Drakon

night terrors

[♘a l i s t a i r   s e l w y n♘]

Being a warlock staying in a house of dragons was honestly a nightmare. I couldn't quite tell whether running out of guest rooms and having to share one with your crush, who also happens to have an overprotective brother and a best friend who wanted you and your crush to become a couple, was worse.

Battle planning was enough to send Kia to sleep, but I was struggling to do the same. A sliver of moonlight shone through the window, illuminating her peacefully sleeping face. I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and she snuggled closer to me. "Sleep tight, princess." I murmured, feeling her cold skin against mine. In response to my words, she let out a contented sigh and lay her head on my chest like I was a pillow. Wrapping an arm around her body and closing my eyes, I finally settled into an uneasy sleep.

I woke up on a sofa, with familiar gray walls towering over me. "Gav, what is he doing here?" A familiar female voice hissed.

"What do you mean, 'what is he doing here'? I thought you invited him!" A freaked out, male voice replied. I had a brief flashback to a few months ago when something similar happened. It was before the whole Riders fiasco, before the start of the war, before I died... It seemed like a whole lifetime ago. It was quite strange, really. It felt like watching an event unfold without really being there.

"What? I don't even know how to do that!" Kia whisper-yelled.

Gavin and Kia stared down at me, two pairs of unnervingly violet eyes meeting mine. "Hello? Alistair, respond."

I could only reply with a "huh".

Gavin smirked. "While you're here, I may as well try something out."

"What do you want?" I groaned. "Can't I just get a bit of sleep?"

"You are sleeping," he explained, "physically, at least. Look." He waved a hand, and suddenly all three of us appeared in Kia and I's shared bedroom.

Kia groaned, smacking Gavin's shoulder. "Can we get to doing whatever you brought me here to do?"

Gavin narrowed his eyes. "Why are you two sharing a bed?" He looked at Kia in mock- horror. "And why are you sleeping on him?"

Kia flushed red, staring at me accusingly. "I thought you were sleeping on the sofa!"

"Yeah, but I fell off and changed my mind." I smirked. "You didn't seem to mind. Plus, you're tiny. Why do you need such a huge bed?"

She spluttered indignantly. "I was sleeping!"

"You did decide to use my chest like a pillow." This time, I was the one who was hit. "Ow! I'm telling the truth!"

Gavin cleared his throat. "You can settle this later. Time is passing, and I want to try something out." He grinned evilly as the scene faded away and into the familiar stone walls of Gavin's mind-house. He crept up behind his younger sister, pulled a bandana out of his pocket, and tied it neatly around his sister's head. "Lights out!" He sounded oddly cheerful.

"I can't see anything! What do you expect me to do?" Kia shouted in annoyance.

"Well, this is like a game of Marco Polo, except none of you are allowed to speak. I, however, am allowed to watch you bumble around like a toddler. Kia, I want you to try and reach out with your mind, and try to detect where Alistair is. That way, if someone knocks you out, you could still reach havoc in their minds." Gavin nodded at me. "Alistair, your job is to move around and respond with anything you like if she contacts you with her mind." He plopped himself on the sofa. "You may begin!"

Kia stretched arm out, and I could see silver and violet tendrils reaching out in all directions, all of them missing me completely. Gavin snickered. One of them wrapped around his hand, but he brushed it off like it was nothing.

I was completely unaware of a violet tendril wrapping itself around my leg, not until I heard Kia's voice in my mind. Did I get you yet?

Maybe, princess. I replied nonchalantly.

A green tendril reached out from my own hand, connecting with hers. Okay, I definitely did. "Gavin, is it game over yet?" She shouted to her brother, not knowing that he was only several metres away.

Gavin winced. "Nope! You've still got one more round." A shimmering sheen of silvery blue surrounded me. "Felix is a hypnotic, and this is a simulation of a person who has been hypnotized by him. Kia, you will have to use your mind to bash down the walls once you get to them." I took a step forward and promptly tripped. "Kiki, much as I know you like him, you've gotta let go in order to continue." Gavin carefully lifted me up like I was a weightless doll.

"Sorry." Kia muttered, both her violet and my green tendrils retracting and disappearing. "Can I start now?"

"Sure."

We started again, me trying to stay away from the violet light, and her using the same violet light to try and detect me and other objects in her way so that she wouldn't fall. I ducked behind Gavin's armchair, trying to hide from Kia. When are we going to be done? I mouthed. I want to actually sleep before the big battle. Just because my body is awake doesn't mean my mind would be too.

Chill, he replied casually, you'll be fine. I'll send you both off to bed after little sis gets you.

Jeez, fine. I grumbled, annoyed. I thought I hated being the only warlock in a room of dragons, but being a guinea pig for the last of the psychics was worse.

I felt something smash into the back of my head, and the world went black.

"Alistair? Alistair? Alice! Respond!" I felt a cold hand smack my cheek. Kia.

"Ow," I groaned, "my head." Thankfully, I was lying on a soft surface. Gavin must've sent us back.

Kia sighed in relief. "Thank gods you're alright. I'm so sorry I knocked you out, I misjudged the force of my mental strength." She lowered her head bashfully.

I grinned weakly. "Hey, at least we're back! I'm glad we can finally catch up on some sleep."

She laughed, lying down beside me and propping her head up on a hand. "Well, it's almost daylight anyway, so you'll only get a few hours of sleep. Flying from Terrande to Lukar takes quite a few hours, and if we're planning to get there while there's still a bit of daylight, we're going to have to set off quite early."

I pouted. "Well, there's also the option of just cuddling in bed... " I said suggestively.

She blushed, flustered. She was cute when she did that. "I think we had enough of that."

"Yeah, but a little more wouldn't hurt." Wrapping my legs around hers, I pulled her down under the sheets, pinning her .

She flicked my nose. "You're insufferable." She wriggled out of my grasp, rolling away in order not to face me. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when you get all those dirty thoughts out of your head."

I spluttered. "There are no dirty thoughts in my head." Okay, maybe I did, but I would never admit it, would I?

"Liar."

"I am not a liar!"

She rolled around and spazzed me, and I yelped. "Admit it, you are! So please, leave your hormonal teenage boy thoughts to yourself!"

"I'm not a hormonal teenage boy, nor am I thinking dirty thoughts!" What a liar, a voice sang in my mind. I couldn't quite tell whether it was Kia or my conscience.

Kia scoffed. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep, and you're not going to disturb me."

Neither of us got much sleep that night.