Page 167 of In Violent Waves

Something didn’t feel right, but without Lyra awake to corroborate the story, there wasn’t much he could do about it right now.

Wilder’s eyes raked over her one more time. Her lashes fluttered against her ivory skin. There was a line on her cheek, from pressing her face against the seat cushion, as she was slumped in the most strange position.

“We’re setting up the camp. Get out and help,” Wilder ordered.

Irritation glowed in Cyrus’ eyes, but he got out of the carriage and shoved past Maelys. She gave him a wide berth, but her shoulders stiffened and she whipped her head back to Lyra.

“Is she alright?” Maelys whispered.

“She’s asleep,” Wilder replied.

He turned around to see Cyrus, hands in his pockets, walking towards Dust and Oak, who were pitching their tents.

Something didn’t feel right.

“Wake her up,” Wilder said to Maelys. “I don’t believe his story.”

Maelys nodded and slipped into the carriage across from Lyra. Worry etched into the lines on her face as she gently stroked Lyra’s knee to wake her.

It was nice to see, Wilder thought. That care and concern Maelys had for Lyra. He was glad someone did.

Lyra felt disconnected from her limbs. She didn’t know if she preferred that over the usual ache her legs gave her, but when she tried to move her arms and couldn’t, fear overtook her.

She fought with everything she had, thrashing about in her mind, to get them to move a fraction. The numbness gave way, and then she really was thrashing around in the close confines of the carriage.

“Lyra!” Maelys yelled, gripping her as firmly as she could without injuring her. “It’s alright!”

Lyra stilled, but her chest still heaved with each breath.

Maelys slid from the bench across from Lyra to the vacant seat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She shushed her with a tenderness that made Lyra’s chest ache.

The slow, gentle pats on her arm had her leaning into Maelys’ embrace.

“Was it a nightmare?” Maelys asked.

Lyra shook her head, and tears trailed down her cheeks before plopping onto her lap.

“I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t move,” Lyra whispered.

She glanced up then to see the blackness of night outside the carriage window. She had been sleeping all day?

“Do you remember anything before you fell asleep?”

Lyra shook her head. She remembered speaking to Wilder and then dozing off, and then a flash of something, and then nothing. Nothing at all.

“Do you remember Wilder being in the carriage?”

Lyra nodded and sank deeper into Maelys’ embrace.

“What about Cyrus?”

Lyra flinched at those words and out of Maelys’ arms. There was a flash of dark hair and a sneer, but nothing else.

“Not really,” Lyra whispered.

Maelys’ eyes narrowed in a way that promised violence.

“I need you to tell me everything you remember. A smell, a sound, anything at all.”