Tristan passes him a small parcel, and now I know why he bought a whole box of nut bars. “The Lord of the Nocturne Court wishes to thank you for your loyal service,” he says, but then heads into the darkness ahead of us.
As freaky as all of this is, the presence of the strange man does reassure me that the Nightmare Realm doesn’t exist only in Tristan’s head.
Lady grunts in the bag slung over my shoulder, and I slide my hand in to calm her. Tristan squeezes my fingers a bit harder and leads me through the mouth of the cave, past a chamber equipped with a television screen and a comfortable-looking sofa. This must be Earl’s hermitage, or at least a part of it, but I don’t get to consider it any further, because the massive horse is following us closely, and its muzzle pushes at the small of my back.
It nickers when I take a large step forward, walking into Tristan. “Does he always crowd people like this?” I ask, imagining what would happen if this massive animal got spooked by a bat and charged straight through us in this narrow tunnel.
Tristan gives the horse a harmless slap on the ear. “He’s just a bit mischievous. He might be excited to show you what he really looks like. Not long now, Stone.”
At some point, Tristan pulls a delightfully gothic lantern out of a saddlebag and attaches it to the saddle horn. I stiffen when out of nowhere it fills with an eerie green flame, but neither the elf nor his horse are phased, so I choose to just follow their lead.
We walk on for a while, and I’m not worried when I step into a puddle, since my boots are waterproof, but with the next step, my foot is ankle deep. I stop in my tracks, pulling on Tristan’s hand.
“Wait. Is this a stream? An underwater cave?” I’m not some brave explorer. What I’m doing right now is already the biggest adventure of my life, and now all the documentaries about people getting stuck in caves come to the forefront of my mind.
Tristan shakes his head, looking strangely ominous in the jade glow. “Only the shallow water is real. Just trust me.”
This is insane. We’re both probably on drugs, and the horse is the dealer.
But can I really not have a bit of faith?
Icanswim, so even if the water gets deeper, I should be able to return to the shore.
Heat crawls up my back when my gaze meets Tristan’s, because he has charmed me, and I so very much want him to not be a crazy lying psychopath.
“You promise I’ll be safe?”
His warm smile is all I need, but he still steps back and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. “I promise. I’ve been through here before. It’s a strange place, but we’re not the first to travel this way. I can’t wait to cross so we can be alone again.” My knees go weak when he licks the seam of my lips, but then Stone presses his muzzle to my ear, and Tristan pushes back his head with a groan. “Did I not say ‘alone’, you bastard?”
I chuckle, wincing when the cold water pours into one of my boots. “He’s just a horse,”
This time, Tristan doesn’t answer, instead pulling me deeper into the small pool running parallel to the dry path that led us here. I’m about to protest, anticipating more of that icy sensation on my foot, but instead there’s a pull, and I shriek when we both fall.
I grab onto him in panic, but as I expect cold water to envelop me, take my breath away and keep me hidden forever, we find ourselves in a pool of something what has the consistency of water but feels dry. I screech into this void when in the corner of my eye I spot Stone jumping in behind us.
Gravity shifts, and I regret having that nut bar before our trek, because it rises in my throat. All of a sudden, we’re no longer falling. Instead, Tristan is moving his legs to propel usup.
I have no idea what’s going on until our heads pop up above the strange, dry water. Tristan pulls me along the surface, and just before panic can set in anew, my knees hit the bottom of this shallow pond.
I’m gasping for air, and my heart is pounding, as I look up to meet the face of the largest moon I’ve ever seen. I crawl forward, suddenly terrified it might crash on top of us. “What the—”
“I know, it’s a strange feeling. Take deep breaths. If I explained it, you wouldn’t understand anyway.”
Tristan helps me stand up in what looks like a pond with a whirling fog nearby, where we first emerged. I yelp and fall right into his arms when a horse skull breaks the surface followed by a giant body with a black shiny coat, and a wet mane.
“That’s just Stone,” Tristan says in a reassuring manner, but when I meet the kelpie’s watery eyes, it finally sinks in for real that this is happening. I have crossed into a fantasy world called the Nightmare Realm, and for the first time I’m considering what the ‘nightmare’ part in the name might mean.
“W—what happened to him?” I stutter out, backing against Tristan, because I need to see this terrifying creature at all times. Strands of purplish vapor float around us, adding dimension to the night, but I can’t feast my eyes on this new reality until I know it’s safe.
“I have said he’s a kelpie. This is his true form. If one may call it that. People argue all the forms he can take on are ‘true’. After all, he can grow a fish tail—Really, don’t worry about it. All you need to know is not to touch him with your skin.”
“Is that you, Prince Tristan?” someone yells from farther away.
Tristan looks into my eyes. “Make sure no one sees Lady,” he whispers to me and waves at a man approaching us in a cloak identical to the one he’s wearing. “It is indeed I!”
I can’t stop looking around now that my immediate fear of Stone is replaced by fear ofeverythingaround me. The whole place is like a movie set of a gothic fairytale. A giant red frog leaps from the shore into the not-water with a nasty burp. A cool breeze is whispering through the reeds, and a building straight out of the Grimm brothers’grimmeststories is a dark silhouette against the background of the moonlit sky. Green light flickers in its windows ominously, so I hold the duffel bag closer to my chest, praying for Lady to not make a peep. Because what happens if she does? Do they eat dogs in this Nightmare Realm? Because if they do, I should have never brought her here in the first place!
“It is me, Crowers. I have returned and fetched Captain Gloombane’s promised,” Tristan says, leaving the not-water with a swish of his cloak. “I brought something for you too,” he adds, stepping in front of the other man, who narrows his eyes at me with a dubious expression.
