''I get it,'' he said, ''the sun so loved the moon...''
His voice trailed off. We both knew the story. We knew it all too well. He was looking at me thoughtfully. I, however, turned away.
''What if,'' I began, ''the sun didn't want to die for the m...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
To my surprise, when I opened my eyes I wasn't in front of the ley lines.
Instead, I was in the high school. Immediately, my fists clenched by my sides. The visions and dreams I'd had in these hallways were a reminder of the sanity that wavered. Images of the perverse version of myself crawling from a locker infiltrated my thoughts. I swallowed thickly, fearing that I would see her again. Little bits of that dark part of myself seemed to have pushed their way forward into my consciousness. I thought of the pinpricks I felt against my skin and the way I'd made the hunter scream- how every time I used my abilities I felt powerful- and it was addicting.
My back was facing one of the large windows, the sun warming my back and lighting up the hallway before me. In front of me, in the middle of the hallway lit by the glow from the window, was Thomas Joy. He held out a russet brown hand littered with calluses, offering it with a small smile. When I put my hand in his, instant relief and calm filtered through my body. In the back of my mind, I still wondered if the darkness was here, but Thomas Joy exuded nothing but a strange purity- one that was untainted by the swirls of clouded power that followed me.
"It's good to see you again."
As much as I wanted to stay with Thomas in the light and in the warmth, I had to find the lines. I needed to find the tree.
"Thomas," my voice was shaky, "how... why are you here?"
His soft smile reminded me so much of Ben's that my breath caught in my throat. In a dreamscape that had riddled me with so much evil and pain, his presence was welcome. His smile was like Ben's but his eldest son modeled his powerful presence.
"My family," he replied, "you're here to help them. I'm here to help you."
"The tree," I told him breathlessly, before the warmth made me forget completely, "I need the tree."
Thomas' head cocked in confusion at the panic on my face. A realization crossed his face, and he looked around the hallway.
"Interesting. You see a tree in your dreamscape. I suppose every daemon is different in their connection to the lines. Yours is strong- perhaps you have more access to the center than I do." He noted the utter confusion on my face. Luckily, he was willing to give me answers. "You connected to my energy at the river. The energy I'd left behind. This landscape is how I've been trying to communicate with you. This is how I see the ley lines."
I looked around us. "The high school?"
He smiled at my remark. I remembered Ben telling me that his father had been a teacher at the school and I suppose it made some semblance of sense for this to be the landscape he pictured to connect to the ley lines. But if he did, where were they? And what did he mean by communicating with me? So, I asked him.
