Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
“Enough. Let’s go see if we can reason with Cirina before anyone gets killed,” Shey admonished.
Yeah, reason with her. Tyche knew that wouldn’t be possible, but they had to try.
He turned toward the direction they were headed and pointed down the street clogged with stopped cars and angry drivers. “She’s that way. I can feel a pressure in the air from her magic.”
They began walking, weaving their way between the cars and around the confused citizens. People shouted and cursed, but the most disturbing were those lost in a dream. They danced, skipped, and meandered in a kind of daze. All of them were smiling, happy to be wherever their minds had taken them. But that was the danger of a dream. They were warm, inviting, happy places that a person would never want to leave. Sometimes, the dream was so subtle that the dreamer wouldn’t even realize they were no longer attached to reality.
“Ty, do we need another weird phrase to pull us out if we get caught up in Cirina’s powers?” Shey asked, following a couple of steps behind Tyche.
“That won’t work this time.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Adrian demanded from the other side of a small blue sedan.
“We were hit with Yesuntei’s nightmare magic, but before it happened, Tyche gave me this weird phrase to remember. As soon as it popped up in the nightmare, I understood what was happening wasn’t real and I woke up,” Shey explained.
“That’s the difference between their two magics. In Yesuntei’s nightmares, things are scary or heartbreaking, but they stick close to reality. Insert something absurd, like a green sky, and you know it’s not real. You wake up. But in Cirina’s dreams, everything is happy and light and fun. You can have exactly what your heart desires.” Tyche cut past a car and briefly walked beside Adrian. “If your king were to walk up and hand you exactly what you dreamed of, would you refuse him?”
Adrian’s brow furrowed and his fingers tightened on the knife he was holding. “But I would know it wasn’t real.”
“That’s not enough. You have to want to leave that dream behind. You need—”
A loud, high-pitched Wheeeee! Sliced through the air near them. They all stopped and turned just in time to see a man’s large body plunge from the top of a building and slam into a parked car, crumpling it down the center and killing him instantly. Those people not lost to the dreams screamed and ran in panic in the opposite direction.
“What the fuck!” Adrian shouted, jumping away from the car and the dead man.
Not more than a second later, two more people jumped from the skyscrapers that lined this street. Giggles danced through the air right before another young man died, hitting the sidewalk hard enough to shatter the concrete.
“That’s the other thing. Yesuntei’s nightmares typically left people inert. Frozen. Curled up in a ball. But Cirina’s dreams turn people into sleepwalkers. They walk out into traffic, dive off buildings, attempt to cuddle dangerous animals—all without seeing the real world.”
And Tyche was willingly walking his friends into this. He ripped his eyes away from the dead and kept his gaze locked straight ahead. The faster he dealt with Cirina, the more lives he could save. He was doing this for Yesuntei. She wouldn’t want these innocent humans killed, and she would not want her sister to be suffering like this.
“Is there any way to protect ourselves from her magic?” Haru asked. There was a hardening edge to his voice, and Tyche could imagine he was already contemplating snatching Adrian up and flying him far away. He didn’t blame the dragon. He was probably the smartest of all of them.
“Your magic will act as a buffer, but that won’t be enough.” He stopped and searched the area filled with abandoned cars. “Haru, break that glass!”
Haru turned to the empty SUV next to him and easily smashed his elbow into the window. The glass shattered loudly, but it was nothing compared to the haunting laughter and the panicked shouts. Tyche hurried over to the vehicle and picked up shards of jagged glass. He handed them out to each person while they stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“Keep the glass in the palm of your hand. If your head feels fuzzy or you feel less afraid, squeeze it. Pain will wake you up,” he instructed.
“Sort of like pinching yourself,” Shey murmured as he stared at the glass.
Tyche reached out and pressed the glass into his skin. “Yes, but more. It has to hurt. Genuine pain.”
Fear squeezed his throat, threatening to choke him. He swallowed hard and tightened his fist around his own shard of glass to get control of his emotions. He wanted to reach for the bones he always kept on him, but there wasn’t time. The calculations had to be done on the fly. His sharp eyes jumped from Shey to Adrian to Haru, weighing their individual strength, the power they wielded, experience, and the balance of luck he could sense in them.