Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
COOPER
A few months ago, I hated walking through my Coven-mates dreams. Loathed it, actually. It felt like a massive invasion of their privacy. These people were my family. I never wanted them to feel like I took advantage of my gift and pried into their minds. Dreams were so out of our control. We couldn’t help what our subconscious minds showed us. Even Deacon had to consciously use magic to infiltrate dreams, and he still couldn’t control it. He usually just sat there waiting for someone in our Coven to stumble into him. I couldn’t control my own dreams either.
Since my twin sisters arrived and we had to close the Gap in Salem by Samhain, I’d been forced to get comfortable looking into their dreams. Not that I was comfortable doing it now, but I at least had accepted none of them were upset I did it. In fact, they all wanted me to do it.
“What ya thinkin’ ‘bout, Star Boy?”
I smiled and looked to my left to where Savannah stood beside me holding my hand. She leaned forward and rested her chin on my arm and blinked those big blue eyes up at me. Walking through dreams was so much better with her by my side. It felt more like an evening stroll through a park. She kept me anchored and calm.
“ Kiwi, ” she whispered.
“I was thinking . . .” I sighed. She probably wasn’t ready for all my mushy gushy feelings about her company, so I settled for a safer answer and one I was thinking on. “They all want me to stroll through their dreams. They basically beg me to. I guess I’m not sure why. Like why all of a sudden?”
She narrowed her eyes as she thought. “Did they not used to like it?”
I shook my head. “Not without warning them I would be doing it ahead of time or telling them the next day. But now? They don’t even want to know what I see. It’s weird.”
“Maybe for you. But for them it’s not.” She gave me a small smile and gestured ahead of us. “Whose dream are we in now, for example?”
I frowned and glanced around. We were in some kind of garden at night with the moon shining full and bright above us. There were no stars in the black sky, or any clouds. Just the moon sitting too low and too bright for reality.
“Is it Henley’s?”
“No, Riah asked me to stay out of her dreams until she wakes.” I shuddered. “He doesn’t want me to accidentally trigger memories of her first possession while she’s trying to heal. So, this isn’t Henley—but that means . . .”
I tugged her hand and hurried over to the middle of the garden where all of the flowers were white. I recognized them instantly. Royce always, always had a garden just for his sister filled with flowers that only bloomed beneath the moon’s light. There were Night Phlox, moon flowers, night-blooming jasmine, and even the delicate pink and white evening primrose.
Savannah inhaled deeply through her nose, then sighed happily. “Ma’am, smell those gardenias? That’s strong for a dream.”
That made me smile. “Royce insists they smell stronger at night.”
“And Royce is always right,” a familiar voice said from behind us.
When we turned, we found Royce leaning against a small gargoyle statue. My stomach sank. Even in his dream form those sapphire eyes were haunted and the markings around his throat were deep purple.
I smiled and crouched down to his eye level. “Hey there, Poison Roycy. How you doing?”
“Well, I can talk, apparently.” He sighed wistfully. But then he spotted Savannah and his eyes sparkled. “And you’ve got company. I like that for you.”
“I’m not sure I like it for me,” Savannah said with a nervous chuckle, her accent thicker than mud. “He sees some wild shit.”
“But never in Royce’s dreams.” I pointed to the moon. “Riah says she’s okay?—”
“I know. But still.” He closed his eyes and lay down on the dirt with flowers popping up all around him. “There’s nothing useful in my dreams for you right now. Just worry, lots of worry. But can you do me a favor?”
“What do you need?”
“I’ve wanted to ask but I can’t speak when awake so . . .” he grimaced, “. . . Thiago. Check Thiago.”
“We’ll go there next. Rest, my friend.” I reached down and squeezed his shoulder.
“Oh, and Royce?” Savannah waited until he opened his eyes and looked at her, then she smiled. “We don’t need your voice to be able to hear you, understood?”
He smiled and nodded, then drifted back to sleep.
“Is it weird for them to fall asleep while asleep?”
I chuckled and reclaimed her hand in mine. “No, it’s how the mind works. He’s either drifting into a new dream or no dream at all. For him, I pray for the latter.”
“Now into the shadows of the Hanged Man?”
“My, my, Miss Savannah, are you afraid of the dark?”
“ Boy, I will eat you for dinner. Quit playin, ” she hissed and smacked my arm playfully. “I don’t fear the dark, I fear what we’ll see.”
That made me pause. “Do you know?”
She cringed. “Yes. Don’t make me tell you. Valathame promised him they felt nothing and they’re at peace.”
Goosebumps spread across my body. “Have you . . . spoken to whoever it is?”
She was already shaking her head. “I’m not in the market of disturbing souls at peace for no reason.”
I held my hand up and pushed my magic. It was nighttime so my magic was as black as the sky, because that was how my magic worked. It took the color of the sky wherever I was. Bring me to Thiago.
The moon morphed into a golden crescent and lifted high in the night sky that was suddenly a rich navy-blue color. Heat slammed into me a split-second before a scent of burning wood tingled in my nose. My breaths grew tight and labored. Thick, dark-gray smoke billowed around my feet and slithered up my body like it was a living entity.
“This smoke is thicker than my accent,” Savannah grumbled.
I opened my mouth to make a joke when bright light flashed in front of us. For a split-second I saw a two-story house before it was entirely engulfed in flames. Bright, neon-orange fire flickered that really hot blueish-purple color. This was not a dream. Sure, technically it was, but dreams weren’t this visceral. This real. This was a memory.
Savannah gasped and gripped my arm, spinning me away from the burning house. “Stop him, Coop. He doesn’t need to see this again, not tonight.”
I had no idea what I was missing, however I wasn’t in the market to question our Death Card. She knew what Thiago’s pain and fear was so I followed her lead. I was running toward the Volkswagen bus slamming on its breaks in front of the house. Through the windshield I saw Thiago’s face. The expression would haunt me. I knew it too well. And I knew my family knew it too well. But whatever happened here was in the past. The pain had already left a mark. There was no room for Riah’s healing touch here. This was what Royce wanted me to do, to get in here and pull Thiago out of reliving this moment at a time when we really needed him resting.
Thiago leapt out of his van, his face a mask of horror. I threw my hands up and forced the dream to change to a sunny garden full of sunflowers. Thiago stopped short, his light-blue eyes wide but now confused. His brow furrowed as he spun around in a panic like he wanted to go back to that memory.
“Thiago! Hey, man, over here!” I yelled out as I rushed up to him. “You’re okay.”
His gaze was frantic until he spotted me, then his face fell and he staggered back. “Cooper. This is a dream.”
“Sure is, my friend.” I reached out and pulled a sunflower out of the ground, then held it to him. “I don’t know what that other dream was about, but I know what it was about, understand?”
He nodded, his pale gaze locked on the flower.
I squeezed his shoulder. “Royce asked me to come.”
“Royce?” He flinched and looked up to me. “He is speaking?”
“In his dreams, yes.” I cocked my head to the side. “Actually, let’s try something.”
I held my hand out and wiggled my fingers. My magic was a cheery bright-blue like the sky above us, but slowly they both darkened to rich plums and pinks, the color of sunset. The moon sank back low in the sky, full and glowing the way Henley preferred. Flowers of every color popped up around us.
“Cooper?” Royce called out. His head popped out from beneath the wildflowers in front of us. “I thought you—Thiago?”
“ Royce, ” Thiago said his name with a sigh.
“Perhaps you two could use some company for your dreams tonight.” I gestured toward Royce. “Go ahead.”
Thiago raced through the garden toward his boyfriend who was smiling big at him. I smirked and turned away, giving them privacy. But then I frowned. Where the hell is Savannah? I took a few steps, then spotted her hiding behind Thiago’s van that I hadn’t meant to bring with us to this dream. She had her black hood pulled up over her head and one arm wrapped around herself while she gnawed on the thumbnail of her other hand.
“You okay?”
“ NO, ” she said, somehow turning that word into at least three syllables. “Dammit.”
“What’s wrong?” I reached up and pulled her thumbnail out of her mouth, tangling our fingers together. “What did I do?”
She growled. Like actually growled. Then she fisted my shirt and dragged my mouth down to hers. It was just a quick little peck, but it sent my pulse flying. “That was really sweet.”
“Why do you look angry?—”
“Cooper Devon Bishop, quit making me feel feelings. Quit it.” She hissed like her cats, then gestured wildly with her hand not gripping mine. “Git us outta here.”
I laughed and shook my head. She was an enigma, that one, but I adored her more than I had any right to. I held my hand up and pushed my magic. “Show me a Card who needs me.”
Instantly, the world changed around us. I recognized our setting immediately. It was Chutney’s parents’ backyard in Tampa. The street was dark and quiet, which made sense since we evacuated, but this was a dream so I was surprised this was what we found.
“Look!” Savannah pointed to our right.
When I looked, something in my gut wasn’t sitting right. Over on the side of the yard, there were dozens and dozens of animals. Bunnies, cats, dogs, squirrels, raccoons, birds, and quite a few iguanas. There were probably more I just couldn’t see one from another. They were huddled together like they were protecting—I gasped.
Chutney.
I raced over to the animals, and they parted like the Red Sea, revealing a sound asleep Chutney lying in the grass. She was curled on her side in a pale-yellow dress with ruffles. As soon as Savannah and I got up to her, the animals closed back in around us. They were all watching her, but their eyes were pleading. Begging. Desperate.
“Savannah . . .” I cleared my throat.
“ They’re scared ,” she whispered.
I scrubbed my face with my hands. “Think, Cooper. Think.”
“Is this Tampa?” When I nodded, Savannah grimaced. “Didn’t we evacuate this whole town? Like no arcana here at all?”
I nodded. “Yeah, for their own safety—oh my God. The wild animals. Chutney protected them. The arcana here looked out for them. Shit. How did we not think of that?”
She shrugged. “Tegan barely lived here, if I recall, so she might not have known about them. And Tenn is stressed?—”
“Saffie.” I snapped my fingers as an idea popped into my mind. I held my hand up in the air and pushed, praying she was not in Seelie and was within my reach. “Saffie, I need you.”
Fireflies sparkled around my fingers.
“Cooper—SAVANNAH!”
Saffie giggled and pounced on her, wrapping her arms around her. “I missed you, ma’am.”
“Safferella, I missed you too.” Savannah narrowed her eyes. “You’ve been away from us too long, miss ma’am. What happened to visiting?”
All happiness and humor vanished from Saffie’s face. “Father and I are . . . searching. Preparing. Do not ask more of me on that yet. ‘Tis not safe to speak on even in dream.”
I cursed. “Sorry, Saffie?—”
“Never apologize. You said you needed me so get me. But please hurry and tell me, because Riah is only going to handle me dropping into a dead sleep mid-flight so well.” At that, she giggled. “We were flying high too, then I heard Coop and went limp. He’s definitely panicking a little despite knowing full-well what happened.”
Savannah snort-laughed.
“Saffie, look. ” I stepped back and gestured around us to all the animals watching Saffie with hopeful eyes. “I’m dreamwalking to check on everyone. I got pulled into Chutney’s. She’s asleep even here, but I think she’s calling me for them. Tampa was evacuated?—”
“OH NO!” Saffie’s eyes filled with sadness and horror. “OH NO. They were left! Oh no! No, no, no—I go! I go now!”
“Saffie—”
“No, no, no. You go. You two go.” She hissed and swatted at me and Savannah. “Wake me up. Riah and I will go to them right now. Promise. Wake me up, Cooper?—”
“Thanks, Saffie.” I snapped my fingers and she was gone.
For a moment, Savannah and I just stood there with the animals like we were both unwilling to leave them even in this plane.
“They’re here.” Savannah grinned and tugged on my hand. She looked up at me. “Saffie and Riah are here. We can go. Let them handle this.”
I exhaled a deep breath and let me magic out with it, letting it tell me where I was needed, not for the first time wishing Tegan was around to talk to. She may have stressed me out but not having her to talk to felt like dangling from a cliff with one hand that was slipping.
“So, you see your answer, right?”
I frowned. “Answer?”
“You were tryna figure out why they want you to look but don’t wanna know.” She snapped her fingers, then gestured around. “Remember?”
“Oh. Yeah . . .” I shook my head. “I still don’t get it.”
She eyed me carefully for a long moment, then sighed. “They’re scared, Coop. More than they let on. I saw their fears and they’re all terrifyingly real and plausible. They just like knowing someone is watching over them when they can’t protect themselves. Sometimes the nightmares chase us until the light comes, but you can make that go away.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it.
“Royce is clearly struggling with his lack of voice, but you were able to let him feel heard. Thiago did not need to relive that moment tonight. You made it stop. Then you gave them each other. That means more than I think you realize. Chutney may not have been with us to talk, but those animals in her mind were still her and she was begging for your attention . And look what you did with that? That’s why, Star Boy. You make them feel safe even in the dark. Do not devalue the significance of that, especially in times like this.”
My throat was thick with a hot lump of emotion. Words weren’t safe for me to speak, nor did I have any to say in response. Instead, I took her face in my hands and pulled her close.
Someone cleared their throat pointedly behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder, then cursed and spun around. “ Valathame. ” I bowed but fumbled it for sure.
Savannah gasped and clutched her imaginary pearls. “ Goddess almighty ? —”
Valathame cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Yes, I do like that very much.” She winked.
I blinked and shook my head. Valathame stood in front of us looking exactly the same as she did last time, with that snow-white hair falling nearly to the ground and blending in with her sparkling dress made of starlight. The white and gold eyes made me nervous because I did not like the thoughts that came to mind at how much Tegan looked like her when she went white witch.
“You cannot enter her dreams, Cooper,” Valathame said, and even her cadence was the same as Tegan’s. “You’ll be going now.”
Before we could speak or blink, rainbow magic hit us like a cloud to the face. When the mist faded, we were in a city that I almost recognized but couldn’t put my finger on. There was something about the wrought iron gates in front of me that felt significant. “Where are we?”
“N’Orlens.” Savannah spun in a circle with a wide grin on her face. She took a deep breath like she was trying to inhale the place, then let it out slowly, her shoulders dropping. “Hell, if I didn’t know better, I’d think this was my dream.”
That made me chuckle. “Note to self: bring Savannah to New Orleans as soon as possible.”
“Don’t tease me with a good time. No, sir.”
I smiled. “I wonder whose dream this is?”
“It’s mine,” a familiar voice said suddenly from behind me.
I gasped and spun around, my heart in my throat. “ Braison. ” I moved to hug him, but he held his hands up.
“There’s been too much of that going on here.” Braison’s green eyes slid over our surroundings in odd silence, like he was memorizing the details. “Shadows hold secrets here.”
“What does that mean?” I shook my head and moved closer to him, but he kept the distance. “Braison?—”
“They bite and turn and linger in their bones.” His voice was low and melodic, a voice I’d never heard the Braison I knew use.
“Ma’am, that’s creepy. Just say it.” Savannah shuddered.
“Ask around, Moneypenny. Sight unseen.” Braison shoved his hands in his pockets and started backing away from us. “Maybe spread the good word, after all, it’s almost hurricane season.”
What? I scratched my head as Braison turned and strolled away from us. That didn’t make any sense. It was gibberish. Did he call her Moneypenny? Like the secretary in James Bond—OH. Oh shit. That was a message, Cooper. He’s being sneaky. I wanted to smack myself. Clearly Braison needed to tell us something, so he’d waited for me to find him in his sleep. But why didn’t he just say it? This is a dream. The idea that these dreams weren’t safe or private sent a sharp chill down my spine.
Or maybe he’s being extra cautious? Just focus on what he said so you can relay the message.
Braison started whistling that song from the musical Chicago. The one Deacon was always singing. The razzle dazzle song— OHH. Dammit, Cooper, be faster. Smarter. I nodded to my old friend as he rounded the corner and out of sight. Wait, that’s also a message. He could’ve left the way he came—suddenly and unannounced. He could’ve run off with vampire speed. But he chose to stroll to that corner.
“Savannah, do you know where we are exactly?” I pointed ahead. “That street corner too?”
“Like the back of my hand. Why?”
“He’s giving us a message. About this place here. He also said . . .” I stared at the ground, willing the right words to come back to me, “. . . shadows hold secrets here. They bite and turn and linger in their bones. Ask around, Moneypenny. Sight unseen. Maybe spread the good word, after all, it’s almost hurricane season. That’s what he said.”
“Imma need a minute to unscramble that in my brain?—”
I snapped my fingers and we were back in my room in Headquarters. “Sweyn’s turning people into vampires here. Ask the spirits to give you more information. They’ll know. Use Deacon to evacuate the city.”
Savannah opened her mouth, then closed it. She huffed and then slapped her own thigh. “Well slap my ass and call me a paycheck because I’m never enough.”
I snorted. “ What? Where do you get these sayings? Do you have a dictionary in your brain?—”
“It’s a mind palace, you heathen.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Now, whose dream are we in?”
“No one’s. We’re in my room—Wait, no we’re not.” I spun in a circle. This was definitely Coven Headquarters, but I didn’t recognize the room, which was strange. “Hello? Anyone here?”
“It shouldn’t make me this happy to realize you never came in here with her.” Savannah’s cheeks flushed a deep pink. She stood by the balcony door looking out. “And yet here we are. And Frankie’s out there.”
Oh. OH. It was my turn to blush. I knew Savannah didn’t want to talk about that again since she had intentionally led me to Frankie, but it didn’t stop my brain from repeating everything I’d told her in rapid succession. I walked over and took her hand, then brought her knuckles to my lips.
“Boy, don’t make me feel my feelings right now,” she said under her breath, but she was smiling. “Miss Frankie needs help.”
I sighed and dropped her hand, then slid the sliding glass door open. Ice-cold air slammed into me, causing me to hiss and shiver. I cursed. It was the night for intense dreams, apparently. In normal dreams, the senses were dulled and I didn’t feel what they felt, but when they were really intense, the dreams felt super real.
And Frankie was not okay. I knew that instantly. She sat on her knees on her snow-covered balcony. Snowflakes dropped from the sky and landed on her pink hair and red dress. Goosebumps covered her bare arms and shoulders. The soulmate glyph on her chest, which she kept glamoured away with magic in real life, was pulsing a vibrant emerald-green. The black lines stretched down from her throat to the heart and across both shoulders. It looked more like poison spreading through her veins than the glyphs I was used to seeing.
She wasn’t looking up at us. She was focused on the wooden puzzle pig in her hands. Her body rocked back and forth. Her lips moved but her words were barely a whisper and were lost to my ears in the rush of the wind whipping around the house.
I crouched down to try and get in her line of view. “Frankie? Frankie, can you hear me?”
Her head snapped up too fast. Unnervingly fast. Her eyes were a bright, glowing pink that matched her hair. She was still rocking and fumbling with the puzzle pig, but her hand movements were panicked, her fingers kept slipping. Still, the words she whispered were too soft to hear. She may have been looking at me, but she was definitely not seeing me. Her gaze snapped left and right and back again.
A cold chill that had nothing to do with the frigid temperature slid down my spine. “Frankie, I can’t hear you. Speak louder so I can help you?—”
“Everest,” she mumbled. “Everest. Everest. Everest.”
My eyes widened. I glanced around. Her soulmate was not here. His presence was not something I ever missed. It was too dark and intense to not feel. Yet it wasn’t here. I licked my lips and spoke slowly and softly, “Everest isn’t here?—”
“ EVEREST. EVEREST. EVEREST,” she shouted, her body trembling now. “Everest. Everest. Everest.”
“ Her soul is panicked. I’ve never felt that before,” Savannah whispered as she sank to her knees beside me. She cleared her throat. “Frankie, what do you need from Everest?”
She just kept mumbling his name. Only his name, over and over and over. Her body trembled and rocked. Her fingers kept working on the puzzle on the pig, but she’d worn her skin raw and was now bleeding on the wooden object. I reached out and took the puzzle pig out of her hands—her fingers lifted to the sky above her head, instantly drawing symbols in glowing pink flames.
“ Everest. Everest. Everest. Everest,” she just kept whispering.
The heart-shaped crystal of her soulmate glyph turned bright-red.
I cursed. “Something must be happening to him?—”
“No.” Savannah stopped me from standing, her blue gaze locked on Frankie. “This is her , Coop. I’ve never felt a soul like this . . . this panicked . . . this . . . desperate . . . this . . . broken. We have to calm her down. She’s not okay.”
With a curse, I reached forward and put my hands on her bare shoulders. Her skin was hot and clammy yet prickled with goosebumps. Her heart was beating too fast. Now that I was holding on to her, I realized that wind I’d heard wasn’t wind but her real-life breath. I slid my hand over her heart to try and count the beats, but it was too fast. There were too many too quickly for me to count. This may have been a dream, but she was about to give herself a very, very real heart attack if I didn’t get through to her.
I pushed my magic into her.
The world around us vanished. Gone was Headquarters and her balcony. We were suddenly on our knees in what seemed like clay. Fire surrounded us from every angle. Flames towered into the sky like skyscrapers. In the distance I heard screaming and wailing. Something seemed to fly through the black sky peeking out between the flames, but it was gone before I could make out what it was.
Savannah gasped, bringing my gaze back to Frankie. My eyes widened.
She still sat on her knees, but in the light off the flames, I realized it wasn’t clay but blood-soaked sand. She wore golden body armor on every piece of her body from the neck down. The flames danced in its reflection like they were mocking her pain. Her hair now fell down to her hips in the palest pink shade I’d ever seen. There was some kind of white cape dangling from her back, but it was blood-soaked and stained with dirt.
Her hands were grimy with black dirt and blood, her fingers caked with red blood from cracks in her knuckles. Yet she gripped both of her bloodred sais in her hands. Then she threw her head back and screamed. Not in terror or anger, but in despair. That was a sound only pain could ever make. Tears streaked rivers down her dirt and blood-stained face.
“ No, no, no—” Savannah’s whisper’s cut off with a pained sound. “ Get us out!”
“Frankie?”
“I’m sorry, Everest, I have to. I have to,” she cried, her voice breaking. “Im sorry. Everest, I’m sorry?—”
“Make this stop, Cooper. Now,” Savannah said in a panic, her voice rising. “Get us out of here. Her soul is not okay. It’s going to break. Get us out!”
I pulled my magic back and pushed us out of the dream, yet nothing happened. I tried again and again. It always worked. Always. I’d never not been able to get myself out of a dream.
“ Everest, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Forgive me ? —”
“KIWI, COOPER! GET US OUT!”
“We’re stuck! I don’t know! This has never happened!”
“ Christ on clearance, ionwanna be here no’mo,” Savannah drawled with an accent thicker than sludge. “Get us?—”
“ Everest!” Frankie screamed.
Suddenly, the flames parted, and a lone figure rushed up to us. My breath caught. Everest. That was Everest. Even in the shadow of this dream, I recognized his aura. There was nothing else like it. But as he raced up to Frankie, I realized he didn’t look the way I expected him to, the way he always looked. This Everest had the same face but now his snow-white hair was long and straight, hanging over his shoulder. He wore silver body armor, but it was not a style of armor I’d ever seen, even in history books.
Everest didn’t even glance in our direction. He swooped in and cupped Frankie’s face in his palms, then lifted her to her feet. Glowing orange lines covered both of their hands and poked out from the top of the armor protecting their throats. His thumbs brushed over the tears on her cheeks. “I’m here. I’m here?—”
“I’m sorry. I had to. I had to. I’m sorry. Forgive me?—”
“It’s okay. Breathe for me.” His voice was soft yet firm. Unwavering.
She cried and shook her head. Her whole body still trembled and quaked like a giant crevice was about to open up inside of her and swallow her whole. Those pink eyes scanned his face without pausing, just bouncing around. “ I had to, I had to , I had to. I’m sorry. Forgive me, I had to ?—”
“ This is not happening right now. That’s over ,” he whispered with a voice more soft and tender than I expected him capable of. “ Come back to me, Gali .”
She gasped, her back arched—and then she collapsed against his chest.
The fire vanished instantly the second her eyes closed. But she was not asleep. I knew that by the way her hands gripped his side. He was back in his usual white suit, his hair cropped short again. Her golden armor and long hair had changed to her normal shoulder-length hot-pink hair, and she wore a black sweater with leggings and fuzzy socks. There were no blood or dirt stains on her hands or face. Only tracks of tears. Her body trembled against him, but he held her tight against his chest. We were on her balcony again, yet the snow had vanished too.
Everest whispered to her, but it was not in a language I knew. She must have, somehow, because it seemed like with every word her body calmed more and more until, finally, she fell asleep in his hands. Everest let out a sigh that sounded like it hurt, his face scrunched in pain. Yet a second later that cold mask I was used to was back in place. He scooped her up and turned—and we were inside her bedroom. Everest gently laid her in bed and tucked the fuzzy blankets around her. The door opened and three little shadows bounced over to jump onto the bed, nuzzling in around her. Everest patted each shadow—then it clicked. My eyes widened.
Everest was in this dream, but he was not part of it. He was really here because those shadows had to be her dogs. It hurt my brain to think about. How he could be here both in dream and the physical . . .? Frankie wasn’t in shadow. This was her dream-form. Savannah and I definitely weren’t physically in this room. Yet Everest was.
Then he turned and faced us directly. Those eerie blue and white eyes landed on me in an instant. “Stay out of her dreams, Cooper. They are not safe.”
I swallowed through the nervous lump in my throat. “For me or her?”
Everest glared. “Not all dreams are safe to play in, even for you, dreamwalker. If you want to live, do not dare enter Francelina’s mind again. I may not get here before she takes you down with her.”
“Take us down with her . . . Goddess, was she about to?—”
“ Yes, ” he whispered. “Your presence in her mind made it worse. Stay. Out. Do you understand? If she dies while you’re in her mind, you die too. Got it?”
I nodded, at a loss for words.
Savannah let out a strangled cry. “Are her dreams . . . safe . . . for her ?—”
“Help her finish her quest quickly, Darkling, or you may not like the answer to that question.”
I woke with a gasp that burned its way up my throat. I bolted upright, my heart pounding in my chest and thundering through my ears. Sweat ran like rivers down my spine. I looked around to find I was in my room. In my bed. I cursed violently and scrubbed my face. “Dammit.”
When Savannah didn’t respond, my heart skipped. I looked down and found her lying in bed beside me just staring at the ceiling. Her face was flushed and covered in a sheen of sweat. “That was terrifying. All of it.” Her voice was raw. “A bunch of nope.”
I exhaled roughly and plopped back down beside her, then took her hand in mine. I needed something to hold on to after all that, but especially after Frankie’s. “Their dreams always are. I need to tell them what I saw.”
Savannah turned and curled into my side, gripping my one hand tight enough with both of hers to leave a bruise, and yet not tight enough at all. “They need to sleep. And we both need to sleep too.”
I shook my head. “How am I supposed to sleep after what just happened with Frankie? After a dreamwalk like that ?”
She dropped my hand and crawled up to lie across my chest, her ear right over my still racing heart. Her arms curled under me to grip my shoulders. “We’re just gonna close our eyes and try?—”
“Just close our eyes?”
“Ma’am, we gon’ fake it ‘til we make it. ‘Cause those dreams won’t le’me’lone otherwise.” She craned her neck back to look down at me. “Go on. Close ‘em.”
That made me chuckle, so I listened. I wrapped my arms around her, pinning her to my bare chest, and closed my eyes . . . praying I saw nothing but sweet darkness.