Page 15 of Tyson (Ariel Kimber 4.50)

I made it to her and immediately wrapped my arms around her and pulled her body into my front. She came willingly and wrapped her arms around my middle just as tightly as I had her shoulders. Her shaking hands went to the back of my shirt and she gripped hand fulls of the material into her fists. She clung to me and I realized it wasn't just her hands that were shaking but her entire body. She shook uncontrollably from head to toe.

She stuffed her face in my neck as she breathed out, "Ty, oh my god, Tyson. You're here. I can't believe you're actually here. There's something... I... I think there's a person out there that chased me through the woods and I don't even know how I got here and I don't know what the heck is going on, Ty. I... I have no idea what I'm doing here or how in the heck I got here. Why are we here, why are we in the field where you guys have your moon rituals or whatever the heck you call them? I-"

Jesus.

The more she talked the harder her too thin frame shook.

To shut her up and shut this shit down before she could become any more hysterical, I cut her off and hurriedly explained the situation, or, what I knew from my end of the situation. Which really wasn't much but was more than she knew.

"We're dreaming, girl," I told her hurriedly, my words coming out in a rush. I needed to explain to get her to calm the fuck down and before the motherfucker in charge of this little game made his or her appearance. "You're a dream walker like Uncle Quint and I are. We always thought that maybe you were one but, obviously, haven't had the time or inclination to explain all that means to you yet."

"I know I'm a dream walker, Ty," she said quietly, cutting me off.

My surprised eyes shot down to her upturned face to see her looking up at me with eyes that were still too wide for her face but I was pleased to note she'd lost the terrified look to her and had calmed down immensely.

"You do?" I asked.

"What is this place?" She asked without answering me.

I sighed and gave her what she wanted. She might have known she was a dream walker but she clearly didn't know shit about what that meant. "This is a dream. I thought it was mine but maybe, just maybe, I'm thinking that it might be yours now. It might have always been yours and, when I fell asleep, I got dragged into it by that fuck, whoever he... or she is. There's obviously someone here with us and I think that person was who was chasing you through the woods. They were following me too. I-"

She cut me off to ask, "How can they be chasing me if they're already following you? That doesn't make any sense."

I applied pressure with my arms, squeezing her tightly, not to hurt, just to get her to pay attention and to help get my point across.

"Girl," I said impatiently, "It's a fucking dream. There are some things that you just cannot explain because there's no explanation for them. Like magic. I can't explain magic to you or why we've got it. It's something I can show you or try and teach you how to use but I can't tell you why you have it inside of you or why you're capable of doing certain things with it and not others. Dream walking is a lot like magic, you have to practice and use it in order to understand it."

"Okay, Ty," she whispered before shoving her face back into my neck. Her fists unclenched and she let go of my t-shirt. Her hands flattened against my back and she smoothed out the material she'd bunched up. I didn't tell her not to bother because it seemed more like a nervous gesture than anything else, almost as if she needed something to do with her hands before she smoothed them up my back and tangled her fingers in my long, shoulder length hair. I was glad for her sake that I hadn't worn my hair up in a pony tail slash bun today. If she wanted to get her hands in there than I was more than happy to allow it.

"How do we get out of here, Ty?" She asked.

I sighed.

Wasn't that the question of the hour?

I had never been trapped in a dream under someone else's control before so I wasn't entirely certain as to how we were supposed to get out of here. Did it work the way it usually did? Did all I need to do was think about being back in my bed, back in my real body, and then will myself there? Was that all it would take, because I could easily do that. I had practiced until I'd nailed that shit down and could take myself from dream to body in no time with very little effort on my part. The problem with this was, I had no freaking idea if Ariel was capable of doing this because I was almost positive she'd never tried before, never even had reason to try before. If I left her here to finish out her dream as whoever was controlling this saw fit, there was no telling how many hours she'd be stuck here and there was absolutely not telling what she'd be forced to endure while she was stuck here. Then, I'd feel like a monumental fuck head for the rest of my life because I'd left her behind, even when I knew it wouldn't harm her physically.

"Since you're all knowing and all now when it comes to being a dream walker," I said sarcastically, forgetting I needed to tread carefully due to her emotional state, and asked, "do you know how to get yourself out of a dream?"

I damn well knew she absolutely did not because if she did then she wouldn't have been running through the woods, scared and alone. She'd have transported herself back to her slumbering body, back to her comfortable bed in the sweet little cottage she called home.

"I... I..." she stammered and I seriously wanted to kick my own ass because I was not always a nice guy and this was one of those times where nice had seemed to escape me. I think it was due to that terrified look she'd had in her eyes and the fact there was some unknown person fucking with us and I really wanted them to step out and show themselves so I could have a target and knew where to aim when it came to getting us both safely the fuck out of here.

"No, Tyson," she muttered. "I have no idea how to get us out of here which is why I asked in the first place. Geez."

I sighed. She sounded upset, pissy even and I immediately felt better about the situation. She wasn't shaking anymore and, in her ire with me, had momentarily forgotten she'd just been terrified moments before.

I let her go and stepped back a step. I had to lift my hands to my hair and neck to pry her hands out of my hair.

"Ty," she hissed at me. "What are you doing?"

I let her go and held up my hands, palms up, in between us.

"Put your hands in mine, girl," I instructed her. "Your palms facing down, right on top of mine."

She did as told, and followed my instructions to the letter.

"Relax," I told her.

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