Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Iran across the hospital lawn in my white gown, trying to stifle my sobs. My feet were bleeding. Peter the warden was chasing me again. I just had to get to the gate, and I could slip through the bars and escape…
Rough hands grabbed me, throwing me to the ground. He dragged me back like he’d done a billion times; laughing maniacally. You’re never getting out, Susan. Give up. Accept it.
My nightmare shifted.
Peter disappeared. The landscape suddenly changed; I didn’t understand it anymore. There were no misty moors, no craggy mountains.
Instead, I saw my beautiful fae prince. My heart expanded almost painfully at the sight of him. God, he was extraordinary, perfect and blazing with golden light. Just being close to his spirit healed me in a way I would never understand.
I was so glad to see him. Even though he couldn’t see or hear me, even though I had no body, no eyes, no physical form at all, I would be happy to linger by his side, haunting him forever.
Donovan knelt at the edge of an endless black ocean, a glorious golden god of a man.
The ocean in front of him felt like the void. I couldn’t bear to look at it. Instead, I focused on the prince, my eyes devouring him greedily.
Something odd caught my attention. A strange silver cord wriggled up out of the ocean, disappearing into the sky. The cord felt wrong—repugnant. Just like with the ocean, I could barely look at it.
Donovan watched it carefully for a long, long time, then a dagger flashed in his hand. With one firm slash, he cut the cord in two.
A chime rang through me—a strange vibration, and then, I felt…
Better. Lighter. Even though I was made of nothingness, I felt like a weight had been lifted off me.
I watched, confused. The cord did not disappear completely. It wasn’t thick silver anymore, though, now it was transparent, ghostly.
Donovan grimaced, watching it as well. He opened his mouth and said something. I had no ears to hear it, but I understood anyway. I have done all I can. I hope it will be enough.
He stood up and began to walk. I followed him closely, loathe to take my focus off him in case he disappeared from my dream, watching as he battled his way through fields of floating rocks that smashed into each other and slipped in thick purple oil fields that stretched out from horizon to horizon.
Strange creatures drifted in and out of focus. A small green dragon with bony wings floated by, a naked troll wandering in the distance, a single stumpy leg hopped along the ground in a jaunty manner, the rest of its body nowhere in sight.
Odd creatures. Some unsettling, some downright frightening. They didn’t pay any attention to my prince, but I was still scared.
This wasn’t the human Under. Donovan had wandered too far. He was lost.
And now, he wasn’t alone.
A ghost stalked him, the ghost of a teenage boy. Donovan, my prince, made of blazing golden light, continued walking, kept battling through the strange landscape as it unfolded before us, but the boy followed, pleading with him. Why couldn’t you save me? You had the power to do it.
Donovan ignored him and walked on. I watched his beautiful lips move as he strode forward, muttering affirmations he obviously learned from Bronwyn. “I forgive myself and let go. I inhale peace and exhale fear. My best efforts are enough.”
After what felt like an eternity, another ghost joined the first, this time, an old woman. She wailed constantly, crying pitifully. We starved to death when the last harvest failed. You could have fed us. The Queen refused to send aid, but you could have. You could have…
A younger woman appeared at the edge of an upside-down lake—a beautiful woman with long golden hair and huge gray eyes.
Blood dripped from a hole in her chest, pulling my focus.
I looked. A knife was stuck in her heart.
She wailed. He tricked me, Donovan. He seduced me.
You could have stopped it. You should have found me sooner.
I followed him hopelessly, watching while his darkest fears stalked him. This was his nightmare. My prince wanted to save everyone, and every soul he couldn't save haunted him.
He whirled in a circle. “I know you are not real. Leave me be!”
A little boy with deep emerald eyes blinked up at him. Brother. I am cursed forever. Corrupted. I needed you to save me…
“Leave me be!” He roared to the heavens as the ghosts descended, wailing pitifully and swallowing him completely.