Chapter 18: Terror
The pain is a living thing; it ferrets out every corner and stabs deep with red-hot pokers.
I can’t escape. Frozen in mindless agony, nearly beyond thought, melting into—
Fuzzy rumbles.
I gasp. Saltwater floods in. I choke and flail, screaming bubbles of precious air until it runs out—and I remember I don’t need to breathe.
But I do have a mouth. A face. A whole body, even, as solid and warm and living as the dreamscape’s altered reality can make it. Fuzzy nudges my cheek, threading worried tendrils into my hair. Cool water surrounds me, pushing away the overwhelming memory of that fiery pain.
“You brought me here?”
It snuggles into the curve of my shoulder, purring.
“So I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume the Mara aren’t getting out just yet, either.” I try fo
