Page 102 of Circle of Shadows
For an instant, Sora saw stars. And then the stars burst in a blinding explosion, and her knees gave way, dropping her to the ground and flinging her into unconsciousness.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
At first, Daemon dreamed of clouds and clear blue sky.
Soon, though, the clouds began to melt and come back together again, swirling and sliding and changing from white to silver to green. One morphed from a blotch into a green cat. It was like being in the middle of a hallucination. The sky shifted suddenly to green—in fact, everything looked as if he were dreaming through an emerald-tinted lens—and the clouds billowed and started to funnel into Daemon’s head, tickling his temple as the wisps drifted in through his ear and wafted inside his skull.
Whatisthis?Daemon thought.
Somewhere in the back of his head, a girl giggled. It sounded almost like Sora, if Sora giggled. Which she did not. She laughed, but she didn’t giggle.
Daemon, you’re here!the girl said.
What in all hells—?Daemon blinked and shook himself awake.
Even with his eyes open, though, he didn’t see reality.The green-tinged dream pushed on.
Aren’t the stars pretty?the girl said.
Who are you? What’s happening?
The girl really did sound like Sora, if she were drunk. But again, impossible. Sora didn’t ever drink enough to lose control. Two small cups of sake, and she would cut herself off.
The girl sighed.I don’t know who I am. Am I a taiga or a ryuu? Or both? A taigryuu?She giggled. But then she grew pensive again.What kind of soldier am I, though, if I have no weapons? Or maybe I do, I don’t know. They were on me when I came to the gate.... I think Bullfrog injected me with genka after he knocked me unconscious?
Oh gods, itwasSora. Or at least a version of Sora. She’d come back to the Citadel, only to be confronted by the councilmember most vehement in his belief that she’d succumbed to Prince Gin’s charm. So Bullfrog had subdued her by shooting her with genka, a botanical drug used to pacify violent prisoners.
This is a dream, right?Sora asked.I’m dreaming that you’re in my head, Daemon.... Ooh, look, a green serpent! Isn’t it pretty?
Daemon smiled drowsily, at Sora missing him and her being back, and at the green stars shaped like a serpent. But the constellation’s tongue—a green comet of some sort—flicked as it floated by, licking Daemon’s cheek with a stinging twitch. The sharpness roused him.
He batted the serpent constellation away. How was this happening? Sora was hallucinating because of the genka, but she’d somehow pulled Daemon into her dream.
Maybe this was another facet of ryuu power. The Society had thought they understood magic, but they hadn’t evenscraped the surface. And here was something even more, an extra dimension to gemina bonds. Maybe, in her drugged state, Sora’s new powers had expanded the connection she and Daemon shared.
Sora, I know you’re, uh, slightly giddy, but I need you to listen to me closely. Where are you?
In the stars?
Daemon looked up. It seemed they were indeed flying among the stars. He wondered if they were seeing the same thing.
I mean, where is your actual body?he asked. A shooting star whooshed by him, so close it nicked his arm. He massaged the burn, but it vanished quickly, as dream burns do.
In a room...
Sora, I need you to focus. This is important.
He could feel her try to pull herself together.
Lemme try... to see... the wakeful world, she said.
Her thoughts struggled to make progress, like she was slogging through a swamp. But eventually, she said,I see it. It’s a fancy room. A big one.Sora’s voice cartwheeled groggily, and he could see the physical manifestation of it, jeweled green spirals spinning in slow motion in the air.
He had to find her in real life, outside of this dream.
Big, fancy room. Hmm.
The councilmembers had large suites, lavishly furnished. Perhaps she was being kept prisoner in Bullfrog’s quarters?
