Dream Walker✔️

1.6

The next thing I knew, I was on my back and a very dusty Aster was shaking my shoulders. No, not dusty—snowy. It was snowing, and he was covered in it. Ack, my legs felt like they'd been through a trash compactor, and my face wasn't much better.

Why hadn't my magic kicked in to heal me? Even in no-magic lessons, Shade never made me stay this badly injured for more than a few seconds. It wasn't like I could learn anything when I was in too much pain to sit up or walk.

"Are you okay?" Aster brushed the snowflakes from his eyelashes. "I mean, I know you're not okay, but do you feel like you're dying? The scorpion guy said the portal would kill you, and we're through, so- so just give me a sign you're alright."

I wanted to say that I did feel like I was dying, but he looked so worried already that I couldn't bear to worry him more. Even if he wasn't real.

"The portal isn't going to kill me. Merlin is. At least, I bet he is. He's the guy who killed my birth parents." I shifted a little, and my leg crunched louder than the snow beneath me. Biting back a whimper, I resolved not to move until my magic started working again. "You know, I change my mind. Exciting is overrated. Let's go back to the teaching field, okay? I swear I'll pay attention this time."

Aster winced. "We can't go back. The portal closed, and I don't know when it's going to open again. It's almost night here. We need to find shelter before we freeze to death."

I shook my head. "No, I want to go back. I'm done with this lesson."

His expression hardened into fierce determination as he shook my shoulders again. "Read my lips, Mars—this is not a dream. If you don't get to shelter, you will die of hypothermia, and Vance will probably eat you. Hell, I might have to eat you, too, if this portal doesn't come back before we start starving to death."

"No, this isn't real. It can't-"

"Look at this logically, okay? There are only about three options right now—either you're hallucinating, dreaming, or freezing to death. If you're hallucinating, there's nothing you can do to wake yourself up, so you might as well go along with it while the docs at the mental hospital drug you into lucidness. If you're dreaming, well, first, it's an awful dream, but besides that, there's no point in arguing against the laws of the dream. We are here, and we will freeze. Being dead is no fun in dreams, so you might as well try to save yourself."

He paused to take a shaky breath. "But if this is real, if we're trapped here, we need you alive and well. We don't speak the language. We don't have a clue where anything is or what's safe to eat or drink. If there's the slightest doubt in your mind that this might be real, you owe it to us to get us out of here alive."

For a dream figure, he was way too logical. "Okay. I'll do my best."

"Your best?" Snow crunched as Vance's voice came closer. "Oh, that's great, you'll do your best to keep us alive. You don't even have powers, else you would've used them by now. So your best is about as useful as a swarm of aphids." He moved into my view, shivering and clutching his thin jacket. "Go on and freeze. Hell, take that coat off, and you're sure to freeze even faster. Once you're dead, I'll have a nice coat, and you won't have to worry about what's real anymore."

Aster scowled, and Izzy—who was standing a little ways behind Vance—looked away, but neither argued. I didn't blame them.

I didn't want this to be real. Every fiber of my being wanted to wake up and be relieved this wasn't real. But what if it was? What if I'd dragged my best friend, my little sister, and her fake boyfriend into certain death? Without my powers, it was only a matter of time before we either froze or got eaten. We couldn't wait for the portal; it only opened for an hour or so at a time, and it wouldn't open again here for another year. To get home sooner, we would have to travel to the next predictable opening point of the portal and wait for four months until it opened.