“It was a royal decree,” Anani grinned, “plus this is the bottom of the bottle anyway.”
I hummed and drank it down as I leaned back into Henry, Anani taking the bottle upstairs. My blonde dragon kissed the top of my head gently.
“What are you thinking about?” He asked.
I sipped the drink and looked up at him, “honestly? Nothing really. Just loving this.”
He hummed and strummed my throat gently. “How are you feeling after today?”
I sat up and squeezed his hand, “Henry, I promise you, I’m fine.”
I thought I had been. I was wrong.
I had no idea that was the case though until about two hours later. I’d walked barefoot up to the house with Henry and fell right into a bed. No idea whose bed but I felt safe as the breeze brushed through the room. The moment my eyes closed I knew it was going to be an issue.
My face was hit with a cool fresh wind that seemed to taste different than the air around here. I let my shoulders pull back as feathers brushing broke in my ears. A caw-like sound had me smiling as I dived down only seeing a thick cloudy earth. There was a warmth and the sight of red right beyond my line of sight. It was beautiful.
Everything for just a moment seemed suspended and perfect.
Something slammed into me so hard that my seemingly large wings broke and I cried out falling towards the ground. Or what I hoped wouldn’t be my death. A laugh taunted me as I fell and fell. Someone whispered soft in my ear.
I’ve got you.
They clearly hadn’t. I screamed as memories crawled past me. I saw my mother’s face. Pastor Malcolm. A flash of familiar eyes. I could feel my head pounding and my throat was raw. I had no idea how long I fell, but when I finally hit bottom, my neck snapped back and I let out a scream.
Jed was there with my mother holding me down. My face hit the ground as lashes began to break apart my back.
Again.
And again.
And again.
A bubble of panic wore through me and I felt as though if I died this time I wouldn’t come back. My voice produced a high note and everything, all the images around me, shattered like glass.
My eyes snapped open and I gasped finding a pair of warm blue eyes filling my vision. Ledger.
“Maya.” He was shaking me and I realized tears were streaking my cheeks. A soothing chest against my back had my heart rate slowing as I trembled. I couldn’t detach from the dream completely and it was making me feel disoriented and detached from this reality.
“Firefly,” Ledger spoke in a soothing tone, “you’re okay.”
“I know,” I whispered in a raspy voice. “I know.”
“What happened?” He asked quietly, the streaks of orange in his hair looking nearly red.
The dream was fading though, the only memorable part was of my mother holding me down. I shook my head and curled into Henry, feeling overwhelmed. Instead of answering, I fell back asleep.