The Everblooming Flower [Book One of The Dreamers Series]

Chapter Twenty-One

Note to self; watch where you're going when trying to navigate bush land. The amount of times I stumbled on tiny rocks, tripped over fallen branches, and nearly got whacked in the face by burnt trees is ridiculous. But, if Nimue wanted me to go this way, wanted me to find whoever was trying to navigate these burnt remains of Australian bush, then that's what I would do. I still wished I had asked her if she was the Lady of the Lake from the legends of King Arthur, but never mind that.

As I got deeper into the bush, the temperature seemed to increase. It was almost as hot as a Christmas barbecue. In fact, I was beginning to feel like I had been chucked on the barbie.

I was surprised that there wasn't any red light, but that unnerved me more than comforted me. Because it meant whatever force was controlling the red light had switched focus. Maybe to the poor person I left behind in the blinding hospital...

Lost in thought, I didn't even notice I was inside a house until I ran into the remains of a wall. I wiped the black soot from my forehead and green gemstone. Yeah, that thing was still there. Not that I was complaining, because it wasn't like it made things worse for me. It didn't make things better, but it didn't do anything terrible.

I looked around, feeling a twang of remorse in my chest. This was the home of a family. But it had been reduced to charred scraps, with ash and embers blowing around in the wind. It was horrible. But the place didn't radiate death. It didn't give off the same vibe as the hospital and lake had. No one – no human at least – had died here. I didn't know how I knew that, but I did.

I got to my feet and left through a hole, which I guessed was where the front door once stood. The houses in the bush were beautiful, but it looked like this place had been an unfortunate victim of a raging bush fire.

I sighed. It was autumn at the moment, but summer in Australia meant three things. Bush fires after complaining about how cold winter and spring are, floods after complaining about the stupid bush fires, and cyclones after complaining about floods trying to clean the burnt mess. It was a messed-up cycle, but we were lucky to be in the middle of a tectonic plate, rather than on one of its edges. We were also lucky that snow basically didn't exist in Australia. Otherwise, we'd never escape natural disasters.

In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something. I whipped my head around and saw a figure, wandering into the abolished bush. But what scared me was what I saw above their head. In the distance, another bright orb of torturous light glowed in the sky. I imagine whoever had been in the hospital was also on their way to the most painful migraine in the world, but I didn't have time to stop them. I just needed to stop this one.

My feet sprang into action, and I chased after them. But the bush seemed to be against me. I kept tripping over rusted objects, burnt branches kept landing in my path, and embers insisted on flying towards my face. I remembered what Jade said about the place. If I died there, I was gone. No resurrection. It was the end of my story. So, I wasn't keen on jumping over flames and inhaling embers.

I seemed to fall behind whoever it was that was navigating the bush without struggle, which was strange since I was running, and they were walking. That wasn't good. I needed to get to them before I woke up. Spend enough time in this strange Dreamscape, and you learn that time works very differently. Sometimes it felt like a few seconds, but six hours had passed. Sometimes it felt like a week, but only a few minutes had passed. I didn't want to find out I'd gotten a full night's sleep after only a few minutes. Or worse. That I'd barely gotten a wink of sleep.

I didn't dare look down at my legs, but I could feel the burns and scratches from everything that got in my path. I was inhaling smoke, which was in no way good for my lungs. Especially since I could die in the Dreamscape. That didn't make much sense to me if I was being completely honest. Like, you're immortal except for when you're asleep. I didn't know how it worked.