Nightmares and Daydreams: Chapter 28

4 months later

Aethel stood in front of me and for once didn’t have anything sarcastic to say. “They’re being hunted,” she said simply.

Ever since the third reality started converging with ours the humans had taken notice. A lot of panic and conspiracy-type theories. None of it even close to accurate. But they kept trying to make sense of the sudden appearance and disappearance of things they couldn’t explain.

“It’s why,” she went on, “they initially began moving north. Well, that and the revolution.”

“Revolution?” Aethel had only been able to give us quick reports while she was with Ender. Four whole months of cryptic messages and worrying if my sister was safe.

I knew Ender wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Regardless of his feelings for her, his alpha male instincts wouldn’t allow him to put Aethel in harm’s way.

Her eyes pinched. “I should probably start with that. Sorry. A lot has happened. So you know how Ender and Ivy’s family has been either in charge or closely associated with Head of House forever and ever? Well, the House of Volci has its own problems, but as far as we can tell this was just a Volci power struggle and not some sort of inside job like the other Houses.”

That was very hard to believe. “Explain.”

“So with Ender at House of Wren so much, another pack saw an opportunity to take power while the Shadow Pack was distracted.”

“Which pack?”

“Eclipse. Dray, I know it seems like too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence, but it really comes down to fear.”

I barked out a laugh. “A Volci?”

She waved her hands at me. “I know, I know. You’re going to doubt every damn thing I say, but for once can you just trust me and hear the facts coming out of my mouth?”

“I do trust you. Go on.”

She eyed me for a long moment. “The sky is pink.”

I didn’t take the bait. She wanted me to be quiet and listen, so I was going to be quiet and listen instead of telling her the sky was blue.

“Okay then. Thank you, Dray. Now, like I was saying, it comes down to fear. Even big bad wolf shifters get scared and try to cover it up with power moves. Like everyone else they’re rattled about the Convergence. They wanted to be in control because being in control makes you feel better.”

“That makes sense. I’m following.” It was a piss poor time to make a power move, but wolves will be wolves.

“It’s how the Heida observed a wolf coming to our house. It was because Pack Eclipse were tracking Ender. Looking for the best moment to attack the Shadow Pack and take over. The first thing they did was begin moving the packs north to put space between them and the humans.”

“But that didn’t work?” She shot me an annoyed look and I put my hands up in surrender. “Sorry. You tell me the story at your pace.”

She huffed. “Anyway, they came to the Heida border because it was far away from humans and because they wanted to be closer to the rifts in case that’s where they break through realities first. Ender and his pack were patient. They let Pack Eclipse make a few mistakes. When the other packs started asking questions and the in-fighting started, they took back control. Only problem is that, with all that in-fighting, humans took notice. A group has decided werewolves are real and have come up to hunt them.”

No, the problem was that werewolves were real. And these humans would very much regret coming to find out for themselves. “We’re allies with Shadow Pack and the House of Volci. Whatever they need we’re here to help.”

“Thank you, big brother! We need a dragon.”

Was she kidding or serious? I could never tell with her. So I arched one brow. “Absolutely not.”

She smiled. “Of course not. Humans would freak the fuck out—and not in a helpful way. No, we were thinking more along the lines of practice.”

Practice? “I don’t follow.” And when did she start saying we, as in her and Ender?

“Well we’ve been training for months now, but it’s all safe. Even when we really go at it, we’re not trying to hurt each other. Well, now we have a group of humans that are hunting the Volci. Why don’t we practice some of these battle skills on an opponent we can totally hurt.”

It wasn’t the worst idea. “We won’t kill them though. Dead humans just bring in more humans.”

“Of course not.” She shrugged. “And if there are a few accidents we’ll just make them disappear.”

“Aethel.”

She put up her hands. “Or we can dispose of them somewhere closer to human territory and make it look like an accident.”

“Or we could not kill them.”

She curled a lip. “Boring, but whatever. You in? The Heida have already said yes.”

“Why do the Heida know about this before me?” Sometimes I really wondered how Aethel made it this far without being strangled to death.

She rolled her eyes. “The Heida have been in negotiations with the Volci over the border. Duh.”

“You know what, never mind. I’m not fighting this battle. You’re home, you’re safe, and the Volci aren’t the enemy. That’s all I need.” At least as far as this one particular problem was concerned. I had plenty more on my plate.

“No word from Gigi?” She took a seat and poured out a glass of wine.

“No. Rhysa has dreams sometimes that she swears are from Gigi, but there’s no way to actually know.”

“What happens in the dreams?”

“It’s not good. Lots of pain, blackness, and glowing eyes.” I didn’t mention everything else. Why scare her if it was just Rhysa’s overactive imagination coming up with all the horrible things she might have sent her friend into?

“Well that’s not very helpful. I swear all this waiting is going to kill us before this other reality shows up.”

“The Gatlin say the Convergence is very close. Any day now.” It frustrated the hell out of me that Destiny sent Gigi away and months later we were no closer to knowing what to do than the day this all started.

“Any day now.” She tapped her cheek. “Any day now. I’m sick to death of hearing those three little words.”

So was everyone else. “Time moves differently in that world.” It might have only been days to Gigi.

“Are they also bigger over there? Are we the tiny unsuspecting ants to their bears and wolves.”

“I think they’re scarier than that.” I pushed up from the table. “Glad to have you back. I was starting to think you liked the wolves better than us.”

“They’re more fun,” she stood up too, throwing her arms around me for a hug. “But not better.”

I flew over a fiery lava river set into a black rock landscape with a black mountain in the distance. To my right was a golden shimmering light. To my left was even blacker darkness. Something flashed and I turned toward the light to find Gigi and Ryddyck.

“How are you?” he asked, sounding normal now. His voice didn’t pause or hitch and he didn’t twitch.

Gigi looked down and back up. “I’m fine. I feel…fine.”

“It worked! I can’t believe it!”

“What worked?” Gigi glanced around with fear emanating off of her as she shrank in on herself. “We’re there?”

“Yes,” Ryddyck took her hand. “This is my world. We should move before they find us.”

“Who finds us?”

A shriek split the air, sending a shiver down my spine.

“Everyone,” Ryddyck whispered.

This was realer than any dream Rhysa had yet. I would have sworn I was flying right above them, watching them as this actually happened. I felt like I could reach out and touch them.

“Is this your version of a forest?” Gigi asked as they moved into a dark tangle of what looked a lot like leafless trees.

“Uh, yeah. I guess you could say that. Come on. Faster.” I followed them as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest. Glowing eyes appeared in the black and I became aware of being watched. I tried to warn them but nothing happened because I wasn’t really there.

“Ryddyck?” a deep voice asked. A moment later a large, shadowy figure appeared just in front of them. He had horns and a snout, a thick body, and black eyes.

Ryddyck froze, shoved Gigi back and transformed before my eyes. He took up more space somehow. Like he was bigger, taller, and wider than a moment earlier. His muscles rippled, which was odd because I never thought of him as muscular. He rolled his shoulders and two white wings unfurled from his back.

“Crypto. We don’t want any trouble.”

The beast—Crypto looked around Ryddyck to Gigi. “What have we here?”

“Your death if you don’t turn around and pretend you never saw us.”

Gigi gaped at Ryddyck’s transformed body.

Crypto grinned. “But we’ve been waiting for you.” Ten more just like him jumped out of the shadows.

I woke up with a gasp, Rhysa right beside me covered in sweat and hyperventilating. “That was real,” she cried, crawling into my lap. “I know it.”

“Yeah, I think so too, baby.” She trembled in my arms and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“If we go back to sleep, will we go back? Find out what happened?”

I kept trying to soothe her, but she just kept trembling. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“We could try.”

“Will it make you feel better?” I kissed her forehead. She nodded. “Then back to sleep we go.” I tucked her into me and held her until she drifted off, but I couldn’t sleep after that. It didn’t matter anyway. We wouldn’t dream of Gigi again for over a week.