The Dreamfarer

43

Mae crawled forward as quickly as a predator in pursuit of its next meal. She knew how ridiculous she must look, how pathetic she must appear as she moved on all fours, as she gagged and choked and panted and wailed. They had to be okay. They had to be okay. They have to be okay. 

She could not lose Caleb, Vivienne, and Folco all in the same day. She could not. What else would she have? What else could she do? Go back to Swynborough and live amongst the humans? Hide from them the fact that she had powers? Just pretend that she had been kidnapped and had escaped from her captors?

They would welcome her back, she was sure, but it seemed so dull a life now that she had gotten a taste of the opportunities and possibilities that her future could hold. Besides, Vivienne would not be there, and what was there to go back to in Swynborough if her sister, her mother, her father... if all of her family was gone?

However, she could not just go with the warlocks, could she? Without Folco to lead them, without him by her side, what allure did the warlock army hold for her? Nobody else could teach her what else her Dreamfaring powers had to offer, nobody else would ever know her as well, as deeply, as personally as he did. Nobody else would protect her amongst the magicians as fiercely as he would. 

If both of her loved ones were dead, if all of the people she had grown up with and grown to know over the span of the past few weeks were gone forever, what would she do? How would she live?

She heard footsteps behind her but did not give them the slightest heed. She just scurried forward until she was next to Folco. Her knees and shins burned as she knelt beside him; the ground was still piping hot, and she could feel the dirt underneath her burning through her pants, but she did not care - this pain was nothing compared to the pain she felt inside at the moment.

When she placed a hand on his chest and felt the pumping of his heart beneath her palm, she let out such a cry of relief that the warlocks that had been jogging towards her dove the last few feet, immediately reaching out to feel their leader's pulse for themselves. She must have sounded as though she was upset.

They all cast her curious looks when they discovered that Folco was alive, but the curiosity did not linger; relief formed on all of their expressions as well, but Mae just crawled over to Vivienne. She had hope now that her sister was in the same sleeping, breathing state as Folco, but that did not stop her from being nervous as she pressed two fingers once more against her twin's neck.

A moment later, Mae tilted her head back towards the sky and let out a laugh; not a laugh of happiness, of glee, of humor - how could she feel those things when Caleb was no more? It was a laugh of relief, a laugh at the irony of the warlocks actually being victorious against odds that had certainly seemed impossible. A laugh at the fact that Hell itself had opened up and tried to swallow two out of three Dreamfarers whole, yet even the powers of the vengeful spirits that called that damned abyss home could not overcome the worldly plane of existence or the people that resided there.

"Miss Maeve?" came a hushed voice from her left. Mae turned her head and took a deep breath. It took her a couple seconds to even remember the warlock's name that was addressing her. She was so rattled by everything that had happened the past day or so; it had really been an emotional roller coaster for her.

Her sister had captured her, had told her that she was occasionally possessed by the same demons that their father had imprisoned inside of his being so many years ago. She had relived some of her past from her sister's perspective, had gotten her powers back, had reunited with Folco only to be torn from his arms once more.

Then, of course, her twin had gotten fully possessed, Mae had been dragged towards the fighting, she had watched in horror as her boyfriend had nearly killed himself only to be refused his death so that her best friend could take his place. Then, in quick succession afterwards, her father had died, her sister had nearly been dragged down to Hell, and then there had been a huge flash of light, something that had somehow sent the evil spirits back to the underworld and left Vivienne and Folco here.