I don’t answer.
For the first time since I crossed the barrier, the numbness cracks. Not all the way. But enough. And in the quiet that follows, I realize something terrible and terrifying all at once.
I don’t want a life without Eryx.
I just don’t want one where I disappear.
Eryx
Nightmare hasn’t spoken in three days.
Not a whisper. Not a sneer. Not even a low, irritated hum between my ribs. The silence presses against my skull like deep water, heavy and unfamiliar.
I used to resent the noise. Now I’d give anything to hear it again.
I miss her, too.
It doesn’t answer, and I don’t expect it to. I stare at the ceiling in my dream room. The one place that always made Nightmare stir has done nothing.
Then finally?—
You made her go away.
I sigh and sit up. Drop my head into my hands.She went away on her own.
She begged you.
You were the one who told me I had to do it!I shout so loudly inside my own skull it rattles.
I curl my hands into my hair and pull, hard.I’m sorry.
It’s silent again.
I want her back as much as you do. But I don’t think she’ll come.
To be honest, I expect divorce papers to arrive any day. I broke. Now I get to live in the silence.
Chelsea infiltrates my thoughts. I can’t stop thinking about her. Can’t eat. Can barely sleep.
The shadows flicker like they’re tired, too. Or they sense I’m burned out and need rest.
Ever since she left, I’ve been devouring nightmares in overtime. To keep myself busy. To keep myself sane.
I haven’t left this room in hours. Maybe days. Time folds in on itself when there’s no voice in my head to mark it.
The glass ceiling above me is streaked with water. Rain trickles down in thin, trembling lines. I used to like watching storms here. Nightmare did, too. It would press in, and I’d feel its approval as a hum in my ribs.
Now there’s nothing.
I drag my magic up to feel something.
It flares—then flickers. The shadows on the edges twitch without direction, like smoke with no wind to guide it.
Pathetic.
Say something,I beg quietly.Anything.I have to know what I did was the right choice, because everything feels wrong.
You drove her away,Nightmare says finally, its voice faint and distant.
