please? I’d be very grateful if you could get me somewhere there’s more people or just point me in the right direction.”
Spearing his fingers into his hair with one hand, he tugs fitfully on the locks in his grasp. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, but do any of us really have a choice?”
His words and a fluttering deep in my gut tells me something is wrong. “What wasn’t supposed to happen?”
“They died.”
“Who?” I ask in building confusion and a jolt of fear. This guy doesn’t seem to be able to keep track of his thoughts. Somehow they’re all jumbled and wild.
“Do you like unicorns?” he questions abruptly gesturing at my clothes with his free hand.
Glancing down at the horned horses dotted all over my pajamas, I wrinkle my nose. “I guess. It’s one of the things I can’t remember.”
His expression changes swiftly becoming edgy as he stares down at my middle. “What’s in your pocket?”
Something brushes my foot. Looking down I find a seashell floating in the surf, its unusual rainbow shades bright in the sunlight. A spiral running from tip to base. “I don’t have any pockets.”
“You’re here to trick me.”
The accusation snaps my head up from observing the treasure of the deep, so delicate and perfect. The man squints at me through hardened eyes. Every muscle in his face is tense transmitting his distrust.
I shake my head in denial. “No…I…”
His fists clench rhythmically in anger. “He thinks a pretty face will take my guard down. I’m not enough. I’m not enough. That’s why he hates me so much. I’m too broken.”
The air shimmers around him.
My sight blurs in reaction making my eyes water. The sand shifts violently beneath my feet with such force I’m thrown backward. Spiralling horns emerge from the pink around me. White coats as fluid as water, stocky limbs stamping the fine packed powder which stand no match for their hooves as they scramble up out of the ground.
Unicorns?
Tossing their heads from side to side their eyes roll menacingly.
Slicing a panicked glance at the stranger, I find him gone. There’s no time to look for him. I’m fully aware these creatures’ powerful limbs can hurt me. Crush me. Stomp me into the sand. If I move, I’ll be trampled. I’m trapped. No way out of the herd stampeding wildly around me.
Ears flat back, puffs of moisture escape their nostrils, flowing silvery manes whip the air as their feet pound the ground. The high pitched whinny that escapes their throat joins a shrill beeping sound in my ears.
Pressing my hands to the sides of my head, I try to block it out, pain tightening my chest. It feels like my lungs are surrounded by a metal band. I can’t breathe. Rising panic brings a wave of dizziness. Dark spots dancing before my eyes, I screw them shut. I’m going to pass out. I can sense darkness looming. Everything merges. Every noise joining the frantic drumming of my heart. The horses are so close I can feel the heat of their bodies, the sweat on their sleek coats.
Images flash sharply through my mind.
Red. Blood, wet and sticky and all around me. Is it mine? I’m not sure. Voices shout. Loud, warning. A shadow lunges at me from the edge of the stairwell, and then I’m falling.
When the silence shrouds me out of nowhere, it’s deafening.
“You should have been more careful,” a familiar accented voice tells me.
Opening my eyes, I find myself crouched in the damp grass on the edge of the clearing. Morpheus stands watching me, arms folded over his muscular chest, the run-down house a backdrop behind him. From his appearance he’s showered and changed. Arms of his grey shirt rolled up to expose his corded forearms, the tattoos on his skin are visible.
“How…How did I get back here? Who was that?” I ask shakily, feeling jittery and disoriented. Am I losing my mind? Was that a memory I’d just experienced? How the hell did I end up here? There’s no recollection of returning from the beach.
“Illusions.”
“Illusions?” I echo.
Morpheus’s answering sigh is oozing with impatience. “That’s what I call him.”
Rising slowly to stand on unsteady legs, I glance around half-expecting to find terrifying horses. “How...how did he do that…. with the unicorns.”
“You really have no fucking clue where you are, do you little robin red breast?” his stare becoming a glare.
“No,” I respond honestly. The more I think about it, my brain becomes a spinning top looking for unknown answers.
Turning on his heels, Morpheus stalks toward