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I didn’t have lips to answer with.
A presence of some sort, something more solid than the shadows, swirled around me. If I could have shivered, I would have. It twisted through the air, malevolently circling, as if I were prey.
I tried, again, to step out of the shadows. An unseen force held me back. Through the panic I yelled for Nic through our bond. Maybe he would hear me.
Time passed, hours, minutes, hopefully not days—we didn’t have days. I felt that if I didn’t become solid soon, I would dissolve away for good into a fine mist and scatter on the winds, losing myself completely.
I had to do something. But what?
The pressure holding me prisoner wavered. Instinctively I found a crack, somehow slipped through, and pulled myself out of the shadows.
Hot rods of agony shot through my muscles when I tried to move. The cold, dusty-smelling air seemed familiar. The gray stone surrounding me and the ambient dim light coming from nowhere and everywhere was also familiar, as was the ripple of shadow essence shrouding the ceiling from view.
Fuck.
I hadn’t really thought about where I was going when I’d slipped through the cracks in the force that had held me captive. I’d just left. Which is something Nic had told me not to do, probably for this very reason. Nightmare Castle had been on my mind, after all. I suppose I was lucky I’d ended up here, instead of someplace really awful, and potentially not survivable. I was fairly certain I could stand up to not-Baz. I may not be able to defeat him, but I was not helpless this time.
So where was I?
It still hurt to move, but the shock of the pain was duller, and I could ignore it. Aerialists dealt with pain and discomfort all the time, or so I told myself. This still sucked, like all the body aches of a week’s worth of being down with the flu hit me all at once.
Trying not to make noise as I rolled over and pushed myself to my hands and knees, I listened, hoping for a clue to my surroundings. I did know I was in a room. Something smaller than where they’d held me half a lifetime ago, but not as small as the initial cell I’d been thrown into.
I spotted an iron-banded wooden door. The pain subsided some, and I got the rest of the way to my feet. I glanced at my clothing. The dream essence had reverted to a simple black unitard style outfit. That worked well enough for now, so I left it.
The door had a simple iron ring for a handle and no obvious lock so it would probably open. But where? I had no idea if it was safe to use my other shadow powers, the ones that let me sense what was around me by feeling what the shadows felt, and seeing what they showed me.
So, which was more dangerous?
I pressed a hand against my stomach and leaned against the wall, trying to calm my racing heart. I couldn’t jump back into the shadows to save myself. It was probably safe enough to manipulate the essence, however. I wasn’t brave enough to look through it.
Taking a deep breath, I put my hand on the metal ring.
A hand clamped over my mouth and an arm snaked around my waist, jerking me back. I screamed, kicked, tried to fight.
“Easy, princess, it’s just me,” Robby whispered into my ear, yelping quietly when I bit his hand anyway.
“Robby!” I snarled as quietly as I could. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Better me than the kennel of nightmare hounds on the other side of the door.”
I shut my eyes, shivering. I guess he had saved me.
“What happened? You were supposed to meet Geraint and Dio at the stables.”
“I know,” I snapped and shoved him. “I got trapped in the shadows and barely managed to escape. I accidently came here.”
“Nic sensed you.”
“And he sent you?” I twisted my lips.
“Your knight found dear Ash and learned that you had used the shadows. When we couldn’t find you, Nic tried to step into the shadow realm and found the way barred. I travel differently, and so he sent me. If you’ll remain here for a moment, I’ll get your men headed this way, and then we can decide how to get you past the hounds without alerting the entire land that you’re here.”
My calming breath did little to push my irritation away.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I’ll be but a moment, princess.”
