Page 28 of Nightmare's Dance

“Clearly, he didn’t have to,” Nic growled.

I shrugged. “The silks did most of the damage. He made me fall a bunch.”

Nic’s expression turned murderous, matching Ash’s.

“Does the douche canoe have a name?” Dad asked, and I realized I hadn’t told them the same thing I’d told Ash.

“Uh, did Nic fill you in on anything?”

“No, your friend has been quite silent about everything.” Dad tightened his jaw.

Taking a deep breath and shooting Nic an annoyed look, I again launched into the story I’d told Ash.

By the time I had finished, my parents were wide-eyed and Nic looked even unhappier. Had he not expected me to tell my parents everything? Well, I’d left out some details, like the princess part.

“Why would these nightmare beings want to kidnap you?” Mom finally asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

Unfortunately, that just meant that Dad turned their question to Nic.

The prince narrowed his eyes at me before stepping out of the shadows completely. I kicked out a chair so he could join us at the table. After a considering glance at my parents, he accepted.

When Nic stepped out of the shadows, the strange shifting nature of some of his features solidified into long hair tied back in a tail, black slacks, and a black short sleeved button-down shirt. I wasn’t even sure if that was what he’d been wearing the last time I looked at him when we’d first arrived. His tawny skin appeared a little wan, and he had shadows under his deep-set angular eyes. The stubble along his jaw was more pronounced, though it only accented his handsome features.

“Prince Baz, the douche canoe, wants her because he thinks she’s the princess Nightmare needs to stop the spread of the nothingness that is overtaking Dream.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Ash said. “I’m assuming Dream is literally connected to human dreams?”

Nic inclined his head in agreement.

“So if Dream gets overtaken with nothing, what replaces it?” Ash continued.

“Nothing, so far as we can tell,” Nic replied.

“Well, that’s a whole lot of bad for everyone. Humans can’t survive without dreams.” Ash cut to the heart of that problem quickly.

“No, and obviously none of us wish to cease to exist. I sincerely doubt Baz has Nightmare’s best interests at heart, however.”

“Some of the girls in his weird circus collection said they thought he wanted to sacrifice the princess to the nothingness to get it to go away,” I said.

“That’s a bizarre theory.” Nic’s brow furrowed as he thought.

Something else occurred to me. Geraint had told me to make sure Nic knew Baz hadn’t recognized me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go into it more in front of my parents, however. Ash, yes. My parents… maybe not.

Nic glanced at me, as if catching that I’d had a thought.

I gave him a quick shake of my head.

“But she’s not, right?” Mom said a little too quickly. “We have plenty of unbroken mirrors to send you home with, and she can stay here, safe.”

“There is much we still need to discover,” Nic replied in a nice non-answer.

“Whatever else is going on, we have to rescue Geraint before I can be nice and safe anywhere,” I said.

Nic clenched his jaw, but didn’t object in front of my parents.

“Okay, food,” Ash declared. “We’re not going to figure out anything on an empty stomach. Nic, do you eat human food, or do you, like, drink blood or something?”

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