Page 15 of Presence

“Stay,” the voice says again. I recognize it instantly—Echo. How could I forget him? “You deserve some rest after everything you’ve been through.” Though I can’t see him, I sense his presence, a shadow at the edge of my vision, too blurry to make out.

“But I want to see you,” I protest, my voice taking on a whiny tone I despise. Yet, what can I do? It just slips out of me without a filter.

He chuckles softly. “Of course you do. How about I come on top of you then?”

My heartbeat quickens, and my face flushes. “What do you mean, ‘on top of me’?” I manage to ask, swallowing hard. Echo is incredibly attractive, but there’s more to it—a magnetic pull between us I can’t ignore. I felt it last time, and it’s just as strong now.

“How about I just show you?” His voice turns husky and playful, thick with innuendo that dances on the cotton candy breeze. I breathe it in, tasting its sweetness.

I bite my lip and nod, feeling my fingertips tingle. I focus on staying calm, not wanting my usual awkwardness to ruin this moment. The strangeness within me never seems to stay quiet for long, always threatening to push people away. But not now. Not him.

Echo’s scent mingles with the cotton candy aroma, and I feel the warmth of his body near my legs. I clench the grass, my emotions spilling out as my chest rises and falls rapidly. Finally, he places his hands on the ground beside my shoulders, and I look up at his face.

“Like this,” he breathes, a smirk on his handsome face, strands of hair falling across his forehead, and freckles dotting his nose. That smirk disarms me, even though I feel like I’m about to explode.

I inhale sharply at his closeness and let out a shaky breath as my eyes drift to his bare chest. “Echo,” I whisper, unsure what to say. Seeing him like this above me does strange things to me.

“Claire,” he says, cocking an eyebrow. He seems to sense how he affects me. Does he know the full extent of it? That my body feels like an iceberg melting into flowing water? “You’re here.”

“I’m here,” I repeat. Staring into his deep blue eyes, logic slowly returns to me. “But, umm, where is here, exactly?”

His eyes narrow, the cat-that-got-the-canary smile still on his lips. It falters briefly but quickly returns. “Oh, did you forget already?” he asks, tilting his head to expose his neck. It’s a beautiful neck. “You’re in the land of dreams, silly. You’re sleeping.”

My mouth drops open. Part of me wants to laugh, to play it cool, but another part panics, like I’m tied to train tracks with an oncoming train. That’s what Echo’s words do to me. They make me rattle suddenly, and I start taking quick, shallow breaths against my will.

“Hey, easy,” he murmurs above me, his gaze still narrowed. His voice, though... His voice is the most calming, soothing sound I’ve ever heard. It seems to sink into my bones and make my muscles relax. “Easy there, Claire. It’s not a bad thing. It’s all good. It’s much better than good. Just think about it.”

I do. I listen to him. Staring into his deep blue eyes, I release the grass and put one hand on my chest, feeling a heartbeat beneath my fingertips. There is one. Just... a little slower than I’d expect.

“Right,” I say slowly. “It’s a good thing, but…”

“No buts,” he interrupts, his breath tickling my skin. I swallow hard. “This is a victory.”

My eyebrows draw together, but I nod slowly, never breaking eye contact. His deep blue eyes help me stabilize. It’s like I’m the raging ocean and he’s the moon, guiding me gently with his pull.

I’ve never felt anything like this before—an invisible force I can’t deny. As I do, memories rush to the surface—ones I should have had but didn’t.

Me, sitting in a circle drawn on the floor, with Camilla chanting next to me. Shadows dancing, lights flickering, my reflection moving in the mirror. Bad moments. Terror, despair, and pain lined all of them.

“Could you... could you get off me for a moment?” I ask, feeling a sudden need to sit up and rub my temples.

Back in the day, when I was a small girl who liked to tap into the unknown, I had powerful, lucid dreams. I could fly, make walls crumble, and build new ones. I could create entire realities and be a queen in them.

I liked to escape reality this way. I liked to feel peace.

But this feeling now is nothing like that awakening, power, and freedom. This one is more crippling. Instead of making me feel like I can spread my wings, it clips them further.

Because sleep has long since stopped being a safe sanctuary. Somewhere along the way, with all that happened between my mother and me, and my escape to the city, to Camilla’s house, sleep became a horrid necessity. And then... it became my downfall. Once a land of wonders, it became an inaccessible realm. One that rejected me the moment I rejected it.

It’s like I was exiled.

“Of course,” Echo purrs, looking at my lips and licking his own. Then, after giving me a last longing look that makes me hold my breath, he moves to the side and lies on the grass next to me.

The blue sky comes back into view, not a single cloud in sight. I blink at it, disbelieving it’s not real, before I sit up straight, my head whirring.

“We are in a park,” I say, surprise coating my voice.

Echo nods, stretching out beside me, his arms folded behind his head as he gazes up at the sky.

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