As I slept, I saw the chimera again.
The sun was just peeking overhead, painting the sky pink. The chimera slithered along the forest floor before climbing a tree, a unique ancient oak I vaguely recognized from our walk yesterday and disappearing into the branches. The sun rose higher and higher before beginning to fall. The chimera sat, waiting. From a distance came the sounds of voices and breaking branches. Millie's flames glimmered through the canopy overhead as a group of people came into view. I saw myself standing there on the path, pale and fidgeting. My eyes flicked around, landing on the tree the chimera was hiding in before I turned to nudge Sky, directing his attention toward it as well.
Once the chimera deemed Sera close enough, it burst out of the trees. Prepared, she dodged, Helia and Azure behind her drawing their swords then going on the offensive. The battle was chaotic, splatters of blood, claws, and swords whirling around me. Amid the whirlwind of movement, I couldn't tell if they were doing well.
There was a cry of pain, and I turned to see Sera stumbling, blood seeping from her arm.
I bolted awake, panting and drenched in sweat. Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I took several deep breaths, willing my heartbeat to slow down. The sight of Sera's blood burned into my retinas. It was still nighttime–the dream had taken place in the day. There was plenty of time to warn the others.
The thought didn't help much. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, for the rest of the night.
The moment I heard rustling from the room across the hall, I pulled on my boots and was knocking on the guys' room. When they didn't answer immediately, I tapped my foot impatiently. Waiting. Slower than I would have liked, Sky opened the door to me, standing inches from his face. He leapt back, and there was thumping inside the room as Azure and Aeolus readied for battle.
Sky waved them off. "That surprised me! What are you doing there?" The implied "like a stalker" was left unsaid.
"I had a dream again last night."
There was an "Okaaaaay?" from Aeolus and an "Oh" and "I see" from Sky and Azure, respectively. Belatedly, Aeolus followed with an "oh" of his own.
They gestured me in. As soon as the door shut, I informed them, "I know where the chimera's going to be."
"Hang on a minute," Aeolus went to grab a freshly waxed tablet and a pencil. Finding it, he handed it to me "here you go."
I sat down on the floor, recalling the tree in my dreams, and did my best to sketch it out. I'm not sure if you know this, but etching anything on wax like that is extraordinarily hard for someone unused to the sensation. My hand kept slipping, and I had to pause numerous times to rub the wax back in, erasing my mistake.
Once finished, I held it up for the others to see. "I dreamt It ambushed us while we were walking through the forest. It was waiting for us in this tree."
Sky and Azure gazed at it thoughtfully while Aeolus' shoulders shook.
I glared at him. "What?"
He burst out laughing, wiping tears from his eyes. Still gasping for air, he said, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see you attempt to make art. It's so bad!"
"Aeolus!" Sky chastised.
My face grew hot, and I rubbed furiously at the wax, erasing my work. "I can direct us there if we take yesterday's path."
Sky sat beside me and gently grabbed the tablet and pencil from my hands. "I think I can use this as a base to have a more…accurate sketch if you don't mind helping me again."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Azure grip a still-laughing Aeolus by the arm and yank him roughly out the door. Next to me, Sky began sketching over my drawing.
"He didn't mean anything by it. He's a nice and fun-loving guy, but sometimes he can't tell what pranks are okay and what's cruel. His father and the staff always let him get away with everything."
I released my irritation with a breath, "It's fine." In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that mean. I'd had worse, and I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same. It still hurt, reminding me of long-past days when bullies had used 'teasing' or 'it was just a joke' as a cover.
I knew Aeolus wasn't like them, but it was hard to see past the initial hurt.
As Sky drew, I watched the strokes with envy and recalled my thoughts in the garden yesterday. It didn't take long for Sky to finish fixing up my drawing, as he needed minimal input.
He rolled up the piece of parchment and readied to stand. I grabbed him before he could, my face still red.
"Could you teach me how to draw?" I felt nerves crawl up my throat. I swallowed them and continued, "I don't have a camera and want to take some of the landscapes home."
"Of course!" He exclaimed with a smile." I'll teach you when we have spare time." I freed him from my grip, and he turned to help me up before locking the door behind us.
Aeolus was suitably remorseful over breakfast, apologizing and shooting me guilty looks. I forgave him, and he returned to his usual boisterous self.
After breakfast, we once again crammed ourselves into Aeolus, Azure, and Sky's room to discuss my dream from last night. Sky showed them his drawing of the tree, and I told them about how far down the path we took yesterday it was. Of course, none of them remembered seeing that specific tree, but I was sure I would when I saw it–I had in my dream, after all.
"Maybe Sera and Helia should stay here," Aeolus suggested once I'd finished describing the dream again, "You said it was waiting to ambush us, right? Even if it doesn't attack because Sera isn't with us, we'll know where it's hiding and be able to go on the offensive. We don't need to risk her getting injured."
"Absolutely not," Sere interjected, her voice giving no room for arguments, "I will not be left to sit and wait while you deal with my problems," she turned to me aggressively "besides, you said the blood was seeping from my arm?"
I wished she would have kept me out of this conversation. Feeling like an intruder in whatever was going on with them, I nodded.
She continued, "Well then. I can just make sure to add some extra protection." She said it like one would say the sky is blue.
It was Aeolus's turn to drag me into the conversation, looking desperately at me for salvation, "But the vision ended there, right?"
Keeping my mouth shut, I nodded again. He returned his attention to Sera, "So what if your injuries were more severe than they appeared? Or what if something else happened afterward?"
"Then we will deal with it together. Besides, Millie can always chase it off again." She insisted.
Aeolus stared at her briefly, then ruffled his hair and sighed, "Alright, fine. Let's gear up and head out."
"Fine." Sera spun on her heel, then left. As she slipped past me and out the door, I heard her mumble, "Not like I needed your permission anyway."
Yikes.
Helia quickly ran out after her. As Aeolus busied himself with his bag, mumbling under his breath furiously, Sky, Azure, and I exchanged looks, wordlessly arguing about who should talk to him. As someone who had only known him for a couple of days, I quickly checked out of that conversation, leaving it to the other two and returning to my room until it was time to leave.
I'd never been the best at emotional conversations anyway.
The atmosphere was heavy as we left the inn, and the tension between the two was so thick it was suffocating. Azure and Sky tried to keep the light conversation going, dragging us all in with them, but at Sera and Aeolus' curt responses, they dropped off quickly, and we continued in an oppressive silence. Even Ani hadn't dared attempt to bully Millie or Azure since we'd left.