Chapter 19-The Familiar Place

Odett’s POV

  I recognized the nightmare before I recognized the place. The smoke did not move, and no wind crossed the field. I reached for Lorilie, expecting her familiar weight beside my thoughts, but the place where she should have been felt empty.

  I searched again for my wolf. She had stayed with me through every dream before this one, even when neither of us understood what we saw. Now I could not find her, and the silence seemed to press harder each time I called.

  ‘Lorilie?’ I called.

  Nothing answered. Beyond the smoke, I recognized the field where Black Claw had held a mating celebration two months earlier. I had stood beneath blue-and-silver lights while the Alpha’s oldest son and his mate greeted guests they had known for years. I remembered the music most clearly. There was none now.

  The ground had burned black and split beneath my boots. Cracks cut through the places where people had danced, and smoke stood among the trees without drifting. I looked for the tables that had lined the field and found only overturned wood.

  Blood stained the snow and the broken earth. Some of it had dried, while some still caught the dim light. I smelled iron and ash, but none of the decay so many bodies should have brought. My throat burned when I tried to breathe deeper.

  Wolves, vampires, and witches lay in rows too careful to belong to a battle. Their wounds looked clean. I remembered the chaos I had seen after the war and knew that frightened people would not have fallen this way on their own.

  That order frightened me more than the blood. A battle left confusion behind because people ran, fought, and tried to survive. This looked arranged after the fear was already over.

  I tried to step, but my boot made no sound and left no mark in the ash. A child’s hand hung beside the nearest body. Other children stood between the rows, some holding one another and some staring past me.

  A young wolf knelt beside a dead adult with his fingers buried in the man’s fur, rocking without making a sound. A vampire girl wiped blood from her cheek, although the blood did not belong to her. Neither child reacted when I moved closer.

  None of the children cried or called for their parents. I moved closer, unable to make myself believe they could not hear me. Their silence frightened me more than the motionless smoke.

  “Hey, are you hurt?” I asked.

  My voice never reached them. Every child turned toward me at once, crimson filling their eyes. A blonde girl near the center tugged at a memory I could almost catch. I knew her face from somewhere, but the name vanished when I reached for it.

  “Shit,” I whispered with sudden recognition.

  I tried to run. Something dark rose from the cracks and wound around my ankles, holding my boots to the broken earth. I pulled against it, and the grip tightened.

  “What in the actual fuck?” I shouted with terrified anger.

  I closed my eyes and raised the shield spell Grandma Ezmerelda had drilled into me. Power rushed through my arms too quickly and struck the barrier harder than I intended. Something screamed from every direction as the black tendrils threw me backward.

  I woke with the shield already around me. It burst across the room before I could draw it back, slamming my desk chair into the wall and throwing books from the shelves. Glass broke beside the bed. I sat in the sudden quiet with my hands raised, afraid of what I had done.

  ‘Lorilie, what the hell was that?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lorilie answered.

  ‘I could feel your panic, but I couldn’t reach you,’ she continued uneasily.

  ‘You were there, and then something closed between us,’ Lorilie finished with lingering fear.

  I pressed both hands against my face while my breathing settled. Lorilie had never sounded afraid of something inside my mind before. She moved restlessly as if she needed to prove the connection had returned.

  ‘Maybe we should tell Mom,’ Lorilie said.

  ‘This one was different, and I don’t like anything strong enough to keep me away from you,’ she added firmly.

  ‘I think Mom already knows something happened,’ I answered.

  ‘There is no way she missed that surge,’ I added reluctantly.

  I climbed out of bed and started picking up the closest books, although my shaking hands made the effort useless. Lorilie warned me away from the broken glass beside the nightstand. I had just placed the chair upright when she became still.

  ‘You’re too late,’ Lorilie said.

  ‘She’s outside the door,’ she added knowingly.

  Mom knocked once and waited. She could feel the power that had filled my room, but she still let me answer before opening the door. That kindness made the truth harder to keep back.

  “Come in, Mom,” I said with guilty hesitation.

  Mom came in wearing a robe, her red curls tied away from her face. She saw the broken glass and fallen books, then pulled a chair close without asking who had caused the mess. Her attention settled on me, steady enough that my shoulders finally began to unclench.

  “I was wondering when you would come to me about the nightmares,” Mom said.

  “After that surge, I don’t think we should wait any longer,” she continued carefully.

  “Are you hurt?” Mom asked.

  “I’m not hurt, and I’m sorry I woke everyone,” I said.

  “There is something I need to tell you, though,” I continued hesitantly.

  “This nightmare wasn’t like the others,” I admitted.

  Mom glanced toward the broken glass, then back at me. She did not demand an explanation or make me defend my silence. Her calm expression made it easier to pull the blanket around my shoulders.

  “Start wherever you can, my sweet girl,” Mom said.

  “The nightmares started about two years ago, long after Sam left,” I said.

  “At first, they only showed empty places after attacks, and Lorilie could always reach me,” I explained carefully.

  “They began coming more often during winter break, but I thought it was because I was worried about Sam and kept hearing pieces of the reports,” I finished uneasily.

  “Why did tonight feel different?” Mom asked.

  “There were bodies this time,” I said with a strained voice.

  “There were children standing between them, and I recognized the Black Claw celebration field,” I continued shakily.

  “Lorilie couldn’t reach me, and something in the ground grabbed me when I tried to run,” I finished with visible fear.

  Mom gripped the chair for a moment. A purple ring brightened around her green irises as she reached through the castle wards, then faded. She kept her voice calm when she turned back to me, but I had seen her fear.

  “Your grandmother was already on her way before I reached her,” Mom said.

  “She felt the change in your power, but that does not mean she knows what caused the dream,” she explained gently.