All of a sudden, the dream was over.

Iliana opened her eyes, and realized that she was again lying in her bed just as she had that morning. She sat up fast and looked around her room, searching for… something. Was that actually a dream? It felt too real, too specific, too long to be a dream. But she couldn’t explain to herself how she had ended up in her room again. Everything was as it had been that morning when she had woken up before. The pile of dried flowers on the nightstand and the vanity, along with the glass flower. The shoes Dray had bought her still lay on the floor where she had kicked them off, as well as the box containing her dress still sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed. Iliana looked out the window to see how bright it was, but the glass was smudged. Smudged? That was odd. She had just cleaned all the windows on Saturday.

Iliana threw the quilt off of her and gave a small gasp. It’s freezing in here! She never wore socks to bed, and for the first time regretted that habit as she placed her bare feet on the cold wooden floor. Iliana hugged herself as she got out of bed and went to the window. The glass fogged up from her breath, and she still couldn’t see anything. It’s not even October yet, how can it be so cold? She crossed to her dresser and pulled out a pair of socks, then sat in the chair in the corner to put them on.

Just then she heard a thump from downstairs. Mother must be up… but wait, I already had breakfast with her this morning. What is happening? Did I faint or something? Did Dray bring me home?

Iliana stood and went to her door. Opening it just a crack, the sound of a distinctly masculine voice came to her ears.

“This can’t be happening...” A man’s voice. Dray, perhaps? She couldn’t be sure.

“It is, and you only have yourself to blame,” an unfamiliar, crackly voice said. Shivers ran up her spine the second she heard it.

Who is in my house? Iliana grabbed her coat from off the chair and put it on, pulling it closed tightly. Iliana then crept down the stairs as she listened to the men argue.

“I can’t just leave her here…”

“The Agreement is clear.”

“What if I went away? You could use Draykel’s magic to wipe her memory of me.”

“You have already used enough magic on her.”

“I haven’t used any magic!” the first voice said angrily.

“You have, and you know it.”

“…Okay, maybe just a little. Just enough to get her to trust me. But I certainly didn’t use it to make her love me!”

“You know the Agreement. And you know that every second you are here is another second you are keeping her from her life.”

What??? What are they talking about? Iliana stopped halfway down the staircase, hesitant to go any further and possibly alert them to her presence.

“I’m not going to leave her here with him!” Iliana had never heard Dray sound so upset, and a stab of fear sliced through her stomach.

Leave me with who?

“You know, I’m standing right here.” This was a new voice that Iliana hadn’t heard before, but it didn’t sound very scary.

“Yeah, it’s kind of hard not to notice you,” Dray scoffed.

“And how do you mean that?” the third voice said, only slightly annoyed.

“You know exactly what I mean, you-”

“SILENCE!” the crackly voice boomed, the house shaking from the force of his command. “Dray, you must leave. Now.” There was a pause.

“Can I at least say goodbye?” There was another pause, then footsteps came toward her. Iliana panicked, but stayed frozen in place, seeing that it was far too late to retreat back to her room. Dray strode out of the kitchen and looked up, immediately catching sight of Iliana standing in the middle of the staircase. Emotions swirled around his face. First he started to smile, then he frowned and a sadness came into his eyes that she had never seen there before.

“Iliana,” he said. “I thought you’d still be sleeping.”

“So… you were going to say goodbye while I was sleeping?”

“Well, I… no, I was going to wake you up…” He mounted the steps and came to a stop just in front of her, a pained look spread across his features. “Listen… you’re going to have to stay here for a while.”

“Stay where? In my house?” Iliana asked, beyond confused as to what he could mean.

“No…well, yes, but…How am I going to explain everything to you…This isn’t your house. Well, it is, but it’s a replica. Your real house is back in Abelton.”

“So… I’m not in Abelton?” That somewhat explained the drastic change in temperature, but there were still so many questions Iliana had.

“No, not anymore.”

“But how is that possible? We were there just five minutes ago…”

“I know, but… something happened,” Dray lowered his gaze, seemingly ashamed of something.

“What happened?”

“You said you loved him,” came the crackly voice, and she flinched at the sound. Iliana looked down to the kitchen entrance and gasped, one of her hands flying up to her mouth. Two men stood there. One was the man that looked like Dray, and the other had the twisted, evil face that had woken her up in the middle of the night for the past few weeks. The twisted man was covered from shoulder to foot in a dark cloak, with only his face showing, while the man that looked like Dray was dressed much like actual-Dray, in trousers and a linen shirt. All Iliana could do was stare, switching her stunned attention from face to face.

“Iliana?” Dray said, sounding concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“They…they were in my nightmares.” Dray-but-not-Dray frowned, but the other man’s face remained impassive. Dray glared at him sharply.

“You gave her nightmares?” he demanded, sounding even angrier than he had earlier. Iliana didn’t like seeing him angry, not at all, and she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him, though he didn’t react to her touch.

“Yes, I did,” the twisted man affirmed, but he wasn’t looking at Dray. His cold black eyes stared into her own, and another wave of shivers assaulted her spine. Dray didn’t seem to notice her discomfort, and just continued to glare at the tall, unmoving man.

“Why?” Dray demanded.

“To let her know what to expect. You do not have to worry though, Iliana.” Hearing her name spoken by this person made her feel oddly small and vulnerable. “You will not have any nightmares here.” Somehow that assurance felt like a veiled threat, and Iliana tore her gaze from his bottomless black eyes, hoping to hide her fear.

“Good,” Dray spat. Then he took Iliana by the hand and headed up the stairs. “Let’s go to your room so we can talk,” he said gently, his eyes averted. Her mind still reeling from trying to figure out what was happening, all Iliana could do was nod and follow him back the way she had come. She looked over her shoulder at the other men only once. They still stood there in the doorway to the kitchen. The man that looked like Dray was looking up at her curiously, and the twisted man was whispering something angrily to his companion.

When they got to her room, Dray closed the door firmly, and Iliana turned to him, her arms hanging limply at her sides.

“I don’t understand,” she said hopelessly.

“I know,” Dray said, still facing the door.

“Please tell me what’s going on. Why do I have to stay here?”

“It’s part of the Agreement…”

“What agreement?”

“The Agreement I made a long time ago.” Iliana took a step towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Tell me.” He sighed, then took her hand in his own as he turned to face her.

“I can’t tell you everything. That would take too long… and Kel would be able to explain it better,” he added begrudgingly.

“Kel?”

“The man downstairs that looks like me.”

“Why does he look like you?”

“It’s a long story…”

“Alright, fine,” she said, taking her hand out of his grasp and turning away from him to go sit on the bed, starting to feel really annoyed. He wasn’t telling her much of anything. “What’s the Agreement?”

“That’s a long story, too.”

“Tell me the short story, then.”

“Basically… you have to stay here until you have spent as much time with Kel as you have with me.”

“…So I have to stay here for a whole month!?!”

“Maybe…”

“But that’s crazy!” Iliana exclaimed, leaping up from the bed. “Why do I have to stay here?”

“…Because I used magic on you.” Dray looked down, unwilling to meet her gaze again.