Daydream (ONC 2024)

Chapter 13: One Final Dream

After we hiked through mountain trails, fought our way through tall brush and dense trees, and slid down steep ravines hand in hand to keep from tumbling, I thought the exhaustion would finally gift me solid sleep. But all it gave me was scraped shins and so many bruises that no matter how I turned, I couldn't get comfortable for more than a wink.

My eyes opened to the shadows of tree branches splitting up the moon like an unevenly cut pie, and I wondered if it was anyone's dream to live on it. A smile curled my lips as I imagined someone frolicking from one piece of pie to the next and taking a bite out of a giant orb of cheese cake.

Stars swirled thick in the sky, their glitter filling every open hole in the leaves like a patchwork quilt, and they had me thinking of how Kearo had described them with such wonder. I had never looked up at the stars to enjoy them, not truly. Perhaps when I was a child, but that time seemed so far away from my life as an adult—work, bills, my free time lost to afternoon naps, and chores. That and urban areas lightened the sky so that the cosmos's luster was dimmer than out in the country.

With a sigh, I tucked my face into the covers to go back to sleep, but voices in the distance lifted my head. I found Kearo's sleeping mats next to mine empty, and the popping of pine and unfortunate insects meant someone had lit the campfire. Brisk night air had my teeth chattering, and I rubbed my arms as I approached the campfire both for warmth and to see who was up.

Just past the tree line everyone except Faella sat around the fire on squat tree stump seats, and I got the feeling they weren't up for a fun midnight powwow. Kearo sat facing me across the fire as he rolled logs with a stick, but it was Lexington who drew my attention. I'd never seen the man so somber, leaned forward with half his face obscured by his hands. Flames reflected in his crimson eyes, and they flickered from pink to pitch like flashes of his inner turmoil.

"Heidi!" Sven called my name, and I turned to come face to face with silver swirls of embroidery on grey silk.

I jumped back from Sven's proximity only to bump into someone else, and an unflattering squeak came out of my mouth as I backed away from Ray who'd emerged from the shadows behind me. With his dark skin, he blended perfectly into the night until the light of the flames glazed his bare muscles with gold and orange.

"Hey, Heidi. Thought you were sleeping. You want some hot chocolate?" Ray gestured to a mug in his hand with a smile. "Old man Xin put the cups and instant cocoa in your friend's bag."

And he hadn't poisoned it? After the bombegranate, my trust in anything Xin was abysmal.

"It's so sweet," Sven whispered into my ear, moving into my space like a striking eel, and a cup was in my hands before I'd agreed to anything. Unlike Lexington, who was sitting like he was attending Faella's funeral, Sven was positively bubbly. Affection swirled silver in his golden eyes like the foam in the mug that warmed my chilled fingers, and I rubbed my eyes before the swirl hypnotized me.

"This was yours though, wasn't it?" I tried to hand the cup back to Sven, but he held up a pale, clawed hand to decline.

"I did not drink from this cup, if that is your concern. Ray got it for me because I kept drinking his," Sven pouted, but it morphed into excitement as he prodded me to drink. "Consider it a return gift."

Sven touched a necklace of braided reeds, the gems I'd gifted him secured in stone that had been melted and reformed to hold his treasures. They shimmered through tears that filled my eyes as Sven tucked a silver overcoat over my shoulders. My hands trembled so hard that I couldn't hold the hot chocolate, and Sven stabilized them with his own.