“Uh. Sure, man.”
“Gods, I am going to strangle—no. No, Randall. Just control yourself. Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Now. Sam. What did the dragons tell you last night?”
“You believe me?”
“I believe pretty much everything these days,” he said with a sigh. “Answer the question.”
“Oh. Um. They said they saw me, and that it would be soon.”
He gaped at me.
I shrugged. “I’m used to it by now. It’s kind of my thing. It goes with the whole destiny-of-dragons deal. And man, I really still hate that word.”
“Sam, I need you to promise me something.”
“Tell me what it is first before I agree.”
I thought he was going to smack me across the face. “You mustn’t do what the voices in your head tell you to do.”
“Wow. Because that didn’t make me sound like I’m crazy or anything—”
“I’m serious, Sam. You need the others here. You have never faced anything like them before. You cannot go alone.”
“Have you seen them?”
He hesitated.
“Holy shit! You have. Dude! You’ve been holding out on me.”
“I told you not to call me dude!” he said shrilly. “You will refer to me as Randall and nothing more!”
That reminded me of something I’d always wanted to ask him. “Sidebar.”
“We don’t have time for a side—”
“Why don’t you have a wizarding name?”
His eyes widened. His face paled.
And then he turned and left the labs, robes trailing behind him.
I didn’t see him for the rest of the day.
I DREAMED that night of a blizzard.
I was in the Dark Woods, but I wasn’t alone.
Ryan said, “Hey. There you are. I missed you.”
I said, “I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
He smiled and took my hand.
We continued walking through the forest.
It was night, but the moon and stars were hidden beneath low, thick clouds. The Dark Woods were quiet; the only sounds were the crunching of the leaves under our feet.
“Where are we?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t think I’ve been here before.” That didn’t feel quite right, but everything was unfamiliar. For a brief, terrible moment, I was sure we were on the same path I’d taken to see the Great White for the first time, but there was no moving mountain ahead of us. Just the trees.
“This is a dream,” Ryan said, sounding amused. “I’m dreaming of you. Gods, you would make so much fun of me if you knew that.”
I stopped. He looked back at me.
“What?”
“You’re dreaming of me,” I said slowly.
He rolled his eyes. “Dream you catches on about as quick as real you does.”
“Ryan. Where are you right now?”
He looked around. “Standing in the middle of trees.”
I almost smacked him. “No, you dork. In your travels. With the others. Where are you guys?”
“Oh! Tarker Mills.”
My eyes bulged. “The home of the truth corn? Are you out of your damn mind! What if they try and capture you again!”
“Kevin ate the cult leader, remember? Everything is… mostly back to normal here. They weren’t very happy to see us again, but then Kevin growled at them, and they were nicer.” He shrugged. “You know how he gets.”
“Shit,” I breathed. “I think this is real.”
“What? This is a dream.”
“Ryan, I need you to listen to me. Right now, I’m in Castle Freesias. Asleep.”
He squinted at me. “But you’re standing right in front of me.”
“Oh my gods, has hanging out with the others decreased your IQ? We’re dream-walking.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“You’re dreaming. I’m dreaming. We’re in the same dream. For all intents and purposes, this is real.”
His eyes widened. He took a step toward me, raising a hand to my face. He stopped right before his fingers brushed against my cheek. “You’re here?” he whispered. “Sam, this is really you?”
I nodded, unable to speak.
He didn’t hesitate. He kissed me, long and deep, his arms coming around me, holding me tight. I didn’t think I’d ever felt anything so sweet.
He broke the kiss, resting his forehead against mine, breathing me in. “Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi.” I sounded giddy.
“I miss you. Are you okay? How’s Randall? Is he treating you right? Do I need to kick his—”
“I’m fine,” I said, laughing. “Everything’s fine. I’ve…” Told him things I haven’t told you. Important things. “I miss you too.”
“You know I’m coming, right?”
I waggled my eyebrows at him. “So it’s going to be that kind of dream, is it?”
“Gods,” he said, sounding awed. “You’re so stupid. I love you.”
“Thanks! Kind of.”
He kissed me again. He tasted as he always had.
He finally stepped away, trailing his hands down my arms. “How are we both here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is it the I don’t know when you truly don’t know? Or is it the one where you have an idea that I’m probably not going to like very much.”
“Yikes. You know me too well. I might need to change it up a little bit. Keep the mystery alive.”
“You’re a wizard,” he said wryly. “There’s always going to be some kind of mystery because of the secrets you have.”
I took a step back.
He frowned. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
I looked away. “I don’t… I don’t mean to keep secrets.”
“I know. It’s just part of the job description, I guess.”
I shook my head. “No. Not anymore. Ryan, there’s things I have to tell you. Things I’ve kept from you. You need to know. Everything. It’s—”
Wizard, the trees whispered.
“Uh,” Ryan said. “What the fuck was that?”
“Just because we’re dreaming and I haven’t seen you in weeks and now there are ghost voices coming from the trees does not mean you can curse, Foxheart. You are a knight. Think of the children. Also, I don’t know what the fuck that was, but I might have an idea.”
“There are no children in our dream—”
“Don’t let my parents hear you say that. They always wanted to be grandparents.” My eyes widened as I looked over at him. “Uh. I totally didn’t mean to say anything like—”
“Children,” he said faintly. “You just said we should have children.”
“I said nothing of the sort. My gods, we’re not even married. I will not have little bastard children out of wedlock. Why are you making me talk about this!”
“Sam,” he said, taking my hand again. “Do you want to get married?”
I gaped at him. “Are you out of your damn mind? You’re proposing to me now?”
“What! No! I’m not proposing. Oh my gods, I was asking.”
“Yeah! Asking me to marry you! You couldn’t even do that in real life? We’re in the middle of a shared dream, you gigantic dickbag!”
“Why are we yelling at each other in the middle of a forest!”
“I don’t—”
It started snowing.
“That can’t possibly be good,” I said, squeezing Ryan’s hand.
“What?” he asked. “It’s just—”
We see you, wizard “Uh-oh.”
Ryan turned to look at me slowly. “What? What’s uh-oh? Sam, who the hell is saying that?”
The snow fell heavier. The wind started to pick up.
“I think we should probably run.”
“What? Why do we have to—”