“I leave it to you, Cail.”
“Jos, you need to run.” Ryland whimpered as he spoke and I took a step forward. My progress was instantly halted by Cail’s arms around my waist.
The contact broke me out of my shocked reverie. I turned to Cail, my face hard. This was wrong. Knowing the dream was wrong somehow, scared me, my fear breaking through my carefully crafted facade.
“Let me go.” I controlled my voice carefully, trying to keep my emotions in check.
“Oh no, no, no,” Cail said, his face impossibly close to mine. “You see, I have a message from Edmund for you.” I spun to where Edmund stood a moment before to find the space empty. Cail smiled and I felt my insides freeze. Everything seemed too raw, too real. I turned to Cail, my head held high, not wanting to give away that I was scared.
“You see Ryland there? Alive? His memories returned? You have exactly one month to turn yourself in to us before we dispose of him.”
“No!” I turned toward Ryland in a panic, but Cail’s arms held me securely in place. I fought against him, but his grip was too strong, his hold brutal against me.
“Panicked now I see. A little worried?” He pressed his cheek against mine, his body moving with me as I fought his grip. “Well you should be.”
“Joclyn, run!” Ryland screamed at me as the large man behind him produced a glimmering blade. The man didn’t even hesitate, he just ran him through, the blade glowing red. Ryland screamed and fell to the ground, his body not even fighting its loss of life.
“No!”
“Now, now. Don’t worry. This dream is only a shadow of what’s to come after all. I’m sure you have realized by now, we can’t really hurt you. Magic doesn’t work here. We can only wake you up. The same has happened to him, although I would like to kill him.” He said condescendingly, the terrible tones snaking around my insides like slime.
“Let me go!” I screamed. My thrashing pulled me away as Cail released me, the extra force sending me hurling across the clearing toward Ryland’s body. I grabbed him as I fell, knowing there was nothing else I could do.
I gasped his name, my heart breaking all over again as I held his lifeless body in my arms.
We were all shadows in a dream world. None of this was real. I repeated the fact to myself, trying to stop the heavy waves of emotions from overwhelming me. I felt my lungs reaching for breath and my heart’s irregular beat speed up. I couldn’t look away from him, his bright blue eyes still burned into my mind.
“Oh and one more thing,” Cail said from behind me, “if you don’t come in one month, you can give up hope of ever seeing Wyn again too. I will finish what I didn’t before.” He sliced his finger across his neck, his lips curled in a wicked sneer.
“You’ll never find her.” I tried to sound strong, but I knew the panic had seeped into my voice.
“Like I never found you? Ryland’s bond with you was so weak we could barely track you across one little city. And if we were already in the city, what does that say about how safe you are? With or without Ryland, we can find you anywhere, Joclyn. It’s all about who you know.”
“Who do you know?” My voice echoed around the otherwise empty clearing. Cail only laughed.
“Really? You think I am going to give away information just because you ask? Tsk, tsk, that’s not how it works, missy.”
My magic surged uncomfortably under my skin thanks to the raw anger that coursed through me. I didn’t second guess myself, I pulled the power together and shot it at him in a stream of fire, powerful enough to do some real damage. Shock crossed Cail’s face for a second before the attack hit him square in the chest.
Cail looked at the spot on his chest before he began to laugh, long and deep. “Oh, Edmund’s going to be sad he missed this.”
I clenched my teeth and raised my hands, ready to fire something at him again.
“Now you are going to fight me?” Cail said, “Sure why not! After all, magic doesn’t work here the way you are thinking, you can’t hurt a shadow.”
I felt the blood leave my face and I looked at my hands.
“No,” I said, dropping my hands to my sides.
“Yes.” He pulled up his face into a half smile and I shied away from the wicked look.
“No!” I moved my hands behind me, making it obvious I wasn’t going to fight him anymore.
“You’re no fun,” Cail pouted. “Kill her. I will tell my master it is done.”
I didn’t have time to register what he had said before I felt the blade plunge into my back. I could feel the cold metal separate my flesh and grind against bones as it moved deeper and deeper into me, the pain only a moment behind. I screamed in agony as my body fell on top of Ryland’s lifeless corpse.