Delphic Song

Chapter Four

He frowned at me. “Yes, apparel.”

For some reason, this was so funny to me that I couldn’t contain my laughter. It echoed through the dense forest, startling birds and, I imagined, other wild creatures.

“Stop!” he hissed, clapping a hand over my mouth. “Do you know nothing?”

I tried to say something around his hand, but he paid no attention to me at all. His dark eyes darted around the forest, his body tense as he listened to every noise it made. Dread began to settle in my stomach as I heard a long, low howl resound through the wood. The hair on the back of my neck rose.

“Nidkur,” he cursed, whirling on me. “Do you not realize where we are?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Um, no? I tried to ask you but you didn’t-”

He put up a hand to stop me. “No matter. The Maedian is a very dangerous place, and you have just alerted its most dangerous predator of our presence here. We must flee.”

My heart pounded, threatening to break out of my chest, and my throat was dry. This wasn’t a dream, this was a nightmare. What was out there? Chills crept up my spine. Why, oh why had I decided to put my arm into the portal –

He interrupted my thoughts. “We need to run. Follow me and, whatever you do, stay close.”

Without warning, he took off. He was so fast I didn’t even see him move, just a blur of motion and then he was 100 feet away from me. The howling grew louder, and I began to run. I shoved my way forward through the thick undergrowth in his direction, but I wasn’t making much progress. My breath came in short, labored gasps as I ran, breaking through low-hanging branches and leaping over bushes. Briars stabbed at my skin and sharp sticks jabbed at me, but panic was driving me. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew I was scared.

My feet snapped twigs and slipped over rocks. I twisted my ankle but kept running, my head tucked to my chest to protect my face. Suddenly, cold, hard dread stopped me short. I had lost track of the man.

I almost cried. My eyes were hot, but I repeated to myself in my head, do not panic. Do not panic. Just look around you. Stay calm. Do not panic. Do not panic. Donotpanicdonotpanicdonotpanicdonotpanic –

Something cold splashed down over my face.

I jerked upright, spluttering. Blinking away the water dripping down my face, I coughed, wiping my forehead with my pillow.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded, turning on the culprit.

Payson stood grinning beside my bed, holding an empty glass of water. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

I glared at her. “I could kill you right now.” I flopped back down onto my bed, but it was damp and cold. I pushed away the wet pillow and grabbed a new one, stuffing it under my head. “I just had the weirdest dream,” I mumbled into my pillow. “It was seriously the most bizarre dream I’ve ever had.”

“Oh yeah?” Payson raised an eyebrow. “You actually managed to sleep? It was so hot that my only dreams were of sleep.”

I laughed, proceeding to give her a rundown of my restless night. Although I kept my voice light and airy, inside I was a bit anxious about the whole matter. Up until last night, I had never had dreams. Sure, I might have once or twice, but they were never frightening, and they hadn’t made me question whether or not I was dreaming or not. Last night, it had seemed so real, like I was there in the flesh, that even now I had trouble believing that it had been false. My memory of it is still as vivid as ever, not once piece of it fading, and that seemed unusual. But whatever, did it even matter? So what I had a weird dream; it didn’t mean that I was going to go crazy or anything.