For Now | Dreaming Trilogy | Book 1 (HEAVY CONSTRUCTION)

Phoenix | Control

In my first foster home, which I'd been placed in just before my thirteenth birthday, there was this sixteen year old boy. He bullied me all the time. It was he who taught me that fear is a weakness, but anger is a strength - anger is energy.

Needless to say, I was quickly moved out of that home, but not before I stole his ideas. The adrenaline pumping through my veins with each contraction of my racing heart was a resource. I converted it to anger as quickly as I could.

"What the fuck does that mean?" I growled lowly, tightening my grip around the scrawny kid's throat. I only hoped he couldn't feel my heartbeat thumping through my chest. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Jael leaned back on her heels, all calm and collected. "This is the Dream Void. We can explain more once your safe."

"Safe?" Shane asked, stealing a glance towards me. "Safe from what?"

"Good luck has dropped us all in the Children's Forest, right near an entrance to the Base," Jael replied with a smile. "Bad luck is that children have a lot of nightmares."

Pieces of a very strange puzzle fell into place in my brain. "Dream Void... This place, wherever it is, is powered by dreams, isn't it?"

Jael raised her eyebrows in genuine surprise. "Yes, Phoenix Abagael Lucis."

My heart jumped at the mention of my full name. "And you know that's my middle name because..." I shook my head, not believing it at all.

"Yes," she replied. "We see a lot of dreams from you. A lot of fire."

I tightened my grip on Jacob's throat again. "Don't you dare talk about that."

The little man squirmed, trying to free himself. "Y-Your majesty!" He cried helplessly.

Shane laughed, an absolutely inappropriate response. "What did you just call her?"

"She... She's a Dreamer," he stuttered. My shock made me release his neck, if only slightly. "She's r-royalty here."

Shyanne turned with wide eyes to Jael, who I believed she was trusting far too much. "Does that mean I'm royalty, too? And Shane?"

Jael shrugged. "To some, yes. Most just consider you to be-" she stopped mid-sentence, a thunderous sound echoed through the trees, followed by more. A steady droning of thud, thud, thud, like someone with tree trunks for legs was stomping through the woods.

"What the fuck is that?" I shouted, my breath becoming steadily heavier. Panic rose up in my stomach, my throat, clouding my brain. Terror washed over me until I was shaking, dropping my arms from Jacob's neck and wrapping them around myself.

Even Jael looked startled, her blue eyes scanning the empty trees around us. "There's no time to explain right now," she muttered, almost too quietly to hear. "You need to go. Jake, take them to the Base."

"General, you can't-" Jake started.

Jael shot him a glare, icey and cold. "Agent Maple, I believe I gave you orders."

Jake gulped and nodded. "Yes, ma'am." The boy turned to us, his face paler than before. "You heard her. Follow me." He turned on his heel and I watched, in horror, as his body dissolved into a swarm of leaves. The cluster kept his general shape, a thin arm rising up to wave us after him, before falling into a cloud of leaves and flying forward.

I looked back at Shane and Shyanne, who were just as shocked as I was.

"Go!" Jael shouted. She assumed a wide stance, ready to fight, and reached down into the nothingness at her side. Out of thin air, she procured a long, shining katana, glowing with blue energy. Even from how far away I stood, I felt the power wafting off of it like the scent of salt off the ocean.