Page 73 of Nightmare's Dance

“Your accent is amazing. I’m Ember.”

“Geraint,” he replied shyly.

I tried out the name a few times before I got it right. At his nod, I grinned. “Great! Are you staying with us for the summer?”

“Yes. Your parents were kind enough to squeeze me in to the summer camp.”

I knew that meant he was one of the foster kids that came to our summer programs. It got them out, doing fun things, and in return for their stay, they helped around the place. Not much. Mostly just with things like dishes after meals, some of the gardening, and cleaning the gym. Easy stuff. Anything complicated the adults handled.

“I’m glad you’re here. I’ll show you around.”

Geraint glanced up at Mom. She nodded and shooed us away. “Stretch, Ember,” she called after me.

“Yes, Mom.” I ran over to a mat. “I can show you one of our cool down routines first. And then I’ll give you the tour. Are you going to be an aerialist, too?”

“I would like that, I think,” Geraint answered.

“I’m going to be a famous performer,” I said. “I’ll travel the world and do silks acts and everyone will love me. Maybe you can be my partner.” I grinned at him.

Geraint, who had joined me while I stretched, grinned back. “I’d like that very much.”

Ember

“You can do it, Spark,” Ash called.

I’d made it halfway up the silks this time before my limbs trembled and my hands refused to budge. It had taken me a week to get this far. I was making progress, just more slowly than I’d like.

Geraint had the rolling scaffold nearby in case he had to rescue me. So far, he’d only had to do it once, but knowing he was there helped.

Mom taught a group of kids in one corner of the gym, and Casey taught a handful of teens how to use the lyra. She’d decided to spend the summer with us, after all. No one had told her about my adventures in Nightmare. Which was just as well. Explaining that… Well, I didn’t think I could. She hadn’t asked why I was freaking out about heights, for which I was grateful. I wondered if she ever would, and if she did, what I would say.

“Up or down, Spark,” Geraint urged. “You’ve got this.”

His Irish lilt soothed me, and I took a breath and nodded.

“Up,” I said, not loud enough for anyone else to hear, but I was going up. Pretend Baz would no longer have a hold on me. I just needed to make it to the top.

I pushed my feet out, sliding my hands up the silks before gripping, unwrapping my feet and pulling my knees to my chest. I did one of the easiest climbs. No need to make it complicated. I just had to get to the top. Re-wrapping my feet took only a moment, and then I straightened. Higher. I went higher than I’d been since Baz had dropped me. The silks were still there. This wasn’t a nightmare, and if it were, I could control it. At least for a while longer, I was a princess of Nightmare, and the shadow essence obeyed my command.

Higher.

My forearms burned, tired from the attempts I’d made already today. I almost didn’t notice that I’d reached the top until I ran out of fabric to grab.

Ash whooped.

It felt silly to be so excited about something that, for me, was incredibly simple, but I felt good making it to the top.

I hung for a moment before wrapping my leg around the silk, trapping it between my feet and sliding to the ground. No need to make it fancy.

Geraint wrapped me in a tight hug. “Good job, Spark.”

“Thank you. We’ll be back in the air together in no time.”

“I want nothing more,” he replied.

That brought to mind another conversation I’d been avoiding. Maybe I could have it now that I’d at least sort of conquered one of my fears.

“You two go have some celebratory, uh, fun, or something,” Ash said, looking over her shoulder to see how close the kids were.

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