Episode 1.6

The next thing I knew, I was on my back and a very dusty Aster was shaking my shoulders. No, not dusty—snowy. It was snowing, and he was covered in it. Ack, my legs felt like they’d been through a trash compactor, and my face wasn’t much better.

Why hadn’t my magic kicked in to heal me? Even in no-magic lessons, Shade never made me stay this badly injured for more than a few seconds. It wasn’t like I could learn anything when I was in too much pain to sit up or walk.

“Are you okay?” Aster brushed the snowflakes from his eyelashes. “I mean, I know you’re not okay, but do you feel like you’re dying? The scorpion guy said the portal would kill you, and we’re through, so- so just give me a sign you’re alright.”

I wanted to say that I did feel like I was dying, but he looked so worried already that I couldn’t bear to worry him more. Even if he wasn’t real.

“The portal isn’t going to kill me. Merlin is. At least, I bet he is. He’s the guy who killed my birth parents.” I shifted a little, and my leg crunched louder than the snow beneath me. Biting back a whimper, I resolved not to move until my magic started working again. “You know, I change my mind. Exciting is overrated. Let’s go back to the teaching field, okay? I swear I’ll pay attention this time.”

Aster winced. “We can’t go back. The portal closed, and I don’t know when it’s going to open again. It’s almost night here. We need to find shelter before we freeze to death.”

I shook my head. “No, I want to go back. I’m done with this lesson.”

His expression hardened into fierce determination as he shook my shoulders again. “Read my lips, Mars—this is not a dream. If you don’t get to shelter, you will die of hypothermia, and Vance will probably eat you. Hell, I might have to eat you, too, if this portal doesn’t come back before we start starving to death.”

“No, this isn’t real. It can’t-”

“Look at this logically, okay? There are only about three options right now—either you’re hallucinating, dreaming, or freezing to death. If you’re hallucinating, there’s nothing you can do to wake yourself up, so you might as well go along with it while the docs at the mental hospital drug you into lucidness. If you’re dreaming, well, first, it’s an awful dream, but besides that, there’s no point in arguing against the laws of the dream. We are here, and we will freeze. Being dead is no fun in dreams, so you might as well try to save yourself.”

He paused to take a shaky breath. “But if this is real, if we’re trapped here, we need you alive and well. We don’t speak the language. We don’t have a clue where anything is or what’s safe to eat or drink. If there’s the slightest doubt in your mind that this might be real, you owe it to us to get us out of here alive.”

For a dream figure, he was way too logical. “Okay. I’ll do my best.”

“Your best?” Snow crunched as Vance’s voice came closer. “Oh, that’s great, you’ll do your best to keep us alive. You don’t even have powers, else you would’ve used them by now. So your best is about as useful as a swarm of aphids.” He moved into my view, shivering and clutching his thin jacket. “Go on and freeze. Hell, take that coat off, and you’re sure to freeze even faster. Once you’re dead, I’ll have a nice coat, and you won’t have to worry about what’s real anymore.”

Aster scowled, and Izzy—who was standing a little ways behind Vance—looked away, but neither argued. I didn’t blame them.

I didn’t want this to be real. Every fiber of my being wanted to wake up and be relieved this wasn’t real. But what if it was? What if I’d dragged my best friend, my little sister, and her fake boyfriend into certain death? Without my powers, it was only a matter of time before we either froze or got eaten. We couldn’t wait for the portal; it only opened for an hour or so at a time, and it wouldn’t open again here for another year. To get home sooner, we would have to travel to the next predictable opening point of the portal and wait for four months until it opened.

There wasn’t anything I could do to get them to that point. I was just dead weight without my powers. If they relied on the kindness of strangers, they were sure to find someone who would lend them a translation charm. They wouldn’t even need me to talk to people then. But for now, there was only really one useful thing I could do.

Izzy and Aster had winter coats on, but Vance’s jacket wouldn’t have done much good against a light breeze, much less a winter storm. If this was real, I’d just ruined his life. Giving him my coat was the least I could do.

I started to unzip my coat, but Aster grabbed my wrist.

“No. Don’t listen to him.”

Gritting my teeth against a newfound pain in my arm, I tried to pry off his fingers. “It’s my coat. I can do what I want with it.”

His grip tightened. “This isn’t a dream, and when you start suffering from frostbite, you’ll wish you had even more layers than you do already.”

I gave up on trying to force him off me. Deception was my only option. “Fine, but dragons can’t even get frostbite, so you’re making him freeze for nothing.”

“You can’t get frostbite?”

“Nope.” Technically, it was true. At least, it would’ve been if I was in my draconic form. In human form, I was, well, human.

He let go of my wrist with a huff. “You should’ve said so.”

“I just did.” I unzipped my knee-length coat and immediately regretted it when the freezing wind cut through my clothes. Still, it was my fault we’d all ended up here. I didn’t have any right to complain.

With Aster’s help, I extricated myself from the coat. Vance swooped in and threw it on, an almost gleeful look on his face. Izzy still wasn’t looking at me—or at anyone, really, except for the bundle of black fur in her arms. She hugged the voidcat like it was the last warm thing on the planet.

“Lady dragon?” the voidcat called, peering her head up above Izzy’s arms. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but what do you care? You want me dead.”

She squeaked and twitched her tail. “No I don’t. Don’t be mean.”

“You want to give me to Merlin, who wants me dead. That means you want me dead.”

Her tail stilled. “He doesn’t- he said he just wanted to use the egg for something, but you don’t need it anymore, so you can give it to him, right?”

I shook my head. This kitten didn’t know the first thing about phoenix dragons. “Our egg turns to ash when we come out of it. The only way for him to get my egg would be to kill me so I revert back to egg form, then he’d have to use magic to stop me from coming back to life.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.” She sniffed and let out a little mew. That mew turned into the drawn-out cry of a hurt kitten. “Now Merlin’s gonna hurt momma.”

I winced. “Hey, don’t cry. I’m s-sure we’ll find a way to h-help her.” I was already shivering, no matter how hard I tried not to. My freezing self must not’ve instilled much confidence, because she started wailing.

Izzy gave me a scathing look and cooed at the voidcat like she was a baby or something.

Vance grimaced at her before looking back at Aster. “Looks like there’s a cave way over there. We should get going.” He paused, meeting my gaze for a split second before looking away. “There aren’t any doctors around. If the portal takes long to come back, infection’ll get her cuts, maybe go septic. She’s dead weight. You’d be best off leaving her behind.”

Aster nodded. “You’re right, I should cut some dead weight. How about you go and camp on your lonesome, and Mars and I’ll camp together. Izzy can choose whatever.”

“Fine.” He patted the rifle at his side. “Have fun catching food without a gun.” He marched off toward a dark mound on the horizon, dragging Izzy along with him.

I tried to prop myself up on my elbows, but I was shivering so badly that I fell back down. As much as I hated to admit that Vance was right about something, I was dead weight. Soon enough, I might actually be dead. Even if I just wanted to move a few feet, Aster would have to carry me and expend energy he couldn’t afford to lose.

“You should go with them.”

Scoffing, Aster turned around so he was crouching with his back to me. “Think you can climb on?”

“I’m serious. If this is a dream, fine, I’ll come with you, but if this is real life, you have to be practical. Go with them. There’s safety and warmth in numbers. He has a gun. I don’t even have working legs at the moment.”

He was silent for a long moment before saying, “It’s a dream, so you have to come with me.” He gestured at his back. “Come on, we’re losing daylight.”

I knew he was lying. He thought this was real, whether or not it was—and I had a sinking suspicion that it was real—but he still thought it was a good idea to lug me around. Or rather, he thought it was the right thing to do. He couldn’t possibly think my knowledge of Mystica was worth more than the weight of carrying me through deep snow.

“I don’t believe you, so I’m staying here.”

Twisting around, he squinted at me. “Has the cold affected your brain? Without me or your powers, you’re dead. Don’t give me that ‘dragons don’t get frostbite’ BS. If that was true, you wouldn’t look like a redheaded popsicle.”

“You don’t get it. As stubborn as you are, there’s no way you can carry me across two sectors and an ocean, especially if a blizzard starts. Once you get tired from carrying me, you won’t be able to catch food or run away from flying piranhas. Then we’ll both die. If I have to die, I’d rather not drag you down with me.”

His air of determination faltered. “Two countries?”

“The portal moves around. In four months, it’ll open in a different sector. Most sectors are at least as big as Texas. Some are a lot bigger.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, shedding snow with the movement. “You’re right, I can’t carry you for four months across two Texases and an ocean.”

“I’m glad you understand.” And I was glad, really, but it was hard to smile when my death was all but certain.