One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Finally, sleep claims me.
*
The nightmares that fill my sleep are so terrible that when I wake up screaming, I think the hand that clamps down on my mouth is part of my dream, and I fight harder, trying to wake up. I need to rouse myself from my slumber. I need to wake the fuck up.
“Hush.”
Then I realize I’m not dreaming anymore. There really is someone here with us. My entire body stills.
Daisy.
Where’s Daisy?
I don’t feel her in my lap.
My eyes shoot open and I see a man squatting in front of me. His hand is firmly clamped over my mouth, and I can’t move. I can’t scream. I can’t do anything except stare into his deep, dark eyes.
“You cannot scream,” the man says. “It’s not safe. Do you understand?”
I nod as best as I can. Now that I’m staring at him, I don’t think he’s going to murder me. At least, I hope he’s not going to murder me. If he was a killer, wouldn’t he have slit my throat while I was asleep? Wouldn’t he have come after me while I was resting?
“Good. I’m going to remove my hand now. No screaming.”
He takes his hand away and I press my lips tightly together and quickly looking around. Daisy. I need to find Daisy.
“She’s fine,” he says, and a gentle look crosses his face. “Look.” He points a few feet away, where Daisy is laying in a small bed of grass. Did he make her a little grass nest? It kind of looks like it. What the hell? Daisy is awake, and she’s looking around, but she’s not crying or screaming, so we’ve got that going for us.
“Who are you?” I ask quietly.
“I am the guardian of the tower,” he tells me, and then I realize that we came to the right place, after all. We did it. Daisy, Mocha, Frappe, and I…we all made it to the tower in time. Now everything is going to be okay, right? It has to be okay. I don’t know if I can keep moving forward if everything isn’t okay. Honestly, I just don’t know what I’ll do if it’s not okay.
The world is different now than it was a few days ago, at least for me. It’s darker now and more dangerous. Those people who came to my house? They weren’t government officials. They were looking for Daisy. I just know it, but why? Because she’s a dragon shifter child? Is that why they want her?
I look up at this man and my heart fills with relief.
Contentment.
Joy.
We made it.
I leap forward, wrapping my arms around him, and my quick movement catches him off guard. He tumbles backwards and I land on top of him, straddling him. The man looks shocked.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble awkwardly, trying to scoot off of him. “I’m just…relieved…to have found you.”
As I move away, though, I realize something terribly awkward that I probably should have noticed before.
“You’re naked,” I squeak out, blushing.
“I am,” the man agrees, glancing down at himself. He looks back up at me, and his eyes are twinkling. He’s seriously, legitimately got twinkling eyes right now.