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

Shane | Queen of Everything

 I didn't remember what had happened, but I woke up staring at the ground and to the sound of a shrill scream. I was just in time to see Jake disappear into the branches. That was about when I fell off Ashes.

Phoenix leaned down and grabbed the lead rope, tying it into reins.

She stared down at me, looking beautiful under a crown of flowers and thorns. I realized it was the same one as the beast had been wearing.

Phoenix looked like a knight combined with the princess she was meant to save.

"Get on," she growled lowly. I knew better than to hesitate. Clumsily, I pulled myself onto the horse behind her. "Arms around my waist," she instructed.

I smirked. "I've dreamt about this," I joked.

"I would smack you if I had the time," she said softly. I could feel the glare even from behind her.

Ahead of us by about twenty feet, a desperate hand reached out of the bush. Its pale tone was undeniably Jake.

Phoenix snapped the reins and Ashes jutted forward. I almost fell off of her, but my arms around Phoenix's tiny waist kept me rooted to the horse. Every now and then, a hand or a leg or a shriek would escape the tangled mess of branches. Phoenix used that to follow, making her way semi-blindly through the maze.

"Why don't we fly?" I suggested, shouting over the wind going in one ear and out the other.

"She won't take off," she replied carefully, plucking her words slowly from the surrounding plants.

With that, we kept going. Ashes was tiring, though. I could feel it by the way her muscles refused to clench too tightly. It felt like we'd been riding for hours when she finally slowed.

"No, damn it, Ashes!" Phoenix cried.

"Phoenix, please," I begged, reaching my arms around her to the reins and pulling Ashes to a stop. "Let her rest. She's been carrying two of us." Slowly, I slid off of her and stroked her neck. Her breathing was heavy and sharp, smoke pouring out of her nostrils.

Phoenix bent down and buried her face in the black mane.

"Shane," she said, her voice muffled.

"Yes?" I asked gently.

"We need to find him."

I nodded. "I know. But we need to survive, and running this horse ragged won't help with that."

I heard her sigh into Ashes' mane. Next, I heard the thumping of something huge against the ground. There was a tug in my gut to run or hide, but I obviously could do neither of those things. I tried to summon my machete, but apparently it was being a mashitty. It wouldn't come.

"Phoenix," I hissed. "Head up."

She did as she was told. Ashes started tossing her head and stomping her hooves into the dirt.

I saw the source of the rattling ground. A huge, blank, white body appeared. Its feet were about twice the size of mine; in fact, its entire body was twice the size of me. The only exception was its neck, which twisted into the clouds. I couldn't see an end.

Ashes whinnied, but stopped panicking.

Slowly, the neck bent. A head appeared, a simple face like a Roman bust.

It looked at us both with white eyes and from behind a pointed nose.

"Your friend was taken," it said in more of a statement than a question.

I stayed silent, but Phoenix mumbled something into Ashes' mane. The horse nodded, and, apparently satisfied, Phoenix sat up straight and confronted the giant.