Page 32 of Darkening Truth
“Where are we?” Zev questions.
“The cell,” I say, my voice void of all emotion.
Zev looks at me with panic in his eyes, “It’s okay, Farren, I can get us out of here.”
“Little Mouse,” Jomeial’s voice sings jovially through the cells. “Are you ready to play? I think we’ll slice and bleed you for a bit longer today. Maybe we should take one of your other fingers? We can’t let Dagon have all the fun after all.”
Jomeial’s power lashes out even though he’s not in sight yet, and I let loose the tiniest hiss of pain before I bite it back as hundreds of slices crisscross my body.
He may not slice my clothes, but blood is quickly soaking through them. He’s clearly decided to take a page out of Dagon’s playbook. That alone should stop the tendrils of this nightmare from digging any deeper. Jomeial would never use Dagon’s tricks, not in the awake world. That realisation is not enough though.
“Farren,” Zev’s panicked voice echoes around the small cell.
Looking into his horrified gaze, I smile gently, “You don’t need to see this.” Putting power into my words, I add, “Wake up!”
His eyes widen, but he’s no match for my magic as it propels him back into the awake world.
I try to follow him, but it’s no good. The nightmare has fully got its claws into me, and I find that I can’t reach my magic anymore.
Endure.
I thought that word for some reason recently. I don’t remember why, but that’s what I need to do now.
Endure.
Zev
Igasp, sitting up straight and looking around Hades' living room, confused.
How the fuck did she do that?
She shouldn’t be able to kick me out. No one has ever been able to kick me out, and she did it with such ease. I turn to look at her, hoping to find her awake, but she’s not. She’s still fast asleep, her features tight with pain.
This is really fucking bad.
Bile rises in my throat as the image of her blood-soaked form floods my mind. She just stood there. After that first tiny gasp, she didn’t react at all. Even when she spoke to me, there was no sign that she was in pain at all.
Moving, I gently shake her, and then move the hair out of her face, “Farren? Farren! You need to wake up.”
“What’s going on?” Loki asks sleepily, looking down at Farren, who is still sleeping on his chest.
I quickly explain the situation, and Loki’s eyes fill with horror and panic as well.
“Fuck. Are you supposed to wake someone having a nightmare? Isn’t that bad?” Loki asks me.
“It can be, but the alternative is to leave her there, thinking that it’s real. The dream was strong enough that it was causing her pain, she’s feeling it all again.”
“Shit, we need to get her out,” Rival says, having woken up because Loki and I aren’t exactly being quiet in our panic.
“I can’t get back in. She’s somehow managed to block me,” I tell him.
“There’s got to be something that we can do?” Kill asks, coming closer with Storm and Mayhem, all of them watching Farren closely.
“The best I can think to do is to wake her as carefully as possible,” Hades suggests.
Khaos frowns, “There is a chance that she’s not going to realise that she’s awake if we do manage to wake her up. The dream could follow her.”
“Which means that we’re going to have to be prepared for her to come out fighting,” Reaper says, his eyes flashing to Ryu’s. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
