Show me.
The command rang through my body like millions of tiny lightning strikes, fracturing me. My eyes shot open, back arched, and mouth gaped open as a silent scream of agony ripped through me. It was the same cleaving pain as before, but sharper. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I was no longer in control.
More. More. More.
My lower lip quivered uncontrollably, and as pain traversed my body, I prayed for Father Death to call in the debt all mortals owed.
Yield.
A bloodcurdling scream tore from me as my body caved to the demand.
Yield.
Blood filled my mouth.
“Nyleeria!” Endymion yelled. “Nyleeria.”
Thaddeus raged at the interruption.
I howled in pain as Endymion tackled me from the side, severing my connection to Thaddeus.
Ifell onto Endymion, who stared at me wide-eyed with shock, confusion, and pain, as a glistening black dome filled with tiny embers of muted white and glittering dark mist slid around us.
Scampering off Endymion, I pressed myself hard against the opaque barrier on the opposite side. Trying to get a grip on my terror, I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, holding so tight that my knuckles blanched.
I flinched as a loud crackling sound like thunder hit the dome, the aftershock hurtling me forward. My hands shot out to stop my fall, but before I landed, another aftershock whipped me back as if the barrier were the new source of gravity. My head smashed against its hard surface, filling my vision with white speckles. Breathless, I blinked away the pain and cradled my knees.
I sucked in a sharp breath as the tense, shivering muscles along my spine seized.
Father Death, take me. Please, I call for your mercy. Just take me.
Across the way, Endymion’s horror did nothing to calm my nerves. He seemed surprised, if not unnerved, as he slid a hand across the dome, testing it—a trail of that dark, glittering mist flowing along his fingertips.
“Nyleeria,” Endymion said.
I cowered as his echoing voice distorted into a menacing sound that multiplied in cadence and volume, forcing me to press my palms over my ears.
When it felt safe, I slowly removed my hands, still unsure.
Endymion closed his eyes briefly while he took in a long, calming breath. Jaw clenched and fists bunched, he leaned back as if settling in for the long haul and continued to maintain a watchful, heartbroken gaze.
The cracks became less frequent until enough time had passed that my terror had eddied into fear, and my trembling morphed into exhaustion.
Like a mighty oak in a storm, Endymion had remained a steady,solemn figure.
My joints crackled as I pulled away from the dome’s edge. The moment I broke contact with it, my ears popped, and the midnight-black barrier slowly vanished from the top down in a glittery rain—replaced by a never-ending expanse of white so pure, fresh snow would swoon.
If I were to name it, I’d call it the anti-void.
“Where are we?” I asked, my voice sounding foreign to my ears, like that of a child.
Endymion rose from his vigil, and with great gentility, he said, “We’re inside your dreams.”
“Why areyouhere?” Again, I spoke in a childlike tone.
“You summoned me here somehow.”
His words jolted me, like they’d held the secret password to kick me out of the dissociative state that’d gripped me.
