Someone was whispering in her ear. Ruby could only just make out the words, but she recognized the voice at once and turned her head away, trying to block out the voice by crushing her ear against her pillow.

It was no good. The voice only moved to her other ear.

“Stop it,” she whimpered. “Leave me alone.”

No.

Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, but that did no good. It only made what the voice was saying even more real. She knew it was dangerous to listen, but she couldn’t help it. Effie wasn’t here. Mlle. Bellerose wasn’t here. She was utterly alone, and all too vulnerable to distractions, and the voice knew that.

Mina knew that.

“Lydia,” Ruby murmured, reaching out a hand, but her hand found nothing at all. The room about her was empty. All she had was Mina.

And so, with nothing else to do, she fell.

It was dark down here. Everything was dark. It was the sort of place where everything always would be dark, except for curious bits of glowing light that Ruby knew better than to trust. They were will o’the wisps (wills o’the wisp?), and they would only lead her astray. The only reason they did not know was because she knew better than to try walking toward them. She remained perfectly still, frozen right where she was. If they wanted her to do anything, they could come to her first, though she deeply hoped they wouldn’t.

They hated her. She could feel it. All the wisps (all the wills?) hated her, and the only reason she could think was that she was alive and they were not. She felt as though she ought to pity them, but there was no space for pity left in her heart. There was no space for anything now but fear and the longing to return home.

But she couldn’t get home if she remained where she was. Even a child would know that, though a child likely wouldn’t sit huddled on the ground for hours, sobbing into her knees, before getting to her feet and starting to move.

(She would. Ruby knew that. She just didn’t want to be reminded that she’d fallen so far as to be nearly a child again.)

A child wouldn’t know where to go. She would only wander about aimlessly until she was led to her own death. Ruby knew better. She got to her feet, wiped her eyes, and set off along the only path the lights didn’t surround.

She didn’t know it was properly a path until much later, as she realized her feet were scraping against something. She was dragging them, the way her mother had always hated, and if she wasn’t careful, she would soon hear her mother’s voice nagging in her ear, scolding her for not walking like a proper young lady.

“We may not have a title, Miss Ruby Cambridge, but we do still have some pride! I’ll thank you to recall that, and to treat yourself like the jewel you are meant to be.”

Ruby closed her eyes (could her eyes close when she was already asleep? was she asleep at all, or was Pendleton the dream?), and a moment later, her mother’s voice was drowned out by the crash of the sea. When had she come so close to the shore?

There was no way of knowing. There was no way of knowing anything at all here. The only thing she could do was walk along the shore and dig her toes into the sand as she went. It was almost -- but not quite -- pleasant. The closest it came to joy was brushing by nostalgia. Her family had visited the beach often when she was younger, before her mother’s suicide had soured the place on everyone.

Odd. She had never been able to think about the matter so calmly before.

The shore led on until she reached a red fence. At first Ruby thought it must be made from rusted metal, but as she drew closer, she found herself thinking it was carved from rubies. Both were nonsense, of course. It was nothing more than red wood. Even the red wasn’t a mystery for long. Ruby set her hand against the top of the fence, and without even the slightest bit of pressure, blood seeped out from her palm, soaking into the wood.

It should have alarmed her. All of this should have. After crying so much, there was nothing left for her to feel. She only wiped her face, smearing blood on her skin, and moved on.

Don’t go.

Mina’s voice made Ruby stop. She turned, but there was no one behind her. All that was in front of her was the darkness behind the fence, but if she peered further into the darkness, she thought she could make out a large building, waiting in the night. It looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place from here. She only knew that she knew it, from somewhere outside of the dream.

Or perhaps she had dreamed of it before. There was no way of knowing. With a shrug, Ruby continued walking along the fence.

Don’t go!

This time Ruby thought she saw something, a strange flicker almost like a will o’the wisp, and she hurried along. “You can’t tell me what to do,” she said, hoping her voice sounded stronger to Mina than it did to her. “You don’t control me. You’re dead.”

You will be too, if you don’t listen to what I say.

Ruby didn’t care whether it was a threat or a warning. She didn’t care about anything at all except waking up, or falling back asleep, or doing whatever it took to return to whatever she’d had before. A gate opened up before her, leading to a wide path, and she took off at a run.

With each step, her feet grew lighter. With each step, the air seemed easier to breathe. She felt as though she was filled with hope, and she scarcely noticed the way the ground shifted under her feet, as though the path she trod was made of rounded stones. She scarcely noticed Mina’s cries behind her, calling her to return. She had no wish to notice any of these, and as a young woman she had long ago learned how to close her eyes and mind to anything she saw that was even halfway unpleasant. She only smiled, for soon she would be free of all of this. Soon she would be free of life itself.

The thought gave her pause, and she turned to look back. The red fence was far away now, and Mina was so small she might have been nothing more than a will o’the wisp. The only reason Ruby thought any different was because she knew better, and because something in the wind carried Mina’s voice to her.

I know you will die there because that is what happened to me.

Ruby turned quickly away, only to find she was looking right up at Pendleton.