Brady Tyson & The Two Little Liars

Chapter 20 - The Snuffing of an Ephemeral Dream

 "Come on Brady, wake up! You got this girl, you got this!"

My eyes crack open to see Mold crouched over me, shaking my face. Then a pulsing headache greets me, and I shut my eyes again in an attempt to stave it off.

"Brady, you all there?" Mold continues, more quietly.

"I'm working on it." It hurts to talk. Was I screaming all the way down to the ground? No- not ground. "Where are we?"

"On top of some building. Further down the hill than Olympia, if that helps at all."

"Did you... see something too?"

"Yeah, but luckily for the both of us I realized it was just an extremely vivid flashback much quicker than you did. I think we were only in free fall for about 200 feet before I snapped out of it."

"I really- Ugh." I sit up. Some of the pain is starting to recede. "I really didn't need to know that."

"Well, all's well that ends well."

"Yeah, has it ended well?"

Mold falls silent, and I open my eyes to see her watching me again. Under her bangs I can see the faint glow of three cuts on her forehead, and I raise my hand to my head. Sure enough, the wounds from that ritual have returned.

"We're not out of the woods just yet, are we Mold?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Akil said that I would remember everything once three representatives remain. Obviously there's us two, but then who's our third mystery guest?"

"That's why I wanted you to wake up. I'm not sure if they're still here but... well, are you good to stand?"

I nod, and Mold helps me to my feet. She guides me as fast as my legs will let me over to the side of the building, and I shiver as flickers of my visions dance before my eyes.

"Well? What is it?"

"There." She points to an intersection three blocks down. "It looks like they're gone now, but you can still see the aftermath."

"Are those... bodies?"

Mold shakes her head in affirmation. "I saw it when I was coming in for our emergency landing. I couldn't make out who they were, but there was a person walking down the middle of the road. The thing is, every time someone tried to approach them, or were simply too close to them, they would drop to the ground. I saw cars lose control when they swerved around the person, too."

"Jesus." This isn't helping my headache. "Right when I thought we were finally finished. When we could finally have rested. Fixed the world."

"Brady..."

"There's no use complaining about it. If I have to fight one more person then so be it. I'm only slightly worried though, since it has to be someone capable of slipping through Mr. Argyros' tight information network."

"We don't have to fight them though." She points across the city at the pillar that spins ominously in the red sky. "If we can just get to that before our mystery guest does then we can get you your wish and this whole thing will be over."

"No, we can't do that." I rub my eyes, trying to make myself believe the words I've been saying from the start. "If they're just going around slaughtering innocents then we can't just let them move about as they please. I sure don't know how long claiming my wish will take, and I bet you don't either. What if they get another hundred pedestrians by then?"