Page 88 of The Book Reader
I can’t see anything.
I keep falling, my body spinning in the air, faster until I see the ground coming toward me.
Smashing into it, my body bowing in pain, and I cry out, a plume of sand and dust surrounds me until it settles. Blinking my eyes to clear them, I slowly stand up and gasp in shock at the beautiful caves that are around me. They’re cut out of a rock face; little coves shoot into the sky as far as the eye can see.
It’s light here, the sun shining down from somewhere too far to see, but I can feel it; so warm, it caresses my skin, taking away the shivers from the place I was.
“Gaelan?” I whisper, looking around. I can’t see where I fell through. Opening my mouth to shout, but something glitters in the sunlight, catching my eye, I turn slightly and frown, seeing a young woman up ahead staring at me. She smiles, turns, and walks into a cave up ahead. Moving to go after her, I notice there’s grass on the ground, and it’s cold and wet under my feet.
Getting to the entrance of the cave, I walk in and freeze when amber eyes lock with mine, her dark hair the same shade as mine. Running my eyes down her body, she’s wearing along ivory and gold dress, her body covered in symbols and patterns.
“Hi,” she says as she comes closer to me. I notice she has the same Orion’s belt markings on her cheeks that I have—three moles in a line. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
I frown at her. “You have?”
She nods, turns, and walks further into the cave. As I follow her, I feel like maybe I should turn around, but I can’t. Something about this place seems so familiar to me. It feels safe.
“This is where it all started, the day we were made.” Her voice echoes around the cave. Gold lights flickering on the sides of the cave, and I can just about make out on the walls of the cave some kind of writing. I can’t understand what it says. Moving closer, I run my hand over the dents it’s made; it reminds me of something you would see on the pyramids of Lilial. “Don’t worry about those, you will understand them soon.” I turn to look at her and watch as she rounds a corner.
“Where am I?”
“Home, our first home, the safe place.” I move after her—the cave is much bigger than I thought it was going to be, and the gold lights are brighter back here. Walking closer, I see her standing in front of a large gold chest, which has the same kind of symbols that are on her skin and the cave walls. “When you find it, the key”— she looks at the necklace around my neck — “will open it. This is our Book of Power. This is what they all want. But they cannot have it; only we are strong enough to weld and protect.”
“My spell book is in here. Where am I?” I question. How am I supposed to find this place when I’m not even sure wherehereis? She looks at me, her eyes glowing bright amber. “I hope you got dressed before you went to sleep. Sleepwalking can be interesting if you are naked.” I frown, and she laughs lightly.“I could never keep my hand off him either, so perfect for us. Now…” She comes so close to me that I can smell the rose scent of her, of us. “…Wake up”
Blinking, I gasp for air and sit up, my body covered in a sheen of sweat. I hate it when I have dreams that seem so real. Turning, I reach out to Gaelan and pull back when I get a handful of sand. With a groan, I look around and slowly stand when I see nothing but desert and old buildings around.
Have I sleepwalked again? How is that possible down here? The last time this happened, I ended up in the park near my home.
“She is home.”
“Can you hear it? Take it, it’s ours.”
“Spells, books, reader.”
“She is light, she is dark.”
The voices in my head get louder, and I can feel how happy they are that I’m here, that this place is a safe place.
I turn and look down at my clothes—I’m dressed in one of Gaelan’s shirts but naked underneath. This is the desert from my dreams; it’s a little different; my dream never had all these buildings, nor did it have trees with life in them.
“Death came here.”
“Be safe.”
“Stay, run, be safe.”
The voices continue, and I can’t help the shiver that runs through my body. Something bad happened here. I can feel death creeping over the lands like a snake ready to pounce on its prey.
I walk forward, not knowing where to go. I need to find a way out of here.
Turning in a circle, I try to see if there’s any sign of life or anything that would help me, but there is nothing.
Heading toward the first building, I notice it looks like a small house; I can see broken glass where the windows would have been. Looking through, there is an old sofa and some kids’ toys on the ground; more furniture is thrown all over the room—everything is covered in sand. It must have been empty for a long time; there are no footprints. Moving to the next house and looking through that window, this one is in the same state as the last one; it’s like everyone left in a hurry, leaving their lives in some horrible sandy wasteland, frozen in time. I keep searching and still nothing. This is like my dream, but so much different; there are no caves, no hole in the ground for me to sink into, just a derelict town. It reminds me of one of those old Western films set in Texas, where there’s just one row of buildings and nothing else surrounding it.
Fear coils in my stomach. How far away am I from Gaelan’s realm? I turn to walk back down the path I came from; my steps falter, then stop when I see a figure up ahead.
“Hello!” I yell, running toward them. “I’m lost; can you tell me where I am?” I slow my steps when I see that this figure is a man. He’s tall, and the muscles on his arms make him seem bigger. In his left hand, he’s holding a knife, and in the other is a net.
