Demyan nodded, opening his mouth to ask a question when pain lanced through his mind and body. He squeezed Kendall’s hand so hard she cried out, while he dropped to the cold, rough floor, taking his poor wife with him.
“Shiro!” Vassily said, though the poor king could not answer. Something was wrong, every one of the Voices in his head screaming in unison, weeping for what was being done.
Chapter Seven
The field of poppies was dark again. Kaleo was alone among the red flowers for the second time in as many weeks. It was not as easy falling asleep out in the open as it was in one’s own bed. Fionn was warm, but he was not very comfortable. Kaleo let the darkness linger, moving out to the center of the field until the light took over, banishing the darkness to the far corners. He peered around, looking for Jaysen, hoping his friend would be there. He’d come each night after Jaysen’s warning with the same hope, only to have that hope dashed. He needed a teacher, someone to guide him through the Sea of Stars if he expected to find his father. What he’d done was reckless and stupid. If not for Jaysen, Kaleo would not be able to draw breath; he’d have died in that nightmare. As it was, he’d been wounded. The scratch was still an angry red mark at his ankle and worse in the dream, with blackened spider veins and bruising that wrapped around his whole calf and foot. The thought of that dream made the stubborn amatti frown and stare off to the edges of the field with balled fists at his sides.
“I know what I’m doing!” he snarled.
“Not really,” the olven boy said softly. Kaleo whirled around, feeling the resistance of his own wings on the non-existent air around him. Yira’s Realm was very strange. “And you’re dirty.”
Kaleo glanced down at himself. Jaysen was not wrong. There was dirt on his knees and arms. His vest had a stain on it and his hands appeared as if he’d been digging in the mud. He hadn’t, but the dreams exacerbated reality a great deal. Having it pointed out made him flush. His appearance immediately changed. The dirt vanished. The thread-bare patches mended themselves and his wings vanished briefly, only to reappear again in the next breath. Jaysen chortled.
“Better,” the boy with the clawed hands said with a grin. Kaleo only rolled his eyes at his friend but smiled all the same, letting it slide away to a frown as he noted Jaysen’s appearance. He was more faded than usual, as if he did not quite have the strength to be fully present in the Poppy Fields. Tanis, he noted, was not with him.
“Where’s Tanis?” Kaleo asked, daring to move a little closer. Jaysen took a step back, looking down at his feet.
“She isn’t well,” Jaysen answered, suddenly leaning heavily on a white-washed staff that was not there moments before. “I can’t stay long.”
“What’s wrong?” Kaleo persisted. There was no reason for him to press the issue. It was irrelevant.
They’d never met outside the dream world and were not likely to do so anytime soon. There was nothing Kaleo could do to help his friend, but the question fell from his lips all the same. Jaysen grinned, looking back up from his feet.
“I want to live in your world, Kaleo,” Jaysen said rather than answering the question. “It sounds like a perfect world - free of pain; mostly.”
“Free of pain? Is that really what you think?” Kaleo frowned. Jaysen shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. Listen to me - Argento’s song changed. It’s lighter, not as somber as it was before. You were right about your father. Just, stay out of the Sea
of Stars. It isn’t safe there right now. They’re hunting. Promise, ok?”
“Who’s hunting? Hunting what?”
“Just promise!” Jaysen barked. Kaleo could see the struggle on his face, the strain he was under just to remain upright. He did not have the strength to be in the Poppy Fields. It was dangerous to traverse Yira’s Realm while in a weakened condition. It left you open to attack or worse. He was taking a huge risk in coming; a risk to tell him of Argento, of his father.
“I promise,” Kaleo said finally. “Thank you.”
They stood in awkward silence for a few moments. Kaleo fidgeted or looked at the poppies closest to his toes. Jaysen just leaned on his staff before turning to go. Just when Kaleo gained the courage to speak again, he felt as if he were being ripped away from the Poppy Field. He could even see the surprise on Jaysen’s slightly blurred out face before gasping awake. When he’d fallen asleep, Fionn was right behind him, propping his head. Now the chimera was gone. The darkness in the surrounding forest was rather unnatural, like in the nightmare that nearly took his life. It was too dark, yet not quite dark enough. The silence was penetrating, eerie. He looked around slowly, chest rising and falling rapidly.
Fionn…
There was no answer from the chimera. “Fionn?” Kaleo whispered. His voice disappeared into the silence, swallowed by it. None of this felt right. On instinct, he looked behind him to see if his wings were still there. Seeing them did not make him feel any better. “Fionn!”
Just like the whisper, Kaleo’s call was swallowed by the silence. It went to the tip of his nose and stopped instead of carrying out to his surroundings. He was fine until the silence growled back.
“T-tanis?” he dared, for once hoping that the young chimera was the one making the terrible noise. She did not like him, growling any time he got too close. What he saw made his heart stop.
