Orange Roses - REVAMPED

Chapter Fifteen: Dreams of Desire

"You are a fool." 

I looked to see Erasmus standing there. Beads of sweat dripped  down his forehead. 

"You okay? You're not looking so good." I said as I stood up. The pain I got from the nightmare was gone. Erasmus was right, it was just a dream and I had to remember that. I pulled up my shirt to double check though. I really was going to have to get back at Drake for stabbing me. Even if it was a dream. 

"I am fine, I'm exhausted by you," he said. Erasmus puffed up a little. Now that I could, I really looked at him. I hadn't seen Erasmus for over six months.He looked thinner and his hair slightly longer. He jaw line more intense and the bags under his eyes deeper now. He really didn't look good. 

"I didn't invite you in Drake's head. This is all your damn fault." I said. 

"There's nothing you can do. You don't have any control here. This spell rarely works." Erasmus said. "If you wanted to wake up the dragon so badly why didn't you come to me?" He asked again. This time, his voice softened. He stepped closer to me and looked down at me. His shoulders relaxed and I didn't feel comfortable. Something about how his blue eyes focused on me made my stomach tense. 

 I never thought about reaching out to Erasmus. 

"I kind of assumed you wanted me dead after the whole stabbing you thing," I said. 

"You're the only human I want," Erasmus said. I could tell he was trying to calm down because he said every word carefully and slowly. "I know I can't force you to do anything at this point. You showed me that a few months ago." 

"But you thought sending a DreamWalker to jump in my head was a good idea?" I said. I shook my head. "This is fucked up. Erasmus. I'm not... This isn't-"

"I wanted to talk to you. It's easier to talk to you in your dreams than when you're awake." He ran a hand through his hair and my stomach curled a little. I hated this. I wanted to say something. "It's easier to talk in dreams." 

"Because nothing has to make sense in them," I said. 

"You listen!" Erasmus snapped at me. "You listen to reason and whatever emotion is clouding your judgement can't reach you. The fear and anger you feel when you're awake isn't there. You know you're safe in your dreams because of me!" 

I remembered. When Erasmus was with me, he liked helping me fall asleep when he needed to talk to me about something important. This whole time, the DreamWalker was supposed to jump into my brain, make me sleep, so Erasmus could talk to me? I shook my head. 

"Matty! This could kill you before you could save him!" Erasmus snapped. 

I tried opening the black door. It wouldn't open. 

I looked at him. 

"What did you do?" I asked. "Why can't I get in here?" Panic filled me. If I couldn't reach Drake then what was I going to do? I only had so much time. "Erasmus!" 

"I didn't do anything!" 

"Then the DreamWalker." I said. 

"She can only open doors to people's dreams. Not close something off. Drake closed something off. Or someone else did," Erasmus said. "It wasn't me." Erasmus looked at me, hard. "Matty, you have to stop this-"

I tried the door again, but when I tried to pull it open, a hand grabbed mine. 

I yelped. 

"Still can't find him, can you?" The DreamWalker said as she let me go. I stumbled back, but Erasmus caught me. His arms held me tightly and his muscles remained tight and strained. "Why would a dragon reveal his heart to a little girl like you?"