Em put herself between the boy and the sword.

After all, in real life she was dying, anyway. She had nothing to lose. But she was about as effective as a hologram. The sword came closer, going right through where her stomach would have if she had a body.

That was disconcerting.

“I’m n-n-not-”

He was trembling so hard that he couldn’t get a full sentence out. One soldier, a woman, grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head back. He cried out in pain.

“Let him go!” Em shouted at her.

It was madness! She knew it was a dream, but she still tried to pull the woman’s arm. Nothing. She couldn’t touch the woman at all. Helplessness coursed through her like poison when she realized she couldn’t affect this dream at all.

“If he is, we’ll get a reward for bringing his head.”

“Not as much as you’d get if you sold him.”

Everyone turned toward the newcomer.

“Sorceress,” one man greeted warily.

It was the person who had crept into the room from the outside instead of the corridor, Em realized. Though she didn’t know how she recognized the shadow when the woman hadn’t joined the fight earlier.

The newcomer waved a hand. Instantly, light flooded the surrounding area. Blinding everyone nearby while casting the rest of the conservatory into deeper shadow.

Em squinted and got a good look at the newcomer.

She was tall, her brown hair streaked with bright red. As she walked confidently toward them, she lit a cigarette by snapping her fingers at the end of the butt. Then stood over the shaking, terrified boy.

She took a deep drag off the white tube.

“See his hair, eyes, features? He’d make a beautiful slave. I know noblewomen who’d pay a good thousand bronze zen for him. That’s four times what the Emperor will pay for his head. Imagine. Split a slave trader’s price and you can have a month’s vacation on Mauna Lani.” She grinned. “Or pocket half a year’s wage in one go.”

“It would be treason if we sold him instead of bringing his head.”

She took a drag and flicked the ash off the end of her cigarette.

“Not if he’s just a lookalike or from a collateral family. Would be a waste if we killed him without finding out.”

The other three paused. Considering.

The child whimpered, and the newcomer flickered her eyes at him. There was… something in her eyes. A warning.

It took Em a second to recognize it.

It was the same look, the exact same look, Maddie would give Em when her sister was trying to bluff her way out of a traffic ticket. Or when she was trying to get Em out of school early for a fake doctor’s appointment…

Before the appointments became real, of course.

“There’s an easy way to find out,” the woman whispered.

Since they were taking too long to think.

Understanding dawned on all their faces and eagerly one of the two men pulled out a square black box. He twisted the top and it slid open, revealing a silver orb inside.

The woman holding the child’s hair shoved him back. Prince slammed hard into the wall, hitting his head. But he wasn’t given a chance to recover before he was handed the orb.

For a tense second, no one moved.

“Didn’t light up,” said newcomer cheerfully. “This boy has no mana flowing out of him at all. And we all know that the royal family here was well known for their mana. What was your job here, child?”

“I- Squi-squi-”

“Hear that? He was a squire. I’d bet he’s from a collateral family. Related to, but not a royal. Are you satisfied?”

Greed had lit up every face and one man grabbed the child by the wrist, yanking him to his feet.

“Quite satisfied.”

“By why should you get any of the profit?” complained the other woman. “You didn’t help us beat that bastard.”

She indicated the bear-man’s corpse.

“No, but I kept you from killing the boy.” The Sorceress lifted her hand and fire flickered from her fingers. “Or do you want me to just kill him now and leave you with the Emperor’s pitiful reward?”

The soldiers swore, but no one objected again as they pulled the boy from the room.

***

Time was different in dreams.

Em looked out the window. Not bothering to get out of bed as she watched the pink and white curtains flutter in the breeze.

Yes. That was what was going on.

In dreams, two seconds of real time could be hours in dream time.

Any second, she expected everything to either go completely black… or to wake up in the hospital.

She’d be ok with dying this way.

A car accident was a much faster way to go than the hell she’d been forced through for the last three years. So, yes, she’d be ok with dying this way. She nodded to herself.

However… if she could wake up just long enough to know Maddie was alive and ok…

If she prayed hard enough, would the gods in her dream wake her up? She snorted a small laugh at the idea.

“Hello, miss Emmaline.” She turned her head and silently watched the quiet maid enter the room. Carrying a tray. “Staying in bed again today, miss?”

“Yes.”

The maid’s smile was pained as she put her tray on the night table.

Her name was… Tracy, Em thought as she listlessly watched.

Dreams had another strange thing going for them. Often you just know things about the world within the dream. Even if it didn’t make sense.

For example, Em knew her name here was Emmaline Grimshaw. She had a short lifetime of memories of being this person, though she knew she was really Emmaline Taylor and was probably dying in a hospital bed.

She also knew the city immediately outside her window was the Capital of the Empire.

Elyana.

It was a pretty name with a pretty story. The first Emperor loved his wife dearly and named the Capital after her. They say he wanted to name the entire Empire after her, but she put her foot down on that and insisted it be called after him.

It was that Empire’s name which made Em realize what she was dreaming about. 

Of course she’d dream about it.

She and Maddie had been talking about it right before the accident. She even dreamed about a little boy her mind decided was ‘the prince’ who was lost. It was crazy!

She needed to wake up. She needed to check on Maddie.

If she jumped out the window, would it wake her up? Or would she die? Some people say if you die in a dream, you die in real life. She couldn’t risk that until she knew Maddie was ok.

She picked up a bowl from the tray and stared at it. Worrying about Maddie. And annoyed she was hungry in a dream.

Tracy sat on the edge of the bed. “Miss.”

“Yes?”

“I know the last year has been hard.” Tracy pushed a curl behind Em’s ear. “But I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to stay cooped up inside like this.”

They?

Oh. Yeah.

An unexpected pang ran through Em’s heart, and she closed her eyes.

As Em Taylor, her mother had been an addict and Em didn’t know who her father was. Maddie took her in as soon as she was old enough to claim custody.

But here, as Emmaline, she had vivid memories of loving, responsible parents.

Very vivid.

It made her sick how much grief hit her over people who weren’t even real! She rubbed her eyes. Tracy put aside the bowl and pulled Em into a hug.

Where she cried.

Cried for the parents she never knew but remembered. Cried for the parents that had abandoned her. And cried for Maddie…

Cried for her own impending death, which had been a long time coming.

“Shh, shh,” Tracy murmured. Rocking Em against her chest.

It took about an hour, but Tracy convinced her to get out of bed and go for a walk.

Wearing a thin black dress, she held Tracy’s hand as they stepped outside and into the garden. Where she lifted her chin and took a deep breath through her nose.

Even though the manor had slowly been losing its staff, and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future, the gardens were still beautifully kept. Em’s nose filled with the scent of flowers she couldn’t name.

And though she felt tired from not getting out of bed for three days, her movements had none of the sluggishness of her real world illness.

The fatigue was gone. The soreness was gone. The need to cough every three seconds… gone.

Abruptly, she let go of Tracy’s hand and began running down the path. Testing muscles she thought she’d never be able to use like this again.

With a laugh of joy, she threw back her arms and spun in a circle.

Oh! If only Maddie were here! Then this would be perfect.

“What is this? Is my darling Sunshine feeling better today?”

She stopped spinning. Facing the man she hadn’t seen coming from the other end of the path. He knelt on one knee, smiling as he held out his arms to her.

Brown and green hair like Em, green eyes to match, a soft smile.

Emmaline’s older brother, Felix.

He was the middle child and at twenty-two was nine years older than Emmaline.

Em knew who he was immediately. Both from Emmaline’s memories but also from the book.

She scowled.

“Don’t call me that.”