The Dreamfarer

4

Vivienne was the first one to break the silence, spluttering with disbelief.

"Are you-- Are you trying to tell us that-- that Dad is-- that he's...?"

Araminta's head rolled over, and as her eyes met Maeve's, the latter noticed that they were becoming glazed over. Nothing but fear would have been overwhelming Mae's senses at that point if not for the accusatory note in her mother's gaze. It struck confusion into Mae's very core, and she leaned slightly away from the bed, struggling to break free of Araminta's sudden scrutiny.

"Dael is a warlock," their mother stated, her voice hard and full of distaste. "He is a warlock and he deceived me for so long..."

Both girls sat on their haunches, glancing at each other. Was their mother just delusional in her current state? It didn't make sense. Their father, a black sorcerer? It couldn't be - not just because it opened up so many questions, but because it really couldn't be. How would a warlock have infiltrated their town? How would he have tricked Araminta into being with him, marrying him, making a family with him?

"But, Mom..." Viv began, her words treading carefully, as if over a cracking sheet of ice. "If Dad... if Dad was a warlock,"--she shivered--"why would you have stayed with him after you saw his eyes?"

A shudder ran down the length of Araminta's body, and she let out a rattling gasp. "He lied to me, he deceived me, he's a warlock, he's a warlock he's a warlock he's a warlock--!"

Mae staggered to her feet, backing up until her back hit the wall. Her mother kept repeating those three words, her voice progressively growing into a scream. Viv covered her ears and got to her feet as well, but didn't move away from the bed. Maybe she still thought there was something she could do to help Araminta. Mae was beginning to believe that all was lost. Their mother was going to die, and she was going to leave them with this - this secret that by all accounts was just a figment of her imagination, something her mind came up with on her deathbed.

Just then, their mother gurgled something unintelligible, and Mae turned her face away as more blood began draining out one of the corners of Araminta's mouth. She knew they were rapidly running out of time.

"Mom, who did this to you?" Mae demanded, gesturing towards the wound in her stomach; the bloody wound that she had only made worse by initially ignoring. Araminta had underestimated how deep it was, and when she had jogged towards Mae and Caleb, she had only opened it more. Now she was welcoming the consequences of trying to hide it both from them and from herself.

Her mother didn't respond. Mae gritted her teeth in anger. First she told them that their father - a man that had lived with them and cared for them since birth - was an evil magician; the kind that gained its powers by selling its soul to the forces unseen and unspoken of. And now she could die without even telling them how she was hurt in the first place. Maybe they were in danger too!

Wait, no - this is a dream. I'm dreaming, Mae reminded herself, but even the voice in her mind quavered with indecision. 

"Mae, what do we do?" Viv whispered, paths of multiple tears on her face. 

At the sound of Viv's voice, Araminta whipped her head towards them, and Mae resisted the urge to turn her face away once more. 

Her mother met her gaze, and it was unmistakable that she recognized who she was looking at, regardless of her condition. Her eyes were still growing glassy, but there was sanity inside of them, understanding and a hint of loathing staring through their dark blue depths. Viv followed her mother's gaze and landed, with confusion, on her twin.

"Maeve," their mother hissed. The tone was so hostile, so unlike anything either of the girls had heard from her before, that even Viv tried to step away. Just as she moved her foot, Araminta's arm shot out from her side, and her hand clasped Viv's wrist tight enough that Mae could see her mother's nails digging into her skin. Her sister cried out with surprise and attempted to pull away, but Araminta seemed not even to notice her efforts. Viv glanced over at Mae with both pleas and fears in her eyes.