For Once | Dreaming Trilogy | Book 2

Kayla | Getting Along

There was no time to react. The thing in front of us was bulbous and grotesque, not unlike a forgotten glob of jello left on the side of the road. It was definitely the monster from before.

Phoenix was nowhere to be seen as it raised one thin arm and threw it forward, its limb extending and stretching as if there were no bones in it. Its elastic hand morphed and grew and wrapped its gelatin fingers around Shyanne's waist.

I summoned my daggers as quickly as I could.

The monster laughed over Shy's shrieks. "You're little baby knives can't hurt me."

I looked around. Still no Phoenix.

I thrusted my hand forward, calling upon the water molecules in the air to solidify as ice encapsulating her, but nothing came of it. I watched frost form on her glowing body, but she radiated heat.

Shyanne freed one of her arms and held her palm out, crying out for her weapon, but the beast waved her around like a ragdoll. "Hush up, little snack!" She cried. "Your little weapons aren't coming."

To my horror, a huge blob of her radioactive gloop leapt off her body and landed beside me. I staggered back, but fell. It reared back and slammed like a fist into my stomach. It reared again, but I was able to summon a thin ice barrier.

Within two slams, my shield crumbled, but I moved away from the spot.

The beast holding Shyanne swung around again, holding her acidic ice cream upside down in hopes of burning me alive. I was having none of that bullshit. I rolled away from the drop zone just in time.

There was a moment where the Dream Void seemed to slow down for me, give me a moment to think. My eyes crept towards the shattered remains of my frozen shield. The glittering shards glistened like diamonds with sharpened ends.

I looked up to the beast. "Shyanne!" I cried.

Managed to look down at me. I guess the Dream Void was slowing down for her, too.

I held my palm up in the air, curling my fingers slowly. With the motion of my hand, thousands of tiny daggers of ice rose from the earth. Shyanne nodded, understanding my meaning.

The ice particles knit themselves into a wall, completely surrounding the beast. It was nearly too thin, yet just thin enough. I brought both daggers in between my fingers like Wolverine and slammed my fists into my wall.

With a satisfying clatter, the ice wall shattered into thousands of tiny ice chunks. Shyanne raised both her arms the instant my daggers cracked the ice, causing a huge tornado of wind to bring all my pieces into the air like thousands of angry bees around the beast.

She swatted and growled at my army of ice, but she couldn't stop them all. They swarmed her for a moment before beginning to pulse. Out, in, out, in --

Until suddenly, they all crashed together into the beast in a cacophonous roar. I watched as the ice shards fell in slow motion around me.

The beast was gone, yet so was Shyanne.

I called out her name, to no avail.

I waved my hand over the frozen rubble, causing it to melt suddenly. Shyanne's body floated to the surface of my quickly draining pond. I froze a path to her and hurried over, hauling her body up onto an ice table.

Her breath appeared in front of her nostrils in frosty clouds.

Relieved, I carried her on ice over to the remains of our fire.

As if on command, Phoenix shuffled back into the clearing. I glared at her.

"What happened?" She asked in a tone that said she really didn't give a shit what had happened.

"Your little fear friend came back," I muttered. "Tried to kill Shyanne."

Not-Phoenix looked over at Shy's body. "She seems fine."

I resisted the urge to freeze Not-Phoenix and shatter her entire body. "Just start the fire, bitch."

"You shouldn't talk to me like that, you little pest."

I rolled my eyes and pulled Shyanne off of her icey bed. I formed blankets around her freezing cold body. I heard Phoenix's fire crackle to life behind me.

"You know you can't kill me," I said, tucking Shyanne in.

"Excuse me?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," I growled. "So don't play dumb. I know you're not Phoenix. I know you want me dead. But you can't kill me."

"And why not?" she sneered.

I smiled sweetly, turning to face her. Sure enough, her eyes shone jet black. "Because you need me to play along. And I need you to find the real Phoenix. So it's a race. Whoever finds their goal first gets to live. Deal?" I stuck my hand out.

The light of the fire flickered across Not-Phoenix's pale skin and bemused expression. I watched as she flipped her tongue around in her mouth, a habit the real Phoenix had never had, according to Shane.

"Fine," she muttered. "It's a deal."

She shook my hand, and her flesh felt like bone.

I stared into her pitch black eyes. Even without pupils, I felt her staring back, burning into me. I sought deep into her mind, suddenly realizing how important physical touch was.

I looked into her. Where she'd been. I saw fire and lava and acid, like the innards of a volcano. The cloaked figure I knew all too well paced back and forth on the rocky floor. She walked in front of a heavy iron door, perpetually melting and reforming.

Finally, I watched her take a step inside.

Crumpled helplessly on the floor was Phoenix. I only knew by her pale skin and blue hair. She didn't look up when The Nightmare entered. For a moment, I thought she was dead.

Behind Phoenix stood a humanoid creature of sorts. Her body was that of a naked woman, thin and fragile. Her mouth and chin and nose and jaw were all perfectly normal and soft. But the top of her head was a huge eyeball with a piercing blue pupil staring straight at me. Rather than having eyelids to blink, the creature's entire pupil closed out of existence for a singular moment in a blink.

The Nightmare took no notice of the abomination as she strode towards the tiny ball that was Phoenix. I realized she was shaking, still alive.

The Nightmare did horrible things to Phoenix as I stared into Not-Phoenix's eyes, but I couldn't focus on any of it.

The little creature standing in the corner was staring at me.

"How are you here?" The little creature asked.

I couldn't speak, it would break the connection. I dared not move.

"Save her, Kayla," the eye said. "Save her."

Not-Phoenix suddenly jerked her hand away. Like a phone in a cave, I lost connection to Phoenix's reality.

Not-Phoenix was shaking slightly, staring at me with wide, terrified eyes.

I smirked. "What is it?"

She sputtered random vowels. She was the face of pure terror.

"Cat got your tongue?" I asked innocently.

"You are... You're..."

Shyanne groaned behind us. We both turned to look at her. She sat up with confused, hazy eyes. "Are you two getting along?"

Not-Phoenix and I made eye contact again.

"Perfectly."