After a few more minutes of a half-hearted examination of the floor she straightened. “There’s nothing. It must have only been a nightmare.“ She kissed my forehead, something she hadn’t done since I was a child. “I hope you have a more restful night. See you in the morning.”
Had it really only been a nightmare? There was one way to know for certain. I waited until Mother descended the ladder before I pattered to my shelf, already knowing what I would find.
It was empty, my bottled dream snatched away in the night, which meant that the intruder had been no dream, but instead very real.
Chapter 6
The haunting memory of my nightmare and the stranger’s presence in my room made sleep impossible. The night stretched endlessly before dawn finally penetrated the horizon to dispel the unsettling darkness. At the first hint of light I groggily climbed from bed and snuck outside, relieved to escape my shadowy room into the bright morning sunshine, which bathed the trees and fields surrounding our cottage in an almost eerie glow that did little to dissipate the chilling memories from last night.
In my peripheral vision, I suddenly caught sight of a floating nightmare, still plump and vivid, a murky green color that was almost sinister. With horror I realized it was mine. I hastily yanked my gaze away; I never wanted to relive such a unsettling vision ever again.
I fought to ignore the trailing dream as I headed for the village, a trek which felt longer when within every shadow I thought I saw the green eyes of that mysterious young man who’d given me my first nightmare, watching me. I hastily tore my gaze away from the trees with a shiver and pulled my shawl more tightly around my shoulders. The dreams that awaited me in the village would be a welcome respite after the lingering nightmare; I could still feel hundreds of spiders crawling over me and the sticky webs of their cobweb prison.
I arrived at my dream-watching tree just as dawn fully broke across the sky in hues of rose and gold. Up in my usual perch I crept further along the low-hanging bough to peer down to the village below. After my experiences the night before I hadn’t planned on capturing another dream, yet that promise evaporated at seeing them now, cheerful lights glistening against the grey morning light.
Only a few villagers were awake at this hour, leaving very few dreams to choose from, but several floated below my perch, their cheery glow beckoning me to explore.
I dipped my pinky into my apron pocket to touch the rosy dream dust I’d acquired yesterday, which, after much more tedious questioning, Stardust had finally returned to me. As before, it immediately lent strength to my magic so I could push it towards the closest dream—an orange orb that resembled a lantern flame against the faint morning light. The magic cradled it before capturing a snippet, causing the rest to flicker away.
My excitement swelled as I pressed it inside the jar and lifted it to peer inside. A cheerful, color-changing hearth flickered within, each cheerful pop of the embers emanating a trill of music. So lovely, and the perfect respite after last night’s eerie nightmare. With a cheerful hum, I carefully tucked it safely away into my pocket and climbed down from the tree in preparation to return home, where I hoped Stardust would be waiting.
“What were you doing up there?”
I startled at the deep voice and spun around to come face to face with the young man who’d invaded my room last night, the one whose memory haunted me as much as the spider nightmare he’d tormented me with. I stumbled back and pressed myself against the trunk. “You!”
He frowned. “So you can see me after all. I admit I wasn’t entirely convinced it was possible.”
And apparently he hadn’t been a horrible figment of my own imagination. What did he want from me?
For a tense moment we stared at one another, continuing where we’d left off the evening before, as if an entire night and morning hadn’t interrupted us. The sunlight illuminated the spiderweb tattoos branding his skin; spiderwebs snaked each wrist and two crawled across his face—one twisting away from his right eye, another stretching across the left side of his neck to curl behind it and out of sight. Silver spiderwebs also patterned his dark clothes, resembling the cobwebs that had draped my nightmare.
But it was his eyes that held me captive: emerald green, the same that had been watching me from the forest. A strange feeling passed between us, tugging me closer to him even though I didn’t move an inch. For the first time in my life I felt as if I belonged somewhere, as if everything up until now had led to this meeting.
Despite his unsettling style, he was still quite handsome, but his looks weren’t the reason for the pull that existed between us, tempting me closer…a sensation that frightened me. I needed to leave. Now. But I found I couldn’t move.
His breath hooked and his mesmerizing eyes slowly widened. “No…it can’t be you.”
He continued to stare before groaning and burrowing his fingers in his upright olive-green hair, which stood on end as if he’d been struck by lightning. “No, it’s not possible.”
He turned away as if looking at me was physically painful, before suddenly swiveling back around to resume his staring, as if some greater force made it impossible for him to look away. Confusion puckered his brow even as his gaze raked over me almost hungrily. Slowly his expression brightened.
“It is you. I can’t believe it.”
The feeling between us intensified—a strange sense of familiarity, even though I was quite certain we’d never met before. My brow furrowed. “Do you know me?”
The corners of his lips lifted. “In a manner of speaking.”
My confusion only deepened. “What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, he eagerly stepped forward. I pressed myself further against the trunk so that its
