Always Hate Me

30. Peace Talks

Ryder was less surprised now, when he dreamt of Lauren. 

She stood in front of him, bathed in glorious sunshine – the rays highlighting the golden streaks in her hair.

"Why can't I stay here?" He asked, soaking in the sight of her. He wanted to dream forever. "I'm always looking for you – every second that I'm awake."

Lauren didn't smile at him. Her eyes were sad.

"We never said a proper goodbye," she murmured – her voice eerily distant. Ryder darted forward and seized her hand.

"No, no," he spoke rapidly. "Don't tell me goodbye. You can't leave me."

Even when he couldn't see her, he carried her with him always. She was a pain – an open wound upon his soul. He wasn't ready for that wound to close up. He wasn't ready for only a scar to remain.

He placed her hand over his heart. "This kind of love never fades." The kind of love he'd been prepared to destroy the world for. "We can never say goodbye to one another."

Lauren closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

                Ryder's eyes snapped open. He sat up in his bed and stared ahead at the blank wall. Tears slid down his grey face. It had felt so real, he'd even felt her breath warm against his face. Ryder crumbled. He sobbed, burying his face in his hands - the grief overwhelming. 

**

"You look tired," Velkan observed. He and Ryder were in the Pantheon – working with the gorgon- test-subjects. Ryder only grunted in response. He had no urge to make any voluntary confessions to Velkan. 

Crouching down, Ryder carefully unscrewed one of the blood taps. But his mind was elsewhere. These days, he both looked forward to and yet dreaded falling asleep. He dreaded, because what if he didn't dream of her. What if he never dreamt again?

With each dream, she spoke less and less. And her voice in the last dream – so terribly far away – had scared him. It was like she was being taken from him, all over again. "Crevan!" Velkan called out suddenly. 

Velkan lunged forward – pushing Ryder out of the way, only just in time.

Ryder felt the magic brush past his cheek and realised belatedly what it meant. Adrenaline spiked in his system. He'd been a hairbreadths away from being turned into stone. Ryder rolled on his back and  raised a shield of ice in front of him and Velkan. 

Through the thick shield, Ryder could still see the inmates in the cages – their horrific faces further distorted by the ice. One hissed at them, extending a purple forked tongue.

"He's the strongest of them," Ryder remarked.

"He nearly got you there. You'd have spent the rest of your life as a piece of furniture." Yet another statue in a chamber filled with them. "You can't be distracted here."

"The mirrors that the vampires put up should have been enough."

Investigating, they discovered what had happened.

"He's bent them."

"Clever."

Both men considered this.