“I know, Eden,” he said gently. “I want you to stay just as desperately.”
I blinked at him in astonishment. “You do?”
He nodded. “Of course I do. But you clearly need more tutoring than a book can provide. Please allow me to help you.”
Compassion filled his green eyes…along with something else. That something else stoked a different fire in my heart, one far more powerful than the one that burned for Maci or even for the Dream World.
I fiddled with my bag strap as I deliberated, a movement which drew Darius’s attention to it and one of my many practice cloths sticking out from it. His brow furrowed.
“What’s this?” He took it and carefully examined the threads, which resembled a night sky of distorted half-stars more than a proper stitch. “This is the star stitch. Is this what you used tonight?”
My cheeks burned as I yanked it away from him. “Spare me your usual commentary. I know I failed miserably at it, and I know you’re probably amazing.”
For a moment he looked quite hurt. “That’s not what I was going to say. I don’t want to hurt you, Eden.”
Shame twisted my stomach that I’d allowed my embarrassment to make me so rude, especially after Darius had offered to help. I lowered my eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just…really terrible, isn’t it?”
“It’s not too bad, but you do need more practice. Here’s my advice, even if you don’t want it: either stop using basic stitches—they’re too weak for the elaborate dreams you keep attempting—or create simpler dreams. Since you’re determined to raid the entire Cultivating Fields every night, we’re going to have to improve your stitches.”
I froze in shoving my practice cloth back into my bag. “We?” I stared, waiting for him to crack a smile at this obvious teasing, but his expression remained stoic. “Why would you do that when you’re obsessed with winning?”
“We’ve been over this before,” Darius said with a sigh. “Even winning loses its appeal if it’s too easy. If you really want to stay—which I can see that you do—you'll stop being stubborn and accept my help. Besides, some things are more important than winning.” His entire manner had gone very soft, causing a stirring in my stubborn heart. He held out his hand. “Let me see your star stitches.”
Even after everything, he still wanted to help me? I searched his eyes, wide and earnest, before lowering my gaze to his hand, extended in invitation, compelling me to accept what he was offering. I glanced down at Maci, still restless from her recent nightmare, and the walls of my fierce resistance finally crumbled.
Without meeting his eyes, I reluctantly handed him my practice cloth. Darius studied it carefully, tracing over each distorted stitch. “Here’s the problem: you’re using a chain stitch here when it should be a daisy stitch.” He tilted his head. “Would you like my invaluable assistance?”
The warmth he often made me feel quickly soured. I scowled. “Not if you make me beg.”
He laughed. “Very well, but just this once.” He pulled out fresh cloth, needle, and thread from his bag before he settled beside me, so close our knees practically touched. My heart pounded at his proximity. His presence radiated surprising warmth, and he smelled of caramel apples. Instinctively, I leaned closer.
He flexed his fingers. “Watch the master.”
For the next hour he tutored me step-by-step with a patience I hadn’t thought him capable of, explaining it much more clearly than Weaving Unbeatable Dreams. At one point he even guided my hand, his fingers light over mine.
I shuddered at his touch. Stardust—who’d arrived to return me to the Dream World partway through his tutoring—monitored us through squinty, suspicious eyes, which narrowed further at every stolen glance and accidental touch Darius and I shared.
“That’s it, keep your stitches tight and even,” Darius murmured, his face so close his warm breath caressed my shaking hand as I wove, which made it rather difficult to concentrate.
Finally I completed the stitch without mistakes. I held up my cloth, now displaying a row of perfect star stitches. “I did it!”
“Excellent. Use it to group similar details together; when you attach them at each point of the stitch, they’ll stay together more securely and you’ll be able to avoid a repeat of tonight’s disaster.” His crooked grin became rather mischievous. “I’m ready for my thank you.”
I should have known Darius wouldn’t render his amazing services for free. “You know I don’t have enough dream dust to share any with you.”
“I don’t need your dream dust. I want you to tell me I’m amazing.”
I bit the inside of my cheek; paying dream dust would be less painful. “Look in the mirror and tell yourself.”
His lips twitched. “Hilarious. Now please, won’t you humor me?”
I wanted to resist, but the strange pull that always existed between us compelled me to play along. “You’re amazing.” The words both burned and danced on my tongue.
“Finally you admit it.” His teasing vanished in an instant. “I have another payment in mind, if you’re agreeable.” Darius cast Stardust a sideways glance before leaning closer. “I was hoping I could take you somewhere. If you can manage to slip away from your protective cloud, meet me in front of the fountain on the Dream World Main Street. Please?”
My stomach twisted with a strange fluttery feeling and I managed a breathless nod, the sudden bubble of joy I felt dispelling the last of my disappointment from the evening. His eyes lit up as he smiled, lopsidedly and rather sweetly, and I smiled back.
Foreboding tightened my pounding heart as I made my way through the throng of Dreamers crowding Main Street, searching the vibrant styles for Darius’s spiderweb attire. My anticipation was nearly swallowed up by my sense that I was doing something forbidden. Surely Dreamers didn’t go on outings with their weaving partner, no matter how charming they might be or how friendly or warm they tended to make one feel…
But my hesitation vanished the moment I found him leaning against the fountain. His gaze lit up when he caught sight of me, causing my heart to give a strange tumble. If this was forbidden, the experience was so far rather pleasant.
“Hello, Eden,” he greeted the moment I reached him, his grin soft.
“I hope wherever you’re taking me is worth the effort I expended to slip away from my rather observant cloud.” I tried to sound stern, but I couldn’t quite contain my teasing grin.
“Somewhere more private than the middle of Main Street.” He frowned as his gaze flickered across the crowds, and only then did I feel the heated stares of the passersby, narrowed suspiciously at me standing so close to a Nightmare.
In an instant the joy he caused me to feel vanished, replaced by the feeling I hated above all others—the general sense of being different, and thus not belonging.
I lowered my gaze to the white cobblestones, my cheeks warm with a blush. Darius sidled closer. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I should have had us meet in a less conspicuous place.”
Despite my discomfort, I already couldn’t regret meeting him. “You promised to take me somewhere. I’m sure you’ll make it worth my while.”
He nodded. “You’ll love it.” He seemed truly thrilled at the prospect.
He led me away from the watching crowd. The moment we had more privacy, he tucked my arm through his, causing my heart to pound wildly. I’d never been escorted anywhere before, and even though this was Darius, I liked it, perhaps a bit too much.
As we walked, Darius leaned over to whisper into my ear. “I’m afraid that throughout our outing, we’ll have to maintain a guise for why we’re truly together; since I’m the Head Nightmare’s son, it would be improper for us to be seen as friends. For all intents and purposes, I’m here under my mother’s orders to investigate you.” He winked.
I managed a weak smile, but I couldn’t help but wonder… “Did Head Nightmare Ember really give you such an assignment?”
His teasing grin faltered and he sighed. “She did, but
I have no intention of following through. I’ll simply report to her how elusive you were being with imparting any useful information and keep the details I do learn about you all to myself.”
Darius led me past the shops lining the street in tidy, colorful rows. We passed Pins and Needles, where I’d purchased my weaving supplies, and Mirror Mirror, where Angel and Iris had helped me discover my style, before turning onto another street where the rows of gaudy shops sat snuggled close together.
Despite having walked this street a handful of times, there were still so many delightful details greeting me from the shop windows we strolled past. A display of tantalizing sweets adorned the window of the candy shop Sugarplums and Gumdrops. Stacks of Legends and Fairy Tales to Tantalize and Amaze were arranged in the window display of Once Upon a Book; a toy shop built like a jack-in-the-box had a flock of Dreamer children goggling at the front window at the new self-building meteorite blocks for sale; a poster promising “Secure protection for your dream dust from even the darkest forces” adorned the front of the bank; and the theatre advertised the upcoming performance of The Nightmare of the Auditorium in curly calligraphy.
Despite having so much to take in, I couldn’t resist stealing a peek over my shoulder, both apprehensive of the baffled glances of the Dreamers we wandered past as well as nervous that I was being followed by my suspicious pet.
Darius cast me a concerned sideways glance. “Are you alright?”
“I’m not fully convinced I escaped my cloud; I’m afraid she’s morphed into a disguise that will allow her to follow me to her heart’s content.” If the reactions of the strangers we passed in the streets were bad enough, they were no match for Stardust’s should she learn of my outing with Darius.
He actually chuckled. “It’s sweet how protective she is of you.”
I considered that; no one had ever been protective of me before. “She’s been a good friend.” As had Angel and Iris. All three had caused me to experience what had previously been a foreign concept for me: friendship and belonging. My heart swelled at the thought.
His hand rested over mine for a moment. “I’m glad.”
We turned a corner onto a cobblestone street where the shops became more spread out. Just up ahead lay Darius’s surprise destination, Teacups and Treats, a tiny café tucked inside a porcelain building shaped like a teapot. My eyes widened the moment I stepped inside, where I was greeted by a vision of white lace tablecloths, vases of teapot-shaped flowers in vibrant colors, and teacups which clanked merrily as they floated through the air.
Darius’s grin grew as I gazed around in wide-eyed wonder. “It’s lovely,” I breathed.
“I’m pleased you like it. It’s one of my favorite places in the Dream Realm. I often came here to study when I attended the Academy.”
My brow puckered. “But I thought Nightmares never entered the Dream Realm.”
“They usually don’t, but the Academy—which is located between the realms—is near enough to the Dream Realm’s capital that Nightmares occasionally visiting is not uncommon.”
He gave my arm a gentle tug. As I followed, I took in the other Dreamers filling the café, nearly all of which looked to be coupled…and I was here with Darius. A girlish smile tugged on my lips as we wove through the tables towards a secluded alcove, where he pulled out a chair to help me sit. I settled in the silk-cushioned seat and turned to him the moment he finished ordering for us and sat down across from me.
“Did you enjoy your time at the Academy?”
His nod was enthusiastic. “Learning is one of my greatest passions. There are just so many aspects of magic and not enough years to study them all. I’d have extended my time there if I could.” He proceeded to tell me of his classes in detail—from dream construction, to the history of our worlds, and then to the layers of magic that made up our powers and our world.
As he spoke of his classes and experiences, I felt a twinge of regret, and for a moment I wished I’d disregarded my fears and chosen to attend the Academy after all. But then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have Darius as my weaving partner now.
He paused when he noticed my frown. “Are you alright? Am I boring you?” He seemed rather nervous at the prospect.
I sighed. “I’m just wondering if I should have attended the Academy.”
“You would have learned a lot, but with your current skill level, you can do much on your own.” Darius leaned closer. “Why did you decide not to attend?”
I nibbled my lip and looked out the window we sat beside, which overlooked a lovely garden of blossoms, a beauty lost on me as my ever-present anxieties returned to knot my stomach. “I was afraid—”
I swallowed my words, unsure whether I was ready to share my vulnerabilities with Darius. But when I lifted my gaze to meet his, which was somber on my behalf, I felt my heart opening beyond my control.
“My background on Earth already makes me an anomaly, so to attend the Academy with others who’ve lived here their entire lives…what if I didn’t fit in?”
The discomfort from the Dreamers’ stares today was undoubtedly nothing to what I’d have felt when I failed to fit in with the other Academy students. I couldn’t bear the thought of not receiving approval from those residing in the one place I was desperate to belong.
Darius rested his hand beside mine on the table, close enough that I could reach out with my pinky and caress it should I want to. “You’re afraid of not fitting in?”
“It’s not a fear so much as my reality.” Even now I was different, choosing to explore the connection I felt with this Nightmare rather than follow the dictates expected of me as a Dreamer. But I simply couldn’t hate Darius, not when he made me feel so alive…and accepted.
“You fit in with me.”
He bridged the short distance between our hands to caress the back of mine with his fingertip before withdrawing his touch with a blush and a nervous glance towards the watching Dreamers, as if only just remembering he had a reputation to uphold. After making a loud comment for the benefit of the eavesdroppers about how he had some things to discuss with me, he then lowered his voice to return to our real conversation.
“I would have enjoyed attending the Academy with you. If only we could have done so.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. “But I’ll help you until your not attending the Academy no longer matters. After my assistance, your knowledge will rival those who studied there.”
He reached into his bag and pulled out a small stack of books. My eyebrows rose. He flashed an unrepentant grin.
“I paid a visit to the library before meeting you.” He arranged the books in a teetering stack on the edge of the table.
I picked up the first one and read the title written in glistening silver cursive, Basic Charms and Spells. “Isn’t this a beginner’s book?”
“Every dream relies on the basics,” he said. “You’d be surprised by how much your dreams improve with a mastery of even the most rudimentary skills. The more you understand the basics, the better you can use them.”
I so desperately wanted to learn more advanced magic, but I was still a stranger to this world, unfamiliar with the magic I’d been born with but which I still didn’t understand. What I’d seen of Darius’s own skills left me no doubt of his talent.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright,” I whispered. “I trust you.”
His responding smile lit up his eyes. He took the book from the top of the stack and eased it open, but before he could begin, our food arrived, forcing us to delay our studies.
Darius had ordered a delicious spread of evergreen salad comprised of foreign juicy berries, cups of petal tea whose buttercup-scented steam tickled my nose with each sip, and a plate of pastries filled with dreamberry—a lilac fruit I’d never tasted before, but which I found to be sweet, tantalizing, and delicious; it oozed all over my fingers with each sticky bite.
I nibbled at the end of another frosted pastry, watching in awe as the cream and
sugar added itself to the tea. Darius observed me with a soft look. “It’s such a pleasure seeing you discover your world.”
“I still feel as if I’m living a dream. I never could have imagined such a wondrous place existed.”
“It’s hard to imagine how a magical being such as yourself ended up on Earth.”
Despite the innocence of his observation, I instinctively stiffened. Does he suspect my connection to Mother? There was still so much I didn’t know about her, but if my suspicions were correct and she was the missing Weaver…I didn’t want anyone to know, least of all Darius.
Concern lined his brow. “Is something wrong?”
I forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
He seemed to sense I was uncomfortable, so he hastily changed the subject. “What’s been your favorite part about the Dream World?”
I stirred my tea thoughtfully. “Everything is so vibrant, as if I’m living within a painting. Not to mention it’s a relief not to have to hide who I am.” The fear I’d only just suppressed returned full force. “What if I’m not good enough to remain?”
“You are,” he said earnestly.
I wanted to believe him. But while the Dream World was wonderful and no other place had ever felt like home the way it did, I still felt out of place, the belonging I’d spent my entire life seeking still missing. Strangely, the longer I sat with Darius, the more I felt it…especially with the tender way he was looking at me.
I blushed and seized another pastry from the plate, desperate for a distraction. “What’s the Nightmare Realm like?” Everyone had been so secretive about it, but I found myself rather curious.
He became thoughtful. “It’s entirely different from the Dream Realm, lacking the color and vibrancy you love. I don’t think you’d like it.” He frowned, as if this thought disappointed him, before his expression cleared. “But I find it interesting and mysterious, with its own beauty that one can find if they look hard enough.”
Dreamer (The Dream World Chronicles Book 1) Page 23
