The darkness writhed faster. It moved through my veins with abandon, closing in on my heart. How I knew that, I had no idea. But thehowdidn’t matter right now. I just knew if it reached my heart, game over.
“Wake up, damn it!”
I was trying! Oh, how I was trying. Knowing this was a dream helped somehow. Almost made the roots seem less terrifying and allowed me to reclaim some of my power.
I squeezed my eyes shut and ordered myself to take control. To stop letting fear dictate my actions. If this was a dream, I could free myself. I just needed to concentrate. I needed tocalmdown and breathe. As though that realization was the key, something cracked.
Not inside me, but below me.
The ground beneath my back split wide. And, without any warning, the black roots holding me prisoner exploded, shattering into nothing. Then, I fell into a black, yawning abyss.
I barely had a second to scream when I was suddenly gasping awake, my body lurching upward into a sitting position. Rathiel thankfully managed to jerk back before our heads collided, but his hands were on my shoulders, holding me steady.
“Lily,” he breathed.
Panic—and something far worse—sluiced up my throat. I shoved him. Hard.
Rathiel wasn’t expecting it, and the force knocked him back onto his heels. I scrambled to my knees, then shot to my feet and took off toward the nearest rock, my legs buckling as bile surged and shot out from between my lips.
No—not bile. Something more nefarious.
It came up in a thick, viscous stream of pure black sludge. It poured from my mouth and splattered against the dirt. Where it touched, the ground hissed and decayed. The acrid stench hit my nose, and my stomach convulsed again, bringing more up. It was endless.
Somewhere behind me, footsteps approached, the scrape of boots against the ground telling me it was Rathiel.
I waved a desperate hand, ordering him back between heaves. I didn’t want him near any of this. Hell,Ididn’t want to be anywhere near this.
Another wave.
My entire body shook, my skin slick with sweat and burning with fever. The taste of burnt rot clung to my tongue, making my stomach twist again. Finally—finally—it stopped.
I spat what remained in my mouth into the dirt, then wiped the back of my hand across my lips, my breath coming in ragged pulls. I rested my arm across the rock, then dropped my head against it, my eyes wet with tears and my cheeks damp.
When I was finally brave enough to look, the black mess sat there, steaming faintly, even in the hot air. Then, suddenly, it rippled—like something alive lurked within allthat. I gasped and straightened, only to watch it dissolve into the dirt, vanishing right before my eyes.
Like it’d never happened.
Like it’d never come pouring out of me.
Still panting, I sat back on my haunches and stared at the perfectly smooth ground.
Had I imagined the whole thing? Was this part of my dream? I’d never thrown up before, but I’d seen enough movies on Earth to know what vomiting was. That…that’d happened, right? Or was I losing my mind?
At this point, either was possible.
Clearly unable to keep his distance, Rathiel crouched beside me and rested a hand at the small of my back. I leaned into the comfort, though I kept my head pointed in the other direction. Just in case. I didn’t need him smellingwhateverwas on my breath.
“What just happened?” Rathiel asked.
“Bad dream,” I rasped, my voice so raw, it broke.
I kept my gaze locked on the dirt, waiting for the puddle of evil concentrate to reappear. For any sign of evidence that this had actually happened. A damp spot. A charred mark. A hint of goo. Anything.
But the ground looked horribly…normal.
I finally glanced at Rathiel, only to find him staring at me. He seemed wholly unconcerned about the state of the ground, his eyes never once straying from me to inspect the spot where I’d thrown up. Surely, he’d seen it all, right? Except, I’d told him to stay back. Maybe all he’d seen was me dry heaving?
If hehadseen what came out of me, there was no way he’d be sitting next to me so calmly. He looked spooked, yes. But not, “holy shit you vomited pure evil” spooked.
