THE DREAM
1271 Words
I was standing in the temple, but it looked different. Newer. The murals were bright with fresh paint instead of faded with age. Candles burned in sconces on the walls, and the air smelled of incense and magic.
A woman stood at the altar where Mina and I had placed our hands years ago. She was young and beautiful, with dark hair and silver-grey eyes exactly like ours.
Our mother.
I tried to call out to her, but no sound came from my mouth. As always.
She turned and looked directly at me, and her eyes went wide with horror.
"No," she said, her voice echoing through the temple. "No, you're not supposed to be together yet. It's too soon. The seal isn't ready to break."
She rushed toward me, and I saw Mina beside me now. We were both in the dream, both seeing this together.
"You have to run," our mother said urgently. "They're coming for you. They know where you are. They know what you are."
"Who's coming?" Mina asked, and I realized with shock that she had her voice in this dream.
"The Council," our mother said. "The same ones who killed me. They've been watching, waiting. And now they know you've found each other. They know you're close to completing the prophecy."
"How do we stop them?" I asked, my own voice strange in my ears.
"You can't," our mother said, tears streaming down her face. "Not yet. You're not strong enough. The seal has to break naturally on your eighteenth birthday, not before. If they force it, if they make you merge too soon, you'll burn out."
"Then what do we do?" Mina asked desperately.
"Separate," our mother said. "Stay apart until the time is right. Trust the bond. Trust each other. And whatever you do, don't let them make you merge before you're ready."
She reached out to touch our faces, but her hands passed through us like we were ghosts.
"I love you," she whispered. "Both of you. Always. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you better."
The dream started to fade, our mother's image growing translucent.
"Wait!" Mina called out. "Please, we have so many questions!"
But our mother was already gone, and the temple was dissolving around us into darkness.
The last thing I heard was her voice echoing through the void.
"They're coming. Run. Don't let them find you together. Not yet."
We woke up simultaneously, gasping and clutching each other's hands so tightly it hurt.
Through our bond, I felt Mina's terror matching mine. We'd both had the same dream. Both seen our mother. Both heard her warning.
They're coming, Mina wrote with shaking hands. Whoever killed her. The Council. They know about us.
How could they know? I wrote back. We've been so careful.
Maybe the Academy acceptance drew attention. Maybe someone's been watching and we didn't notice. Maybe—
She stopped writing as we both heard it. Voices in the distance. People moving through the forest toward the temple.
We'd never heard anyone else out here. This deep in the forest, no one came. Ever.
Except now someone was coming.
And we both knew, with the certainty that came from our mother's warning, that they were coming for us.
You need to go, Mina wrote frantically. Now. If they find us together, they'll know what we are.
I'm not leaving you here alone with whoever's coming, I protested.
You're leaving for the Academy in six hours anyway, Mina wrote, tears streaming down her face. This is just happening sooner than we planned. Go, Rafe. Please. Trust me. Trust the bond.
The voices were getting closer. I had maybe two minutes before they reached the temple.
I grabbed Mina's face between my hands and pressed my forehead against hers one last time.
I love you, I sent fiercely through our bond. I'm coming back. One year from now, I'm coming back and we're going to figure this out together.
I love you too, Mina sent back. Now GO.
I forced myself to let go of her and run toward the back exit of the temple. As I disappeared into the forest, I looked back once and saw Mina standing in the entrance, her hand pressed over her heart.
Our bond stretched between us like a living thing, and I felt her love and terror and determination flowing through it.
Then I was running, and the voices behind me were getting louder, and our mother's warning was echoing in my mind.
They're coming. Don't let them find you together.
I didn't know who they were or how they'd found us.
But I knew our mother was right about one thing.
We weren't ready yet. The seal wasn't ready to break.
And if we were forced to merge too soon, we'd burn out like stars.
So I ran, leaving Mina behind in the temple, and prayed that our bond was strong enough to survive the distance.
We had one year until we turned eighteen.
One year to find answers at the Academy.
One year before the prophecy came due and we discovered if we'd live or die when we finally became whole.
THE NEXT TWO MONTHS
We met every single night instead of just once a week.
I abandoned all pretense of hiding my excursions. Marcus could follow me if he wanted. I didn't care anymore. These were the last two months I'd have with Mina before being separated for a year, and I wasn't wasting a single moment.
Every night, we trained harder. Pushed our connection further. Shared every memory and thought we could pack into the time we had left.
We discovered that our telepathic bond worked reliably up to about five miles when we actively focused on each other. Beyond that, it became fuzzy and unreliable.
Three territories was hundreds of miles. There was no guarantee our bond would work at that distance.
But we had to try.
We also made contingency plans. If the bond failed completely, I'd write letters. Father had agreed to act as intermediary, secretly delivering my letters to Mina and bringing hers back to me.
It wasn't the same as being together, but it was something.
We spent hours in the temple's hidden library, copying texts about twin bonds and soul merging. I packed everything we'd learned into notebooks to take with me, hoping the Academy's resources might help me make sense of them.
Mina taught me every technique she knew from the f*******n arts. Not just the movements, but the feeling behind them. The way energy flowed through her body. The way the temple's ancient magic responded to her touch.
"If something happens to me," she sent through our bond one night, "you need to be able to access this power yourself."
"Nothing's going to happen to you," I insisted.
"You don't know that. Promise me you'll keep training. Promise you'll stay strong."
I promised, even though the thought of her being in danger while I was three territories away made my wolf go insane with protective rage.
Celeste was thrilled when she heard about my Academy acceptance. She spent several uncomfortable dinners talking about how prestigious it would make our eventual wedding when I returned.
I tuned her out and focused on counting down the days I had left with Mina.
Sixty days. Forty-five. Thirty. Twenty.
Each day felt like sand slipping through my fingers, impossible to hold onto.
Ten days left. Five days. Three.
And then it was the night before my departure.
The last night we'd have together for an entire year.
The last night before everything changed.
- Writer
