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“Yes, Jedidiah … open your mind to me, and I will give you my power …”
Jed shuddered as the three orbs in front of him disappeared, and then his vision went black. He could hear the echoing laughter in his mind as all control of his body was wrenched from his grasp. He tried to remember Dren, remember why he had made the exchange.
“Are you afraid?”
“Yes!” Jed cried, his voice echoing into nothingness.
The laughter grew louder. “You should be.”
When his vision came back into focus, he could see the Unstoppables and Dren cowering away from him.
“No, please! Please don’t hurt them! No!”
“NO!” Jed shouted as he sat bolt upright in bed. He looked around the dark room, searching for any sign of the orbs.
There was nothing, only his familiar bedroom inside Alexa.
He placed a hand on his chest, his heart hammering hard. I wasn’t taken. Dren pulled us back. It was a dream.
He jumped as his bedroom door slammed open. “Little buddy?!”
“Raegar, sorry … Sorry, Champ. I was … I had a nightmare.”
Raegar looked around the room suspiciously. “Are you sure? You were screaming.”
“Yeah. I’m sure. I was dreaming about Belzak, but that didn’t happen. So, it wasn’t real.”
“Okay,” Raegar said uncertainly. “If you’re sure …”
Howell and Rowan came up behind him.
“What’s going on?” Rowan demanded, lifting up her lamp. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yeah, sorry everyone. I had a bad dream about Belzak.” Jed looked down and fiddled with the blankets.
“It’s okay, Jed. I know all about dreams like that,” Howell said.
Rowan walked over to the bed, set down her lamp, and sat on the edge. “Well, you’re safe here with us now, okay? And I’m sure Mr. Dren has all kinds of protections on Alexa that we don’t even know about.”
“Wait, really?” Raegar asked.
“I mean, she’s probably not wrong,” Howell agreed.
“What is all this racket?” Alfyr asked.
Raegar jumped. “DAH! Will you not sneak up on me, please? I’m gonna put a bell on you.”
Alfyr ignored him and rubbed her eyes. “What are we all doin’ in here?”
“It’s okay, Alfy. Jed had a nightmare. I don’t think that woke me up, but Raegar sure did,” Rowan said with a glare.
“What? I was worried he was in trouble, okay? I’m not gonna just ignore it if I think my family is in trouble, Rowan.”
“Well, we should all get back to sleep before we wake up Mr. Dren if we haven’t already,” Howell stated.
“Oh yeah, Cat Boss needs a lot of rest after everything too,” Jed said, feeling more than a little guilty.
Rowan looked at him. “Do you need a hug, big guy?”
“Yes!” Jed cried, flinging his arms around her middle. He shut his eyes as all the fear from the day released along with the tears trickling down his cheeks.
Rowan hugged him back tightly, patting his back. “You’re safe now, okay? We got out of there, and we’re far away from Belzak. We’re all safe tonight.”
Jed could faintly hear movement in the room as he sniffled and tried to take deep breaths. Rowan just held him until he calmed. When Jed looked up, he saw that the others had brought blankets and pillows into the room, spreading them out into a pile.
“What are you doing?”
“We almost lost you today, little buddy. I think we’ll all sleep better if we’re near each other,” Raegar answered.
Alfyr hopped up onto the bed with a blanket and nestled up against the wall. Raegar flopped ungracefully into the middle of the pile. Rowan rolled her eyes at that and flung a blanket vaguely in his direction while making herself comfortable on a few pillows.
Howell settled down closest to the bed, reaching up to grip Jed’s hand briefly. “If it happens again, we’re here, okay?”
Jed wiped his eyes and lay back down. “Okay. Thanks, guys.” He waited until everyone had settled and then turned off the lamp.
He listened to the sounds of everyone shifting and breathing. Alfyr settled right next to his legs, keeping them warm. Raegar started to snore until someone nudged him enough that he rolled over, grumbling about it as he did so.
Jed smiled in the dark and whispered, “Love you, guys. Goodnight.”