His answers echoed, hollow: “This is a nightmare. We made it. You can show me all the corpses you want; I know this is a dream.”
“Dreams speak truth. You know this.”
“Not all dreams are prophecy, and not all prophecy is fixed. Go away.”
“You can’t stop it. You are one.”
“I’m not alone.”
“They break. They fear. They run.”
“Who are you?”
“She cares for herself. For her pets. She would turn on you to save them. She will.”
“Whatare you?”
“This is what waits.”
* * *
“We’ll set a circle of protection around the camp,” Toinette said, filling waterskins, “and another at the cabin when we come up for the winter. Erik says that should keep out anything uncanny, though it won’t go very far.”
“What is it, this magic that you’re doing?” Franz asked, the gray light of the cloudy day making his solemn face even graver.
“Calling on angels,” Samuel said before Toinette could. “So nothing that should alarm you too much.”
“No, I didn’t think… I don’t think you would traffic with demons,” Franz said with an apologetic look at Toinette. “Do they reply?”
“Not in so many words,” said Toinette. “If the spell works, that’s an answer. Actions speak loudest and all.”
In motions that had long become reflex, they drew strings tight and knotted them, tied the skins to their belts, and stood. Franz looked off into the woods. “You will laugh,” he said, “but I swear it… I hear voices.”
“I won’t laugh,” said Toinette. “I’ve heard a few of my own.”
“And I,” said Samuel. “In the wind, at night?”
“And my dreams,” said Franz.
“Aye,” Toinette agreed. “What do yours say?”
“I can’t remember my dreams, never could,” Samuel said, “and I’m glad for that. I’ve not heard many words from the waking ones. ‘You,’ maybe.”
“And ‘nichts.’ That’s ‘nothing’ in English. That they speak different languages is new.”
“Or we hear different,” said Toinette.
* * *
“You have nobody,” said the voice from around her.
“Pigshit. If I hadnobody, I’d not have a horrible voice in my dreams, would I?”
“You have nobody. I am nobody. I am nothing. You are nothing.”
“Go to Hell.”
“Hell waits for you.”
