I hated everything about what was happening around me. In stories and movies, a midnight flight through a forest seemed mysterious and exciting. In reality, it felt like I was stuck in a never-ending tunnel. A ball of dread had been forming deep in my gut since my arrival, and it was making its presence known. The silence of my companions faded into the roar of the wind around me.

The night seemed eternal, and Cadeyrn's canter beneath my body erased all other sensations. The knot of dread had grown, filling my stomach, and creeping up into my throat. When my fingers and feet lost all feeling but stiff pins and needles, the black tendrils of terror had reached my mind. All I knew was darkness, all I'd never known was darkness, and all I would ever know again was darkness.

After an eternity, the wind quieted from a roar to a whisper and finally into nothing but an echo in my mind.

"Let go of the reins," said a vaguely familiar voice. "Grace, let go." Hands gripped my hips firmly, and they tugged me toward the voice. "Let go, my Lady." The voice was so soothing, so comforting, but if I let go, I was going to fall into the void and never return. I couldn't let go. I wouldn't let go. "Madam Grace, you are safe. Loosen your grip and come to me."

A pair of green eyes pierced the void of static and shadow before me. They were flecked with gold and white, and they centered me in the nothingness around me. They held all the answers I'd ever need to know about anything. A new sensation broke over me, and the darkness was replaced with a yearning to sprint into a forest and lose myself in its sun-mottled sanctuary. It was the most peaceful sensation I'd ever felt, so inviting, that my whole body relaxed. I would do whatever this feeling and the green eyes asked of me. 

"Grace, let go of the reins and come to me," the voice said. This time I heeded the beckon, and my body floated toward the voice. The green eyes disappeared as I sank into the sensation. The world still rocked around me, but I flew on the rhythm. Warm, yellow lights hovered to my left, spaced in patterns like a path to all I'd ever need. They erased the dark with their warm glow, and I knew as long I could see them, the darkness would never return. 

"No more darkness," I sighed, and something broke through the numbness in my cheeks and hands. A scent filled my nostrils with fresh pine and the woods after a storm, mingled with leather and horse fur.

"No more darkness," I whimpered again. I wasn't sure if anyone could hear me.  Then, something tightened around me, and I realized I wasn't flying. I was being carried. The lights weren't hovering; they were lamp posts. Suddenly, they were gone, and all around me was green and gold. I wanted to struggle, but the sight of the hair just above my nose made me freeze. 

"Faolán?" I coughed the question out and realized how dry and cracked my throat was. He started to lower me, and panic erupted anew in my core. "No, no, don't put me down." I pleaded and clung to his arms. "Please, no, I don't want to fall." If he left, the darkness would return. I would be lost forever.

"You are safe. I promise," Faolán said gently. Something hard and cushioned supported my weight, and his hands caressed my shoulders as he steadied me. I gripped the cool wood my hands landed on, and I felt a solid surface against my back. I was sitting in a chair, not falling into the abyss.  "We are at the camp. This is the tent I share with Belenus."

His words made sense in my mind, but I couldn't fully process them. I could only stare at the reddish wood beneath my palm. There were ivy vines carved into it, and they swirled and looped. They spiraled and twisted as if alive, creating a slide to the center of a hazy maze. I just needed to find the center to let go.

"Grace, look at me." Again, that craving for the forest drew me out of my stupor until his proud features became more and more focused. The green eyes entranced me again, and I realized they had been his. He had pulled me from the darkness. I wanted so badly to reach up and touch the solid line of his jaw. I wanted to thank the man who had saved me from the never-ending abyss, but my mouth wouldn't form words.

Then the sensation faded and left me abruptly and acutely aware of everything all at once. Feeling had returned to my hands, feet, and face. Thousands of burning needles were being pressed into me all at once. I whined loudly, stretched my fingers, and stomped my feet. I couldn't make them fade. The night hadn't seemed so cold when our journey had begun, but I couldn't stop shaking. I reached up to touch my face and found it wasn't cold at all. It was hot and sticky. I had been crying, and I hadn't even noticed.

"I'm f-f-freezing," I stuttered out. It felt every ounce of my internal heat had been leached out through my toes and fingers. "So cold. Please, I'm freezing." I grabbed for his hand, trying to make him understand that I needed help. I couldn't get rid of the cold in my veins.

"You are not. The night is not cold enough to freeze a human," Faolán said. He stepped away from me and out of sight, making my panic rise, but before I could speak, he was at my side. He was exceedingly gentle as he wrapped me in a cloak or a blanket.

"There we go, just relax," Faolán whispered. "You're safe in Belenus' and my tent. Just breathe, my Lady." 

"Who's the healer here? Me! Now get in there and sit down." A woman's voice with an accent similar to Steren's came from the tent's opening. "Now, Your Highness."

Belenus entered, looking scolded, and he was followed by a woman even shorter than me. She stood about five feet tall, with elbow-length brown hair. It had that perfectly waved look I had never managed to perfect with my curly hair, and it was held back with a headband. She wore black leggings under a cream-colored top that was too loose to be a tunic and too short to be a dress. Her dark eyes danced in the yellow light of the tent when they landed on me. The woman smiled, and it was the comforting grin of an emergency room doctor.

"Oh, this must be the human," she said and marched directly over to me. 

"Hi," I croaked out and tried to wave, but before I could, the woman rounded on Faolán with a scowl. 

"She needs a drink. Can't you hear her voice?" The healer asked. Then Faolán disappeared from my view, and I tried to cut in to say that I was fine. She spoke before I could. "Back on that bed, Your Highness." I blinked to where the woman hadn't even turned but was pointing. Belenus lowered himself back down to the sheets. She cupped my cheek in one hand and shoved her other down my shirt to touch my chest. The healer woman gave a frustrated growl and yanked her hands away. "Warm that wine up, Faolán, she's experiencing Realm Shock. Her core temperature is dropping." She had a bag slung across her body, and she dug in it.

See, I was right. I'm freezing. I thought hazily. Belenus made a noise from somewhere beyond her. I couldn't see him, but he must have moved.

"You, keep yourself in that bed before I tie you down myself," the healer snapped. I couldn't see Belenus, but it was obvious he had tried to stand again. The image of such a small woman tying him to the bed for being disobedient filled my mind.

"Cherish, I don't think your wife would approve of that," he retorted. A giggle burst unbidden from me. Then it continued to bubble into full laughter. I couldn't make it stop, though I wanted to. It terrified me, despite the odd amusement deep in my core.

"Yep, Realm Shock," Cherish said. Her small fingers took my chin in hand, and I again failed to stop the manic glee that was rolled off my tongue in bursts of giggles and barks of laughter. Her cheeks were dusted with freckles slightly lighter than her hair, and her amber-colored eyes were intense as she stared into my own. The tent wall behind her contorted into a burst of glittering colors and swirling haze. "This is why humans were rarely allowed to cross in the old days," she huffed.  The world seemed to spin for a moment, making the tent fade to static, but then her eyes came back into focus. Faolán and Belenus spoke in unison, and their words didn't make sense. The woman's lips moved, but there was a high-pitched ringing in my ears that drowned everything out. I grunted in discomfort and tried to shake my head to clear it.

"Surprised she's held out this long," someone, maybe the healer, said. They all sounded so weird. 

Green eyes stared down at me, and blue eyes beckoned me from across the room. Surely this would all be resolved if I just yielded to one of them. They could lead me away from it all, away from the cold feeling, away from the uncontrollable laughter that kept bursting out in fits. Faolán, yes, he was the safe one. Those green eyes had brought me back from the tunnel of nothing. He could give me everything-

"Grace!" She shouted directly in my face, and I jumped. "Look at me, not the elves." I forced my wandering gaze back to her and understood with a delayed huff that I had been trying to stand and cross the room to the men. The healer was holding me in the chair.

I opened my mouth to speak, but only another demented giggle emerged. My tongue felt too heavy to form words and my whole body was far too light to stay seated. The woman spoke again, and I had to focus hard on her words to make them make sense.

"Which of you used your thrall on her while she was experiencing Realm Shock? Huh?" She asked. She sounded pissed off.

 Faolán had seemed so calm and collected the entire journey, but the way he shifted from foot to foot under her question reminded me of a kid trying to hide a broken vase. His eyes flicked away from us both when he handed her a steaming cup. Oh, he was so guilty. I giggled at him.

"Someone looks guilty, don't you Faolán," I said, or I thought I did. My tongue felt weird and slow.

"Damn it, Faolán!"

"She would not respond nor let me pull her off Cadeyrn," he said sheepishly, and the earnest regret in his voice made my heart feel ready to burst. "How was I to know it would have this effect on her? I've never met a pure human." 

"Grace, I need you to focus on me," the healer said. She stirred something in the cup, and it smelled how I always imagined an apothecary's cabinets would—spicy but enchanting. "This is going to counteract the lingering effects of the thrall." She pressed the cup into my hand, and then she helped me raise it to my lips. "Then we can treat your Realm Shock."

The flavor of a sweet, red wine spilled over my tongue, but it was rich with what tasted like clove and cinnamon. Warm and satisfying, it chased the chill from my throat and stomach. I closed my eyes and tried to soak in as much of the warmth as I could. The euphoric urges that had been making me giggle didn't seem phased. I whimpered in protest when the cup was empty, and she pulled it back. 

"Can I have more?" I asked and forced my eyes open, focusing on her.

"No, you may have water," she said. She held her hand back, and I barely registered that a shirtless Belenus was behind her when he passed her a waterskin. Faolán fussed about somewhere off to my left, but the woman pushed the waterskin to my lips. 

"Get back in bed, Belenus," she snapped at him. Those amber eyes blocked him from my view again, which was exceedingly rude. I was enjoying that shirtless view immensely.

"Drink until I say to stop," she said.  I did as I was told and did my best not to crinkle my nose at the room temperature water. Belenus grunted from somewhere, but I couldn't look to see him. The woman had taken my head in her free hand and was preventing me from moving my gaze. When I felt like I could drink no more, like my stomach was going to reject everything I had taken in, she pulled the waterskin away.

Nothing felt different. I was still freezing, and I still longed to take Faolán's hand and flee into the forest.

"It's not working," I protested and tried to make sense of the feelings. Then, the happy bliss at the idea of the forest began to fade, and in its place was a sadness, like the loss of a friend.