Twisted Nightmares

4 - Running With Nightmares

It was the middle of the night. The carriage was stopped and Liam and Lilith were asleep. But Beatrice was wide awake. She hadn't slept much since the Dark Breath thing. She never felt tired anymore. Usually, casting a spell with no wand was exhausting. But the night of the incident she cast a spell to hurt Lilith and then stopped it mid-flight, but she wasn't tired at all.

It was a beautiful night, but Beatrice was so bored. She almost wanted a Nightmare to appear. She lay down and shut her eyes, but she wouldn't sleep. After a lot of tossing and turning trying to get to sleep, she decided to get some air. She stepped outside the carriage and took a deep breath of the cold air. It was eerily quiet.    

The silence was broken by sounds even more ominous then the quiet night. It sounded like a mix between deep breathing and a squeal. Beatrice put a hand on her wand holder and prepared to pull it out. The creature stepped out of the darkness and Beatrice froze. As soon as she could move again she pulled out her wand and aimed, but before she could, something happened. The world's colors gained a purple tint and Beatrice lost control of her body. The only part that was still Beatrice was a small part of her mind that couldn't do anything at all. She was a Nightmare.

The demon that cursed Beatrice's body turned around to the carriage. It reached out to open the door, but it was pushed back. The part of Beatrice that was still her was relieved. Liam's mother had enchanted the carriage so that a Nightmare can't enter, so Liam and Lilith were safe. The Nightmare turned around to face the creature before it. It held out a hand and Beatrice's cursed body took it.

The creature and Beatrice took off into the night. The part of Beatrice that was still her wanted to scream for help, but she couldn't. She wanted Liam and Lilith by her side to help her. But they weren't. They didn't even know she was gone. She wanted to cry.

***

The gentle light of the morning sun shining on his face woke Liam up. he bent back and there was a crack up his spine. He didn't sleep very well. He was worried about Beatrice. He loved her, but he had never said that to her. Maybe he never would. He looked around. Lilith was still sleeping but Beatrice was nowhere to be seen. Liam panicked. He shook Lilith awake.

"Ugh, what do you want?" Lilith moaned. "You know what, I don't care. My sleep is more important." Lilith turned over and began snoring but Liam shook her again. She turned over, her eyes barely open. Liam looked at Lilith a worried, sad and panicked expression. "Beatrice is gone." Liam said in a worried voice.  Lilith sprung up and pushed passed Liam out the door. Her eyes filled with tears. "We need to find her." She said. 

"You think?"

Lilith gave Liam a death stare. "Come on. let's go find her." Liam said. He took out his wand and whispered and incantation. Sparkling dust drifted out of the top of the wand and settled on the ground. The dust gathered together and revealed footprints. "They must be from Beatrice." Said Lilith. Liam wanted to say well, duh, but he decided that it wasn't a good time. They were about to set off when the dust gathered on more patches revealing more footprints. "She wasn't alone." Said Liam, barely above a whisper. "Well, duh!" Yelled Lilith and Liam rolled his eyes. 

They followed the footprints into the forest. Liam was more worried then he had ever been in his life. They were only young, but Liam loved Beatrice so much. He hoped they found her. He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt. He wanted to save her. He had to save her. He knew they would save her...

Wouldn't they?

He shook the thought out of his mind, focusing on following the disorientated footprints. Lillith's breath were long and deep, a trick they'd been taught in training. Long breaths let you cover more ground. You just have to be calm. "Come on Beatrice..." Liam whispered to himself. Lilly glanced at him, before obviously pushing forward into a sprint. Liam followed suit, determined to find the girl he loved.

However finding Beatrice would be much harder then he thought.