Nightmares and Daydreams (The Blood Falls Book 4)

I found Gigi in the kitchen making a menu, party favors, and decorations. Not all at the same time, but almost. She moved between them like a tornado. I took a second to just watch. I didn’t do that nearly enough these days and I wanted to have a real good handle on Gigi’s state of mind before I laid on the big brother act.

She was so busy she didn’t notice me. I was a hard guy to miss, so that was saying something. I watched as the menu grew from appetizers to dinner to dessert. When she moved onto drinks I knew it was time. Especially since she had gotten out a lot of ribbon and tulle for the favors and decorations. The last thing I needed was my little sister mad at me with a pair of scissors. She was a delicate little butterfly, but she could throw down when she saw weakness, something Kris knew well.

“Can we talk?”

She yelped and jumped backwards two feet. “Dray! You scared me!”

“I’ve been standing here for almost five minutes.”

I observed every emotion that came off her, every twitch of her face. “You have?” She was sleep deprived, running on adrenaline and caffeine, and filled with fear. Not a good combination. “I guess I was just focused.”

“On wedding planning.”

“Yes.”

“Did Bethany ask you to do this?” I had a sneaking suspicion our aunt had no idea.

“Well no. But she has to be expecting us to throw a party. She’s waited so long to marry Sun!”

“And,” I moved slowly across the kitchen so as not to spook her, “it’s her day. Her and Sun’s. Not yours.”

“Are you accusing me of something, big brother?”

I carefully slid the scissors far, far away and out of sight. “Yes. I’m accusing you of hiding from your responsibilities.”

It was a good thing I took the scissors because that’s exactly where her eyes darted first. Then she clenched her fists and stomped her foot. “How, Dray?” Tears sprang to her eyes and it hit me in the gut like a punch from Bo. I hated making her upset. “How can I be the one key that matters? I don’t understand. Make it make sense.”

“I can’t. I’ve been trying for my whole life. And you know what good it did me? Nothing. None. Zilch. I lived grumpy, alone, and in pain, trying to hide who I was from the world.”

She shrank back, pulling in on herself. “I’m not trying to hide who I am.”

“Yes you are. You just didn’t know who you were until Rhysa found Ryddyck in that dungeon. All you’ve done since that day is hide.” I hated calling her out, but it was necessary. “And don’t go telling me how hard it is to accept Destiny. Or that your life is set on a course you didn’t choose. Whether we like it or not, we’re important to this war. Our parents were willing to sacrifice their lives to protect us—”

“It’s not fair!” She cried out. The pain in her voice broke my heart. “I miss them so much.”

I folded her into my arms and let her cry. “I miss them too.”

She cried harder. “How could they want this for us?”

That was the hardest part to understand. It took me a long time to come to terms with it. “Because they saw what was coming and it scared them. They saw and they knew they couldn’t trust just anyone.” I understand why it was me. I was the oldest, the strongest. It was my responsibility to keep our House safe. But why Gigi? What special quality did she possess that they knew was important. More important than Bo or Kris or Aethel. It had to be Gigi.

I held her while she sniffled. She probably needed this cry months ago, but I didn’t see it until today. I was too busy hiding from my own grief.

“You really think they saw the war?”

I had no idea what they saw, only that it was enough to take immediate, permanent action. “Maybe they just saw what lies on the other side.”

She pulled back to look up at me. “That is not comforting.”

“I’m not here to comfort you. I’m here to help you see. The time for running is over. I know what Rhysa said scared you. I get it. But if you are the only key to the lock, then Mom and Dad made you so for a reason. It’s time to figure out that reason. They gave their lives for this. We have to be strong enough to see it through.”

The fight went out of her. “I’m so selfish. Whining about my perfectly lovely life, complaining that I have a destiny to fulfill. I’m such an idiot.” She pulled away and put her head in her hands. “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.” She sat up, her face pink and a little wet. “No more running. No more hiding. And definitely no more whining. Whoever Ryddyck is and whatever our destiny is, I’m getting to the bottom of it.”

I actually felt a little ping of pride. “There’s my sister. I’ve missed that fire in you.”

She punched me in the arm. “Careful what you wish for.”

The next day Rhysa took over my office so she could meet with Lou, who was currently running the House of Axl on Rhysa’s behalf. The actual, physical house of the House of Axl was still under construction, so Lou usually came here when she had updates for Rhysa. This time she brought her son, Tymothy, and the boy’s father, Iwan, general of the Dreg army.

Tymothy sparred in the yard with Bo while Iwan and I watched.

“He’s already got some good moves.” The kid was now in line for what the Axl’s called their throne. It was always a toss-up how Houses would handle heirs. They could be coddled and spoiled, or they could be trained harder than anyone else.

Tymothy seemed to be a nice balance of both.

“Credit goes to Lou more than me,” he said. Iwan was a big male. Wide, muscular, the kind of male that lived in his armor. I was surprised he wasn’t wearing it now. I took that as a compliment.

“He’ll be a fine warrior one day.”

Iwan made a noise in the back of his throat. “We’ve always had a standing army. Always trained. The Ancient War has always loomed in the background even though we go around acting like it’s over. “

He had a point. “We’re a strange species. Always ready for a war we say is never coming.”

Iwan turned to face me. “Except it is coming.”

“You never think you’ll be the one living through the big events you hear in stories. It’s always meant to be somebody else.” I finished my coffee and set the empty mug on the wood railing. “I think we’re all having a little cognitive dissonance.” The morning mist still clung to the mountain air. It made everything seem ethereal, which only added to the effect.

“Yeah. Fuck, even when the Houses descended on the Axl fields and I had to call up the Army, my mind couldn’t quite believe we were actually going to fight each other.”

“Well at least we got a glimpse at our future.”

“Fucking dragons.” He gave me a nod of sorry. “What else is waiting for us on the other side?”

Demons. The devil. Maybe some angels and ghosts? Who knew. Not us. That knowledge was lost and all we had left were the stories. “I’m not sure, but I think it might be everything we see in our nightmares.”

“Fuck.” He turned back to the yard. “I hear we’re getting the Houses together for some show and tell?”

Everyone was using humor to cover their nerves these days and Ivy Volci’s plan to gather and present the data to all the Houses at once had become the butt of all the jokes. It pissed Ivy off but she was taking it like a champ. “Whatever you do, don’t call it that in front of Ivy. She might just bite your head off.”

Iwan laughed hard. “If anyone were to take me out, it would be a pissed off wolf.”

I could picture Ivy shifting into wolf form and cleanly removing Iwan’s head from his shoulders in a single bite. “Yeah, that’s the plan. Meet, share the stories, see if we can figure out what we’re in for.”

Iwan frowned. “She really thinks some old fairytales can help us?”

I was probably as skeptical as anyone at first. Old stories were just that. Old made-up ridiculousness. But the more I heard, the more I realized my sisters were on to something. The stories may be dressed up in fancy colors and ideas, but when you break them down to their base elements, they weren’t silly anymore. They were ominous and filled with clues. “The one solid thing every House has are stories about the Dark Times and the Ancient War. Ivy thought if we all listened to the stories we might hear or connect things. The researchers have combed through so much I don’t think they can tell one word from another at this point.”

“Fresh eyes and ears. Makes sense.” Then he frowned and made a noise in the back of his throat. “The veil is thin this morning.”

I reached out, feeling the mist and chill of the air and realized he was right. I could sense the Plane so strongly I felt like I should be able to see it. “I wonder why.”

“Don’t you have a specialist in the family?” He tried to make it sound casual, but as one warrior to another, I could tell he was now on full alert. He listened to everything, saw everything, and was ready to defend or attack.

“Rain should be here.” I reached out for Kris. It was always easy to sense my siblings, no matter what. Today it was like I turned on a spotlight and beamed it straight at him.

He appeared in front of me a moment later. “We didn’t notice until we left the house this morning. The wards disguised the change to us.”

Because of Rain’s extreme psychic gifts, they kept their house shielded in every magical way to give her relief from the constant inundation of thoughts from everyone in the area. “What’s her opinion?”

“It freaked her the fuck out. Which has me pretty freaked out too.”

Iwan’s hulking size seemed to grow. “Where is she now? Why have you left her?”

Kris was more than her Mate. He was her Shield. A special bonded duty to protect her. Therefore he rarely left her side. “She’s in an emergency meeting with Shoshanna and the council. Look, there’s no reason for the veil to be this thin. We’re not nearing a solstice or any other typical event that brings the Planes together.”

“But we are facing a war. Ryddyck said the Planes are converging. Maybe this is a sign he’s right.” If our Planes were this close, the other might not be far behind.

Iwan put up a hand. “The birds.” Then he cocked his head and listened.

I did the same, hearing the emptiness where the morning should be filled with sound. “If the birds are affected then the animals will be next.” They were Plane sensitive already. This would change a lot. Even the humans might notice.

“The war is close. I can feel it,” Iwan murmured, his hands fisting at his side. “We are not ready.”

“I don’t know that we have much of a choice.” My skin crawled now that I was aware of how different things were. The power of the Plane aligning with our reality was always awesome to feel, but I was normally prepared for it. Our Planes of Existence regularly grow close each dawn, every solstice, and at other special times throughout the year.

But a random spring morning wasn’t on that list.

“Iwan!” Bo shouted from the yard. “Hurry!”

The general hopped the wooden porch railing in a single leap and was at Tymothy’s side in a flash. “What happened?” The boy sat on the ground, his eyes rolled back in his head, talking to no one.

“We were sparring. No weapons. And all of a sudden he started seeing things, then said hi to something and started talking. That’s when he sat down and his eyes rolled back.” The color drained out of Bo’s face as he spoke.

I turned to Kris. “We really need Rain.”

“I’ll get her.” He shifted back to the House of Gatlin just as Lou came running out.

“Where is he?” she shrieked.

All I could do was nod towards the yard. It was the fastest way to communicate what she needed to know. There was no way I was getting in the way of a panicked mother.

Rhysa came out next. “Is he all right?”

“I have no idea. The Plane is close. Maybe he’s seeing something there?” I wanted it to be a simple explanation. I wasn’t so sure I could handle another mystery.

“He’s talking?” She frowned. “The Plane is an extension of our reality. There’s no one there for him to talk to except my mother…” Her eyes locked with mine and a cold sensation washed over me. “Hold me.”

“Rhysa, no! Don’t do this!” I used all the power within me to will her into stopping, but she did it anyway. Her body was in my arms, but her mind was on the Plane. “Damn it, Rhysa. Fuck.” I cradled her limp body and moved to the rail so I could see into the yard again.

Tymothy smiled. “Oh, hello. You look strange today.” He paused and wrinkled his nose. “Yes, I see now. It was nice to meet you.” His eyes rolled back into place and he smiled up at his sobbing mother as if nothing strange had happened at all.

But Rhysa didn’t come back to me and I started to panic. Every second that ticked by was another second I was sure something terrible happened. It wasn’t until Rain and Kris arrived that my heart rate returned to something like normal.

“Don’t worry, Dray. She’s fine,” Rain assured me. She even put a hand on my arm. “I can feel her and her mother. No one else.”

I found a chair and sat, arranging Rhysa so her head was on my shoulder. “What the bloody hell is going on?” Why was Marhysa here and what did it have to do with the boy?

“Tymothy will be fine. Nothing that happened hurt him in any way.” Rain’s eyes darted back and forth as she examined things my eyes couldn’t see. “The council agrees that this was indeed a strong convergence of our world and the Plane. Stronger than any we’ve recorded in two hundred years. And even worse, it follows no known cycle. There’s no reason that this morning, when the veil was already thin, that it should have thinned even more.” She held up her hands and shook her head.

“Has anything like this ever happened? The veil randomly thinning for no reason?”

She shook her head and then nodded. It was like she didn’t want to tell me but then decided she had to. “There…there are a handful of incidents. The only thing they have in common is that afterward there is a cataclysmic earthquake or volcanic eruption. As if this plane of existence can’t handle whatever it is that’s happening, so it has a physical reaction to the stimulus.”

“The volcanic eruption that killed my parents?”

She nodded slowly. “Is one of those incidents.”

“Do they always happen near the doors?”

She shook her head again. “No. Some have. Others are in locations that are nowhere near a door.”

“So somewhere in the world right now people are suffering.” Whether it was an eruption or an earthquake, the result was the same. Destruction and suffering. I could see the day my parents died. It all played out in my mind in a flash. “So…they’re coming. This was a knock on the door.” The beginning of the end. The Convergence was near. I snuggled Rhysa closer as if I could somehow protect her from the inevitable future.

“Why is Marhysa here and why was she talking to Tymothy?” Rain murmured. “Did she say anything to you?”

“No.” I hated that she left and there was nothing I could do. This feeling of helplessness was the absolute worst feeling in the world. “She realized it must be Marhysa and left.”

Rain’s eyes narrowed. “They’re arguing.” She frowned. “About Tymothy.”

What on earth could Marhysa want with the boy?

“They’re done. She’s coming back to us.” Rain automatically took a step back to give Rhysa room.

Her body went rigid, she gulped in air with a wheeze, and sat up, looking confused as she glanced around her new surroundings. Then her gaze fell on me and softened. “I’m sorry,” she whispered for only me to hear. “Thank you.”

“Always.” I might not like it when she ran off, but I would always keep her safe. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed, glancing back at Rain before answering. “I need to hand over Revenge. Tymothy is the heir, but I think he’s too young.”

“That’s because he is,” Iwan came up the stairs holding his son in his arms. “Wielding a great sword requires training as well as the physical size to hold it. Tymothy has neither in his favor.”

“He’s exhausted and we’re upsetting him.” Lou reached up and Tymothy slid into her arms. “I’ll see you all later.” Her gaze locked onto Rhysa with a warning.

I could be wrong, but I was pretty sure that glare meant come near my son and I’ll gut you. I waited until she was safely inside. “If not Tymothy, then who?”

Rhysa shrugged. “There are very few options left. But according to my mother we better find one that works. Soon.”

“But why?” Iwan asked. “Why can’t you simply wield your own sword?”

My frustration got the better of me and I spoke before Rhysa could reply. “Because Rhysa may need free hands.”

“Free…hands. I find that statement strategically interesting.”

It was strategically interesting. In fact, it was downright fascinating. “Rhysa’s ability to wield any great sword could be the difference between success and failure.”

“So what do you want Lou to do?” Iwan balked. “Have a King Arthur ceremony to see who can wield Revenge?” He laughed but it wasn’t the worst idea. Someone else had to be able to do it.

The death toll in the House of Axl was devastating. It left the line of succession barren except for Rhysa, and then, eventually, Tymothy. There had to be a way to adapt House of Axl’s succession. House of Heida’s queens and kings weren’t hereditary. They were chosen.

Rhysa spoke up. “I’m just curious, Iwan. The House of Axl has used one method for generations. Maybe this new era brings on a new way of doing things. Maybe we do have a King Arthur in our midst. Or maybe it’s just time to pick a new way forward.”

The general’s eyebrows shot up. He whistled. “A year ago I would have laughed at anyone suggesting the House of Axl step back from its deep-seated traditions.”

“Times change and a war is coming. We can’t be precious,” Rhysa said.

“No. No we cannot,” Iwan agreed. “I should get back. Check on Tymothy…and calm Lou down.”

Everyone moved off, separating into couples and groups, all discussing the strange closeness of Plane. I heard whispers of excitement and fear. Mostly fear.

Rhysa wrapped her arms around me. “You can’t protect everyone.”

“The hell I can’t.” There had to be a way. I would find it.

“It’s a little exciting.”

“Not you too.”

She shrugged. “It was so easy. I was here and then I was there. But…I could still see here. I almost felt like I was in both places at once. To be able to access all the Plane has to offer, but in our world? It’s going to be incredible.”

I kissed the top of her head and wished I could be as optimistic. All I could see were the dangers. “The magic will come easy, but so will theirs.” I cupped her face and stole a kiss. I think I needed it. To feel grounded and there was nothing more grounding than when we touched.

She pushed up onto her toes and took a kiss from me. “You and me? We’re going to do great things together. Believe in that, if nothing else.”

I kissed her again, holding her up and against me so she wouldn’t have to strain and I could have all the kisses I wanted. “I believe in you no matter what.”