to fly into the air, but her wings wouldn’t work. She ran faster, trying to jump, to lift off, but nothing happened. As she continued to run, nearly out of breath, she finally realized that she didn’t have the power she used to.
In the distance, on the horizon, stood a lone figure, his body silhouetted against the full moon. The sky was alight with an enormous moon, illuminating thousands of small clouds. Caitlin ran towards the figure, feeling that it might be her father. Or possibly, Caleb.
As she ran, suddenly, the landscape sloped downward, and she found herself running down, into a valley.
Eventually, she was running up the other side again, up a huge hill. But the hill became so steep, and she grew tired.
The lone figure stood atop it, beckoning, but it was too hard for her to reach him.
The landscape became rocky, and Caitlin found herself slipping on huge rocks as she was trying to run up the side of a mountain. She was losing her grip and as she did, a rockslide began.
She slid downward. She grabbed hold of a large rock, hanging precariously, and looked up, hoping for help.
Her father looked down, holding out a hand.
“Help!” Caitlin screamed.
“Find me, Caitlin,” he responded, as his hand nearly reached hers. “Don’t give up the search.”
Caitlin reached up, trying to touch her father’s hand, but she lost her grip, and suddenly, she was sliding down the mountain, further and further down, until she was falling endlessly into a black hole. She screamed for all she had, knowing that she was plummeting to her death.
Caitlin woke screaming.
She looked al around, breathing hard, trying to remember where she was.
She spotted a dying candle in the corner of the room, and saw Ruth lying on her bed, looking at her with concern. She saw the huge window, open to the moonlight, and realized it was just a dream.
She was stil in Caleb’s castle.
Caitlin got out of bed, covered in sweat, and paced, barefoot, on the stone floor. It felt so weird to be in this huge place alone, to be in his bed alone. She felt like an intruder here, and felt disoriented.
The dream had seemed so real. Her heart was stil pounding as she crossed the room, then through the huge doors and out onto the open terrace. She grabbed a jug of water and gulped it down as she stood on the terrace, looking out. Her throat was parched.
She heard a whining noise, and looked down and saw Ruth at her feet, looking up. She put down what was left of her water, and Ruth quickly lapped up the rest.
Caitlin studied the sky, lit up in the moonlight. As much as she had loved being here the day before, now, she hated it.
It felt wrong to her. Despite the unusual circumstances, she stil felt as if she had been spurned by Caleb. She felt he should have refused, that he should have just been happy with her, and had stayed put. That he shouldn’t have gone flying off the second that Sera contacted him. She knew that she was being selfish, and she understood that he missed his child.
But stil , she felt like she deserved better than that.
Caitlin zoned out, standing there for she didn’t know how long, as she slowly watched the horizon begin to break, the dark blue gradual y melt into a softer, lighter blue. She felt so confused about so many things. Maybe her dream had been a message. Maybe she should focus on the search.
Maybe it was time to let Caleb go from her life.
After al , Caitlin did desperately want to find her father. She did want to have al the searching behind her, to have her life return to whatever state of normalcy there might be. And somehow, she felt, as long as the Shield was out there, as long as her Dad stil loomed on the horizon, her life would never quite be normal.
As dawn began to break, Caitlin realized she needed to clear her head, to stop the thousands of racing, conflicting thoughts swirling through it. Ruth whined again, and this time, Caitlin picked her up. Ruth clearly needed to take a walk, and so did she.
Caitlin walked down the stairs and out the castle, into the dawn, and fol owed the trail through the fields. The trail wound its way right into a patch of woods, and Caitlin realized that would be a perfect place for a long walk.
Caitlin