Page 15 of Court of Aether and Shadows

"Oh, you know how it is. The usual chaos and corruption. Though there have been some... unsettling reports lately."

Unsettling reports? Like what?

I raised an eyebrow, hoping to follow along so my curiosity can be fed.

"Oh?"

She sighed, finishing with the bandage before pulling up a chair beside my bed. "There's been a rash of kidnappings. Young women, mostly.”

That already sounds alarming, but she continues.

“But it's not just the disappearances that have people talking. It's what happens to the ones who come back."

A chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the cool air of the underground room. There’s this layer of uncertainty with where this is going, but I feel as if this involves me in some way.

Weird, right?

"What do you mean?"

Elenore leaned in, her voice dropping to just above a whisper. I’m pretty sure we’re alone, and yet her need to keep her next words an obvious secret means this is something everyone shouldn’t know.

"They come back... changed,” she accentuates those words as if revealing a riddle that shouldn’t be spoken with words. “Raving about monsters and magical worlds. Dreams so vivid they can't tell what's real anymore. Most of them end up in mental institutions, sedated out of their minds."

Shit….

Shit. Shit. Shit!

My heart began to race, the steady beep of the heart monitor betraying my sudden anxiety. Flashes of my own vivid dreams danced at the edges of my consciousness – a world of shadow and starlight, a prince with burning eyes...

"That's... disturbing," I managed, trying to keep my voice steady. Thankfully, I’m good at making a masked face and just as good at calming my heart rate, which happens in seconds. The machine no longer beeps in warning. "Any leads on who's behind it?"

Elenore shook her head, looking puzzled with a hint of defeat.

"Nothing concrete. But there are whispers... rumors of things that don't fit neatly into our understanding of the world, butagain, you speak too much about it and you’re on coo-coo street”.

I forced a laugh, though it sounded hollow even to my own ears.

"What, like magic and monsters? Come on, Doc,” I dismiss the ideology, despite the cold sweat running down my spine. I know she’s just a medic, but seeing as she’s the only one who managed to save my life, she’s a doctor in my books. “We deal with the brute force of the real world. Guns and knives and good old-fashioned human cruelty. Let’s not get started with the gun violence and motorcycle gangs.” I shake my head in dismay. “No need to bring fairy tales into it."

But even as I spoke, doubt gnawed at me.

How real had those dreams felt?

The taste of the Shadow Prince's kiss still lingered on my lips, the phantom touch of his hands on my skin...

Am I going crazy?

The thought rose unbidden, a tendril of fear coiling in my gut.

Is this how it starts? Vivid dreams bleeding into reality until I can't tell the difference anymore?

Elenore was watching me closely, those violet eyes seeming to peer straight into my soul.

After a long moment, she spoke again, her voice soft but intense.

"What if I told you that those fairy tales might be more real than you think?"

I stared at her, caught between disbelief and a desperate need to understand what was happening to me. I may not be able to show the truth, but I can most certainly investigate what she means by those troubling words of potential.

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