“What happened today?” His disembodied voice filled the room comfortingly.
“How do you know something happened?” I sniffled.
“I know you,” he said.
I gazed into the dark eye sockets of his skull and smiled, swiping my tongue over my lip and catching a salty tear. “I made a connection to dark magic and Mother’s shadows during class. I remember how they used to drip. Shadow magic doesn’t drip, does it?”
He didn’t answer as my eyes fluttered shut. The weight of the exhaustion from today caught up to me all at once, and I tumbled headfirst into a dream.
16
REED
My soul spiraled into my dreamscape the moment my head hit the pillow after I had fed and loved on Gumdrop. There was a tug at the core of my soul, like a thread pulling at my heart. I’d never felt anything like it before.
I found myself surrounded by a fog of violet hues and a dreamy glow. The scene was familiar, but the aching in my heart was not. The clouds bounced underneath my bare feet as I walked past the purple trees with shimmering blue leaves and into the clearing that was surrounded by a galaxy.
My cotton candy scent was present, but the caramel scent I’d caught a hint of before filled the air, mingling perfectly, almost in harmony.
I turned, and my heart lurched.
Pandora stood in my dreamscape with her lipscurved into a smile as she raked her pretty red eyes upon my illusion.
"Reed?" she rasped, blinking a few times as if to decide if she was really seeing me.
My lips parted in shock. How had she found her way here? Was this something soul eaters could do, or had I summoned her here?
Before I could ask, she placed a small hand on my forearm, her touch sending shivers down my spine. "I don't know how I got here," she admitted before pulling her hand back. “But I have a feeling this isn’t a regular dream.”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words. I’d never imagined that anyone could ever venture into the depths of my dreamscape, let alone have the demon responsible be Pandora.
A sense of longing bubbled to the surface, and it felt like my soul was calling to hers.
She squeezed what looked like a kitten’s skull to her chest with her brows drawn together. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I murmured, staring down at her. “I’m glad you’re here. This is…my dreamscape. It’s my safe place, and just for transparency, I’m feeding off you being here.”
“I don’t mind that,” she mumbled, glancing at the skull in her arms with a fierce sort of protection. Nobody held something so close to them like that without it holding significant value.
“Who do you have there?” I nodded toward the skull.
“This is Nebula.” Her cheeks deepened in color. “He’s my best friend. I can talk to his soul.”
My brows rose. “That’s really cool.” I chewed on my inner cheek. “I have an axolotl. His name’s Gumdrop and he’s my best friend. I talk to him, but he doesn’t really…talk back.”
Her eyes lit up in excitement. “Really? I’d love to meet him sometime.”
“I’d love that too.” I grinned.
She glanced around my sacred space, and I found myself wanting to tell her more.
“I’m sorry I brought you here,” I murmured, running a hand through my hair. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Her fingertips brushed my cheek, and I froze. “I think maybe I…I was here before you, somehow?”
“That’s impossible.” I fell into the depths of her red eyes, wondering if there was any truth to that. I’d fallen asleep quicker than usual, and the tugging in my chest only stopped when she touched me.
“Your demon form is quite literally like a dream,” she mused, hand falling back to the skull in her arms. The ache came back tenfold. “Galaxies fill your eyes just like I’d read about, but no text did the beauty of them justice.”
