Page 12 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“And this is Skalterra?” I looked up at the tree canopies. They looked an awful lot like the ones at home.
Of course they do, I told myself.I made them up. This is my dream.
“We used to be one world,” Galahad said. “Magicians and non-Magicians living together before the Rift. Unfortunately, magical warfare is particularly volatile, and the Skal Wars of 1616 nearly ripped reality apart. To protect everyone, four sorcerers came together to sequester the Magicians in their own realm. That new realm, that new reality is what became Skalterra. And that is where you are now.”
“And the Skal remained in Keldori, your realm.” Ferrin tapped the glowing bottles of liquid at his belt. “It’s the source of our creation magick. It bleeds through to Skalterra in the cracks between our worlds, and we harvest it at springs. The limited supply has been enough to keep the Skal Wars from returning”
“Mmhmm.” What if Von Leerdidneed me to respond right away? What if the longer I was trapped in this nightmare, the less likely the school was to accept me? “Sounds very real and very important.”
“She doesn’t believe us,” Orla whispered.
“Orla, Tiernan is calling you,” Ferrin said.
“I don’t hear him.”
“Leave, Orla.” Galahad’s voice boomed, and Orla scurried to join the two figures on the embankment. Galahad narrowed his eyes at me. “It doesn’t matter if you believe us or not, Keldorian. You told me your name and answered my call. The only way to escape my employ is to wait for me to permanently release you. Otherwise, I’ll keep dragging you back.”
I focused on my legs. Orla had said Galahad had made me a tree, but I had chosen the type, which meant I had some degree of control over myself. That made sense, considering this was all happening insidemyhead.
The bark where my knees should’ve been snapped and creaked, but the two men didn’t notice.
“And why have you employed me?” I asked in an effort to keep them distracted while I concentrated on my ankles. I tried to imagine them there, contained in the wood of the tree. “What do you need from me?”
“The Four Magicians separated our worlds over four centuries ago,” Galahad said, “but it wasn’t long before one of the four, a Magician named Saergrim, broke from the others. He wanted the Skal we’d left in Keldori, and sought to re-merge our worlds and sow chaos that he alone would have control over. The other three stopped Saergrim by binding him in a glacier with a curse that lives as long as their descendants still walk Skalterra.”
A splintering snap signaled my freedom. My freed legs weren’t quitelegs,though. They were made of rigid wood and awkward joints, like a poorly crafted marionette puppet.
But they did what I needed them to do.
I bowled between Galahad and Ferrin, running on my makeshift legs towards the embankment. Perhaps jumping in that river I’d seen before would be enough to wake me. I just needed to make it up—
“I’ve got her!” one of the watching figures yelled.
“Tiernan, don’t!”
To his credit, Tiernan’s aim was much better than Orla’s. I didn’t feel any pain this time as the blazing ball of golden fire exploded against my back.
I opened my eyes to the dusty floor beneath my bed. A groan worked its way up my chest as I pushed myself into a sitting position
“And then in the fourth grade, I finally caught my first fish, but Riley—”
“What are you talking about?” I snapped at Liam, who was talking on the other side of the door.
“I don’t know. You haven’t said anything, so I figured I’d just keep talking to make you feel better. Is it working?”
“I can do this all day, Wren Warrender,” Galahad growled in my head. I ignored him, searching for my phone.
Von Leer was waiting. I needed to know—
Hands gripped me at my shoulder and wrists, but at least Galahad had let me have my legs back this time. I was on my knees in the clearing, looking up at Galahad and Ferrin while Tiernan and Orla kept me still.
“It’s not my fault,” Galahad was saying to Ferrin. “It’s not the same when they’re lucid.”
“Then figure it out fast,” Ferrin said in a hushed tone. “If we can’t control her—”
“It’s not about control.” Galahad turned back to me. “Wren Warrender, you’ll listen carefully this time, because both our realms depend on it.”
I tried to jerk my arms away from Tiernan and Orla, but their grips tightened, and Orla whispered an apology. Galahad bent down to look me in the eyes.
