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Chapter 967: Chapter 24 : Rude Awakenings

*Sasha*

I could feel the air change around me as Lucas stretched his hand toward me. Panic gripped me and I let the orb slip from my fingers to reach for him. But he vanished as the now-glowing blue sphere took me away.

This time the trip was instant, and I found myself on my back in a space that was cold and musty, nothing like the Goddess's temple.

The floor beneath me was made of stone, my hands lay criss-cross on my chest, the orb cradled in my palms. There was no Lucas. There was no stranger. There was no train, no chasing rogues, and no evil priestess.

There was, however, an assembly of people in dated clothing, looking at an altar at the front of… well… a temple–not one for the White Queen, but another temple for certain.

Low murmuring and chanting echoed in the air, dying off as the people turned to look at me.

I stood to my feet, clutching the orb to my chest. There was only one of me and perhaps a hundred of them. I hated the stupid thing, but it was my only defense and possible way out if something went wrong.

It sure felt wrong.

Suddenly, people began screaming, rushing to get away from me, and running for the exit. As the doors to the temple burst open, I could see a castle, dark and foreboding, not far off. The people were running straight that way.

As everyone else cleared out, however, one man stayed. He had been at the front of the altar, leading the chants.

I stepped backward as he approached me, his eyes fixated on the orb.

“Where did you get the Slipstone?" he demanded, stalking toward me.

I took a step back, mentally willing the orb to return me to Lucas. “I… l found it."

“Lies," the man said. He was more richly dressed than the others had been. And he was… familiar somehow. His features conjured up… something, something troublesome in the back of my mind.

He moved like quicksilver to close the space between us, gripping my arm.

“It's the truth," I insisted. After all, it was half true. Lucas found it.

The man chuckled darkly. “Then, I suppose you won't mind me taking it back from you." He pulled a dagger from his belt.

I tried to wrench away but his grip tightened painfully.

Everything in me knew the last thing that ever needed to happen was this man getting his hands on the orb. I backed all the way to the wall, holding the orb tighter.

“Please, Goddess, please take me back," I whispered.

The orb began to glow.

He looked at it and then backed up staring open-mouthed at me. “Dream dancer.... You have the mark, the star?"

I clutched my arm to the side and felt my stomach drop.

“The prophecy… has it come to pass?"

“I… I don't know what you're talking about!" I shouted and he rushed me again, pushed me to the wall, and pinned me in place.

Sasha....


I heard Lucas's voice, but I was trapped.

The man sniffed my neck, then grinned and stepped back.

Sasha....

“You do not know the prophecy now, but you will," the man chuckled. “You will." He sheathed his dagger. “May you be the fulfillment of it, dream dancer."

He was so close that the familiarity became clear to me now. My eyes widened and I gasped in disbelief. He looked like....

He held his hand up, and the orb pulsed and he was gone.

Or, I was gone, lost in a memory, or maybe meandering my way back through time. I saw myself crying in my room, the shattered bracelet in my hand.

I looked at her through my fearful child eyes and saw my mother's pale face cloaked in worry.

“They'll find her," she was saying.

She wasn't talking to me. I looked over to see it was the same man. He was much, much older, but the shape of his face and the eyes were the same.

“We need a new bone," he said calmly.

My mother shook her head. “Her baby teeth are...."

“It has to be fresh. We have to pull a tooth for a new potion, and this time, we need to make sure the spell can't be broken."

My heart thundered in my chest as I remembered the pain and torment of what followed. I wanted to stop them but I couldn't. My mother held me down.

Shutting my eyes tight, I struggled, fighting against her hold that was shockingly strong. I sobbed and cried and begged and fought.

“Sasha!"

Lucas's voice reached me in my fight. My mother's strong hold became his secure embrace as I tried fighting whatever was still holding me down.

“Help!" I cried with my eyes shut tight. “Get them off of me!"

“Goddess, Sasha, it's just the bed sheets and blankets, I swear!"

My eyes fluttered open, the tears behind them spilling out as I looked around an unfamiliar room. It had the feeling of an inn, or rather a hotel. The sheets were a pristine, bleach white and smelled freshly laundered.

And there was Lucas.

“Gage is at the local clinic." Lucas explained, rubbing my shaky upper arms soothingly as I tried to reorient myself to the world around me. “You were asleep. You reappeared and you were asleep. Goddess, Sasha, you slept for hours."

“Slept…?" I croaked, wondering if I'd been screaming.

“Wherever you went, you weren't sleeping," Lucas inferred.

“N-no." I looked around me. “Where is the orb?"

Lucas nodded at a beat-up, waterlogged bag sitting on the luggage stand near the closet. “I asked Gage to put it in his bag."

“Gage… the one who pulled us onto the train," I said slowly.

Lucas nodded. “Yes. He also defended us so I could get you off the train when the shifters showed up. Luckily, I was able to grab him as well. We jumped in a lake… and you still didn't wake up."

We were so close. Lucas was sitting on the edge of the bed, and we were so close we were breathing the same air. He leaned forward and bumped his forehead against mine. “I was so afraid," he whispered. “I was so afraid you wouldn't wake up."

I raised a trembling hand to Lucas's cheek. “I was afraid, too. I was afraid the orb wouldn't get me back to you. There was a man....

Lucas's pulled back a little, his cheek still nestled in my palm. “What man?" he growled, sliding his hand over mine. He threaded our fingers together, then brought my hand to his lips to kiss my knuckles. “What man, Sasha?"

“He… he wanted the orb. It felt like it was a long time ago. All the people were wearing old clothes. They ran away when they saw me, or rather saw the orb–all except him. He wanted to take it away from me. He even pulled out a knife, but then...."

“Did he hurt you?" Lucas asked, rubbing his thumb along the back of my hand in a gesture of comfort.

I shook my head. “He called it a Slipstone and told me to give it back, until he figured out I was a dream dancer. Then he started going on about a prophecy. Then… then… he...."

“He what, princess?" Lucas asked.

I swallowed. “He was old… and with my mother."

Lucas frowned. “Your mother?"

I shook my head. “He...."

I swallowed into a tight throat as I thought about the memories of what he did, what my mother's superstition had thought would be necessary.

I clutched the emerald of the necklace Lucas gave me knowing that I would have to tell him everything destroying that bracelet had led to.

“He was with my mother, but so much older and changed somehow."

“Why would he be with your mother?"

“Because you broke my bracelet."

He looked stricken and confused. “What does that… I don't understand. Was it an heirloom?"

“It was a talisman, for protection. My mother believed it would help hide me in Winter Forest."

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