Page 8 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Ihlkit! What was that?
My eyes widened. What was this?
The terror of the strange entity and the urgency of my promise faded. Someone must have put something in my drinks. It seemed to be night, but everything was too bright, too vivid, yet there was a softness to it. Obviously, this was a dream.
Two moons hung in the sky, both brilliant waxing orbs. I'd have thought I was seeing double if not for the fact that one was the usual silver-white and the other was teal.
Dream. Yes. It had to be. A drunk dream.
The air had a sweet, salty scent to it, the breeze caressing my face. It was as if the sea had met a meadow of sweetgrass, and it enveloped me here at the base of this butte.
Loud splashes caught my attention, and I turned.
What in all the horns and blessings?
Dinosaurs? Triceratopses! They splashed in and around the river like hippopotamuses. Parasaurs too. And other types I didn’t recognize. Even a few actual hippos. One triceratops shook its head and lowed. Tall cattails lined the sparkling river. The night sky was a deep shade of indigo-violet, and the light of the dual moons made this place almost as bright as day.
The air buzzed with some kind of energy. Pterodactyls flew above with smaller pterosaurs darting in and out. Little striped songbirds sitting on branches and twittering their hearts out.
I was… I’d never drunk-dreamed likethisbefore.
The triceratops beside me shook its dark-green head. It stared at me with soft doe-brown eyes.
I grinned like an idiot and held my hand out. "Hey, pretty baby." I giggled a little. All feelings of danger evaporated as I looked at this gorgeous impossibility.
The triceratops thrust its snout up and rubbed its jaw against my hand. It huffed a heavy breath on me.
"That’s a pretty baby." I couldn’t help but giggle more. Maybe it thought I was a triceratops, too, because of my hoodie. Maybe it was whatever I wanted to be because this was so obviously a dream. I leaned against it and kissed it on the edge of its rich-green frill. "You were always my favorite dinosaur growing up."
The triceratops huffed, not at all impressed. It continued to graze on tall, white-tufted clumps of grass beyond the speckled border.
Maybe I could ride it. That could be fun.
No. Something was wrong with it. It wasn't the one I was looking for.
Pulling back, I scowled at myself. What was wrong with me?
Did it matter?
My feet sank a little into the springy grass as I stepped back. A chortle rose to my lips. What had I been worried about?
Something pulled within my gut. Calling me. Urging me.Come this way, it whispered.
Come.
Come.
Come.
The wind tugged at my hair. A blue ribbon flashed in front of my face, sticking to my lips. Reaching up, I tugged it away then flinched, a sharp pain in my scalp.
Wait.
I drew the thread—no—my hair. It was my hair.
At least it was attached to my scalp, but it was blue. Cerulean. One of my favorite colors. I’d always wanted to dye my hair this shade, but I’d never been able to justify the money.
What a dream this was.
