14

I LIE AWAKE, STARING at the ceiling. I should try to sleep. See if we meet in our dreams again. But after seeing Ophelia today, really seeing her, I can't get over everything that happened. Yet again, I'm wanting her to forgive me. To talk to me. To know it broke me, too.

But it's also my fault she hates me. It's my fault we're in this mess.

I roll to my side, facing the wall. Slowly, I drift off. I can tell I'm slipping into a dream world this time. Usually, it just happens. But my body starts to feel like it's floating.

Then I'm sitting on a rooftop, staring at the moon.

Constellations abound in the sky. None of them are in the right places, but they're there.

"Remember when we said it would stay like this forever?"

I turn to see Ophelia standing behind me.

"Are you real?"

She rolls her eyes. "You're the one that came charging into town today because you knew we were sharing dreams— literally—and now you're wondering if I'm a figment of your imagination?"

I rub the back of my neck. "Sorry. You're right."

She comes and sits beside me, leaving a gap big enough that I can't reach her.

The stars give a soft glow to the world beneath our feet, which looks so far away.

"I remember everything," I say. "I remember reading in the summer. Dinner. Constellations. Walking you home and thinking it wasn't fair you were all alone."

"Five years."

I look over to her, surprised to find she's staring right at me.

Her voice bites out the words. "You left for five years. You didn't check on me. You didn't reach out. You didn't even send a text. I know you had your own grief to get through. But you weren't the only one who lost someone when it all fell apart. And now you want to sit here and tell me that it wasn't fair that I was alone? You had left me alone long before Moriah died."

"I didn't mean it like that." Her words cut into my heart, tearing me to shreds. She's not talking about losing Moriah anymore. She's talking about me. "I messed up. I know I did."

"You did more than make a mistake, Atlas. You abandoned me in our darkest time. Moriah and I may not have been friends in the end, but I still cared."

I start to reach out, but Ophelia moves further away from me.

"Ah, a lover's quarrel. A delicious way to satisfy any appetite."

That voice…

A man shrouded in shadow appears, hovering above the ground behind me. I get to my feet and back up, blocking Ophelia from him.

"Wh-who is that?" she whispers near my shoulder. She is on her feet now too.

"That's the strange apparition I was telling you about."

"I'm hardly an apparition." The man seems offended. It's hard to tell with all the shadows. "Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am the mastermind behind these shared dreams. I also create chaos. You can call me Rook."

Black butterflies begin flitting about around us, never touching anything. But they fly regardless. One softly lands in Ophelia's hair. It lingers for only a moment before taking flight again.

One lands on Rook's shadowy arm. It seems to disturb the shadows warping around him.

Ophelia grips my arm. "We need to wake up."

"Oh, my sweet Ophelia," Rook says with a laugh. "You aren't going to wake up that easily. I have waited for this moment."

I stare at where his eyes should be, the luminous orbs soulless. The rest of his body is shadow, an essence of darkness floating off of him. "What do you want from us?"

"A little game is all I require. See, I have a desire to eat more than just the despair of the mind. I want to consume the very soul that resides inside each of you. Your grief is powerful. However, I cannot just take you for my feast. I have to give you a fighting chance. Those are the rules."

"Rules?" Ophelia pushes my arm aside slightly to peer over at Rook. "What rules? And who decides the rules?"

Rook laughs. "I am an Umbra from the Shadow Realm, so to speak. Your grief calls, I answer. When a soul is grieved, it's poisoned with the emotion. All I do is come to eat dying souls the way a parasite comes to a dying animal. Your souls have grieved for so long that you hardly notice that they're decaying, waiting for someone like me to finish the job. As for who decides this… I'm sure you've heard of the laws of nature."

He crosses his legs as though he is seated, but he still hovers in the air. "The rules are if you can figure out how to escape the dream—rather, nightmare —I put you in, then you may keep your soul."

"What if we don't play?"

"You forfeit and I feast sooner."

I glance over at Ophelia. She's shaking, but her voice remains firm and unbreaking. "How do we know you won't betray us?"

"I'm bound to an oath. I can't physically betray you. If I even think of doing so, I will cease to exist. But there's no reason to doubt the one who has brought you here, trapped in the darkest parts of your minds."

He lazily leans back, as though reclined in a chair. All of this is a game to him.

None of this seems real. I'm nearly convinced this is a nightmare, one we've been forced to share. But I know deep down that's not what this is.

"We have to try," I say softly.

Ophelia doesn't move. Her eyes are fixated on the shadows that surround Rook. I turn back to him, ready to fight.

"We'll play your game. But we need something in return if we win."

He laughs. "You mean besides keeping your soul? You are in no position to bargain with me, human. You're lucky to hope you'll win against what I've designed for you."

I ignore him. "You have to promise never to haunt humans again." I shiver, despite trying to remain strong. This shadow creature has haunted my dreams and left me terrified to sleep. I don't want anyone else going through this. Not to mention the fact we're staring death in the face.

Ophelia seems tense next to me.

Rook almost seems to consider it, his silence the only thing giving any indication that he's thinking it over. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's possible to stop what I was created to do."

"I don't want anyone else to suffer at your hands," I say, sounding braver than I feel. "You have to vow you won't do this anymore. Since you can't lie, this should be simple."

He crosses his arms. "You aren't going to win, Atlas. So, I will accept your terms. Only because the pain will be so much sweeter when you fail."

"Fine," I say. Then let's do this."