I get two different reactions when I finish explaining my dream.
Vul, unsurprisingly, is squinting at me skeptically, his arms crossed and lips twisted into a scowl. Leo, also unsurprisingly, is looking thoughtfully off in the distance while taking a bite from his skinless apple. As for me, I just sit there awkwardly and fiddle with the small stone that has a weird design etched into the side, waiting for one of them to speak.
“That’s . . . strange,” Leo comments after a moment
Vul rolls his eyes. “Not so much strange as impossible. Mortem can’t be back, Beata trapped him in the Nether a millennia ago.”
Leo shrugs. “Things change. Mari was lost to the human world and Beata disappeared. It makes sense that he’d strike in her absence,” he says before tossing the apple core into a waste bin. “What I would like to know, is what kind of power you possess,” he says to me. “No offense, but you look perfectly normal. Where could all that power possibly be hiding?”
I frown and shrug. “How should I know? She only told me that it’s there, not what it is or how to use it.”
Leo hums under his breath, considering this.
“We could always put her in a life or death situation. The power would want to protect itself so, in turn, it’d protect her.” Vul says as he places the ball on the couch cushion beside him.
“Too risky,” Leo states as he slides into the chair opposite of mine.
I nod in agreement. “Yeah, I’ve already went through a life or death situation this week and am still recovering.” I say with a gesture to my bandaged shoulder that still aches.
“Right,” Leo says. “We can’t have her dying on us either. Beata chose her for a reason.”
Vul rolls his eyes, “Right,” he mutters dryly.
Leo opens his mouth to say something else, but the front door bursts open, revealing a smiling Sim who holds a cookie in each hand.
“Cookies!” he yells as he swings across the ceiling and disappears into the hall.
I blink in surprise and Vul groans. “Why’d you have to send him to Pan? Now he’s never going to go to sleep.”
I glance outside of one of the windows whose frame is made of roots woven delicately together, and see that it is already dark out.
How long had I been out?
“He needed to get out of the house. We can’t include him in this,” Leo says, tugging my gaze away from the window and back to the golden-haired boy.
Vul scowls, a look I presume is permanently etched on his face, and stands. “Whatever, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed,” he says as he stalks off info the hallway.
A moment later there is a loud thud, followed by Sim cackling. I turn back to Leo who is shaking his head.
“So, what now?”
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Now, Vul and I have to get Sim to bed. In the mean time, you can make yourself comfortable until we get back. There’s plenty of food so help yourself,” he tells me as he stands up. “Maybe after we can figure out what to do with you.”
I frown and nod as he takes off down the hall. Once he’s out of sight I sigh and drum my fingers on my thighs, wondering what I can do to entertain myself. My eyes fall onto the kitchen and I push myself off of the chair and to my feet. My stomach growls as I make my way to the cupboards.
I open up the cupboards one by one, doing a little exploring and finding plates and bowls and cups, all made out of wood, along with basic eating utensils. There’s a fridge covered by wooden panels so I thought it was just another cupboard at first, but it is fully stocked on the inside. There is fruit and vegetables and juice and meat. It’s all so normal, that I wonder how they couldn’t be human. And then I remember the ears and shake that thought out of my head.
“Where do they get all of this food from?” I mutter as I notice a box of Cheerios in the cupboard above me. How can they even eat it? Aren’t lions on a meat only diet?
Yet Leo was casually eating an apple only moments ago, so I guess not.
I shake my head and grab a couple pieces of bread, proceeding to make myself a peanut butter sandwich. My shoulder is throbbing now and I wince as I use my left hand to spread the peanut butter on the bread. I probably need new bandages, but I have no idea where they keep their first aid kit around here.
I pour myself a small cup of milk and eat my sandwich as I stare down at the small stone. The stone itself is grey, with deep lines engraved into one side to create an eye with a star at the center of its pupil. Above the eye in the left corner is a small circle, and another the same size is placed on the opposite side at the bottom right corner. It doesn’t glow or anything like it did before I went to sleep. It just stares back at me, albeit a little creepily, as I take a bite of my sandwich.
This place is so . . . so surreal. I still can’t wrap my head around how this is even possible.
I straighten the headband on my head, trying to get the ears to even out as I frown down at the stone.
Beata told me to listen to Leo and Vul. She said they’d protect me. I guess I can believe it. I know Leo will, it’s Vul I’m worried about. They are my best chance at finding Nina and getting back home.
But what about that Mortem guy? He came out of nowhere, and I couldn’t even see what he looks like. He said he wants what’s inside of me. But what does that even mean? And what power do I have that Beata keeps talking about?
“Ugh, this is giving me a headache,” I murmur as I close my eyes and rub my temples.
My plate is empty now, and I quickly down the last of my milk before placing my dishes in the sink and running water on them.
I’m sweating by the time I finish cleaning up my dishes. My shoulder is aching so deeply that I nearly groan as I clutch onto it with my left hand. It was fine a few minutes ago, why is it acting up again?
Just as I’m about to search the house for a first aid kit, Leo comes into the living room and frowns at my pained expression. “Is your shoulder hurting again?”
My teeth are snagged on my bottom lip as I try to whimper. I not my head at him and he turns, quickly making his way down the hall before coming back with a small light brown chest. I sink down onto the couch and wipe some sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand.
Leo sits down beside me and pulls out a roll of gauze before undoing the bandage on my shoulder. I wince when I see the puffy red flesh and the stitches that keep the wound closed. I swallow the bile rising in my throat and look away as he rubs some sort of cream on the wound and applies a fresh bandage.
God this hurts.
“Eat some of this,” he says as he hands me some type of herb I don’t recognize. “It’ll help with the pain.”
I nod as he puts everything back in the chest and take a bite. It has a weird texture and weird taste and weird smell, but I don’t question it because as soon as I swallow the pain in my shoulder lessens and my head clears. I nearly sigh in relief as Leo leaves the living room and puts the chest away.
When he comes back, Vul is with him. Vul has his arms crossed over his chest but is in a pair of navy pajama pants and a grey shirt. Even Leo is dressed down in his own pajamas. They both look exhausted and I feel bad for burdening them with me and my injury.
Leo hands me a wad of clothes. “You should get some more sleep. We need that shoulder to heal,” he says and I nod. “These are the smallest pajamas I could find.”
I nod again and stand up as they lead the way back to my room. Vul disappears into his own on the way without a word.
“Good night,” Leo says from the other side of the doorway. I give him a small, grateful smile.
“Good night,” I reply softly before shutting the door behind me and making my way to the bed.
It is a struggle to put on the t-shirt that is way too long, and I have to roll up the legs of my sweatpants a few times so I won’t trip when I try to walk. I wad up my clothes and set them on the dresser before falling back onto the bed and staring up at the wooden chandelier above me, the small orbs of light floating softly.
I blink a few times. I’m not tired at all, I don’t know how they expect me to get any sleep after what has happened, and with the fear of running into Mortem again in one of my dreams.
This sucks.
I let out a long breath and then blink again, my lips twisting into a frown when I see one of the orbs of light slowly separating from the others and drifting down. I squint at it and sit up on my elbows as it comes closer to me.
What the heck?
The light comes to a pause a few inches from my face, it’s glow diming just enough that I can make out a tiny, pixie-like girl made entirely out of light. She’s like a little Beata, but with wings and impish hair.
She opens her mouth, and her voice comes out in a high, tinkling octave. “Hello,” she says as she grins at me. “I’m Lux.”
Well this just keeps getting weirder and weirder.