First World (8 page)

I shoved the tray back to the end of
the bed. As I rubbed the bridge of my nose to release some sinus pressure, I realized the pounding head pain was back again.

Attempting to gather my woolly thoughts, I spoke without thinking. “I’m here to find dreamland.
And my mother.”

Did I just say dreamland?
I shook my head in an attempt to clear it.

Deralick
stood and retrieved the tray from where it was haphazardly flung at the end of the bed.

I sank back into the pillows.

“Something is happening – ” Lucy words were slightly slurred, then without warning she collapsed into the pillow.

He stopped in the doorway. “I hope you can understand. I have a job and I take it seriously. Whether I believe you or not, I have no choice but
to report all intruders for assessment.”

I
waited for panic – or any emotion – but nothing.

“You’ll be interrogated by the royal council. If they find you innocent, you’ll be free to go.”

I was slipping further into unconsciousness.

With my last functioning neurons came a flash of
realization: the stew had been drugged. Well, that was rude – if you can’t trust strangers bearing food, who can you trust?

“It’s only
laven
juice. It won’t harm you. In fact, you’ll have a restful, healing sleep,” he said as he exited the room.

Well, at least we weren’t dying – a faint shimmer of relief before I drifted off.

The dreams hit me fast. I was standing in the throne room of a castle. People were collapsing all around me, crying, begging and clinging to one another. I walked through the white marble hall unnoticed, seeing nothing to cause such chaos. I made my way up to the large chairs and stopped at the centre pedestal. Resting on top was a purple pillow cushioning a pair of intertwined stones. One was my blue stone with a smaller red one sitting perfectly in its large side indent.

The royal pair.

The room disappeared. I found myself standing at the base of a black mountain. It took me a few
minutes to figure out why everything looked so dark. It was all dead. Withered black plant tendrils curled around my boots. I shuddered; even in the dream, an oily darkness coated the air. My instincts were telling me to run, to leave, and never return. The world started to move in fast-forward, swirling before me. Backing up, I tried to escape, moving and falling ...

At that moment, I regained control of my consciousness. As I sat up, my eyes flew open. A low light threaded the room.

Lucy was still asleep
, or passed out.

But I knew
, instinctively, we needed to escape from here now.

Reaching over, I shook Lucy a few times, with the same result as the night before:
there was no movement, just deep breathing.

I looked left and right. A large opaque jug sat on top
of a small nightstand. Reaching over, I grabbed the vessel. Water splashed over the side, onto my hand. Feeling a little desperate, I flicked some drops at Lucy. She didn’t stir. Looking down at the jug, I sighed, before dumping the lot over her head.

“What
... where ... what the hell?” she muttered, sitting up quickly.

Her eyes were wide, but with the haze of sleep. She wrinkled her nose before sneezing loudly, and
then she fell straight back into the pillows.

Oh, for the love of
...
“Get up, Lucy. We need to get out of here before Mr. ‘Drug-pimp’ hands us over to the guards.”

One eye squinted
as she shook her head a few times, water droplets flying off in all directions. Pulling herself up to sit, she eventually opened both eyes. It took a moment before she turned to me calmly.

“Abby
... there’d better be an outrageously good reason for why I’m wet?”

I shrugged, trying to nudge the jug off the bed. “I have no idea why; you were like that when I woke.”

Lucy closed her eyes. “Do not kill Abby ... she’s your only friend.”

I laughed in a loud rasp, almost choking on that unexpected comment.

She opened her eyes. Her answering smile was not nice.

“So, speaking of killing
... Deralick ... I’m going to kill him when he comes back to the room.” I decided reminding her of our common enemy was a good distraction.

“I’ll help you hide the body.” Lucy attempted to run her hands through her wet, ragged curls.

I laughed again.

One of her hands was completely entangled. It took many attempts and a few
torn chunks of blond strands before it was freed.

I snorted a
t her second attempt to tame the mane. “My recommendation – shave your head.”

“I probably wouldn’t give ‘recommendations’ until you check your own reflection,” she said smugly.

Her hair was so tousled now it stuck completely out on the right side.

“So, quick question – did you have some whacked-out dreams last night?” Her eyes wide
ned in horror. “I was locked in this freaky old-fashioned cell. There were people everywhere – some dead – dying. It was grisly.”

I shook my head. “That’s comforting; bet you can’t wait to sleep tonight.” Jumping off the bed, I stretched my limbs. Despite the drugging, I felt great. I had no aches or pains from yesterday.
“I did have some pretty vivid dreams, but nothing like that.”

I pushed the black mountains from my thoughts. They were wrong and it would take many therapy sessions to delve into that one.

Lucy shuddered. “It barely felt like dreaming. I was there; the emotions were real and raw. I could smell the sweat and that salty tang of blood.”

I gagged at her graphic words.

She shook it off, her pixie features relaxing back into their usual cheeky grin. “Never mind, it was just a dream.” She hopped off the bed. “So what’s the plan? I’m not waiting around to be handed over like common criminals. Firstly, I’m anything but common. And, secondly, I need to brush my teeth. Urgently.”

I
ran my tongue around my mouth. Deralick’s drug had left a powdery residue like a skin over my teeth.

I nodded my agreement.
“Let’s get out of here. We’ll just have to forget our packs. If we can make a break for it, just go.”

The only important thing I had was the stone, and either it had already been confiscated or
Deralick, with all his rules, would send it back to the castle.

I moved
toward the space where I remembered the doorway had been. There was just a blank wall.

“Where the hell is the door?” Lucy was next to me, running her hands along the wall.

“It was open last night.” I squinted, but there wasn’t even a join to indicate a doorway ever existed.

I hesitated at a low whirring sound. A split second later, the wall disappeared, like a panel sliding out of the way.

An automatic door that vanished somewhere into the wall cavity.

Expecting to see
Deralick, I gasped at the person filling the space.

Lucy
stepped close to whisper in my ear. “Oh. My. Hotness.”

I spun around, stunned at the burst of rage flooding me.

He is not yours, Abby. Step back, Miss Bitch.

Someone needed to slap me.

Brace, his expression serious, stood with his arms crossed across his broad chest. Even in my astonishment, I still found a moment to revel in his fallen-angel beauty. What was he doing here?

From the corner of my mouth
, I mumbled, “Brace.”

Lucy’s mouth dropped open and, stepping back, she craned her head for a better look. She was incorrigible.

“I figured that one of the two ‘unusually’ accented females my father found wandering the forest was probably you.” His features softened slightly as he smiled.

“
Deralick’s your father?” There was absolutely no family resemblance.

He nodded.

Lucy smiled. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you.” She looked at me. “Abby told me about colliding with you in the forest.”

“Did Abby also tell you that she disappeared?
Into nothing.”

He was glaring at me – locking me in the intense stare of his amazing eyes. It was always like this, whether in dreams or weird alley
teleportations. The chemistry between us just about brought me to my knees. And it always took my breath away.

Lucy interrupted our intense stare-off, allowing me a few ragged breaths.

“Been there, done that. Abby will give you gray hair. Trust me.” She flicked her blond hair, as if to prove her point.

Striving for
a pretence of normality, I kept my eyes off his gorgeous face, and away from his stupidly captivating eyes. That way I could speak and breathe.

“Alright, if you two can resist the Abby-bashing, maybe we should get out of here.”

“Why are you here, Brace?” Lucy asked before I could step around her.

He turned to answer Lucy, and once again I was drawn in. Despite Quarn’s warning, it was hard to defy the magnetic pull.

I ran my eyes over him. He was dressed for the outdoors: a short-sleeved, fitted shirt and army-style pants. In shades of black and dark green, the material looked expensive.

I shook my head.

You don’t know him.

Brace could be as stupid and shallow as he was breathtaking.

He was still speaking, so with effort I stopped perving and focused on the conversation.

“... from patrolling last night, and talked to Father,” Brace explained to Lucy.

His eyes flicked in my direction as he smiled knowingly.

I rolled my eyes. No way could he know I hadn’t been paying attention.

“He does believe your story of being lost, but he’s responsible; he’ll hand you over to the royal guards.” He sighed, running his hand through his dark hair.

It looked slightly longer than he generally wore it. As if he was due for a cut, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I liked it much better than the military style he sometimes sported during our dreams.

He turned a
bothered gaze toward me. “I’m not confident of the royal guard at this time. So I’m about to cause some real trouble.”

“Forgive us if we don’t exactly trust you or your father.” I shrugged, reminding my traitorous heart – he’s a stranger.
“Probably something to do with being drugged last night.”

Lucy nodded.
“Exactly! Just because you’re standing there stupidly tall and unnaturally gorgeous, flashing those dimples and muscles, doesn’t mean we’re going to fall at your feet –”

I put my hand over Lucy’s mouth, muffling the last few words.

“Sorry, Lucy’s missing an essential filter between brain and mouth. I try to stand within arm’s reach, because there’s no ‘off’ switch.”

He smiled.
“Reminds me of Lucas. Someone should look into an off switch for them both.”

He peered out the door.

His voice was now slightly muffled. “So we need to leave. Father was out on patrol but he’ll be back soon.” He shrugged, facing us. “I’ll accompany you to town. I might be breaking you out, but I better make sure you don’t cause any trouble.”

I sighed; someone save me from bossy control freaks.

I looked at Lucy. “I say we trust him for now. We can ditch him later.”

“You know I’m standing right here.” His brow furrowed over the velvety brown of his eyes.

Lucy ignored him. “Tell me you’re using your brain for this decision, Abbs. Remember what Quarn said.”

Brace reacted minutely at the mention of this. Or I may have imagined it.
Either way, it felt like it was time to remind him who he was dealing with.

I stood
to my full height, hands firmly on my hips. “Don’t mess with us, Brace. Lucy is super talented with a razor and glue gun.”

Lucy nodded. “That’s right; your eyebrows will never be the same again.” She smiled. “And with
that threat hanging over your head, let’s go, gorgeous.” And she sauntered past him out the door.

As I watched him
follow her I realized something. Which, if asked, I’d deny until the ends of time – I wanted him around.

Also, I was determined to figure out his secret. And why he, of all people, ended up in my dreams.

Shaking his head, Brace paused in the hall. He nodded toward two familiar packs on the floor.

“I retrieved your bags. Father said he didn’t go through them, so everything should be there.”

Dropping beside my pack, I furtively checked for the stone. Everything was in its place.

“Thank god he didn’t touch my shoes.” Lucy h
ad a pair in each hand, her favorite vintage pink chucks in the right and purple wedges in the left, which I personally found too ugly to exist.