by Hanna Peach
“Stop it,” demanded Alyx.
Angelique and Mini were both screaming.
“Now,” Michael’s voice said roughly. “You will make me a child.”
“I said stop it, Dianne. Now, damn you.” Alyx’s whole body burned and her vision began to fracture. Suddenly her hands were shoving Dianne from her chair and across the room. The MemoryViewer jolted from Dianne’s hands and cracked against the floor. The grunting coming from the screen stopped.
Alyx grabbed Mini and wrapped her up in her arms. No one dared to stop her. Mini buried her head into Alyx’s neck. Mini’s sobbing made her whole body lurch, each cry tearing every ounce of breath from her lungs. The sound broke Alyx’s heart into pieces.
Alyx turned her focus to Dianne, who was being helped up by Lukas. Her voice shook as she spoke, “You didn’t have to make her go through that again.”
“We needed to know,” said Dianne, but even she sounded like she didn’t believe herself.
“Not like that. It didn’t have to be like that.” Then Alyx’s voice dropped into a low feral growl, “Touch her again and I’ll kill you.”
Alyx stormed from the room, little Mini broken in her arms.
* * *
Alyx held Mini tightly, rocking her back and forth, as she sat in the largest and softest armchair of the Aradale library. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you anymore, I promise.”
Thankfully, the library was deserted. Mini’s sobbing echoed off the bookshelves. Alyx remembered how Symon used to calm her down when she was upset as a youngling…with stories. Anything was worth a try.
“There was a girl,” Alyx began, “a young girl, who grew up in a castle. She was always told that she had to stay inside and learn her needlework and her stitching, when all she really wanted was to be outside, climbing trees and playing games with the local farm boys.” Mini’s howling began to lose its force as Alyx continued with one of Symon’s stories that she remembered from her childhood.
Eventually Mini’s cries stopped. Alyx started another story and another. And a long time later, Mini fell asleep. The light through the window had dimmed, signaling night. Alyx was too exhausted to move, so she stayed in her chair. She must have dozed off because she woke when she heard movement.
It was Jordan, approaching slowly. He looked to be alone and weaponless…but still…
“Don’t come any closer,” Alyx said, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t wake the girl.
Jordan lifted his hands. “Alyx, I just want to talk. I convinced the others that it would be better if I talked to you alone.”
Alyx scowled. “I’m surprised it took you so long to find me.”
“It didn’t. I just wanted to give you both a chance to calm down. I’ve been standing guard at the library entrance for most of the day.”
Alyx lowered her lashes and shifted in her chair. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Dianne said that she also found evidence of Samyara trying to influence Mini.”
Alyx felt her face drain of blood. “Oh God.” How much more did this girl have to endure?
“Thankfully, Samyara wasn’t able to influence her. He terrified her so much that she mentally shut down, which shut him out. But…it looks like he now knows about her. For all of these reasons…we have to make sure she’s…safe.”
“What does that mean?” Alyx couldn’t help the suspicion that clouded her voice.
“There are other bedrooms with bars still on the window and a door lockable from the outside.”
“You want to lock her up?” Mini shifted in her arms. Alyx pulled Mini tighter to her and lowered her voice. “That isn’t fair, Jordan.”
“I know, Alyx, but what choice is there? We can’t afford to have a part-demon loose here in Aradale, and it’s for her safety, too. Imagine what would happen to her if she got out, got lost, or, God forbid, if Michael or Samyara got their hands on her. Dianne is already freaking out over the fact that Tobias let you take her from the room.”
Alyx growled at the mention of Dianne.
“Alyx, try to understand it from her perspective. She’s just trying to keep the other Seraphim in Aradale safe.”
“I don’t believe what I’m hearing. I thought you were on my side.”
“Alyx, I am. We are all on the same side here.” Jordan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “What would you do instead? Can you watch her all day and all night with everything else that’s going on with Samyara and the Black Stone?”
Damn him. She knew Jordan was right. She sighed. “Okay. I don’t like it. But okay.”
With Mini still in her arms, Alyx followed Jordan to Mini’s new room. It was down on the lower floor of Aradale. Small and simple but, as Jordan said, bars on her window and lockable from the outside. Alyx slipped the girl into bed and promised her quietly that she would return in the morning. Then Jordan’s DreamWalker pushed Mini deeper into a restless sleep.
* * *
Alyx threw herself on her bed. She had pretended to Jordan that she was fine, just tired, so he would leave her alone. But her blood was still burning. Burning like a poison in her veins. When she got her hands on Michael, she would shred him into ribbons of flesh. Then she would burn each ribbon, one by one. If she could just get her hands on him… The thought rumbled through her like a thunderstorm. If she could just get her hands on him…
Alyx touched the hidden bloodink at her side. One sliver of DreamWalker left. It would be enough to get her into the Plain.
Alyx drew the last of the DreamWalker into herself and forced herself under.
Chapter 13
Alyx floated alone in the galaxy that was the DreamScape.
“Where are you, Michael?” she yelled to the expanse. “I know you’ve been looking for me. You want me? Come get me.” She whirled around in the nothingness. “Come on. Come get me.”
For the longest moment, there was nothing.
Then...in the distance a star began moving towards her like a comet, glowing with a fierce light. Alyx grinned as the comet grew closer and closer. Then the DreamScape consumed her.
* * *
Alyx was in a forest, blackened after a fire. The air smelled like char and smoke, but underneath it there was the sourness of burned flesh. Naked branches pointed twisted black fingers towards the sky, and hanging from some of the branches were long, odd-shaped fruit. Ash fell from the sky in gray snowflakes, coating the ground under Alyx’s bare feet. She was standing in something moist.
Alyx drew back a gasp that sounded like a choke. Horror froze her to the ground when she realized it wasn’t fruit hanging from the trees – it was bodies hanging upside down. Naked, backs slashed open to bone, angry rivers of dark red running down their arms and falling from their fingers. That was why the ground was moist. The ground was soaked in blood. Alyx was standing in their blood.
“What a wonderful surprise,” Michael’s voice echoed around her.
Alyx jumped at the sound. She spun around but she couldn’t see him. She tried to keep her voice strong and defiant. “Come out where I can see you, you coward.”
“Oh, Alyx. So brave. You have hidden from me so well. But why have you revealed yourself now?” His question turned into a long hiss.
Alyx looked down and saw a thick brown snake slithering its way across the bloody ground. Alyx flew at it, unsheathing her sword, but it disappeared into a hole in the ground before Alyx’s blade could catch its tail.
“You’re going to pay for what you did to Angelique,” Alyx yelled down the hole after him.
“I see.” Now the voice seemed to come from within the branches of a nearby tree. The trunk shuddered as if a creature were crawling around inside it. “You’ve discovered my pretty’s little secret, have you?”
Alyx hacked at the tree trunk, trying to get at the creature inside. The trunk oozed with a sticky red sap that stank of rust. The tips of the blackened branches exploded, the black pieces morphing into crows as they flew through the air. Th
ey circled and swooped down on Alyx, screeching as they tried to peck her with their sharp beaks. Alyx struck the closest one with her sword. The bird disintegrated into dust and ashes. The rest of the crows flew out of her reach, landing on the trees and twisting into wood, becoming part of the branches.
There was a momentary silence, and a soft breeze blew the rank stench of death to Alyx’s nose. Then laughter echoed around her as pieces of ash rained down across her skin like deathly snowflakes.
“Do you like my little garden, pretty?” His voice was in the wind. “They were all fools. They brought it on themselves, you know.”
He sounded close. Alyx spun, but she couldn’t see him. She began to run towards the sound of the voice.
“Where are you, Michael? Come out.” She weaved to avoid the dripping fingers and faces open with terror.
“Do you recognize anyone? Oh, I suppose not. You weren’t even born when he defied me.” His voice hissed in the air like steam. “Oh, there he is. Say hello to Daddy.”
Alyx’s heart leapt to her throat. Her father? Symon had always told her, “You look exactly like your mother but with your father’s eyes.” Before her, there was a seraph hanging upside down with the same jade green irises she had.
“Bastard!” she cried. Alyx launched herself into the branches of the tree. With one furious strike, she severed the ropes stringing up the seraph’s body. He crumpled to the ground. Alyx dropped down to land beside her father. He was handsome with a diamond-cut jaw and golden hair. She wanted to cup his face, but she couldn’t bear to touch him.
“I wish I had known you,” she whispered.
Her father’s features twisted until they became Michael’s laughing face. Alyx fell back with a start. She swung her sword down and severed his head. But the head that rolled away wasn’t Michael’s anymore.
The voice vibrated off the ground. “It’s too late for your parents. And too late for you. You have defied me and the will of God too severely for any amount of repentance to save you.”
“No. My mother is alive.”
The twisted laughter came again. “You know, you are almost as beautiful as your mother was…Elise. She’s around here somewhere.”
“No.” The blood drained from Alyx’s face.
“Oh yes. It couldn’t have been helped. She brought it on herself. She was trying to take you even though you didn’t belong to her. She should have known to give up after your father was killed, but no. She was too stubborn. You must have inherited that from her.”
A swirl of ash curled to Alyx’s right, drawing through the air like a hand pushing through water.
“Ready to meet her, little pretty?” The ash in the air became more frantic as it swirled around the body of a woman. She looked like Alyx but with dark eyes and long hair. Her mother.
Alyx began to back away. “No. You’re lying. She can’t be dead.”
Alyx flinched as she bumped into something that swung away from her. A body. She spun as she jolted away. To her horror she recognized the face. A face she had only ever seen in paintings. Elder Raphael.
Alyx realized exactly what this garden represented…
Something inside her snapped. It snapped under the weight of all those Alyx had lost to him. Alyx’s hand tightened into fists and her knuckles cracked. The DreamScape started to pull and snag as if it was caught in her fists. It started to tear like light cloth.
“What…what are you doing?” his voice showed its first signs of fear.
“I’m going to kill you,” she rumbled from the depths of her throat. The branches on the trees started to break. The ground trembled as her rage began to tear at the DreamScape around them.
“Stop. You’ll destroy us both.”
The whisper of threads that held her sanity together snapped. “I don’t care. As long as I take you with me.” The howl that tore from her was wild and feral and strange to her own ears. “This is for what you took from Angelique.” Shards of the DreamScape started to crack like glass around them. “And this is for my mother and my father, who I never got to know because of you.”
The world shattered and screams sounded all around her as pieces of her mind began to break apart. Gray like ash.
Chapter 14
Someone was rocking her, holding her. Alyx heaved in a breath and her chest burned as if she had been drowning. Her vision was blurry with tears. She blinked, causing the liquid to roll down her cheeks, clearing her vision.
She saw Israel’s face, his imperfectly perfect features cast in the warm glow of her bedside lamp. For a moment, Alyx was back in their abandoned theater when he had been there to save her from Michael. This time he had saved her from herself.
He was whispering to her, “It’s okay. You’re okay.” He was so careful when he brushed the hair from her damp forehead.
Alyx let out a sob, realizing how close she had come to tearing herself apart. In her blind rage, she had forgotten her reasons for living. Her biggest reason began to shush softly at her. He gripped her face in his hands, managing to be firm but gentle at the same time, his eyes furious with concern. “What can I do? How do I make it better?”
Alyx shook her head. “My mother is dead. Michael said...he killed her.”
Israel let out a sharp breath. “Jesus. Alyx, I’m so sorry.”
Alyx wanted to tell him more. She wanted to share everything that had happened with him. Somehow, she believed that he could make it better. She opened her mouth to speak, but her sadness welled up, gagging her.
Israel gathered her up in his arms, pulled her into his lap and held her. There, within the safety of his arms, it felt like nothing could touch her. She was safe. She let herself fall apart in a wash of tears.
He just held her.
Eventually her sobbing subsided, leaving behind an empty exhaustion. She hadn’t cried like that in front of anyone before. Even when she was younger and upset, even when there was only Symon, she would sniff stiffly and bite at her bottom lip to control its trembling.
Oh God. What had she just done in front of Israel? Would he think her vulnerable and broken? Would he call her weak? Alyx pulled back a little and looked up at Israel through her lashes. His eyes reflected only concern as he watched her. There was no judgment. With that, her fears began to fall away.
Could she do this in front of Jordan? Would Jordan know how to let her fall apart, then coax her back to herself without making her feel weak or stupid or like she was overreacting?
This close, Alyx could feel Israel’s breath on her cheeks. That perfect scar marking his top lip was just inches from hers. Her heart was still thudding, and she knew that it wasn’t just because of what happened with Michael anymore.
“How...” Alyx swallowed. She had to say something to stop herself from leaning forward and taking his scar into her mouth. “How did you know to come?”
“When I woke up, I was already on my feet and running to your room. I must have heard you crying out in my sleep.”
“And you came.”
“Of course I came,” he said, looking incredulous that she would even doubt it. “I know things have been weird between us, but I haven’t stopped caring. I’ll...never stop caring.”
Alyx felt herself draw closer to him, taking in his scent. Sweet and musky. She couldn’t help it. His nearness filled her with a warmth that brought back to life the part of her that had gone cold when they agreed to just be friends. Like spring after winter.
For the moment, she didn’t care that he loved someone else. It felt so good just to be near him, breathing him in. He might love someone else, but he cared for her. He said so himself. He proved that by coming in here tonight. And for the moment that was enough.
“If you called,” he said, “I would always come. Always. No matter what. Understand?”
Alyx nodded. He rested his forehead on hers. The world closed into the space between them. His fingers gripped her hair as he moved a hand behind her neck to hold her there. Her fingers ached to grab him a
nd dig into his skin. But she resisted. Don’t ruin this by asking for more.
For a time they just sat there in silence, breaths mingling.
Finally he spoke softly, “I should go.” He slid Alyx off his lap and onto the bed next to him. “Let you get some sleep.”
Her heart protested. Alyx felt her face fall before she could stop it. She winced internally when she realized he had caught that look. Alyx quickly pulled her face back into her unaffected mask. This well-worn mask. It had served her so well in the past, but right now she hated it. She hated it, but she couldn’t seem to take it off.
“Of course...you should go.”
Israel shifted his legs towards the door, but he didn’t make a move to stand. He looked back at her and studied her face.
“Do you,” Israel bit his lip, “want me to stay? Just in case he tries to hurt you again?” he added.
“Please? It would make me feel better knowing you – someone – was here. I don’t think I could get back to sleep otherwise.”
“Of course.” He ran his teeth over his bottom lip. “I could just sleep on the floor here next to you if you would be more comfortable doing that.”
She should say yes, that he should sleep on the floor. But she wanted so much to feel him lying next to her. The mere thought made her a little dizzy. She could pretend − couldn’t she? − that just for tonight, they were okay again. Even if it would break her heart when the morning’s light pierced through the lie.
“No. I can’t make you sleep on the floor. There’s room on the bed.”
He nodded. He leaned forward to switch off the bedside light and began to shift back towards her. Alyx shuffled back across to the other side of the mattress to let Israel pull his long legs up.
He was there. Just there. His lean body stretched out beside her. So close. Her whole self came alive with the sensation of him being just there.
