Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
The Griffin’s Nest looks different at night.
Without the afternoon sunlight streaming through the stained-glass panels, the bookstore feels more mysterious, shadows pooling between tall shelves and light flickering from sconces mounted on the walls like a protective energy that makes my skin tingle.
Or maybe that’s just nerves mixed with anticipation.
We find Mr. Griffin in the back room, arranging candles, crystals, and small bowls of white powder on the large central table.
“Oooh! Magicky goodness,” Tia says, bounding over.
“Cora, Tia,” he says. “It’s good you’re here, though I wish it was under better circumstances.” His gaze shifts to Chase. “How bad was it last night?”
“We met Vexarin,” I say, before Chase can answer. “Odd fellow. Can’t say I liked him.”
Mr. Griffin frowns. “Well, that seals it,” he says with a glance toward Chase. “There’s no doubt now that you truly are the prophesied Bride.”
“Apparently so,” I say. “Kind of a shotgun wedding.”
He chuckles, then pulls me in for an awkward hug. “You’re strong, dear child. I wish this burden did not have to fall on you, but since it has, I’m glad that you have the fortitude to shoulder it.”
“Do I? Because hiding under the bed sounds really appealing.”
Chase glances my way. “The trouble with that,” he says, “is that you never know who or what you’ll find under there with you.”
“And so we make sure that our Cora is prepared.”
“Right.” I nod. “Prepared for what, exactly?”
“The storm that’s coming,” Mr. Griffin says. “Last night was just the beginning.”
“Chase said you were a Hunter too.”
“Twenty-three years on the job. Retired when my partner disappeared after a breach incident. She’s dead,” he adds, almost casually, but I can see the pain that lingers in his eyes.
He gestures to the items on the table, all part of a protective spell, I assume.
“These days, I prefer support roles. Safer for everyone involved.”
“A breach incident?” Tia asks.
Mr. Griffin slides his hands into his pockets, then talks more to the table than to us.
“She got too close to something she was hunting in the Nightmare Realm. Sometimes the monsters find ways to follow you home.” He looks up, meeting my eyes.
“Which is why training is essential. The better you understand the rules of the Nightmare Realm, the better your chances of survival.”
A chill runs through me. This isn’t theoretical anymore. I’m here to learn how to not get dead.
“The training space is downstairs,” Mr. Griffin continues, heading across the room toward a locked door that I’d always assumed was for storage.
We follow him down a steep stone staircase that seems much older than the building above.
“Um, aren’t we too close to the river for a basement?” Tia asks.
“The space is charmed,” Mr. Griffin says, turning to smile at her.
“Its magical reinforcements are as vital as the stone walls themselves. Ah! And here we are,” he adds as we reach the circular room that appears to be carved from stone.
No windows, but the walls are lined with mirrors, and candles provide the only light, their infinite reflections adding to the sensation that this place is held together by magic.
Beside me, Tia turns in a circle, her arms out like a little girl. “It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie.”
“And yet it’s all real,” Chase says.
I look to Chase. “This is where we’ll go into the Nightmare Realm?”
“That’s right,” he says, nodding to the various items set out on a table. Most look like ancient museum pieces that might have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci for a steampunk movie. “The artifacts will help you enter the realm and let us monitor you.”
It’s only then that I realize Whistler has joined us and is setting up what looks like a xylophone but is probably something that has nothing to do with music.
“So do you need this stuff?” Tia asks Chase. “I mean, do you have to come to this room to go to the dream realms?”
“No,” he says. Then he takes a step forward and completely disappears.
Beside me, Tia gasps, the sound still lingering when he reappears.
“No,” he repeats. “I don’t need the room or the equipment.
For that matter, neither does Cora.” He turns to me.
“You do it all the time. Now, you’ll learn to be intentional. ”
He’s right. I’ve been crossing into the Nightmare Realm pretty much every time I sleep. I just don’t have a clue how I managed it. And I’m pretty sure my body’s not disappearing from my bed.
“It’s not,” Chase says when I say as much. “It’s easiest to think of what’s been traveling so far as your soul. But you do have the capacity to move bodily through the realms.”
“Oh.” The idea’s both terrifying and exciting. “Like you just did? Or will I need that?” I nod toward the equipment.
“That’s for support only. It aids in accuracy, in communication. It’s a tool, not a requirement.” He looks between me and Tia. “Understand?”
We both say yes, even though I’m certain we’re both lying. I know I am. But I trust Chase. I figure it’ll make sense to me eventually.
I catch his eye, still nervous. Still wrapping my head around all of this. “The bottom line is that I won’t disappear like you did, right?”
“Correct,” he says. “I am of the dreamscape. You are of this realm. For now, at least, your form will stay here.”
I nod, thinking of my mother, killed in another realm—her body dead and cold in this world.
As if reading my mind, Chase takes my hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You already know how to do this. Now, you’ll learn to do it with intention.”
I nod. He’s right. And though I’m nervous, I’m also strangely eager. And when Chase points to a cushion on the floor, I go and settle onto it. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“For what?”
I shrug, not entirely sure. “For taking care of me, I guess.”
His hand cups my cheek. “I will always take care of you,” he says, his voice all business, but that sizzling touch saying so much more.
Our eyes meet and hold—at least until I can’t take it, and I break the connection to start studying my shoes.
A moment passes, and when I look back up, he’s standing tall and straight, as if his body is held together by need and desire.
Honestly, I’m right there with him.
“I will leave you all to it,” Griffin says as he crosses the room. “Cora, you’ll do fine. And I promise you’re safer here than anywhere else in this realm.”
He offers one quick smile before disappearing up the stairs.
I hear the door close with a soft click, leaving Chase, Tia, Whistler, and me alone in the mirror-lined room.
The candlelight dances across the glass surfaces, creating an almost hypnotic effect, and when Chase’s eyes meet mine, I’m pretty sure I’m going to melt right then.
Tia sidles closer and whispers in my ear, “Get your head in the game, girlfriend.”
Heat floods my cheeks, especially when I catch Chase’s lips twitching.
But he’s seemingly all business when he says, “We start with basic awareness exercises. You’ll be learning to recognize when you’re dreaming, how to maintain consciousness during the transition, and how to exert control over the dream environment. ”
“Like lucid dreaming?” Tia asks, dropping down to sit cross-legged on the floor near me.
“Not really. Someone in a lucid dream is still operating within the confines of their own subconscious. Cora’s about to learn how to navigate an actual alternate realm with its own rules and inhabitants. Her body stays here. The rest moves out of her body and into another realm entirely.”
“Oh.” I try to wrap my head around that but mostly fail. This is Big Scary Shit, and the little girl inside me wants to duck under the covers and hide.
But I can’t.
There are things in both this realm and the Nightmare Realm that are trying to kill me or destroy the barriers or both. I have to know how to fight back. Otherwise, the rest of my life will be spent running from sand monsters and dragons.
Not only that, but it will be a really short life.
“Why can’t I do this?” Tia asks, her question pulling me from my circling thoughts.
“The ability to dreamwalk is actually quite rare,” Chase says.
“Even if you were able, the magical binding would prevent it. But you’re the one keeping Cora grounded as she learns.
Eventually, she’ll move between realms on her own—even move her body between realms as I do—but until she can do that seamlessly, you’re here to help her not only get into the different realms but find her way back.
It’s a job that requires the utmost trust.”
She sits up straighter, squeezes my hand, then nods.
“You both need to understand that dreamwalking is not without its dangers. Walkers have gotten lost, never to return. Some die in their sleep. Some are treated as if they were in a medical coma, their bodies here, but their consciousness in another realm.”
“But you’re sure I can do this?” I ask, my earlier confidence wavering as I once again think about my mother.
Chase moves closer, those eyes intense in the candlelight. “You’re stronger than you know, Cora.” He kneels in front of me, then gently takes my hands. I stifle a sigh, fighting the urge to lean against him. To let him wrap his arms around me and hold me safe and tight.
“I’ve watched you fight for years. Trust me,” he says. “You can do this. You already have. What you’re learning now is control.”
“You’ve been risking yourself for me this whole time,” I whisper, almost unable to believe all the things this man has done to protect me. “All those monsters.”
“It’s my job,” he says, and though the air between us is heavy and charged, he doesn’t quite meet my eyes.
“Chase,” I breathe.
“Shh,” he murmurs, his hand cupping my neck, his palm warm and soothing. “There are things you need to know. I haven’t—” He cuts himself off with a shake of his head. “Never mind,” he says, running a strand of my hair through his fingers. “Not now.”