Needle in a Haystack

Night Mares

'Breathe. Just breathe,' Ember soothed as Emily hyperventilated.

"I couldn't feel you, *gasp*, and Sabine was here in our room, *gasp* and I provoked a Lady of the Fay *gasp* court of Winter, *gasp* and she can control dreams. *gasp*" She would have gone on aloud, but Ember took over and gently pushed her to the back of their mind to get a hold of herself, and went back to getting their homework finished.

When Emily was calm enough to string more than a few words together, Ember set the book aside. Instead of having a conversation, Ember used feelings and ideas to convey her worry when she was suddenly thrust into control of their body without preamble, and could no longer feel Emily. One moment, they were sharing a daydream about their destined mate, and the next, she was alone for the first time. She had searched every corner of their shared consciousness for her human half, but she only found memories, however fond they might be. Emily felt a spike of guilt at not noticing immediately that Ember was gone, but Ember assured her through their bond that she was not upset. She thought that Sabine might have done something to mask the fact that she separated them, however briefly, using Fay magic. She showed her the progression of dawn as it related to Emily's unexpected disappearance and joyous return, how the first hazy blue peaking around the blinds had snapped her out of her panic and allowed her to settle into something resembling their routine. As a result, most of the homework was done.

Gently, she pulled Emily forward, relinquishing control to her. Emily took a deep stuttering breath and flopped backward onto the floor. As she lay there staring up at the ceiling, she recounted her time with Sabine to Ember, leaving out the part where she expected Ember to stop her from lipping off to a super powerful Fay.

"Here's the thing that's bugging me," Emily explained aloud.

'One thing?' Ember quipped.

"What is a vasal of the winter court?" Emily went on, as though Ember hadn't interrupted. "And what do they do?"

'That's two questions.'

"Would we be staying here, or going to Sabine's realm?"

'That's four now.'

"I'm serious, Ember," Emily whined, sounding like a toddler, even to herself. She sighed heavily, tossing an arm over her eyes.

'And you know, I don't have the answer to any of those questions either. I imagine, though, they may be outlined in the contract she gave us,' Ember supplied constructively. 'Even if we don't understand all the fancy phrases, we might still be able to glean some understanding.'

"I don't want to look at that right now. My brain is too fried to focus on the words anyway," Emily groused. She sat up, her limbs heavy with fatigue, and started packing her backpack. She would finish the English homework at lunch, she decided. When her books were back in her backpack, instead of zipping it up, she stood up and stared at the contract still sitting on her pillow. She went to brush her teeth and get ready for bed instead of touching it yet, but when she was washed and in her pajamas, all that was left was to move it and climb into bed. She stood staring at it until she heard her mother leave for work.

'It's not going to bite us,' Ember chided.

'I know, but it gives me the creeps.'

She looked at her floor considering sleeping there, but dismissed the idea just as quickly. The only time she slept well on the floor was when she passed out in the middle of a project. Her eyes landed on her box of books, and she riffled through it until she found a folder that wasn't mangled. Gingerly, without touching it, she slid the contract into the folder, shoved it into the middle of her books and closed the box. With a sigh of relief, she climbed into bed and snuggled down into the blankets, throwing one foot over the top of the covers.

Sleep came quickly, and dreams. Emily was taunted with flashes of her mate in her periphery, but when she turned, he was gone. She ran through the halls of the school, but the layout was all wrong. Finally, she threw open a set of double doors that should have led to the gymnasium, but where there should have been polished wood floors, there was shining white marble shot through with the palest blue and green. Her eyes traveled across the floor to a dais with three thrones, all of ice, trimmed in gold and cushions of the deepest royal purple velvet.

As she gazed at the throne room, a delicate hand wrapped around her upper arm like a steel band and yanked her away. She could no longer feel her body, but she could hear wind rushing past.

'Ember!' she screamed, but she had no lips to move.

'I'm here,' came the mental reply, and her relief made her dizzy.

When the dizziness cleared, she realized she was standing in a study, the kind you might see in an old English manor house. Before her, in an alcove with a window seat and heavy dark velvet curtains, sat Sabine. In her lap rested the biggest, mangiest house cat Emily had ever seen. It stared at her with glowing green eyes that flashed red in the low light, only the tip of its tail twitched.

"You should be more careful, child. There are places in the dreaming that connect to Fairy," Sabine explained. "You should rest. You will need it in the trails ahead."

Before Emily could ask her what she meant, Sabine raised a hand, palm out towards Emily and pushed. Emily felt it connect with her chest and all the air whooshed out of her lungs, and she woke up gasping. She looked around, but she was in her own room. And her alarm was going off.