Page 113 of Bonds of Magic
Pain blossomed through my foot, and I looked down to see that I’d stepped in a puddle of flame. Fuck. I stumbled out of it, but my leg looked charred black. I was afraid to touch it, in case it crumbled away beneath me. But I had to keep running, had to keep—
“Stay,” said a voice in front of me.
I looked up. My eyes widened. I screamed, but no sound came out.
The creature in front of me was huge. Eight feet tall, maybe more. Shoulders as broad as three of me in a line. And his face was terrifying. Eyes with huge pupils in slits like a cat’s. A broad nose that looked as much like a bull’s nose as a human’s. A mouth that opened to display rows of sharp, spiked teeth.
And then there were his arms. He had four of them, two sets stacked on top of each other. Each hand was the size of my head, with wicked black claws that curled threateningly.
“Cory,” the thing rumbled.
Thing? Demon. He had to be a demon. But how did he know my name? And how had he gotten in front of me so fast? He was behind me a second ago.
Dream.
The word floated into my mind, and the moment it registered, I knew it was true. This was a dream—justa dream. With dream logic. Of course the demon could move in front of me if he wanted.
If this were a dream, though, shouldn’t I have been able to control it? I tried to gather my will, gather a sense of calm, but my heart was pumping so hard, I felt like I might pass out. All I felt was fear.
And then the demon reached a hand out towards me, his claws extended. I steeled myself. Maybe I couldn’t control this, but I could at least take what was coming like a man.
A single claw landed on my face and traced its way down my cheek.
My mouth dropped open in surprise, and the claw rubbed along my lower lip. The demon’s touch was shockingly gentle, for so terrifying a creature.
“Stay,” he whispered again. His voice was the sound of gears grinding, of a death groan, of an avalanche. But he was talking to me. And he…wantedme?
You know that, whispered a voice in the back of my mind.You’ve been here before. Countless times.
And I knew, suddenly, that it was true. I’d seen this monster before. Or, at least, been seen by him. Beentouchedby him.
A roar sounded behind me in the flame-licked dark, and my heart leapt into my throat. My chest tightened so much, I could hardly draw breath. The demon snarled and drew a sword, then pushed me behind him and charged forward. From my new position, I could see that he had a tail.
Oh, God. That tail had touched me before. Wrapped around me. Pushed inside me. And each time, I’d liked it.
And now the demon was protecting me?
But what creature was chasing me, if it wasn’t this demon? Who did I need protecting from? I had no idea, and there was no one I could ask.
Noah might know.
My heart skipped a beat. Noah, who was back in the real world. Noah, who knew more about dreams and dreaming than I did. Noah, who I’d pushed away.
I’d fucked everything up. My stomach twisted. I closed my eyes against the memory—and when I opened them, I was back at Vesperwood, dawn light gently suffusing my room.
My heart thumped, and my breath slowed. It really had been a dream. Even if it was exceptionally vivid, that didn’t make itmeananything. It was something my mind had conjured up—and then conjured me out of, once my emotions were strong enough.
Then I rememberwhathad pulled me out of the dream, and sadness rolled over me like fog.
Noah. I felt heartsick and lost. Noah had sat here on my blanket last night. He’d lain on top of me. He’d wanted me—and then I’d acted like a child and kicked him out.
In the cool light of dawn, hours of sleep separating me from the incident, I could see how immature I’d been. Which probably only made Noah like me less. He was already freaked out by our age gap.
Why did I have to lose my temper? I closed my eyes against the tears that threatened to spill. Why did Noah have to bring up my dad?
I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the early morning chill. I was so ashamed. I’d tried to tell Noah what I wanted, and he’d turned it into some fucked up coping mechanism. A referendum on how broken I was. In case I didn’t feel fucked up enough already.
I liked Noah for so many reasons. He was strong, and kind, and smart, and caring, and so many other good things. But he also made me feel whole. He made me feel like there was nothing wrong with me, when I was with him. With Noah, I could push away the voice in the back of my mind that told me how damaged I was. For a little while, anyway.
