Waking Nightmare

RORY

I’m still reeling from the barrage of horrors Nemesis subjected me to. I’m curled up small, as far from Nemesis as I can get. I can’t take any more of that. I’ll lose my mind.

Nemesis stops in her purposeful journey, making me peek up from where I’m hiding. I have to pay attention. I have to pay attention so I don’t miss a chance to escape.

I have to assume that I will escape. I can’t give in to despair. I’ll get Nemesis out and then I’ll hate myself if I haven’t learned everything I can.

Nemesis waves and calls out, “Gamma! Can I talk to you for a moment?” She’s so much more commanding, demanding than I ever would be. I flinch at her raised voice, at the pack looking at her.

Ace. What does she want with him? Every move she makes, every person she looks at, sends a new surge of panic through me. It’s exhausting, I can’t afford the energy loss, but I also can’t stop.

He comes over, amicable as ever, completely unaware of the danger he’s in. “Oh, hey, Luna! What are you up to?”

“I’m going to see Freya. She’s up for visitors now, right?” Nemesis widens my eyes, acting concerned. I hate her performance of me. I hate that everyone’s buying it.

Ace’s face lights up in a delighted smile. He seems genuinely surprised. “That’s great, she’ll be thrilled to see you. I know she’s been bored all by herself. Thanks, Rory.”

Nemesis laughs, nudges him playfully. “You don’t need to thank me for visiting my best friend.”

He laughs too, then schools his face into a serious expression. “Yeah, I know. I also know there’s a lot going on right now. I don’t know how you do it.”

Ace’s compliment burns. I haven’t been doing a great job at all. I’m overwhelmed, scrambling, trying desperately to figure out the simplest things. Meanwhile, people are getting sick, hurt, dying even.

And now, just when I finally found something that might help, I was weak enough to get taken by the enemy. Every single person this harms is on my shoulders.

Nemesis takes the kind words in stride, her answer perfectly self-deprecating. “I muddle through somehow. See you later.”

Ace says goodbye and heads off to the packhouse. He’s probably meeting with Everett, helping him plan out our next move. But they’re looking in the wrong place. Nemesis is here, right now.

She’s going to enact her plan right under our noses. How could I have let myself get possessed? Why didn’t I go to bed with Everett? I shouldn’t have been alone.

Why did she stop Ace? She didn’t need to, she could have just gone to visit Freya. I feel her smug amusement, pleased that I’m frustrated, that I’m frightened.

I realize—It was to torment me. She wants me to know what she’s doing, to feel every second of helpless terror. She’s reveling in my helplessness.

Her thirst for retribution is endless. It doesn’t matter how petty the strike is, anything that hurts me thrills her. I shudder at being hated so much. I won’t be safe until she’s dead, for good.

The house where Freya is staying isn’t far from the packhouse. It was Ace’s parents'. He doesn’t need it anymore since, as the Gamma, he gets to live in the packhouse itself.

It’s nice because it means Freya gets some space of her own, but Ace can get to her really easily. It’s awful because it only takes Nemesis a few minutes to walk there.

She knocks on the door, and after a short wait, Freya opens it. I’d gasp, if I had control of my lungs. She looks awful. I’d known she was worse than she’d said, but I wasn’t expecting this.

There are dark purple bruises under her eyes, and I can see her veins standing out green under her pale skin. Her eyes and mouth are tight like she’s in pain. I long to hug her.

Her pained, sad face transforms when she sees Nemesis in my body. She beams brilliantly, looking almost like herself. “Rory! What a surprise! Come in.”

I haven’t visited Freya at all since she got here. Guilt suffuses me. She’s been here for three days. How had I not made time to come and see her?

~“Well, you were SO busy, after all,”~ Nemesis says mockingly. I don’t respond, partly to deny her the satisfaction and partly because I can’t think of a retort.

Nemesis follows Freya inside. It’s a cute place, the furniture is kind of old-fashioned but in good repair. It has a very cabin sort of aesthetic, lots of wood and plaid.

“So, what brings you here?” Freya asks, dropping the blanket she’d had around her shoulders on the couch. She’s wearing pajama bottoms and, I notice, one of Ace’s T-shirts.

I wish I could tease her about it, hear everything about how she’s been, how things are going with them. I’ve missed her so much, and she’s only a foot away, but we’re farther apart than ever.

“I was thinking it’d be nice to do a little girl’s day. Do you feel well enough?” Nemesis asks, faking concern.

“Girls day? You, me, and who?” Freya raises her eyebrows. I’m just as confused. Nemesis’s evil plan is a girl’s day out? What is she planning?

Nemesis’s smile feels shark-like on my face. “Mia. You two haven’t gotten to know each other yet.” Mia and Freya both. Why them?

Freya looks surprised, but quickly hides it. “Sure, I’m game. I’d love to get out of here for a bit. What are you thinking?”

Nemesis shakes my head, putting my finger to my lips. “I have something special planned. It’s a surprise. All you need to do is follow me.”

Now Freya looks interested. ~“No, don’t go with her. Don’t trust her!” ~I can’t help but try to talk to her, to warn her.

Of course, she has no idea. She thinks her best friend has finally come to spend time with her. And Freya never turns down a good time. “All right. I’ll clean myself up and we’ll head out.”

Freya does look a lot better with her hair brushed, her face washed, and wearing real clothes, but I can tell she’s still not at full strength. She seems determined to hide it though.

Mia’s farther away, since her house is on the Red Moon packlands. Still, it’s walkable, or at least it would be if Freya weren’t weakened from her illness.

She’s barely keeping up, but Nemesis doesn’t slow down, acts like she doesn’t even notice. And Freya doesn’t say anything, no matter how sweaty she is or how harsh her breathing gets.

I’m sure she doesn’t want to worry me, doesn’t want me to know how bad it is. The real me would stop. She’s stumbling over tree roots. Meanwhile, Nemesis is moving easily through the woods.

Mia answers the door when Nemesis rings the bell. She looks immaculate, as always, wearing a green shirt and hip-hugging jeans. You wouldn’t guess that she’d been sick, too.

I never did get around to checking on her. Maybe she’s gotten better? I hope so. Maybe, somehow, Nemesis won’t be able to touch her.

“Rory! Goddess, it’s been ages!” Mia squeals, smiling brightly at me.

Even Mia’s talking about how much she missed me. I swear, if we get out of this, to be better about making time for my friends.

Nemesis laughs. I hate how it sounds coming from my lips. “I know. With me being Luna and you being in school it’s so hard to make time. But I’m here now! Do you remember Freya?”

“I think so. Hi, how are you?” Mia’s smile is more polite and fixed now. She’s still not really wild about humans and there’s a reason I never really tried to introduce them before.

Freya’s polite too, though. “Hi. I’ve been all right, I’m on a break from school. Rory’s got some kind of fun surprise planned.”

Mia looks curious now. “Oh, yeah? Do you want to come in? No one’s home.”

I groan. Of course no one’s home. “Don’t invite us in. Don’t trust her. Remember Eddie?” If only there was some obvious sign like that. If only I could let someone, anyone, know.

Nemesis strides right in like she owns the place. Freya follows, and then we’re shut inside, my two best friends at the mercy of the most evil being I know.

My nerves build and build as Mia and Freya make small talk. When will she strike? What will she do? She’s just watching them, savoring my pain.

A black mist appears behind them, Nemesis’s cruel eyes glinting at me from within, and I realize what’s about to happen. “Nemesis, no, please don’t do this!”

The goddess only laughs as the mist strikes, streaming into the base of my friend’s skulls. They both jerk, eyes wide, mouths open like they’re trying to scream.

Then they go still, staring into space, waiting for orders. Nemesis’s orders. She took them. And she used me to do it. I feel sick, remembering the nightmare she showed me.

I can’t help but think it’s about to come true. “I won’t kill them. I won’t, you can’t make me hurt them. Get out, get out, get out!”

I fight Nemesis with everything I have. I try to reach for my healing powers, but I can’t find them. The warmth, the tingling, nothing comes.

If I can’t stop her…If I fail…Then everything she showed me will come true. The pack, murdered, right down to the last child.

Everett, confused and betrayed, killed by my own hand. Goddess, our child will never know their parents. I’ll never even get to hold them, to give them a name.

I push against Nemesis as hard as I can. I imagine her flying from my body, imagine forcing her out of my mouth with such vehemence I actually feel my stomach lurch, but I don’t throw up.

I scream as loud and long as I can. I don’t need air. I picture her being shredded by knives. I try to force her into a box. I try to build a wall between us that she can’t break.

Nothing happens, except that I feel even more tired, thin, and worn out. I can’t black out again. Who knows what she might do?

I have to watch, if I can do nothing else. I have to at least bear witness to the damage she does. It’s my fault, after all.

Nemesis walks up to Freya and Mia, admiring their empty eyes. “Perfect,” she says with my voice. “Beautiful dolls, the pair of them. They’ll do wonderfully for my purposes.”

~“What purposes? What are you going to do to them?”~ I demand, sick with fear and anger. The memory of her sacrificing those she possessed, taking their lives to restore her own, weighs heavily on me.

Nemesis pinches Freya’s arm, just to bother me. She doesn’t flinch, but my heart breaks. “You’ll see soon enough,” Nemesis says. “Come, you two. Follow me.”

“Yes, Nemesis,” Freya and Mia drone in unison. They fall into step behind her like loyal dogs. They’d follow her off of a cliff if she wanted them to.

When I realize that Nemesis is taking us to the orphanage, I redouble my struggles. Whatever she’s planning for the children, I have to stop it.

We don’t enter the orphanage itself, and for a moment, I’m relieved. Maybe she’ll leave the children alone after all. She laughs at that, chilling me. I should know better.

Instead, she leads us to a small outbuilding on the edge of the property, barely more than a shed. I didn’t even know it was here, and it doesn’t look like it gets a lot of use.

At least we’re far away from the kids. Whatever she has planned for them, maybe we can still stop it. Everett has to find out what’s happening eventually. He has to.

Nemesis takes a key from under a rock and unlocks the rusty padlock, pushing the door open and leading Mia and Freya inside.

It’s dark inside, full of shadows and dust. The windows are grimy and don’t let in much light. Nemesis strikes a match and lights a lamp.

In the flickering light of the flames, I see the one person who could make this worse: Professor Xander, grinning at me like I’ve just arrived for class.