Page 178 of Sweet Nightmare

These are nightmares in their purest form, and they aren’t scary at all. No, it’s not the nightmares themselves we have to fear. But the monsters that we create from them.

Once Jude’s harvested them all, once he has collected every last nightmare the room has to offer, he flicks his fingers, and the huge spinning ball in front of him flies straight at the monsters—and not a second too soon, because they’re just about to bear down on us.

The monsters scream as the nightmares hit them, then arrow inside.

And then we wait, breath held, to see what happens next. And at first, the answer is nothing. The monsters just stand there, swaying, almost like they’re in shock.

“What’s going on?” Izzy whispers, and I realize she’s got her knives in her hands as she looks from one monster to the next.

“I don’t know,” I whisper back.

There’s a moment of deafening silence and—the first monster explodes. And then they all do. One after the other, the thousands upon thousands of nightmares they were made of rain down on us like confetti.

CHAPTER NINETY-THREE

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO

THAT GOOD NIGHTMARE

No blood, no gore. Just so many nightmares filling the air that it’s impossible to see through them all.

At least not until Jude starts gathering them up and feeding them into the tapestry, one by one by one.

I watch, a little in awe, as he slowly, methodically, clears the room one nightmare at a time. And I can’t help thinking, despite everything we’ve been through, just how lucky I am to have this strong, powerful, beautiful mate.

Somehow, against the odds, we’ve weathered the storm and made it through to the other side. We’ve learned how to face the monsters. More, we’ve learned how to face them together. And though we have wounds that will never heal, we have each other. And for now, that’s more than I ever dreamed we’d have.

Eventually Jude feeds the last nightmare into the tapestry, and we all kind of watch it for a second, waiting for the next Henri to appear. But it seems that was a one-time occurrence.

Thank God. Because I don’t think I can handle more than one of that man. As it is, he spent the entire fight hiding out on the balcony and is only now coming down to join the rest of us. There’s nothing quite like an oracle afraid to live in the present.

The coward.

I turn back to Jude to see if he’s okay, but he’s already across the dance hall, on his knees beside Ember and Simon.

I don’t know why, but the moment I see him, ice slams through me, and I take off running toward them. As I do, I fumble inside myself for Ember’s window, and once I find it, I try to open up the colors. But they fade even as I reach for them—first the green and then the purple, until all that’s left is the red of the past.

And I know.

Even before I get to them, I know.

Even before Simon lets out a heartbreaking cry, I know.

Ember is gone.

I sprint the last few yards, then drop to my knees beside Jude. “What happened?” I gasp.

“I thought she would do it,” Simon whispers. “I really did. I mean, she was hurt—I knew she was hurt, but she kept struggling, kept trying to burn, kept trying to rise—” His voice breaks, and his gorgeous siren eyes fill with tears. “And when it was almost over, when she was only embers, she said—” This time he breaks off on a sob. I start to hug him, but suddenly Mozart is there, too. She puts a hand on his back and one on Jude’s, and then the three of them crumble into each other.

And though Jude’s my mate, though I love him through time and space, and dreams and nightmares, through anything this world—or the next—has to throw at us, I also know that right now he needs to be with the friends who have been his family for the last three years.

I pull back a little, start to get up so they can have their privacy. But Jude’s hand flashes out and fastens onto mine like it’s a lifeline.

“Stay,” he whispers.

And so I do.

EPILOGUE

---