I’m aware of everything and nothing at the same time. The steady beating of Jacques’s heart echoes in my ears, and the sound is as comforting as the crickets chirping outside my window.
“I love you,” he whispers, breath warm against my neck.
“I love you, too,” I mumble back before I fall asleep. This time, I know I’m sleeping and that I’m dreaming. I’m sitting in what looks like my room, but none of my personal possessions are here.
Standing, I rub my hands up and down my arms. It’s so cold here, and when I exhale, my breath clouds around me. Floorboards in the hall creak and I take a few steps toward the bedroom door.
“Hello?” I call.
The door opens on its own, and Braeya comes in. Her eyes meet mine and she smiles.
“Hello, Acelina.”
“What do you want?” Even in my dream, I’m wary of her. I feel a little bad about that, even though I have no reason to trust her. Though on the other hand, I have no reason not to trust her either. We’re family, very distantly related, but with enough of the same blood coursing through our veins to share a physical resemblance.
“You’re running out of time. If I could help you, I would.”
“Time for what?”
Her eyes go to the bed behind me. I turn, seeing a shadowy figure under the covers. It’s Jacques, and if I look hard enough, I can see myself snuggled up in his arms. Well, my body at least.
“Am I actually asleep?” I ask.
“Your body is,” she says. “But your soul is on the astral plane. It’s the only way I can communicate with you.”
I look at Braeya, eyes narrowing. “So you’re actually real?”
She smiles and her face lights up. Do I look like that too when I—doesn’t matter. “I’m what you make of me.”
“I don’t understand.” I shake my head.
“I know, and I’m sorry. It’s hard being here. You have to hurry.”
“I can’t hurry if I don’t know what I’m hurrying,” I say, not meaning to snap, but this is the second cryptic dream she’s appeared in giving me some half-ass warning I can do nothing about.
“The curse,” she says, eyes going back to Jacques. “You need to break it before it reaches its thousandth year.”
“Thousandth year?” Oh shit. That’s coming up. Jac said he figured out the dates and did the math. “What happens when it reaches its thousandth year?”
“They’ll turn to stone. Forever.”
