Page 55 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
And every one of them was connected to me. It was like a bizarre, tangled maze, that frankly, made me nauseous.
I reached out to steady myself against Elandor’s massive foot as I stared open-mouthed at the glowing landscape. The light was so bright it left afterimages onthe backs of my eyelids. I had to blink several times to clear them.
“Elandor. Tell me you see them all.”
I do.His voice was hushed and reverent.
I sank to my knees in the grass, my legs giving out beneath me. “How will I ever help them all?” I whispered in anguish. “There are too many! I couldn’t help them even if I had ahundredlifetimes!”
Elandor was silent for a long moment before saying,You help them, my treasure, one shifter at a time.
My gaze swept the golden field in dismay. Would one shifter at a time ever be enough in the face of so many?
It will matter,he said softly.It will matter to the one you helped.
He was right. I drew in a shaky breath, then let it out slowly. I might not be able to help them all, but for the ones I did help, my efforts would matter.
“Okay,” I said as I fought to stand again. All I wanted to do was lean on Elandor and have him steer this insane boat, but this was my magic, and my responsibility. “Any suggestions on which one to follow?”
Elandor studied the field of glowing threads, then shook his head.You are the dreamseeker. Though I could choose one, I’m not sure it would be the right one at the right time. You must choose.
I made a face and bit my lip. Of course he was going to say that. I knew this trope—the chosen one whodidn’t want to be chosen, convinced she’d botch everything. And now here I was, living it.
I focused on the golden threads, trying to sense if any of them felt more urgent than the others.
Then—
There!
That one.
I cocked my head. “Do you hear that?”
An infant is crying.
I nodded grimly. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
I will protect you with my life.
I patted his warm scales and took another steadying breath. “Okay, I just... pull on the cord or something?”
Try it and see.
“You’re loads of help tonight,” I said dryly, and he snorted in response.
Reaching out, I gave a gentle tug on the golden thread—and the world spun into fast-forward. Mist and light shot past us in a nauseating blur. We didn’t move our feet, yet the scenery around us shifted until we were standing in a darkened hotel room.
Mist pooled on the floor around us, and Elandor and I appeared solid but faintly outlined in golden light. Oh—and I’d somehow managed to shrink Elandor to half his usual size. He had to crouch to fit in the room, but at least he wasn’t demolishing it or smooshing me into Everly dust. He was now about the size of two SUVs stuck together.
I snorted. “Master of the dreamscape, indeed. I don’t have the first clue what I’m doing.”
A woman spun around the moment we appeared, a baby in a sling on her back. She had a gun out that had been aimed at the door when we’d come in, but was now aimed at us. Her eyes widened when she saw Elandor—but her hands didn’t waver or even shake that I could see.
I had to admire that kind of courage. If I had a huge dragon crash into my hotel room, there would be shaking. And probably screaming.
I lifted both arms in surrender. The woman, realizing she probably couldn’t harm Elandor’s impenetrable scales, and that it would likely ricochet off of him and hurt her or the baby, turned the gun on me instead.
Elandor growled, but I quickly hushed him.
