Star Fall

The Dream Returns

The darkness is the same, but this time the dream is terrifyingly different.
Instead of just me at the bottom of the lonely well, we're all there. Lulu, Janna, Jinx, and Poppy. We're all lost in the darkness. Their calm serenity has been replaced by panic. Each of their muffled voices lap over each other, pleading with me to get them out.
Above us and far, far away I can see a handful of stars. Their light wavers, nearly blinking out. They call to me too, but I can't reach them. I can't move. Glowing ash rains down from above. It glitters as it falls through my fingers. I recognize what it is before the muted light winks out completely.
Star Guardian emblems. Shattered and broken.
An unseen weight hits me full in the chest, knocking the wind out of me, pushing me down further. The starlight above fades even more, moving away from me. The heavy weight bounces up and down, shaking me, but my arms and legs are dead weights. I'm stuck, frozen in the darkness.
The weight stops bouncing. I keep sinking.
"It's no use," Poppy's voice is annoyed and resigned at the same time. She sounds closer, but I still can't reach her.
"Here. Let me show you how it's done, Smalls."
There's a metal scraping sound and a slosh of liquid. I suck in a huge breath as cold water splashes over me. I'm drowning. I am literally drowning this time. I sputter and blink my eyes open. It was just a dream. Sort of. The weight on my chest is distinctly Poppy-shaped.
Jinx is standing over the both of us with an empty canteen in her hand. "Oh look, our fearless leader is awake now."
"Was that completely necessary, you two?" I wipe my eyes and try to sop up the water from my sleeping bag with a spare sweatshirt.
"Lulu's missing," Poppy says quickly.
I'm on my feet, out of the tent, and pulling on my shoes. I open the flap of Lulu's tent. Her sleeping bag is empty. So is Janna's.
"Janna didn't even take the cane I made her," Jinx adds, true concern peeking out in her voice. "What if the old lady falls and can't get up?"
This is worse than the dream.
"We couldn't go find them without you," Poppy says insistently. "You said it's our duty to stick together."
"I just wanted to dump a canteen of water on you and see what happens," Jinx says. Her tone says she doesn't care, but her face disagrees.
"Can we leave now?" Poppy pulls at my arm.
Resting on top of Janna's pillow is the picture Lulu made of all of us in the meadow. We're all looking up at the sky. New stars, Lulu said. My stomach sinks as I look closer at the picture. The fireflies. Black and green glowing things surround us. I have a totally bad feeling about this.
I look at Poppy and Jinx. I can't remember the last time they shared the same expression. Their worry is clear. Flashlights aren't going to cut it tonight.
"Poppy, get your hammer. Jinx, wake up Shiro and Kuro," I say. "It's time to bring out the big guns."