Page 31 of Addicted in Blood
She clucked her tongue at me.“My dear, Cressa.It will take years.”
“Yeah, well, I only have a couple of days and a friend to save, so we’ll need to do the speed-reader’s equivalent.”
“You can’t learn about dreamwalking in just a handful of days.Dreamwalkers spend years, decades learning their craft.”
I pushed the footrest down and stood.“I think we might have gotten our signals crossed.I came here to find my father or some idea where he might be.I’d also hoped to get some basic training or maybe an instruction manual for my necklace.”
I was suddenly in the middle of a raging forest fire.The flames whipped around us, and though the heat was bearable, my skin was slick with sweat.A dome barrier kept the fiery storm at bay, but it didn’t make it any less nerve-racking.
While I was a hot mess, Colantha was dressed for a garden party—a white summer dress, bright-pink platform sandals, and a face filled with anger.“Instruction manual?You are a neophyte.”
I should be terrified, but name-calling was somewhat below my standards.Until she became Simone-scary, it was hard to waste the energy on getting worked up.
“Yes.I am.”We had different expectations.I should have anticipated that, and I held up my hands in truce.“I have a debt I haven’t repaid and a friend in trouble.I admit I know nothing of being a dreamwalker or how it will impact my life, but I’m not ready to commit years of my life to studying it.That doesn’t mean I don’t respect it, but for now, I just need to learn how to control it.The necklace was a disaster, but I have to know more about it.”
She didn’t respond, but the fire disappeared, replaced with a mountain lake, and we stood in a field of spring flowers.Intense emotions had created my shared dreams with Devon.Was it possible Colantha’s emotions dictated these constructs as she called them?There’d only been one time where I’d had control over a dream, and I’d ended up in Devon’s bed.If I could only remember how I’d done that.Somehow, I needed Colantha to teach me that much before I left.
“There’s a matter of some urgency.Someone’s life is in danger.”
The scene changed again, and we were in an office or—I twisted around to take in the walls of books—perhaps a personal library.Colantha sat behind an immense desk.It almost dwarfed her, and she wasn’t that small of a woman.My head spun from jumping so quickly between constructs.
“What did you have in mind?”She held my gaze and lifted a brow as she studied me.
Something had caught her interest.And while caution was in order, I jumped in with both feet.
“I have three days.”I braced for another construct, but all the woman did was turn toward a portrait that hung between two bookcases.I squinted.I’d seen that flower before.“Isn’t that the Blood Poppy?”
She swung back to me.“You know this flower?”
I shook my head and gave a half shrug, as if she was supposed to understand the conflicting gestures.“I’ve seen a larger portrait of it in the Renaud Library in L.A.I didn’t know what it was until a vamp told me.”My own gaze traveled off, a memory coming back.“I think there’s an image of one on my medallion.”
Colantha nodded and pulled a leather cord from beneath her dress.A medallion similar to mine hung from the end.“Yes.Along with an ibis and a dagger.”
“You have one, too?”
“All dreamwalkers have one.An ordained metalworker creates one whenever a new dreamwalker is born into this world.”
“Not handed down?”When Colantha gave me that cool gaze again, I added, “I just assumed my father passed his down to me.”
She nodded in understanding.“It’s been known to happen when a dreamwalker dies as a token of bond, but it doesn’t always go to their first heir.Or any heir.However, I know that yours was made for you because I saw it made.”She chuckled.“It’s been rare over the last century for a dreamwalker to be born.We tend to take note of it.”
I leaned back.This was too much.The Blood Poppy.Everyone having the similar necklace like some dysfunctional club.Mine being made for me.What was all of this information supposed to tell me?Nothing that solved my current dilemma.
“I’ll make a bargain with you.”
I frowned.If she pulled out a fiddle of gold, I’d run screaming.Although, where would I run if I was in someone else’s construct?Could I wake myself up, or would I end up in another psychic coma?
Her expression turned stern, and her tone reminded me of my mother when she was in a mood.“Don’t pout.I understand your situation.I would have been surprised and disappointed if you hadn’t fought back.Very few would be willing to spend years in training with us.The ones that do are either very weak, or they’re here for refuge.Others stay not out of motivation to learn our link with the environment, but to seize more power.That is not the true path of the dreamwalker.We are the instruments of nature, not its ruler.
She leaned over her desk, the silver medallion tucked back under her dress.“Three days now in exchange for three months when your debt is paid.”
I could only stare.She was giving me my three days, but I couldn’t help think there was a catch.
She clucked her tongue.“Is three months so much to ask for understanding your true nature?For certain, you won’t discover it in three days.”
She had a point.And what was three months?I wouldn’t have to worry about it until the debt was paid, which meant I’d be able to help Devon and his mission once we got him back.And I refused to consider any other outcome.
I nodded.“Three days of training now in exchange for three months later.”
