Starfall (The Ethereal Cycle Book 1) by Paul Dixon

Author:Paul Dixon [Dixon, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paul Dixon
Published: 2022-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

We got home late Monday night. I was exhausted, filled with the wonderful kind of tired that only comes after a long weekend in the mountains. I collapsed into bed, not even bothering to brush my teeth, and was asleep before Starfall had finished stomping her spot on the carpet and settling in for the night.

Tired and happy as I was, the night brought with it the worst nightmare I could remember.

I dreamed I was being chased by a monster across desert badlands. At first I thought it was a mountain lion after me, but soon realized it was something far worse: a hideous thing with a lion’s head and scorpion’s tail and these loathsome wings that looked like they came from an overgrown bat. On and on I ran, through mud caves and twisting river canyons, places weirdly familiar but tinged with an unearthly feel. The thing behind me roared and heckled in an awful, screeching voice. Its words weren’t quite English, but its intent was clear. It was demanding something of me. It had a question for me and was insisting I answer or be eaten alive.

In my dream I knew the answer. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it, and my silence was going to cost me my life. The creature drew closer, and closer still until it was right behind me now, jaws snapping, fangs glistening with saliva and poison and death. I could feel its breath like a merciless desert wind, smell the foul sulphur reek, rotten egg smell as its mouth gaped wide…

…and I snapped awake, covered in sweat in spite of the cold in my room. For one brief waking moment I remembered everything with perfect clarity. I knew exactly what the creature wanted to know. Then in the manner of dreams the memory slipped away, leaving me with just an impression of its uncanny face, part great desert cat and part something else, and then that was gone too and all that remained was an echo of the terror.

It was two in the morning. The soft luminescent red of the clock next to my bed was the only light in the room. Starfall groaned low from her place on the floor. I reached out, smoothed the deep, rich fur between her shoulder blades, comforting myself as much as her. After a moment she rolled over and slumbered on.

My sweat cooled as I lay there, and I grew cold. I burrowed under the covers and held myself perfectly still, willing sleep to return. I started the eighth grade in just a few hours, but my mind was too awake to rest. It was as if I was trying to process everything that had happened those last two months in a single night. That strangest summer of my life, all the weirdness and magic and terror of it coming together at once.

I thought about the fire tower, and the trogg and Starfall’s mother. I thought about Virginia, the moment she and Starfall

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