The Dreamfarer

37

Vivienne opened her eyes back up and sent Mae a grin. "See?" she said smugly, as if she expected Mae to be impressed. 

"How am I supposed to know if you actually did anything?" Mae demanded.

Earlier, her sister had told her some of the ways in which she knew more about Dreamfaring than Mae did. She said that she could Dreamfare while she was awake - that she had no problem calling up her own and others' subconscious minds at any time. She insisted that her powers were not limited to when she slept, that they had none of the boundaries that Folco had taught Mae to respect. 

Naturally, Mae had not believed her, so Vivienne had simply shut her eyes. At least half an hour had passed, though Mae thought it was probably longer. Her sister had remained upright and in place, but had still been capable of reacting to Mae's yells of aggravation. Each time Mae rattled the chains with excess force or tried to get her sister's attention through screaming questions and insults, Vivienne would raise up a single finger, like she was indicating to Mae that she would be with her in just a moment. It creeped Mae out; if Vivienne had really been Dreamfaring during that time, it meant that she had found a way to be aware in both of her minds at the same time. It would not just be impressive - it would be incredible, and not in a good way. Not when neither Mae nor Folco had the same knowledge.

Vivienne scratched one of her fingernails down a bar of the cell, and the squeaking noise was awful as it resonated in Mae's ears. She cringed, trying to shrug her shoulders up to cover her ears as her sister just stared at her, apparently enjoying herself.

"Once your boyfriend leaps at the chance to let Dael kill him, you'll know," she replied after a moment. 

Mae's entire body stiffened. No. "He would never just let Dael kill him," she argued. "He would never give himself up like that, not when I still need him."

Vivienne smirked at her. "You're so naive, Mae," she teased. "Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I knew that Folco would never sacrifice himself. He's powerful in his own right, I suppose, and living amongst warlocks most of his life... Well, let's just say he probably doesn't have the most magnanimous of personalities. He would be glad to let anyone die for him. That is, anyone except you."

"You told him that he needs to die in order to save me," whispered Mae, awareness dawning. 

Vivienne dug her nail harder into the bar, causing Mae to grit her teeth.

"I can't have loose ends, Mae, that's all. I had to make sure that he and Dael confronted each other before either of them decides to come inside the city walls," she explained, her tone falsely sympathetic. Falsely, because Vivienne was shrewd, cold, an enemy that Mae would never even have dreamed that she had. Falsely, because Vivienne could never understand the pain that Mae was feeling; she took after their father, had gained her powers through the summoning of dark spirits. She was evil, and Mae was beginning to accept it, regardless of how much it hurt.

She jerked at her restraints desperately, not caring how much of her skin the shackles peeled off as she did so. "Let me out of here, Vivienne," she commanded, glaring daggers at her twin.

Vivienne just laughed. "Can't do that, sis. We both know what you would try to do, and it would just get you killed, one way or another."

"You would kill me?" Mae breathed. Even Dael would not have killed her; or at least, she did not think that that had been part of his plans. Her sister, the person that she had thought knew her better than anyone, the person that she would have done anything for, the person that she had been planning on dying for, would kill her?

Vivienne tilted her head and did not answer. Mae watched as she closed the hand that had been scratching at the bars into a fist and rattled it as if she thought something might jingle inside, though of course it must be empty, considering it had been just a moment before.