I am Sam
Chapter Twenty

ATLAS

“This is a terrible idea.” Circen suddenly crosses her arms as she raises a concerned brow at me; scrubbing my hands through my hair, I groan when I turn to face Caleb,

“I told you they wouldn’t be on board with this,” Smirking, Caleb narrows his eyes; cocking his head as he stares from Circen to Noah before sighing,

“You made a promise; do you remember that?” Caleb says narrowing his eyes on Noah, “You told Wolf that you would keep Sasha safe.” Clenching his jaw Noah’s brows furrow in response as he stares hard at Caleb,

“I haven’t forgotten,”

“Well, do you know what will happen if Sasha continues to go into heat every month while she’s away from Wolf,” Narrowing his eyes, Noah and Caleb are suddenly in an intense staring competition, “She could die, and how do you plan on explaining that to Wolf?” Swallowing hard, Noah just continues to stare at Caleb,

“So what, you plan on shoving monsters into her dreams in the hopes of what?” Noah grumbles. But I’m the one who answers him,

“To prepare her for what’s in the Unseelie realm, she’s physically strong; and her magic is becoming more powerful, but she has no idea what the Unseelie even look like; she doesn’t understand the kind of monsters she’s up against in there,” Scoffing, Noah shakes his head,

“And you want us to help you with this nightmare mission?” Smirking, I roll my eyes when I turn my attention towards Caleb again,

“Caleb will be in charge of the dream and the monsters, so we’ll be fine.” Noah’s eyes suddenly widen in horror,

“Oh hell no, you’ll let Caleb control the dream? Have you completely lost your mind?” Caleb smirks as a sinister grin creeps up at the corners of his mouth,

“What’s wrong, Noah? You scared of the monsters in my head?” Noah suddenly scoffs as he shakes his head at Caleb,

“You know what, there is no shame in me admitting that the inner workings of your mind scare the living shit out of me; it doesn’t make me less of a man just because you’re sick and twisted mind isn’t a place I would like to visit.”

“I’ve got to second that,” Circen says, giving Caleb a sympathetic look, “Sorry, Cal, but if you’re in charge of the dream, you might just end up doing more harm than good; and I don’t think that Sasha can handle your level of darkness.” Scoffing, Caleb crosses his arms over his chest, the grin on his face only growing with each passing second,

“That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, Circen, and it’s not even my birthday yet.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Noah says, clenching his jaw as he stares Caleb down; shrugging, Caleb smirks,

“Circen is only allowed to say one nice thing to me a year, on my birthday; isn’t that right, Circe?” Rolling her eyes, Circen huffs at Caleb,

“You’re going to scar that girl beyond what she’s mentally able to handle, Cal, and then what’s the point in even taking her into the Unseelie to break that curse?”

“Look,” I suddenly interject, “Caleb promised to keep the darkness down to a comfortable level,”

“Comfortable for whom? If it’s at Caleb’s comfort level, then I’m out,” Noah retorts before raising his hands up in the air and taking a step back,

“I’ll make sure it’s on a level that Sasha can handle; you should be fine,” Caleb smirks as he cocks a brow at Noah,

“Noah, we need to make it as real and as authentic as possible; when we go into the Unseelie realm, none of them will sugarcoat it for Sasha,” I groan, and Noah cocks a brow at me,

“Oh, trust me, I know just how authentic he can get in dream manipulation; I remember the last time he was in charge of someone’s dream,” Narrowing his eyes at Caleb; Noah clenches his jaw, “Miera didn’t sleep for a whole two weeks, which meant that I didn’t sleep for a whole two weeks,”

“Noah, that was like four years ago,” I sigh as I scrub a hand over my face with a groan, which earns a low chuckle to reverberate from Caleb.

“Okay, boys, let’s not get our dragons fired up over this,” Circen groans, “Caleb, if you can guarantee that you’ll take it easy in there, then we’ll go ahead and help because you need four in a circle for this to work, so you need us.” Narrowing his eyes at her, Caleb lets out a low breath,

“I might be a sadist, but I’m not stupid. Do you honestly think I would turn Sasha’s dream into a nightmare on Elm Street kind of situation?”

“Yeah, I actually do.” Noah retorts sarcastically, and these two are suddenly back at staring each other down,

“Okay, enough of this. Cal; you’re in control of Sasha’s dream; you’re the best person who can control Unseelie monsters in a dream manipulation,” Turning to look at Noah, I give him a pleading look, “We need you two; Liam still hasn’t left his room, and it’s not like we can ask Miera or Eris to help,”

“Not unless you want a blood bath,” Circen scoffs, “Sasha and Eris in one dream together, now that would turn into a horror movie for sure,” Nodding I sigh,

“Okay, so will you help us?” Circen and Noah exchange a look before turning to face me,

“If it’s going to help Sasha be better prepared for the Unseelie realm, then we’ll help,” I give them a grateful nod because, honestly, we didn’t exactly have any other option if they said no. “So, who’s telling Sasha about this?” Circen pipes up, and both Caleb and I exchange a deep frown,

“Actually,” I start saying as I look back over at Circen, “We’re not going to tell her,” both Circen and Noah’s eyes widen in horror,

“What!? You are joking, right?” Circen shrieks, “You can’t do that to her; you must tell her...” Holding my hands up, I sigh deeply,

“Just hear me out, if we tell Sasha that we’re about to do this, she’ll be anxious, and she won’t react in her dream as if it’s real; she’ll know it’s not,”

“Yes, but...” Circen begins to say, but I cut her off,

“She will be fine, we need this to be as real for her as it would be out there in the Unseelie realm, and we will all be in her dream, to help her, guide her, but also to challenge her, using our elemental abilities we have to make this as real as possible, she has to overcome the obstacles we place in her way, while Caleb focuses on the monsters, okay?” I can see the reluctance in their eyes, but they both agree to help and not to breathe a word to Sasha. As crazy as this sounds, it will be the best thing for her, and we will all be right there to guide her; what could possibly go wrong?

~

SASHA

Exhausted doesn’t even come close to explaining how I’m feeling; it’s been two days since my heat, and I felt miserable and flat for those two days. Tonight is the first night that I can actually say that I’m feeling relatively better, I’m hoping to actually get a good night’s sleep tonight, so I can crack it in the morning by practising with Caleb; learning twin-related incantations with Atlas, oh, and Circen promised she would teach me about fire manipulation spells tomorrow, I’m really looking forward to that.

As I get into bed, I sigh with such heartfelt relief the moment I turn on my side and hug my pillow close; my bedding wrapped snug around me as my eyelids get heavier and heavier until I feel myself drifting off. Bliss.

Waking up as I gasp for a breath of air, I’m suddenly sitting up in my bed, my heart racing uncontrollably. Feeling groggy as my eyes scan my room; furrowing my brows, I instantly pick up on how off everything looks and feels; I slowly get out of bed; the moment my feet hit the floor, I’m suddenly looking down; I’m standing in a massive puddle of blood. Ewe, that's so gross. Blinking back the sudden shock and confusion on my face; I look up as I gulp; everything is covered in blood. What the actual?

There’s a sudden static in the air that I can’t pinpoint; an eerie feeling that instantly creeps up inside of me; it’s like it’s breathing and moving all around me. I pinch my eyes shut tight when I try to link Atlas, but nothing, no response; I try again, but it’s like I’ve been completely cut off.

Taking a step forward, the blood squishes through my toes; disgusting, I think to myself as I continue pushing on, it feels like I’ve woken up to some horror movie, and my first instinct is to get to Atlas; as I start putting one foot in front of the other, the sloshing sound of blood in between my toes has me feeling sick to my stomach. The unease in my stomach as I open my bedroom door only intensifies when I step out; the corridor is dark, with static electricity filling the air. It's so quiet, no signs of anyone anywhere, not even the guards. Squeezing my eyes shut again, I’m trying to wake up because this must be a bad dream; that’s the only possible explanation; pinching my arm, I instantly wince as I open my eyes, expecting to be awake, but I’m not, I’m still in the same place. My breathing suddenly feels shaky as I swallow down a lump forming in my throat. A sudden sinking feeling has my heart rate escalating fast. Is this all real?

My body suddenly goes into overdrive; panicking when I realize this isn't a dream; I’m suddenly running to Atlas’s room; something’s wrong, very wrong; if this isn’t a dream, what is this? What have I woken up to?

“Atlas!” I shout out as I swing open his bedroom door, my breath hitching in my throat when I scan his room, and the moment my eyes land on the bloodied sheets on his bed, tears spring from my eyes, "Atlas!" I’m blinking back the panic and confusion; there’s so much blood, "Atlas, if this is your idea of a practical joke, then you're a jerk." I shout out, but I'm met with absolute silence. Stepping back, I’m shaking my head when I swing around and rush out the door; Caleb, I need to replace Caleb. My mind is racing as I’m running towards his room, blood stains covering the walls the further on I go. Just breathe, Sasha, just breathe; I keep telling myself over and over again.

When I get to his room, the door is wide open, my brows instantly furrowing in response as I swallow down hard; Caleb’s door is never open. Panic crawls up my throat when I step into his room; everything has been turned upside down like there was a severe struggle here. Taking a quick fast breath, I slowly start making my way towards his bathroom; the light’s on; it’s bright and flickering. When I round the corner, my eyes widen in horror when they land on a body. I let out a guttural scream, my hands shooting up to cover my mouth as I keep my eyes on him; it’s Caleb.

I can’t move; I’m frozen in place as tears spring from my eyes. “C-Caleb?” My voice comes through small and broken as I sniff back more tears; he’s been strung up, pinned to the wall by a wooden plank; there’s so much blood all around him, and I’m suddenly hyperventilating. "Caleb, no, no..." My head is spinning as I whimper, we’re under attack, that must be it, but by whom? The Unseelie? Are they here, but why? My hands are trembling when I slowly move up to him, lifting one hand to his neck to feel for a pulse, gasping in horror when I don’t feel one. Covering my mouth to muffle my cries, a prickly feeling in my spine suddenly has me swinging around when I sense an energy shift in the room. My eyes narrow in panicked confusion when they land on a child, a boy standing at the entrance of the bedroom door. He cocks his head slowly from side to side as he looks at me, and when I notice his black voided eyes, I swallow back an uncomfortable feeling of panic; this isn’t like Asher’s eyes; this is true petrifying darkness that I’m looking at it.

“W-who are you?” But he doesn’t answer me, the onset of nausea suddenly settling at the pit of my stomach, “Where did you come from?” But the little boy merely gives me a sinister smirk, everything about him seems off, his color is almost grey, like someone who is no longer alive; the scent surrounding him is like rotten corpses, which instantly has me gagging. Cocking his head again, he keeps his black voided eyes trained on me,

“I’ve come for the body, and I’ve come for you,” He says in a grave sinister voice that doesn’t suit him; it’s petrifying to look at a child and yet know that the creature before you is anything but. Clenching my jaw; I’m frowning in response when I suddenly notice Caleb’s sword half sticking out from under his bed; lunging for it; I grab it as I swing back, pointing the blade straight at the little boy; he can’t be older than ten, but he’s pure darkness, I can feel it in his energy.

“You’re not having anyone’s body, least of all mine?” When he looks past me towards the bathroom, he suddenly grins wickedly, and the feelings that stir around in my stomach from this child instantly have me swallowing down bile,

“Don’t be afraid; it only hurts if you fight me,” He grins again, and the moment he opens his mouth, it’s completely black inside, everything from his teeth to his tongue, and it takes everything inside of me not to flinch away,

“Get away, skrenuti!” The moment I deflect an incantation, the blue of my eyes illuminate as does the blade; when I look back up, the child is gone. Stepping back as I re-enter the bathroom, I freeze the moment I look in the direction where Caleb’s body had just been pinned to the wall; he’s gone? Blinking back the confusion and shock in my eyes, my heart is suddenly picking up pace in a absolute panic. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but something tells me it’s Unseelie magic; it has to be right? The question is why?

Running my hand through my hair, I’m pulling at the roots as I spin around, trying to make sense of what’s going on, my wolf suddenly surging through me, driving me to run, pick up a familiar scent, replace my friends, replace my brother. Rushing out towards the castle’s entrance, I suddenly freeze at the bottom of the stairs. There’s a thin stream of water running down the wall, a damp smell filling the room as the water continues to flow along the floor and through the cracks; it’s suddenly flowing up in the air and away from the castle. Blinking back surprise, I’m suddenly drawn by the floating stream as I whisper, “Noah, is that you?”

NOAH

We’re all sitting in a circle, holding hands with our eyes closed as we focus on Sasha’s dream; we chose Atlas’s room because he’s obviously closest to her. Chanting together, the prickly feelings suddenly start running up and down my arms, clearly indicating the dream manipulation manifesting itself.

After deciding to help with this psycho dream mission from hell, I still have my reservations, still think its the worst possible idea and that there is no point to this at all besides scaring the shit out of Sasha; Atlas seems to believe it will prepare her for some of the Unseelie monsters; creatures and demons we might face. I think we should have warned her about our plan instead of having her go into it blindly; it’s a shitty thing to do to anyone, especially if someone like Caleb is steering the ship.

We’re in her dream; Caleb decided to scare her with his dead body and Unseelie demon child routine because that won’t traumatize the crap out of her, right? I’ve decided to help her instead, to hell with Caleb; I’ll instead guide her outside and away from his haunted house of doom and towards the river, a place I can hopefully protect her from whatever Caleb has up his sleeve; it’s going well, she’s following my stream of water; when suddenly it all goes to a ball of shit; I should have known Caleb would twist my element to suite his sick fix, the guy’s mentally unhinged and gets off on darkness like a drug.

SASHA

I’m still following the steady stream of water, it’s like it’s beckoning me to follow it outside, and so I do; the moment I take a step outside, I suddenly start to notice the water changing; it’s turning into...blood; bubbling and reeking of sulfur, cupping my hand over my mouth and nose, I suddenly take a step back and away from the putrid-smelling stream. I’m still frowning as I look down at the blood when my back suddenly hits a sizeable solid object; I quickly swing around; my eyes widening in horror as I instantly scream. Slowly taking a step back; the creature in front of me has no eyes, its face looks marred and deformed, and my hands are shaking as I stare at it; the moment a low growl escapes it, it effortlessly lifts its claw hand to me like it wants to grab me. Still, I jump back just in time as it misses me.

When it tries again, I swing the blade of the sword up to block its sharp claws as it groans in frustration; twisting its head, it slowly breathes in as it chuckles lowly, “Eat, you.” It grumbles, licking its disgusting lips; shoving him back and away from me, I suddenly chant,” vezanje,” as my eyes illuminate with blue, the blade lighting up as I swing at him. When I do, he simply disappears. Furrowing my brows, I’m trying to stop myself from freaking out; I need to replace everyone, I need to replace Atlas, where is he? He isn’t dead, I would feel it if he was, and as I try to link him again, I suddenly feel him, like a beacon, our twin souls are being drawn to each other. I'm coming, Atlas, just hold on.

ATLAS

She tapped in on our twin bond, and my heart is suddenly beaming with pride for how well she’s doing. She’s exceeding everyone’s expectations, including my own. Instead of cowering, she’s standing up to the creatures Caleb is sending her way; I was sure the faceless Unseelie creature would have freaked her out, but she handled it. Caleb is keeping to his word about not freaking the shit out of her straight off; he’s taking things gradual, which is surprising for him; if he keeps this up, we’ll be able to go at this for much longer than anticipated, adding more creatures as we go.

SASHA

I can feel Atlas’s energy pulling me back toward his bedroom. I’m sprinting as my wolf drives me towards him, my body is tingling all over, a sudden energy shift suddenly has me skidding to a stop as I turn to stare down a long corridor, and the moment my eyes fly up to the back of a vast, terrifying creature, I suddenly gulp. It’s double my size, with claw-like hands, a head like the skull of a moose with horns that look like spindly branches. Swallowing hard, my breathing suddenly picks up as more tingles run up and down my spine; I can’t move.

The moment the creature slowly turns around, I gasp in surprise; it’s not a creature at all; it’s Wolf.

Shaking my head in disbelief; I rub my eyes with my forearm; I must be seeing things; there’s no way Wolf could be here; but when I look back, he’s still there; his eyes are piercing mine as a grin creeps up at corners of his mouth,

“Sasha,” He whispers which instantly has a shudder run down my spine when I gasp in response, “Come here,” He beckons for me, his eyes wild with something animal like. And my feet begin slowly moving towards him, my eyes welling up with tears as I drop my sword; it clanking against the concrete, my soul being drawn to him like magnets. He’s here; he came for me. His eyes look hungry like he could devour me in a heartbeat, and I want him too; there’s nothing more I want now than to climb into his arms and never let him go again.

The moment I’m standing right in front of him, he slowly runs his hand down my cheekbone, and I gasp at his touch, tears suddenly rolling down my cheeks,

“I’ve missed you so much,” I breathe as I lean into his hand. Bringing his lips right up close to my ear, he slowly whispers, “I know.” As I fold my arms around him, nestling my cheek against his hard chest, I listen for his steady warm heartbeat, but I don’t hear it. Pulling away slightly to look up at him, his eyes are still piercing mine as his grin grows wider and wider, furrowing my brows questioningly, I suddenly notice out of my peripheral vision something coming up behind him; the moment I focus on it, my eyes suddenly widen, it’s the terrifying creature I just saw a few moments ago, the skull of a moose, and hollowed spaces for eyes. Suddenly swinging Wolf around and coming to stand protectively in front of him, I shout, “Look out!” as the creature takes a swing backhanding me into the side wall, hitting the floor with a loud thud, winding me; all I can see are stars. I’m screaming for Wolf to move, but he merely stands there staring at the creature.

The moment another one appears right behind him, gripping his arms, it happens so quickly that I don’t have time to respond; the creature in front of him suddenly swings his sharp claws at Wolf’s stomach, ripping him open as blood splatters all over me, and the floor.

“WOLF!” My guttural scream of horror instantly rings out in the air as I cry out; Wolf drops to his knees as he turns his face to look at me, still grinning as he coughs up dark blood,

“This is all you’re fault, Sasha. You killed me,” He gargles as he chokes on his own blood, whimpering as tears continue to fall; I’m shaking my head,

“No, no...” I sob before looking down and noticing that I don’t have wolf cuffs on; without thinking, I instantly start shifting into my wolf, bones cracking as my beast suddenly shakes out her long white fur. Snarling fiercely against the creatures as she bares her canines, but before I can even get to the one still in front of Wolf, he suddenly hooks his sharp claws into Wolf’s chest like a hook, groaning Wolf suddenly screams out in immense pain before looking back down at me, my own wolf whimpers,

“You are the reason, Sasha; I’m dead because of you.” He chokes on more dark blood splattering from his mouth as more blood gushes from his chest. My wolf suddenly loses her mind, lunging at the creature, but he swings around at the last second and hooks his claws into my side, gashing me wide open as I fall to the ground.

CALEB

What the fuck! How did a Wendigo get into this dream? How did they know to manipulate Sasha with Wolf? I’m suddenly losing my mind; everything was going to plan; I calculated every action, every outcome and Sasha surpassed them all; what the fuck just happened?

I’m suddenly lunging myself towards where she is in the dream; I’ve got to get to her before they kill her; if you die in a dream like this, you die in real life; Wendigo’s don’t fucking play around; they’re cannibalistic creatures, they can mimic human voices and take on they’re appearances. How the fuck did they get in here?

SASHA

Shifting back into my human form; I’m suddenly staring bewildered at Caleb standing at the end of the hall; my shivering form holding onto the deep gash against my stomach as the blood continues to gush out; flames are closing in all around me when Caleb suddenly says,

“Face your fears, Sasha; stop running from them.” But I’m shaking; I’m losing too much blood as I stumble to the side,

“You- you’re dead,” I mumble as I try to keep myself up on my feet, but I’m growing weaker. Caleb suddenly stares hard at something behind me, his eyes darker than I’ve ever seen them. When I turn my head, I notice the same creature that just killed Wolf standing right behind me, Wolf’s blood still dripping off his claws.

“Sasha,” Caleb speaks my name in a low dominant and commanding voice as his eyes pierce mine, and as I look back at him, I smirk as I stumble over my feet.

“I won’t live in a world without Wolf; I would rather die,” I grumble, gasping for air as I take a step back towards the creature; I’m ready for him to finish me off; my reason for living is gone, I have nothing to live for now.

Caleb narrows his eyes at me, something deep, dark and sinister reverberating from him when I notice the shimmer of his dragon in his eyes; within a split second, Caleb moves lightening fast as he lunges towards me, yanking me back and away from the creature just as it’s about to take a swing at me. Falling to the floor with an oomph somewhere behind Caleb, I turn my head to look up as he stands glaring up at the creature, his eyes glowing fiercely with the green of his powers,

“Who let you in?” Caleb growls at the creature, levelling it with his glare like he’s not intimated by its gigantic size one bit. The creature tilts its head at Caleb with a rumble of its chest,

“Windows left open are dangerous things, Caleb.” The sudden twitch in Caleb’s eyes as he turns to look down at me and then back at the creature again,

“Who opened a window?” But the creature doesn’t answer him. Instead, another rumble escapes him when he focuses his attention on me, the beast is about to sidestep Caleb in a last attempt to get to me, but Caleb blocks his path; a sudden powerful explosion of energy erupts from him like a tidal wave as it crashes into the creature and knocks him back. In the next breath, a wall of flames suddenly explodes between Caleb and the beast. As I turn my head back, Circen is right there with Noah by her side, her eyes red with flames as her hands stretch out towards the burning firewall. I feel like I’m slipping in and out of consciousness when I suddenly feel soothing arms wrap around me; I know it’s Atlas; I can feel his energy wrap itself protectively around me when he places the palm of his hand against my gushing wound, the last thing I hear him say as it all fades into darkness around me, is,

“Stay with me, Sasha, stay with me.”