He didn’t reply immediately. A tail wrapped around my waist, keeping me from moving closer or further away.
“I can’t find you,” he said finally. “Everyone is looking, but no one can find you. Do you know where you are?”
I thought back to the room. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I didn’t see any of it except for the room.”
“That’s incredibly helpful of you.”
“Just warn them, please,” I begged again. “And you’ll still help them, won’t you?“
“They aren’t the issue right now.” He yanked me to him with his tail suddenly, causing me to stumble forward until he caught me. One hand reached up to my forehead, then he yanked it away with a hiss. “None of us can find you.”
“Why?”
“There’s some kind of magic on you. Something powerful. It’s keeping anyone from knowing where you are.” He hesitated. “Can you get out?”
“I can’t even wake up.”
“Then I can’t help you.” The words were simple, and he shrugged. “Who took you, then?”
“The witches,” I said. Finally, a question I could answer. A thread of hope twined itself around my heart. If they knew that much, then hopefully they could figure out the rest.
Merric’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“The witches!” I snapped impatiently. “You know–“
“Stop. I can’t understand you.”
“What do you mean you can’t understand me?”
“I mean, whenever you try to tell me, all I hear is gibberish. That’s very thorough.” He looked back out into the rain. “I can’t help you,” he said again.
“But you have nine tails!” I was raging now. “You’re powerful! Why can’t you wake me up?”
“Because this has nothing to do with me.”
The rain was becoming louder and the coffee shop was growing dimmer and blurred at the edges.
“Tell me how to wake up!”
“I don’t know, George. You’ll have to figure it out yourself.”
“No! No please you can’t leave me here. I can’t do this.” I pleaded.
He raised a brow, no hint of sympathy anywhere on his face. “Then you won’t wake up, and your friends will have to face Lucia without you.”
My heart sped up. “But you’ll help them, right? You promised.”
Now he grinned. “I promised you. And if you aren’t there, then there’s no reason for me to be either.”
“You can’t do that!” I took a step towards him, and he only watched. “You promised! You have to help them, Merric!” When I reached out for him, he was gone.
I was back on a hardwood floor, with tarot cards under me, and the Ten of Swords in my hand.
Chapter 25
I screamed. At the same time, I chucked the card to the floor, only to pick it up a second later just to tear it in half.
It disintegrated.
“I want to wake up!” I yelled to the universe, wishing that would make it so.
Something sounded from the kitchen. When I looked up, Indra stood there just as he had before. How many times had I done this now?
He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
“Shut up! Shut up SHUT UP!” I jumped to my feet, teeth elongated as I threw a lamp to the floor.
He didn’t speak.
I was beyond much rational thought now; being part werewolf meant I got the joys of heightened emotions and reactions if I wasn’t careful. Usually, I was careful. My wolf side was more carefully buried, after all, and I’d spent years playing the witch while hiding the wolf.
But not now.
I screamed again, loud and impossibly long. Akiva sat at the top of the stairs, having not yet started his little speech.
“I’m going to WAKE UP!” I screamed to both of them, seeing them stare at me with empty eyes. It had been three days when Merric had spoken to me, but time seemed to move much differently in my dreams than it did in the real world.
How long ago was our meeting in the dream coffee shop?
Something red hot burned at the edges of my vision making me squint. I inhaled, and smelled dirt.
Dirt?
The world around me blurred, though when I tried to calm down enough to focus on it, the edges sharpened and Indra staggered towards me again.
Was the reality of the dream I was trapped in linked to something in me?
My temper flared–it was easy, worked up as I was–and I screamed at Indra again, though this time it trailed into a snarl.
He vanished.
When I looked up, Akiva too was gone.
But this was dangerous territory. If I let myself get any more worked up, I could very easily push myself into a tantrum that would set my wolf free on a rampage.
But what if that was the only way to wake up?
Rational thought was irritating. The wolf side of me that my father had passed down wanted to come out to play now. Not the soft, fuzzy ears and long white tail. No. The other part. The huntress, who took down prey and rivals both. The animal that every were-creature had to fight to control, lest they be labeled feral or bestial.
Just a little, I cautioned myself, feeling my wolf rising. Just a little, George. Just to wake up.
Unfortunately, there was no just a little when it came to my wolf.
Like dunking myself in scalding water, I was suddenly burning with rage.
How dare these witches think to control me? To bind my magic and put me in a sleep?
Who did they take me for?
George-the-witch drowned in the tumultuous ocean of George-the-werewolf, and I bared my fangs at the darkening space around me, ears flicked forward and tail stiff.
My rational side made one last plea for reason, just as everything went dark once more and I regained consciousness.
If I had been thinking clearly, I would’ve known instantly that I’d gone too far.
My vision was off. The room was too bright, even in the darkness, and colors were muted. Every little sound found my sensitive ears, and when I stood up from a
