Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 10: Long enough to laugh

Noah tried focusing his gaze on Winton, but soon had to squeeze his eyes shut for a while. He knitted his eyebrows as the pain around his eye returned. It turned out he couldn't keep them open for long without them stinging.

Winton and Cassius had been silent ever since he got back. He guessed they weren't certain he could talk at this point, but Noah opened his mouth, doing his best to ignore the sting from his swollen, busted lip as he did.

"So... I had..." He stopped to lick some dried blood away from his lip with a frown. "... I had begun telling you about the mara."

Cassius caringly glanced over at him and looked as if he was about to say something, but remained silent as Winton shot him a look. Noah closed his eyes again and leaned his head against the tree.

Certainly, he wouldn't expect them to want the same treatment he'd just received, but he was still the one telling the story. They wouldn't get in more trouble than they already were.

"It's better than wallowing in pain," he said in a low voice. "Reminiscing is all we can do right now."

"What about—" Cassius began and Winton cleared his throat with a harsh look. "... What-- What about the plan... Then?" The 'th' sound didn't quite come out right, but even Winton knew not to make fun of someone's front teeth missing.

"Oh, yes I suppose we're still doing that but... I—I don't know, I'm not in the mood to think about that right now."

"I don't think we should stall either, I mean... Look at us. And it's barely been two days."

"Just... Not. Now. Please..."

Cassius frowned.

"All—All right then. What, um, what's a mara?"

"It's a blight," Noah said, sitting up a bit straighter and looked smug at the others' expressions. It was a horribly swollen and purple smugness, but he smiled through the pain. "A dream blight actually. Feeds off of people's nightmares and... General terror I think? I'm not sure. Luna probably remembers it better."

"That's the, uh... What you saw in the sky?"

Noah nodded.

"I don't think they're supposed to be that big though. Or... I mean, I've never seen a blight as big as that, and I still see them occasionally."

"You see blights occasionally? I thought it was just... I don't know, ghosts and... Spirits or something like that."

"Mostly," Noah agreed. "There are way more dead humans roaming around than blights on our plane after all. Like Isaac... I think."

"That's... Good."

"Indeed. So, uh, where was I? We were about to go into the town hall?"

"Yes, and you heard a gunshot, turned around and saw that thing in the sky," Winton filled in.

"Mara," Noah corrected him.

"Mara." Winton rolled his eyes.

"Anyways I don't think a lot happened to me while in the town hall. We sat down, had tea, discussed the town situation—"

"Which was?"

"Which was what?"

"What was the situation like? According to the town chief I mean?" Cassius asked.

"Oh, well... He blamed the people for not paying taxes. He wasn't quite right in the head though, but I'm getting to that. Actually, if I don't remember wrong, I think my first clue was his eyes."