Chereads / The Black Wings of a Crow / Chapter 14 - Even Dreams are Deadly

Chapter 14 - Even Dreams are Deadly

I woke up and groaned loudly. Sitting on the edge of my bed was a box, with the words "From Alastor" scrawled across a tag tied to the top. I leaned forward, and picked up the box. Unwrapping the brown paper around the box, I lifted off the lid, and saw a doll. It was a perfect replica of me, except that it had something on its back. Wings, I realized. The doll was me, with the black wings of a crow on her back. I gently lifted the doll, and set her on my bed. The moment I let go, the doll blinked, and stood up. I gasped, and was about to call for Erik when I heard him yell from his room. I yanked the covers off, picked up the little me, and threw open the door connecting our rooms.

"Alastor-" Erik started, very obviously terrified of the little version of himself walking around the bed. I noticed a box identical to mine on the floor near Erik's bed, as I walked over and sat down next to Erik. I put my doll on the bed near his, and Little Erik and Little Me ran towards eachother, and hugged. I smiled lightly at the little figurines. Erik was still sitting at the top of his bed, recoiled away from the little figures. I took his hand, and held it out to the little people, and Little Me walked up, and climbed into his hand. Little Erik walked over to me, and beamed up at me, and I smiled back, and gently picked him up. Suddenly, Little Erik started to speak.

"We are, as you can see, perfect replicas of you. We will show you what the other is doing, in the sense of, awake and walking, or asleep. We also get the same injuries you do, if you get any, except we don't feel pain."

"Your brother created us, for the each of you. I will stay with Erik, and Little Erik will stay with you." Little Me said. I nodded and chuckled. Their voices were exactly the same as ours. I asked,

"Can you hear our thoughts too, and see what we see, or am I overdoing it?"

"Actually, you are right on it. We can see what you see, but I can only see you, and Little Erik can only see Erik. If you need to relay a message to one another, we can, and you simply need to think of the little version of yourself, and we will hear your thoughts." Little Me responded.

"Dang. That's got to be some crazy advanced magic, to be able to animate you two, and let you do all that," Erik said, finally relaxing. "But why do you have wings? We don't have wings..."

"I'm not sure. That's just the way Alastor made us." Little Erik responded.

"Hmm. Well, anyways I think it's a little much having to say 'Little' in front of both your names. Why don't we just call you by the letters of our names? So Little Erik will be Lee, and the Little Me will be Linn." I said.

"Lee and Linn. I like it. It's catchy." Erik replied.

"Alright so we are Lee and Linn! Sweet!" Linn said excitedly. A loud knock sounded on both my and Erik's door. I got up, scooped up Lee and dashed into my room, shutting the door between rooms. I slipped Lee into the pocket of my robe, and put it on. I went out and opened the door, and saw a guard.

"The King requests your presence. I will escort you down." he said, not looking at me since I was wearing only a robe and a thin nightgown.

"Stand out here til I get dressed. I'll only be a moment, then you can escort me." I said, and shut the door. I turned, and went into the closet. I took off the robe, and hung it on the bathroom door. Lee climbed out of the pocket and used the rope to slide down to the ground. He walked over to the island, and. tried to climb up using the drawer handles, but he didn't get far, before I pinched his waist, and lifted him up onto the counter. I turned to the closet, and one thing caught my eye. A soft blue, knee length dress was hanging on its side, so it was clearly visible. It had Aquamarine, and Snow Quartz embroidered along the sweetheart neckline, and along the bottom of the dress. I picked it up off the hanger, and turned to show it to Lee. He nodded, and turned away so I could change. I pulled on the dress, surprised to find that it fit me perfectly. The dress material was light, and soft, making it easy to swish around my legs. It made me feel like a little girl again, playing dress up with mother's outfits. I snapped myself out of my memories, and walked out of the closet, grabbing a pair of white, cork wedges and left the bathroom. I felt like I was missing something and turned back around, and went into the bathroom again, and Lee was standing on the counter with a pair of earrings in hand, and a necklace draped across his shoulders. I laughed, and took the earrings, and picked up Lee, setting him on my own shoulder, and walked out of the room. I opened the door, and the guard was standing in the hall, like I had asked, except this time, Erik and Linn were with the guard. Erik's eyes ran down my body and back up before he breathed,

"You look.... breathtaking."

I beamed at him, and took in his dark suit, his combed, but unruly hair that hung down in his face. He was clean-shaven, and Linn was sitting in his suit pocket, replacing the pocket square that should go there.

"Thank you. You look stunning yourself." I breathed back. I stepped towards him, and linked my arm through his, and we started walking towards the throne room, the guard trailing a respectful distance behind. I leaned into Erik a little and smelled a faint scent of the woods, mixed in with a light cologne, in one of the few 'flavors' I actually liked. I looked up at him, and while he kept his face forwards, I saw his gaze fall to me, and a smile graced his lips, before he looked back at the door ahead. Just before we stepped through the door, I stood on my toes and kissed Erik's cheek. He paused, turned to me, and kissed me right back. I laughed against his lips, and felt him smile, before pulling back. We strode into the throne room, and I gasped at what I beheld inside.