The Nightmare Dilemma

34 The Passing

I dreamed of the tower again. But there was no wind and no plinth. There was only the sword in my hand. It radiated heat like something alive. And I knew on some level it was alive.

Eli was there, on the other side of the tower, watching me with a wary gaze. I beckoned him to me, but he shook his head. “Not while you’ve got that.”

I glanced at the sword, not even aware that I had been holding it in front of me, pointed at Eli. He was afraid. Why was he afraid?

I turned and set the sword on the edge of the tower. The moment it was out of my reach my hand felt empty, my body cold from the inside out. I almost picked it up again, but then Eli was there, wrapping his arms around me.

I gasped, amazed that he could touch me here. “Aren’t we dreaming?”

“Yes, but it’s your dream, and I’m not really here. You know that, right?”

I nodded.

“And you must wake up, Dusty. You must wake up soon or … or you might never wake up.”

“What do you mean?”

But Eli didn’t answer. He turned to ash in my arms and then disappeared on the wind.

Time passed. I could feel it passing around and over me, as if I were a stone set in its river. Eli did not visit my dream again.

“Has she said anything?”

“Not this morning. Not since yesterday.”

“Any movement?”

“A little. But not enough. Never enough.”

The voices were familiar, but they were so distorted I couldn’t place them. It was as if I were listening to them underwater. Water, I remembered the water. A vision of being surrounded by merkind appeared in my mind. I’d fallen—all the way through the earth into the sea. And I would’ve drowned if not for their help. They’d carried me through the water and then onto dry land.

“What will happen if she never wakes?”

I tried to breast the surface of consciousness, but it was too far. And I slipped down, down, down, under again.