Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor #2)

Chapter Four

She laid there in the dark, detached, fearing what sort of trouble it would bring.

2

Deep in the night, the barking of dogs jolted Wren out of her catatonia.  The hounds in their pens outside were making a terrible fuss – growling and thrashing, baying like wolves on the verge of a territorial war.  It was enough to pull Wren from her bed on unsteady legs that took her to the window, where she could peer through the bars and down to the yard below.

Beneath a new moon, the night was black as pitch.  Wren could not see anything that might have disturbed the dogs, but she could hear their continual din.

What has gotten them so upset? she wondered sleepily, still a bit drunk from the overdose.

Something had disturbed the dogs, but perhaps it was nothing to worry about.  It might have been a stray cat that had managed to get itself inside the walls.  Even if there was an intruder in the courtyard, she knew she was safe in the ward.  There was no need for her to fear anything of that nature.

She was about to turn away, back to her bed to ponder her dream for the rest of the night, when a horrible chirping cacophony began to spiral down the hallway, flowing in and out of the cells then looping back again.  Wren froze in her step, pushing back her tangled curls as if it would make her hearing sharper.  Something had disturbed the birds in the aviary, which was much closer than the dogs.  Wren stood there, fearing to breathe.

It’s closer…  What is happening?

Gradually, the cells of the female ward came to life.  Inmates began to scream and cry, most for sheer bewilderment.  Wren was likewise lost in confusion, but just as quickly, a thought settled in which lifted her heart.  Instead of fear, she was filled with hope and relief.  There was only one possibility in her mind: the thing she’d been waiting for all this time.

Rifter!  He’s finally come for me!

She’d managed to dream and he had seen her, despite whatever else had.  That eye…  But it didn’t matter.  He was here!  He’d come to take her home!

In spite of the terrible sounds around her – the orderlies and nurses shouting to each other, the screams of the other patients as they scratched at the walls – Wren had a hopeful smile on her mouth as she approached the door.  She knew that at any moment, the way would open and Rifter would sweep in to deliver her.  She was on the verge of tears, desperate as she was for it – but stopped short when a quick movement within the stone room caught her eye.

She became still, her pleasant thoughts gone.  Peering around, she saw no more movement, but she knew she had seen something – and she knew exactly what it had been.  It was the quick dash of an unknown shadow.

The shadow mimic…  It’s here!

Feeling a cool patch of air drift over her, Wren glimpsed the foreign shadow as it darted across the wall.  She turned swiftly, trying to catch sight of it, but it was gone again in an instant, disappearing into another shadow.

She was shaken, especially knowing that it had attacked Adele, disturbed further by the noises from the ward outside, but there was nowhere else for her to go.

Don’t be afraid, she coached herself, but her heart was insisting otherwise.  Be firm.

“I know you are there,” she called finally, gathering her bravery.  Shadows did not have physical ears, but she knew they were capable of understanding.  “Come out.  Whose shadow are you?”

Shadows – or these imps called mimics – were fickle creatures, and certainly capable of violence when unattached.  She could not tell if this one had shape or not, but she remembered that Adele had said it had been in the form of a boy.