Page 175 of Elemental Becoming

Oh.

This is a dream.

My heart thuds against my chest. No. Not my heart. The bond.

I follow the pull instinctively, moving deeper into the forest where clouds drift between the trees like living mist.

“Amara, my dear child.”

I know that voice. A woman. I’ve heard her in dreams before, but I never see her face.

“Hello?” I call carefully into the silence.

Another voice answers. A man’s voice.

“Amara,”he says softly,“we have been watching you.”

My head snaps back and forth, but there’s no one there. The voices seem to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

“Who are you?”

“We know who you are,”their voices say as one.

“That doesn’t answer my question!” I shout.

Even in the dream, I feel frustration bubbling up. I’ve had enough of disembodied voices that refuse to answer questions directly.

“How do you know me?!” I yell into the trees and mist.

But they don’t answer my questions. Instead, the voices speak over one another in fractured bursts, some words landing sharply while others slip beyond my understanding.

“The seal is weakening.”

“The fifth path opens soon.”

“The storm has begun.”

“The bond changes everything.”

I stomp my foot like a petulant child. “I don’t understand half of what you’re saying!”

“Another heartbeat still echoes beside yours.”

“Of course it does!” I shout as my mind flashes to Thane and Calryx.

Oh gods! Thane! Calryx! I have to get out of this dream.

At the thought, the bond begins pounding inside my chest. With every step toward the clearing, the drumming grows louder. By the time I break through the final line of trees, the pounding is deafening. I clap my ears with my hands and squeeze my eyes shut.

Get me back to Thane.

Get me back to Thane.

Get me back to Thane.

I wake in his arms.

Thane doesn’t let go.