“Everyone has to do vault duty,” another guard said to him.
“How does this help anyone?” Travis groaned. “I should be out there fighting, helping. This isn’t what I signed up for.”
The guard shrugged, lifting his feet onto another chair, biting into an apple.
“Gotta pay your dues,” he said.
Travis eyed the vault, and Lucius knew Travis wanted to prove his worth, move his station.
Since the memories had shifted, Lucius wondered if they all still lived with Travis’ father, or if he had eventually saved his mother.
But this was the moment that Lucius had to step in.
Visualizing the pocket watch in his hand, he stepped into the memory, forcing it to change.
“This item is corrupted with dark magic,” he said, holding the pocket watch. “Someone has put it in the vault for safekeeping, but it could be disastrous. The artifact could infect everything in there. But you, Travis, had a vision.”
While the memory didn’t change, Lucius could sense the idea taking root in Travis’ mind.
“You could protect the Brotherhood from an unknown threat by simply removing this pocket watch and throwing it into the river.”
Travis’s expression glazed over–a sign that the idea of removing the pocket watch from the vault would now be at the forefront of his mind.
When he was sure he had planted the idea, he dropped the visualized pocket watch and stepped into the shadows, trying to diminish his presence.
The guard reached down and grabbed the pocket watch, closing his fist over the golden object.
Now came the difficult part–leaving this dreamworld.
Getting in was always easy. Getting out proved more difficult. He needed to find a happy memory, one thathe could whisk out of.
That familiar laughter turned his attention as he stepped into a recent memory.
Hacinda was wearing a red dress and walking with Travis down a hallway.
“One day, you’re going to make someone very happy,” she said.
“If only you were in love with someone else,” he chimed back.
Hacinda stopped.
“You need to get out of here,” Travis whispered.
“Don't say that,” she whispered back. “There’s no way out. You know that once you're in, you're always in.”
Voices trailed down the hallway, and Travis pulled her into a room and closed the door. “What if I can get you out?”
“How? What about the medicine? He’ll die if he doesn’t get anymore.”
Travis shook his head. “What you’ve been doing, keeping him alive, it’s not natural.”
“I thought if I turned him, he would be okay. But itdidn’t work. How did I think I—”
Travis sighed and hugged her.
“You did what you thought was best,” he said. “You did not know turning someone when they were infected by a darkthing’s bite could change them into something else. How long has it been since you've been trying to save him with this medicine? It's only prolonging what needs to happen.”
“I can’t. I can’t do it. I’ve already risked and hurt so many people to keep him alive.”
