20. TALIESIN
The world isn’t concrete and iron bars anymore. It’s pine needles and damp earth.
It’s running through the woods so fast my paws barely touch the ground.
Paws.
I’m a shadow with teeth, free and fierce—with paws. What the fuck!
It’s fucking amazing…but just for a moment, the freedom is a taunt.
The weight returns.
I fight and fight, but something wraps around my throat, pulling me down from the forest and back into the abyss.
It’s that black oily film again. It drops over my eyes and coats my brain.
Every time I try to breathe, the film stretches, molding to my face like a second, unwanted skin. It tastes acrid and wrong.
“Come back to me, baby, I need you so badly.”
The voice is a pinpoint of light in the sludge. I want to move in that direction, but the oil is too thick, turning my blood to lead. I’m tethered to the fog, a prisoner of a darkness I don’t understand.
Fight. Pack.
Right, I’ve got to focus. It’s my job to create a wall between my people and anything that will hurt them. I need to break free.
“Wake up soon, my love.”
I focus on the sound of the voice, the unexpected words…and I shove.
Fuck. I’m through. Through the veil.
Cracking an eyelid, it’s hard to know where I am.
Everything is blurred. Sounds, sights, sensations.
But I can focus on the hand touching my brow. Cool fingers. I want to lean into the touch, but I don’t even have the strength to raise my neck.
“Shh, don’t struggle, Tally. You’re going to be alright.”
The smell of mold and sweat, the humid heat, the constant shouts and banging are familiar. Quo. I’m in Quo.
I don’t want to be here. I want to be back in the wild, green trees. I want to be the shadow with teeth again.
A shadow.
With teeth.