Amongst the Order (Watchers of the Veil #1)

Chapter 16

Running. To no end, I ran through a never-ending, twisting dark forest, ripping through thorns and leaping over bushes, archaic branches nipping at my heels. I did not know what I was running for; didn't know what motivated me so much to carry on in the choking blanket of night, each of my limbs weighing so heavily I slowed down, feet dragging in the dirt until I reached a clearing, fenced in by spiked spruce.

I needed a way out. I needed to find what I was looking for.

"Erika."
No. Not here. Ollie?"

He should have been at home, safe in bed at this hour with Diana in the next room. Not in this clearing. Not anywhere near me where I was a danger.

His blue eyes watered, tears streaming down his tanned, youthful face. He would never admit it, but he was terrified.

Kate was behind him, Horizon's Edge in her grip. Her smile was enough for me to break into a run.

My feet stuck to the ground. I reached out for my brother, but my arms were not long enough. I could feel my joints in my fingers cracking as I stretched, calling Ollie's name again and again as the witch drew her knife across my brother's throat.

My scream was enough to shatter the silence of the trees, and tears fell down as my brother's limp body dropped to the ground.

A whimper behind me made me turn.

It was the girl from the party — the dark haired girl that had died by the stairs. She stared beyond me, looking to the sky for any offering of light, only to find none.
"I was almost there..."

***

I woke draped in sweat. Ollie was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Kate, nor the girl from The Collector's party. I looked around the room; everyone was still asleep but Nathaniel. He had inched closer to Florence since I last looked at him, and she had her sleeping head resting in his lap. I couldn't help but scowl.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You look like you had a bad dream."
I sighed at the guilt for glaring at him. "Yeah." I nodded and wiped my face. "Yeah, sorry, I did."
"What about?"
I barely knew the kid. I held back another frown. "It doesn't matter."
He straightened up. "You know, if you talk about them you can—"

"Morning." Alex groaned from his pillow. His face pressed so far into the fabric I wondered how he actually managed to breathe. "What's this about bad dreams?"
"Nothing," I replied. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Terrible, actually." He stretched out his arms, yawning. "Kept having weird nightmares."
I frowned. "You too?"
He mirrored me. "You too?"

I chewed on my dry lip. It was strange for two people next to each other to have nightmares at the same time — and an odd coincidence — but we were both under stress. Our families were all in danger and last night was hectic. We may have been facing our worst fears soon if we were to fail.

I woke up the others. Florence whined at me through the pillow while Alfie got up straight away. He didn't dare lag behind after last night.

After a swift breakfast of all the childishly chocolatey cereals in Leopold's cupboard that made my stomach churn and Alex's eyes light up, we packed up and set out on the road. Nathaniel wedged in the back between the twins, with Alex in the passenger seat beside me. The radio played quietly in the background for the hour-long journey it took while all of us kept silent for the majority of it, Alex only speaking to give me directions to Wyatt Martin's address.

I hadn't seen Wyatt in two years — his son, Pete, in seven months. It was stupid to hope, but I wondered if he still lived with his dad. Then again, I still did. Hunter's rarely bought homes until they started families of their own. It was hard to put down your own roots when it was so easy to work with your parents instead.