My Protector. It was odd to think of all that the words had come to mean to me – all that he had come to mean to me.
I wiped the thoughts from my head, not wanting to dwell on something that would ultimately lead me to replay my nightmares and riddles. I didn’t want to think about it.
I sunk deeper into the chair, my eyes already starting to droop. I sighed, knowing I couldn’t avoid sleep any longer. I drained the last of the cup and walked to my bunk, my body groaning and my head spinning.
My feet barely carried me across the space before I collapsed on my bunk, the impact ricocheting through my body.
“Be strong, Joclyn,” I moaned to myself, the sound echoing around the tiny alcove my bed sat in. A few days ago I had been desperate for my own bed, and now I wanted anything but.
I heaved myself under the blankets and closed my eyes. It only took a matter of seconds for sleep to overtake me and the dream to come.
I stood in the middle of the clearing as always, the eerie branches stretching and swaying around me.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Joclyn.” Cail’s voice was loud and right behind me. I fought the desire to spin around to face him, instead keeping my body still and stubbornly looking toward the trees.
“I take it you thought that if you stayed awake you could avoid me?” He ran his hand down my hair, the weight pulling at the long strands.
“It was worth a shot,” I said a little too honestly. I attempted to keep my voice light and airy but my fear was too severe.
Instead of replying, however, Cail laughed. The sound bounced around the clearing and ricocheted inside my head.
“Oh, Joclyn. Sweet Joclyn.” His words were endearments, but his voice was like ice. It ran up my spine and sent an unpleasant shiver through my shoulders.
He had come around to face me, his dark eyes appearing even darker in the dim light, the red of his hair disappearing in the night. He looked at me with his wicked smile, his hand coming to wrap tightly around my wrist. I felt pain shoot up my arm as he squeezed, yanking my arm and pulling my torso into him.
“You should know better than that,” he said as he increased the pressure. “You can’t escape me. And you can’t beat me.” He laughed like it was a joke, but I pulled my arm away sharply, my magic boiling through me.
“You wanna bet,” I spat. I took one step back before he could stop me, turning around to hit my hands hard against his chest. Even though my magic surged with the contact, the dream dampened it, making my power useless.
Cail looked shocked as he stumbled back to slam roughly into one of the trees. He picked himself up off the ground. I prepared myself for his attack, but he wasn’t angry. He wasn’t going to fight back. He simply laughed.
“It’s a good thing your magic doesn’t work here. With a temper like that, you’d be an awful lot of fun. I sure hope you don’t throw magic at Ilyan, like that.” He clicked his tongue at me while he walked closer, his strut making my stomach flip in disgust. “There he is, sleeping next to the one he loves, and you go ahead and kill him!”
Cail laughed with all the humor he could muster and my stomach tensed uncomfortably, my eyes narrowing.
“Ilyan doesn’t love...” I began to say confidently, but Cail clamped his hand over my mouth and pinned me to his side, his eyes flashing dangerously.
“Don’t say it. You’re going to take away all of my fun, and we haven’t even gotten to our little game yet.”
My insides flipped at the mention of yet another game. I tried to get away from Cail’s firm grip, but he increased his hold, his hand turning into a claw against my face.
“You see those trees?” He jutted his chin toward the line of trees directly in front of us. I followed his line of sight, my eyes widening to see two bright red trunks creating a doorway into the shadowy forest behind them.
“I have hidden two very different things in there, and I am going to send you to find them.” I tried to fight him, but his hold continued to increase, his grip plastering me against his body.
“One of them will kill you the second you are seen and the other will rejoice in your arrival. If you find the one who would kill you first, then the game is over and you will wake up. If you find the other, you have until I find you before your time here is up. So either way it ends in your death.” He spoke lightly, my stomach dropping at what he had implied. I couldn’t take my eyes off of those trees.
“I am going to give you a ten minute head start.” I swallowed hard as Cail released me from his grip, my body instinctively taking a step away from him.
“Go.” He said the word behind me and I didn’t wait. One of the surprises had to be Ryland. I ran into the trees, my heart racing at the thought of seeing him.