Page 90 of Possession

“You miss me, Mary.”

I wake in a hot sweat, but my breath fogs in front of me. I pull my blankets over my head and huddle under them, trying to catch breath and reorient myself. It takes a few seconds to determine that I am, in fact, awake, and I run through the encounter again.

I can’t believe that I actually met him. Saw him. I’m still shaking, and it’s not from the temperature in the room. My bones feel rubbery; my body is drained.

I instinctively know that it was real. It was a dream, but he was there; I can feel it. It was like I was really with him, and my mind isn’t twisted enough to create the fire I saw in Aris’ eyes. I’ve heard that human brains can’t create faces in dreams, so when people dream of others, they’ve seen them before, at least once. But I’ve never seen anyone like Aris. Even just in passing, I would have remembered that face.

So, either I’m losing my mind, or Aris really did visit me and he isn’t gone after all.

I peel back the layers of my blankets and blink, surprised to find that the chill has disappeared entirely. Everything is back to how it was before I fell asleep.

I touch my amulet, nervously rubbing my fingers over the stone. “What use are you?” I mutter before climbing out of bed.

***

You miss me, Mary.

The words run through my head on loop as my cereal turns to mush in front of me. What an egomaniac. How could he think that? He ruined my life. He killed millions of people. Does he seriously think that we’re friends or something?

Someone plops down next to me, and the noise of a tray hitting the table startles me into an upright position. I immediately deflate when I see that it’s just Simon.

“Hey, Mary,” he says.

I sigh and start to stir my now-inedible food. “Don’t you have your friends to sit with?” I mutter.

“Do you want me to leave?”

I glance at him, spot an earnest expression, and sigh, shoulders falling. “No. Sorry, I’m in a mood.”

“Oh?”

He’s asking only to be polite, but I can’t keep it to myself; I need to share. “I had a dream,” I blurt out, then quickly whip my head around to see if anyone has heard me. When I begin again, my voice is substantially lower in volume. “But I mean, it wasn’t a dream. Well, it was, but he was actually there.”

“O…kay?”

“I spoke with him. Aris visited me.”

“Wait, Aris—?”

“Shh! Keep your voice down!”

Simon looks around before scooting closer to me, now whispering, “What do you mean? Isn’t he locked away in a jar somewhere?”

“I don’t know!”

“You don’t know what they did with him?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know,” I say again. “Do you know?”

“No!” he says, then pauses for a moment. “Well, what did he want?”

My mouth opens to repeat our conversation, but the words won’t come. “Just to mess with me,” I say a little awkwardly.

He looks at me like he knows I’m not telling the whole truth, but there’s surprisingly little judgment in his eyes. “Maybe you should tell the Grand Mage,” Simon offers.

“No!” I hiss, then cringe at my raised volume. “No, he can’t know about this. He’s letting me stay here, but he wants me to drop everything that happened with Aris—like stop talking about it and asking about it. Just let it go.”

“But it’s not like it’s your fault that Aris visited you. Besides, maybe he could help. He could ward your room or something.”

---