Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 67: A saviour for once

She had no idea for how long she'd been falling.

How had Catherine even planned on storing the Arical in a massive void?

Luna looked down. Or, assuming it was a massive void in the first place. What if there was ground beneath them? Maybe Catherine, in all her immortal glory, was one of few who could access the umbrella's pocket dimension and survive the fall.

But that would mean she was willing to sacrifice one of them to place the Arical back where she wanted it to be, and Luna was pretty sure Catherine liked her more than that.

On the bright side she wasn't struggling with breathing or any pressure from falling. In fact, it was rather pleasant in an odd way.

Regardless, she had to return to the others. She just needed to make sure first, and she turned her head. It really shouldn't be hard to miss.

As soon as she turned around she spotted it just slightly above her. Or, the head of it was slightly above her. The body was trailing along after, stretching up so far Luna could see no end of it.

Oddly enough, she wasn't scared of the mara this time.

"Oh, he—Hello there."

What was she doing? She needed to get out of there. A simple hand movement and she'd be back. It had worked, she could go. She could celebrate with the others.

She pursed her lips.

"You've really fucked up a lot, huh?" she then whispered to the creature. Again, what the Waste was she doing? "I guess I can relate to that."

Clearly, the sentimental state she'd been in on the journey had finally driven her too far.

"We've tried to deny our origins," she continued, looking down at her bruised arms. "My brother and I, I mean... Because we thought nothing but trouble could come out of it, but now I—I think he might be right in that... That we could maybe use our blightness for good? That maybe we don't have to renounce our so-called birth in order to live as good people. That we can... Choose what we do with what we got."

The mara made no sign of understanding what she was saying, and she frowned, not without sadness blooming in her chest.

"... I guess I just... Don't know exactly how we'd work things out with you, you know? You're so big, and fear-thirsty... And I don't know how living nightmares are going to help people. And I guess we've had the perk of being exorcised... Which I'm not sure we could manage with someone your size, but..."

She looked down at the umbrella in her hand.

"... At least I think you'll be safe in here until someone who can help you comes along."

Just as she was about to close the umbrella she looked up at the creature again, and smiled.

"And you know what? I think I managed to save the day after all."

She had no idea why she told the mara that of all creatures in the world. It didn't know her life at all, but it felt good to finally get to say it.

Then she closed the umbrella, and the recent, familiar view of a ruined house appeared in front of her.

She was, to her horror, falling again. Of course, the mara had been high up in the air when she jumped onto it, and now it was gone.

"Damn it," she muttered, but her concern was short-lived as she soon hit something. It was fortunately not the floor.

Derek coughed as they'd both fallen over at the impact. He'd been the optimal person to catch her but even someone like Derek couldn't avoid getting a little crushed.