Chapter 24 Hell
“Once you've taken the tea, do not let go until we're both fully awake,” Raf said.
“I do not know if this will work, but if touch is what pulls you into the dream... one of us could become lost if we let go before we've both returned.”
He sounded genuinely afraid. I could not imagine why.
“After Hell and I are asleep, Liv, you need to go to sleep. I will find your dream, and bring Hell into it with me if I can.”
We settled back into the pillows, and Raf took my hand. My heart pounded furiously in my chest as electricity bloomed where our hands met and raced up my arm. Heat crept into my cheeks, and I immediately looked away.
“Okay, Margaret, I think we are ready,” I said, my voice cracking. She handed us both a cup of steaming tea, and we gulped it down.
“Do not let go,” Raf said, setting his cup down. His eyes never left mine. Beneath the concern and fear was something softer now. It no longer sounded like a command or even a warning. It sounded like a plea. Something inside me broke, and before I realized what I was doing, I nodded.
Raf turned toward me and squeezed my hand. I shifted onto my side to face him, neither of us breaking the other's gaze. I watched as sleep slowly claimed him. His eyes grew heavy, each blink lingering a little longer than the last until he could no longer force them open.
I rolled onto my back without releasing his hand.
I held on even as his muscles relaxed, and his fingers went slack around mine.
He had asked me not to let go, and I did not.
A thought occurred to me as I stared at our joined hands.
What if my own grip loosened once I fell asleep?
I tugged the ribbon free from my hair. It spilled across the pillow behind me as I wrapped the ribbon once...
twice... around our hands before knotting it tight.
Satisfied with the knot, I settled back onto my side.
I closed my eyes and focused on the click of the metronome in the background.
One deep breath in… click… deep breath out…
clack. After several moments, my eyes shot open.
Still nothing. I sat up from the makeshift bed.
Raf's hand was still bound to mine with the ribbon.
Then I heard it. A low, rumbling snore. It grew louder with each breath.
I looked down at him, slightly irritated.
He was asleep. Very asleep. And I… was not.
“Margaret, I do not think the tea works on me.” Her eyes shot up from her book immediately.
“Did you drink all of it?” She said incredulously. I picked up the cup from the floor beside me and turned it over, not a single drop spilled from it. She blinked once, her mouth opening and closing without a word.
“Well it is not a problem with the tea. It seems to have worked fine on everyone else.”
She stood and placed her hands on her hips.
Then nodded toward Raf, a trail of drool slid down his cheek, dripping more with each rumbling snore and gathering in a puddle on the blanket.
“Perhaps you just need a little more than the others.”
She crossed the kitchen and brought the kettle to me.
She poured the dark purplish liquid into my outstretched cup and I threw it back the way the men threw back bourbon in the alehouse.
I swallowed it down with a single hard gulp, then laid back on the pillows and waited. Nothing. Again.
“Okay this is not working.” I sat up and scanned the room. Liv looked concerned, Ezra looked indifferent, and Margaret looked downright offended. “I think I have an idea though.” My eyes landed back on Liv. Her concern was quickly replaced by panic. She knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Liv…” I smiled sweetly.
“No.” She planted her feet and shook her head, “Absolutely not!”
“Lavinia, it is the only way. I need to sleep. We need to know if this works.”
I pouted my lip a little. “I want you to hit me, Liv. Hard.”
She shook her head again, more adamant this time.
Her stare was only broken when a loud snore rumbled from Raf’s mouth.
Ezra promptly sprayed a mouthful of tea across the table.
“You cannot seriously think that's a solution!” She called over her shoulder as she fussed with Ezra, wiping tea from his shirt.
“I do think it is a solution. In fact, I think it is the only solution.”
“Do you hear yourself Hell? Normal people do not ask their friends, their sisters, to punch them in the face.”
“Well I never claimed to be normal and as my sister you are exactly the right person to do it.”
“I will not.”
“Liv…”
“Hell, I will not hurt you. The answer is no!”
“Liv I need you to…” CRACK! Before I could finish the thought pain bloomed across the back of my head and I fell on top of Raf.
He did not stir at all as the darkness began to creep into the corners of my vision.
Just before darkness claimed me, I caught sight of Margaret standing over me, a large, wooden rolling pin still clutched in her hand.
“Mother!” Liv yelled as she stooped beside me, checking my eyes and feeling the back of my head for a lump.
“What?” Margaret shrugged, “For the girls.”
I could not help but chuckle as I fell into the darkness.
Liv, Margaret, and the world faded into nothingness as sleep claimed me completely.
At first, nothingness was all that existed.
Darkness and complete silence, save for the sound of my own heartbeat, swallowed everything.
I held perfectly still, terrified that it hadn’t worked, and if it had, that even a single step might shatter whatever fragile thing we had managed to create.
Then Raf emerged from the darkness like a ghost.
Apparently, being hit in the head with a rolling pin was now an official part of the dream walking process.
“Wow... I honestly didn't think that would work.”
He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Though I have to admit I am glad it did... this is the first time I have managed to be alone with you since the cellar…” He wiggled his brows.
I crossed my arms over my chest firmly. “Slow down lover boy. We do not know if it will work. We need to wait for Liv to fall asleep first.” I scoffed. His smile dissolved immediately.
“Fine, have it your way.” He shrugged and lowered himself to the ground. I sat beside him, and together we waited in silence for Liv to fall asleep.