Nightmares and Daydreams (The Blood Falls Book 4)

I was three beers in and nothing helped. “I should have picked something stronger.”

Cass blinked at me. “It’s nine in the morning, Rhysa. Pull it together!”

What did time matter? It wasn’t like I had to be anywhere. School was done. Big whoop. I didn’t even go to graduation. There was nowhere I had to be and no responsibilities for me to take care of.

Other than figuring out if Gigi was okay. Which…I had failed at miserably. Not one vision since the dream. No dreams either. I was starting to lose my ability to focus.

“Didn’t Ryddyck say something once about dreams not mattering in the other realm?” Bridge asked.

“Yeah…he did. But it wasn’t that they don’t matter. It was that they don’t exist. Or something like that.” It was honestly hard to remember all his riddles.

Rain frowned. “I get the feeling the other reality is more like the Plane than here.”

Bridge hopped off the kitchen counter and opened the fridge. “We should name this other reality. Did it have a name in the ancient texts?” She pulled out a beer and joined me.

“Not that I recognized,” Cass replied.

“Well then let’s make one up.” Bridge narrowed her eyes as she thought. “What about the Dark Zone?”

Cass blew a raspberry and thumbsed that idea down. “Terrible. Just terrible.”

“What do you think they call us?” Rain mused.

“This is home sweet home and it doesn’t matter what they call it,” Bridge said.

I rolled my eyes. She was so over the top sometimes. “This is home for us and maybe it is to them too. Maybe they call it home.”

“So we have Home and the Plane,” Rain said. “And…”

What do you call a place that, at least through my visions, is all black and shadowy with glowing eyes? The forest? Hell? Actually… “We could call it Hell.”

They all stared at me. Bridge opened and closed her mouth a few times. “It’s not bad, actually.”

“What about Purgatory?” Cass offered.

“Or Hades?” Rain said.

“No,” Bridge held up her beer. “It’s Hell. We’re going to call it Hell. It’s on the nose and obvious and quite frankly, that might be where the word came from in the first place.”

“Gigi’s in Hell.” Thinking of it that way made it even worse. And I really didn’t think I could think of it as worse. “Were the demon minotaurs I saw friends or foes? Ryddyck seemed to think they were the enemy.”

Cass touched my hand. “You have to stop rehashing your dream. You’ve gone over it so many times you’ve made me believe I actually saw it too.”

“But I saw it for a reason. There has to be an answer there, right?” Why else would I dream it?

“Maybe you were just connected to her,” Rain said softly. “The two of you share a powerful bond and with time moving differently there…what’s a week to them? You could sleep tonight and pick up right where you left off.”

Damn. I hadn’t thought of that. It was so hard to conceptualize time like that. “So you don’t think it means anything?”

“I don’t know. But you can’t find an answer, which leads me to believe it either wasn’t a message at all, or it was just the beginning of one.”

So damn frustrating sitting here waiting. I tossed the empty beer can and poured a whiskey. “Maybe if I get drunk the connection will work.”

“You better pour more than that if you’re planning on getting drunk.”

Damned samhain metabolism! Even if I didn’t get drunk, the buzz would at least help me relax a little. I knew I was wound up and my anxiety was starting to affect everyone. I felt bad about that.

Maybe I needed to take my doom and gloom for a walk to clear my head. “I’ll be back for lunch.”

“Where are you going?” Bridge asked.

“I don’t know. Somewhere I can find peace. Maybe the falls?” The weather was already starting to turn towards fall and there wouldn’t be too many more opportunities for a swim.

I stripped down naked before jumping into the water near a sunny patch. It was cold, but in a refreshing way. I let myself float, feel that weightless freedom as the water slowly moved me downstream. It was bright so I had to close my eyes, which made it even easier to erase all the negative thoughts in my mind and concentrate on the present. On where the water was taking me and where I wanted to hop out and do it all over again.

I picked my spot and climbed out, running back to my clothes and jumping back in before the shivers hit. I felt like a kid. Silly and playful, the only worry in the world how many times I could do this before I got hungry.

Turns out it was seventeen. Seventeen leaps into the water. Seventeen weightless trips. Seventeen mad dashes along the banks. I smiled so much my cheeks hurt. It only started to fade after I toweled off and put my clothes back on. I laid in the grass so the sun could warm me up, but it also made me sleepy. So I dozed in the field. Just me and the sun and the grass.

“Gigi,” I whispered to the Universe, “wherever you are, I hope you’re safe. Tell me what you need.”

But the Universe didn’t answer me. So I trudged back up to the house, grabbed a fresh glass of whiskey, and went to the one place I always felt closest to her. The library.

For once it was empty. Everyone had gone home with their research to look for clues hidden in their great swords or on the back of a page no one noticed before. I sipped my alcohol as I ran my fingers over the spines of her favorite books, landing on the third Mysteries, Mayhem, and Murder book, Ghosts By Dawn. The one she reminded me about just before she left. It called to me, so I pulled it off the shelf and stared at the cover. Maybe rereading a few pages would help. But I couldn’t sit just anywhere. It had to be the secret reading room.

So I swung open the bookcase and flicked on the light. Nothing had changed except there was an extra gray blanket. I snuggled into it and began reading. At some point in the last year the voice in my head had changed to Gigi’s whenever I read the Triple M books. I heard her now as she narrated the tale of Violet protecting Ronan. Something about it felt newly familiar, but it had to be that I’d read it so many times that it felt that way.

And then it struck me. Agnes reminded me of Saoirse. Like, a lot. Weird. But it also made me like the books even more. Agnes wasn’t just a fictional character in a fictional world anymore. She was real.

In fact, every time Agnes popped onto the page, I couldn’t help but picture Saoirse at home at the House of Nala. Agnes’ house had a terraced back patio just like the House of Nala. And an old library.

So. Weird.

I would have to point that out to Gigi when she returned. Because she was returning. Safe and sound. I would will it into existence. We would do something just like this when it was all done and dusted. We’d pour drinks and light a fire while we giggle over my silly little obsession about Agnes and Saoirse.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to feel that way again? That books were the greatest adventure waiting and there were no terrible things to worry about. Even the first time I read this book, I was lonely, sure. And busy with homework and life. But when I opened up this book I disappeared into the pages and nothing else mattered. Now, I couldn’t escape into a book for all the trying in the world. There was too much at stake. Too much to worry about.

It was why picking up a book I knew well was the right choice. I could comfort myself a little bit in these pages without having to focus too much, which was good because I had no focus to give it.

I finished my drink and set it aside, then closed the book again to pet the cover. If I couldn’t escape in a story then I could at least escape in a fantasy. Drinks. Fire. Books. Gigi.

And that was what I fell asleep dreaming about.

I was cold and it was dark and I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I was in hell. Gigi sat on what looked like a tree stump ten feet in front of me. She shivered and Ryddyck put something very much like a blanket on her shoulders. His wings were folded up against his body. In front of them sat four of the minotaur beasts and four people who looked a lot like Ryddyck.

“I see your mission was a success,” the minotaur in the center said.

“There were complications,” Ryddyck replied. “While I could take samhain form, I lost almost all my memories. It was an imperfect mission.”

The minotaur snorted. “She’s here. That’s all that matters.”

“You want to fill me in on this mission?” Gigi spoke in a loud, clear voice. Apparently she could exist here and got to keep her memories.

The minotaur stared her down, like he was sizing her up, then relaxed a little. “My grandfather fought in the great war. His memories of your world are strong. He told me stories of what life was like before the war, how wonderful life could be. And he told me the plan.”

“Plan?” Gigi asked.

He nodded. “To tether our world to yours. So you can never lock us out again.”

“But why?”

He snorted. “Have you looked around this black, barren world? We survive and that’s it. We drew all our power, all our resources from your reality in the same way you manipulate the hidden realm.”

The Plane. Except we don’t harvest it. Our relationship was symbiotic. What this beast was talking about was parasitic.

“And what do we get in return?” Gigi asked, as if our minds were linked.

The minotaur beast stared again. “Nothing. Which is why we have to stop it.”

Gigi threw her hands up. “I am so confused right now!” Then she glared at Ryddyck. “And here I thought you were the worst. Turns out you’re all like this! Just say what you mean and be done with it.”

Ryddyck smiled. Just a little. “Not everyone here is a parasite looking to feed off your world. But the ones who do want to do that, well, they’re real bad. And to them, this is life or death. They would rather die than let the Convergence pass without making it permanent.”

“And?” Gigi glared.

“And so I was sent to bring you back.” He put up a hand to stop Gigi from going off again. “Just let me finish, woman. For once I can think straight, but you’re about to shake it right out of me.”

“Sorry,” she grumbled and did, in fact, stop talking.

“An army on our side did open the door that killed your parents. It was a vulnerable time when our reality was close to yours. We knew something went through, but we didn’t know what. Or who. So we spent several years studying your world through the veil. Any time it thinned enough to see through, someone like me would try to pass between.”

“The rifts,” Gigi murmured.

“Yes. With the Convergence so close and the veil already thin in the North, it was easy for them to start opening more and more up there. But we’ve done it in many places around your world. That’s how we learned about you. You were already what we were trying to become. Something that could exist in both realities.”

She squinted. “Did you bring me here to study me?”

“No. We brought you here to tell you what the plan is. So you can go back and warn your people what to prepare for.”

She blanched. “You’re not coming back with me.”

Ryddyck shook his head. “No. I am not. But I will see you soon. At least it will feel soon to you. Not so much for me.”

I woke with a start. Dray stood over me frowning. “Did you dream?”

I had to shake myself to get my brain thinking again. “Yes. I did. Did you see it?”

“No.”

“She’s coming back. Soon. We need to get to the North.”

Dray knelt down beside me. “What did you see?”

I quickly explained the conversation Gigi was having with Ryddyck and the beast. “Hopefully she’ll have all the answers when she gets back.”

“I’m guessing we won’t have much time to adapt. I’ll let the other Houses know.”

I fidgeted while Dray sent messages off and asked Bo to hold down the House of Wren. Bo wasn’t thrilled but he agreed. “Just send word if you need me.”

“If the North is where they have the easiest time getting through, then that’s where they’ll come through first. But it won’t be the last. Prepare teams.”

“You can count on me.” They hugged it out.

Dray took my hand. “To the North?”

“To the North.”