The pure and natural state of euphoria from finally being able to sleep in a safe place with trusted loved ones is something I will never take for granted again.
49. What Waits in Sleep
Sapphire
A sandstorm collapses over astrange architecture of sandstone walls, onyx pillars, and black iron gates.
I stand in front of it, hair whipping through the gritty winds, watching an eclipse shift over the bright sun.
“Sapphire?”
The hairs on my neck stand. My chest can barely contain my galloping heart. I hold my hand up to block the blizzard of beige sand obstructing my view.
Krimson stands on the other side of the gates. And I fall to my knees with shaking arms wrapping around my torso.
“Krimson!” I scream, holding on to a rock to my left as the bustling winds threaten to knock me over. “Oh god! Krimson, it’s me! Is this real? Please, tell me it’s real!”
My brother holds onto the iron gate to steady himself, squinting to keep me in his line of sight. And now that I’ve seen our father, up close with his eyes open, I can confidently say Krimson looksexactlylike him, but with heterochromatic eyes. Any difference is so minute, you’d have to know them both very well to see it.
“Where are you?” Krimson cups his hands over his mouth, shouting through the storm. “Are you hurt? Tell me how to find you!”
“I’m…alive! We’re like our parents, Krimson! We can—”
The sound of a horn cuts me off, and from the storm, an assembly line of men and women in rags huddles together, covering their faces and heading for the entryway to the strange penitentiary surrounded by the iron gates. The large group of people pass between Krimson and I. Among them, dead in the center, our Uncle Niles holds a young boy in his arms, sheltering his face and holding him tight to his chest.
“Uncle Niles!” I yell, but my voice drops like a whisper.
Krimson stares at our uncle in confusion, steps forward to confirm if it’s really him, then looks at me.
“We have to save him!” I shout, crawling forward, feeling the burn of the sand and wind make tiny incisions in my face. “They have him! I don’t know how to get back!”
“Uncle Niles?” Krimson hollers as the crowd passes us.
He doesn’t hear. He can’t see us. They shuffle back into the place surrounded by barbed wire and iron spikes. They shove, kick, and hit the captives as they’re forced to move faster. The last person stumbles across the threshold. The doors slam shut.
“We—have to save him!” I reach for Krimson, holding my hand out for my twin to take.
Krimson lets go of the iron gate and runs to me, crossing the narrow road of scattered stones and black pavement. But the Nightlung latches on to both of us, as if two different hands reached out from the heavens and tugged us in opposite directions.
Away from each other.
Tumbling through time on another axis entirely.
Krimson
My mother is still holdingmy hands when I open my eyes and am released from the void.
“You saw her,” Mom states hopefully. She remains steady and unshakable despite not knowing what happened to her daughter. She’s always been that way. Never letting us see her suffering.
“I…”
Mom’s face is unreadable. “Is your sister safe, Krimson?”
I shake my head.
“She’s alive.” It’s not a question. Her bright emerald eyes burn into my eyes, willing that statement to be true.
I nod. “It’s not that, Mom.”
