Chapter 4 The Dream and the Call

Lyssara Velmora:

The dream hadn't started out normal.

I was in the middle of darkness. Who dreamed of that?!

I could hear my breathing, but I couldn't see myself. I couldn't feel any part of my body, although I felt that I was entirely there. Things that only happen in dreams.

I looked ahead and saw a pair of yellow headlights coming toward me. In reality, I knew I was imagining a car there, because the only certainty I had was that there were two yellow lights.

I heard my breathing quicken, along with my heartbeat. The lights moved. The impression I'd had before about the distance became distorted after I realized there was warm air on my face.

I couldn't find my hands to feel what was ahead. I couldn't see anything beyond the two yellow lights. However, I began to hear something more than just my breathing and pulse.

Another breath. Accompanied by puffs of air on my face.

I heard a wet sound. I felt a disconcerting smell. I wanted to move away, but my inability to move prevented me from ignoring that smell.

Meat. Raw meat.

I held my breath, but the odor seemed to seep into me. I began to notice something more than the smell and the breath that didn't belong to me. A pressure, as if there were weights on my shoulders, pinning me to the soft, damp ground.

Slowly, I realized the weights had sharp tips. They dug into my skin, scratching my shoulders.

I wanted to scream. Break free and run.

I heard a commanding growl, similar to the one I'd heard at the café. I obeyed the animalistic order and released my breath, which I hadn't even realized I was holding.

The image began to come into focus.

It wasn't possible!

Everything started falling into place.

Little by little, the smell began to match the image. A snout. I could see the back of the immense animal that was subduing me with its weight. It was on top of me. Front paws fitted onto my shoulders.

A white wolf was puffing air onto my face.

The yellow eyes glowed, and I had the full realization that they mirrored the moon. That crescent moon, almost full. I was certain we were in a wild, natural place, because the sound of nocturnal animals and the aroma of pine and snow permeated my nose, as much as the smell of meat from that animal.

It was too much. All senses amplified. My attention would have been lost in everything I could observe, if not for that animal on top of me, breathing and giving me something to focus on.

How did I get here? I had been in Lucien's bed, just two seconds before.

Another whine. A request for attention.

I recognized it. I was recognizing the sounds the animal made.

Yeah, I was dreaming.

"Wake up, Lyssara!" I ordered myself the second I came to a consensus with my mind that this could only be a dream.

A louder whine. The wolf seemed to be trying to speak to me, desperate. I began to feel the pain in my shoulders, burning from the claws scratching them. The smell of meat already seemed natural.

"Lyssara." A deep, feminine voice. "It's time."

I tried to rationalize the scene. A white wolf talking to me. Actually, a she-wolf. Inside the most realistic and insane nightmare I'd ever had.

The scene, although absurd and somewhat hazy, was very concrete, like a memory. I tried to speak, but couldn't find my voice. I realized I only had to listen.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. It must be one of those dreams where you have a mission to accomplish.

"Wake up! It's time!" repeated the same voice.

Eyes blinked. I could see myself inside them. My brown skin, my hair adorned with leaves, trapped on a darkened earth floor illuminated by the moon. My face was the same, except for my eyes, wrapped in a black shadow that completely covered my eyelids. As if I were wearing a mask.

And the eyes...

Yellow. Different from the ones I always saw in the mirror. Lit up like headlights.

I screamed, finding the voice I'd been missing. The loud scream echoed through the forest, but it wasn't a scream; it was a howl. I was howling.

The pain in my shoulder dwindled to nothing. Unrestrained fury filled my veins. My skin burned and stretched, tearing apart, modifying...

The she-wolf allowed me to stand up.

"Wake up, Lyssara! You need to go to them!"

It took me less than a second to wake up. My throat constricted, raw from the screaming.

The shrill cell phone rang inside my backpack, which had been thrown in the living room. Lucien must have left for work. I was alone in bed.

I got up, staggering, going after the phone in the other room.

The dream was still vivid in my memory. One of those nightmares that gave me chills all day long. The ringing seemed amplified, as if coming from loudspeakers. Annoying.

I checked the time. Only my mother calls someone at eight on a Saturday morning. Especially when I hadn't answered my phone or replied to my messages for days. Which wasn't common for her.

Elenya and I had a very close relationship. I was born in Ravenmoor, in Elyndor. I only moved into the college dorms because I didn't have a car, as my mother lived almost like a hermit, far from civilization, at the foot of one of the mountains relatively close to the city. Without a car, it would be impossible to make it to morning classes.

I believed that Elenya Velmora's disappearance meant she was with someone. My mother always hid it when she was seeing someone, even after I was old enough to understand what sex was. But she always took her little getaways.

It was just the two of us. Elenya was an only child. She came from northern Solkara to Elyndor to study on an exchange scholarship and was currently an orphan. I never knew my maternal grandparents—or paternal ones, for obvious reasons.

I didn't mind it being just the two of us. I loved my mother. Loved her too much. She raised me alone and endured the raging fury of a teenager growing up without a father, without even knowing who he was or why he had abandoned us.

I answered the call, lowering the volume until it was almost on mute. My eyes and ears were too sensitive.

"Finally a sign of life! I almost showed up there today," I complained over the phone.

"Lyssara?" she replied, her voice screechy, tearful.

"Are you okay, Mom?!"