, to break something, to shake some sense into Nora. Instead, I sent a surge of power into the sand, and the perfect likeness of the Weaver swirled together before me. I punched the stupid grin off his face. Then I formed him again. And again and again until I was short of breath and my arm muscles ached.
I ran a hand through my hair, feeling marginally better. Okay. Anger later, life-or-death problems now. Both Nora and I had an eternity ahead of us, and I needed to remember that she didn’t have the same life experiences I did. She made a choice—a stupid, horrible choice—but it didn’t define her. I knew who Nora was, and I would stand beside her so that she would survive, with me or without me.
Stars. I was a lovesick fool. How many betrayals would it take for me to forsake her? The answer was carved in my heart: never. I would never give up loving her. Just as my friendship with the Weaver never stopped haunting me, I would live with this devotion for the rest of my life.
And so I put one foot in front of the other until the sea of glimmering sand disappeared and the muted colors of the Nightmare Realm surrounded me. My chest filled with dread at leaving the beach with Mare loose, but the Dream Realm was as secure as I could make it. It was better protected now than it was when I warded it against the Weaver, and I couldn’t stay forever. Ignoring the creatures that scuttled into hiding as I passed, I made straight for the Blood Tower.
Only to find it smoldering.
My heart slammed into my chest hard enough to bruise. Rowan. It had to be her. Who else would burn down the tower? Anyone that wanted to be the next Weaver. The acrid scent of smoke burned my nostrils as I picked my way through the rubble. Kail wouldn’t let anyone else harm Nora. Whatever game he was playing, it had to be for Rowan’s benefit. Unless—unless he wanted to rule the Nightmare Realm himself. But he wouldn’t need to burn down his own house when he had every opportunity to kill her.
I reached inward, searching for a hint of Nora’s magic. Just a scrap. Something to tell me she was safe.
There.
Not in the rubble, but to the far north. I let out a breath, nearly falling to my knees. I had to see her, even if she didn’t want to see me. Sand circled my boots, pushing my feet to move faster, faster, faster. The dream Nora held called to my magic, pulling me like a magnet. I wasn’t sure how long I had walked before I saw two figures trekking through rows of billowing sheets clipped to clotheslines. I saw only flashes of them between the white linens before they became silhouettes behind it. Red handprints stained some of the fabric, while others were splattered with blood, and the rope they hung from was made of stretched intestines.
I wove my way between the gaps until I found the same row Nora and Kai
l walked. Seeing her now felt like taking my first breath in a week. I wanted to run to her, to lift her into a tight embrace and tell her how much I loved her in between kisses, but the uncertainty of her reaction shackled my legs. Each of my steps were measured and careful, taking me forward when I suddenly wanted to go in any other direction. I flipped my hood up and swallowed hard.
As I neared, still undetected, I noticed the dirt on her pants and a slight limp, and what was left of my excitement fizzled. Blonde hair clung to her cheeks, bright red from heat and exhaustion, and her shoulders slumped.
Kail slowed when he finally saw me and motioned ahead with one hand. Nora’s head snapped up, and her eyes went wide, her body stiff. She said something to Kail, but they were still too far away for me to hear the hushed conversation. They exchanged a few more words while I stood rooted, and then Nora came forward alone.
I waited, not daring to breathe, until she was out of Kail’s earshot. She stared up at me, her eyes the brightest gold without any trace of green remaining. There was no apology in her expression, only wary anticipation. “Hi,” I forced myself to say.
She blinked a few times and the glow in her eyes faded. She stood rigid and wiped the sweat from her forehead. A bruise colored her chin. “What are you doing here, Sandman?”
“Did you think I would never come?” My voice scratched its way from deep inside. “That I would find out you left and say oh well?”
She blushed, a feat considering how red she was already. “No, but—”
I was vaguely aware of Kail watching us a few sheets away, but with one look from Nora, he trudged further ahead, giving us the illusion of privacy. I stepped closer to Nora anyway. “Why?” I breathed. “I asked you to give me one day. If you insisted on coming after that, I would’ve brought you here and helped you find safety.”
“Would you have?” She winced. “You knew what being in the Day World was doing to me. I told you I couldn’t wait anymore.”
“You promised me one day, but you barely waited five hours. And we—” I couldn’t finish that sentence. Coming back to the Nightmare Realm wasn’t the only thing I wanted to wait for, but I stupidly thought that night meant something for both of us. Something good—not the goodbye she intended it as.
“I know.” It came out as a reverent whisper. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?” I asked again.
“I had to.” Her voice was soft but not timid, apologetic but determined.
A lump formed in my throat. “Because you don’t trust me anymore.”
“No.” She gripped my upper arms, meeting my gaze again. “Of course I do. I just needed to take my fate into my own hands instead of waiting around for permission. The Day World was destroying me.”
“I only ever wanted you to be safe. This is all so new to you, and you don’t understand—”
“I will, Sandman. I’m learning.” She lifted her arm to show me the circling threads. “I can see them—the nightmares. When I touch different parts of the thread, I see what each piece will become, and I’m working on bringing them to life. I already did it once. How could I have learned that at home?”
How could she learn that from me? She didn’t say it, but she didn’t have to. I plucked something white from her hair—a tooth. A human incisor, complete with the root. I flicked it to the side and turned a horrified look to Nora.
“Our escape from the Blood Tower ended in a field of teeth,” she explained, shaking her hair out. “I thought I got them all out.”
I ran a hand down my face. “You can’t trust Kail. Not only has he been with Rowan forever, but there’s no incentive for him to turn on her.”
“I know I can’t trust him.” She sighed and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. “But this isn’t me versus Rowan for him. He admitted he has ulterior motives, but what does that matter? I’m figuring this whole thing out, and soon I won’t need him.”
“What does it matter?” I gripped her face gently with both hands. “Do you really believe that, Nora? Because the last time Kail tried to help you get what you wanted, you killed the Weaver. Even if he is telling the truth about helping you take the Nightmare Realm, what then? At what cost?”
She leaned up on her tiptoes and slid my hood off, looking into my eyes, willing me to understand something. Then she kissed me. It lasted only long enough to make me stop talking, but the softness of her broke me. Please don’t let this be the last time. My heart was hers. My realm was hers. My life. As long as she was okay, I would give any of it freely, but that was dangerous. There were millions of lives unknowingly depending on what we did. Giving the Dream Realm to the darkness would be catastrophic, but that didn’t stop my mind from warring between what I needed to do versus what I wanted to do.
“I need time to figure out who I am,” Nora said as gently as she had kissed me.
“You’re Nora,” I rasped.
“I was Nora.” She chewed her lip. “Now I’m something more—or less. Maybe I’m someone completely different. That’s what I need to figure out, and I can’t do that if you’re helping me every step of the way.”
“You have all the time in the world to figure it out.”
“Look at me.” She spoke firmly, but her tone remained kind. “Look at me. When will I be safe? When?”
“After we take care of Rowan and—”
“Stop.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, please, stop. I feel this place inside me. I’ve felt it every moment since I woke up covered in the Weaver’s blood, and now that I’m here, it’s worse. I need to learn to walk with it, so it doesn’t knock me off my feet. But with you, it’s like I’m on life support. And Rowan is just one problem. One nightmare. She’s who we need to deal with right now, but she’s far from the last. I have to embrace the new me in order to be as safe as the Weaver was—if you could ever call him safe. I don’t know how much of me will be left.” Her eyes fell at the final statement, the words choked.
I reached out to hug her, but Kail’s hand landed on my shoulder. “She asked for some time.”
In one movement, I flipped him so he landed on his back on the ground. It was more a reflex than anything, but I wasn’t sorry it happened. He should’ve known better than to touch me.
“Unnecessary,” he grunted.
“See what happens if you dare lay a hand on Nora,” I seethed. He wouldn’t have hands left if he tried it again. He wouldn’t have anything left.
“This is what I mean.” Nora touched my arm and sighed heavily before turning to Kail. “Were you listening?”
“Forgive me, Lady.” He stood and brushed himself off with an annoying amount of composure. “The acoustics here don’t serve privacy well.”
She gave him a pointed look.
“Well, then,” he blurted before she could say a word. “Time to be off before we’re spotted.”
Not yet. It could be days—weeks—before I saw her again. How much time did she want? How much space was too much? But Kail was right. They had to go before the wrong nightmare saw them. It didn’t make saying goodbye any easier, though. “Nora, I—”
She kissed my cheek, imploring me not to make this harder by allowing her emotions, her aching resolve, to brush through me. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Okay,” I said reluctantly.
When she left with Kail without so much as a backward glance, she took a piece of me with her. A limb. A lung. A heart. But I would get them back. She just needed time, and I needed to respect that. Nora was the Weaver, and, if she was to survive, she was right. She had to become her new self. That didn’t mean I was going to walk away. It only meant I needed to protect her from the sidelines.
15
Nora
“Are you listening to me?” Kail asked, clapping his hands in front of my face.
I swatted at him and kept walking. Of course I wasn’t listening. He hadn’t stopped naming different nightmares and their specialties since we’d walked away from the Sandman over two hours ago. It w
as like my life had become the worst infomercial ever. Can’t remove the rust from your sink? You need a bunch of extra slimy sucker fish. Starve them of Dreamer blood for a couple days and voila! In a few short minutes, they’ll eat your problem away.
It was an information overload, for one, and I currently didn’t care. Also, I really needed to stop hearing Kail’s voice, so I could replay the entire conversation I had with the Sandman. Every word. The tones. Facial expressions. I wished I removed his hood earlier, but I was too scared to see what was underneath. It would’ve been better if he looked at me like the traitor I was than the girl I wasn’t. Had I made my reasons clear? Maybe I said something wrong. I tried my best, but there was so much left unsaid. He couldn’t be expected to forgive me. Not yet. Not ever, maybe.
Kail palmed the top of my head and turned my face toward him. “You’re still not listening.”
“Tell me something I want to hear then,” I quipped. Anything—anything else—that got my mind off the Sandman and the fracture in my chest.
Kail looked up at the sky and shook his head in disbelief. “How I wish I could kill you without becoming you.”
“Yes, well.” I shrugged. “Not everyone enjoys self-improvement. You do you.”
He glowered at me and spoke in a droning voice. “We’re here.”
A chain link fence towered over us. On the other side, a long concrete building stretched between two rows of glowing signs. They faced away from the fence, as if intended for someone fleeing whatever dwelled inside, and each was more ominous than the last. My personal favorite was Danger Lies Beyond, but I couldn’t read them all from this angle. Curling letters decorated the face of the building itself, but I couldn’t make those out either.
I laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Why would I be kidding?” he asked with a raised brow.
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