“Relax. It’s just a bottle. I keep other stuff in there. I took two sleeping pills.”
His eyes flicked to my blood-soaked shirt. He squatted down near me, balancing on his heels, and lifted the hem of my shirt. His shocked gaze flew to mine.
“I know. It’ll need stiches. No hospital though, okay?” I grabbed his hand and begged with my eyes until he nodded. “The dreams will knock me out, and the pills will keep me under.” I did a slow blink without trying. Already they called to me.
“Luke,” I whispered. “They’re not done trying. Tell the others to soak the buildings. I’ve died by fire before, and it’s not fun.”
I suffered the same dream duality as I had before, but more. My present self, my past self, and the past selves of four of my sisters. The multiple views disoriented me, and I fought to focus on just one.
Heat flickered over my stomach like tiny flames dancing on my skin. I wanted to look down, but my eyes remained focused on the horde before me.
My fingers gently squeezed the hand wrapped within mine before I looked to my sister.
Through her eyes, I looked back at me. Again, my present-self suffered a wave of vertigo. My stomach twisted with pain, but I couldn’t tell from which of us it stemmed.
“All will be well,” I promised my sister.
I pushed away the discomfort and tried to focus. My sister squeezed back as her eyes closed.
“What do you see?” I asked.
Concentrating on my sister, I jumped perspectives.
A swarm of glowing lights filled my mind. Blue-green, blue-grey, yellow-green, and then us. The humans were far from us. We’d agreed to leave them out of our fight. The blue-grey almost outnumbered blue-green.
“They will not win. They do not have Courage. Her spark no longer exists,” I said on a sob. Knowing they would not win did not sooth the loss of our sister.
“Be strong. They may not win the Judgement, but they may win this fight.”
A hand closed over my shoulder and peace flowed through me, taking away fear, hate, worry, even the odd outside feeling of pain in my stomach. I breathed deeply and struggled not to smile. I fought to hold onto my worry.
“Stop, sister. Save yourself for them. We will need you,” I begged.
Changing perspective again, I surged into a mind filled with so much fear, hate, worry, pain, and doubt.
I struggled to breathe. My skin felt too tight as if all the emotion inside of me fought to burst out. Fists clenched, teeth gritted, I growled, “And we need you focused. They will learn to fear me.”
“Sisters, join hands,” another of us spoke drawing our attention.
Turning, we clasped hands. Five of us: Strength, Hope, Prosperity, Wisdom, Peace.
“Courage will always be with us,” Strength spoke with confidence as a surge of power flowed through us.
My present-self struggled as what each of the past selves experienced in that moment flooded me.
The sparks in my mind ignited, glowing brightly...
Emotions surged within me as I had the capacity to drain even more from those around us...
Glimpses of the battle to come floated around in the white infinity of my mind...
Flashes of the past rekindled my purpose.
Our purpose.
“The Urbat have grown too strong. We must reduce their numbers or face worse the next cycle,” I, Wisdom, predicted.
“I have no claws, but give me a knife and I will do my part,” I, Peace, intoned. Seething rage boiled within me. I itched to pace the field.
“I can only see our fates in this life, not the next. We will stay back and do what we can. Be well and be loved in your next lives,” I, Prosperity, said softly, pulling Strength and Hope from the circle.
I looked at my sister, Peace. “I remember how to fight thanks to your past lives, but I don’t have the skills you have from this life.”
I watched her pull another knife from the leather belt at her waist. She handed it to me hilt first. “Grip it firmly and don’t let go. Swing it around like a wild woman until it feels like your arm will fall off. Then keep swinging. Make them bleed. Make them sorry. Make them see their fate.”
An eerie howl rent the air, and it began. The werewolves around us surged forward, meeting the Urbat in the middle of the field. Hand in hand, we ran.
The dream shifted, but not much.
I stood in the center of the red field, the center of the storm, surrounded by a moment of stillness. Bodies lay about me, all reverted to human form. My friends. My adopted family. My protectors. I looked down at the vacant vibrant blue eyes of my sister. She’d fought well with just memories.