Briar & the Dreamers of Midnight by Susan Ee

Author:Susan Ee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feral Dream LLC

Chapter 41

I didn’t know that birds could tremble this hard. I do my best to stay still, but my feathers shiver and my skin feels like it’s prickling all over. I have to make an effort not to flitter around desperately under my glass dome.

I don’t want to do anything that attracts Nightmare Malyn’s attention. Not after seeing what she just did. Whatever I do to get out of here, I need to do it right, because I’ll only get one chance.

I really, really don’t want to be eaten by the faceless nightmare.

Maybe I’d die.

Or maybe I’d still be conscious inside Nightmare Malyn—trapped in the same way that I was in my sleeping body.

Just the thought of it is enough to make me panic. I tighten my muscles, trying to stay still. I look around to distract my thoughts, tearing my eyes away from the eerily still Malyn.

Of course, my eyes go to the mirror. I can’t help it. There’s color and motion there that draws my attention no matter where I look. I might have been calmer if I continued to stare at Nightmare Malyn.

In one of the glass shards, a pair of ice-blue eyes are staring right at me.

I want to duck and hide, but there’s nowhere to go.

I remember that I’m in hawk form. She can’t see my real self.

But no matter how small and unnoticeable I try to make myself, I’m the only creature under glass that isn’t a rat. Nightmare Malyn might not be able to see, but those ice-blue eyes sure can.

I realize I’m staring at the eyes like a person in shock. I move my head back and forth, hoping I look like an ordinary hawk.

Nightmare Malyn stands stiffly. She holds the mirror facing me and begins walking.

I instinctively raise my wings to fly away. The glass traps them so that I can’t even open them.

I slam my beak into the glass, hoping for it to shatter. The glass is thick and even my powerful beak does no damage.

I slam my body into the glass, trying to knock the dome off the shelf. But it doesn’t budge.

I’m trapped.

I’m breathing so fast that I might pass out.

Calm down! I shriek into my glass prison.

Usually, screaming at myself doesn’t do much good, but this time, something clicks inside my head.

This is not the Waking.

This is my world.

I am not the helpless girl lying frozen in a tower. I’m not even a bird fluttering weakly in a glass cage.

I’m in a glass prison because I’m convinced I’m in one. I can’t move the glass because I believe it’s as strong as a stone wall.

Nightmare Malyn walks steadily toward me. The frosty eyes stare at me through the looking glass with keen interest.

I open my beak and shriek. The sound comes from deep inside me. It’s filled with the intention to shatter every belief I have about my powerlessness.

Nothing happens.

I shriek again. This time, I swear the glass dome rattles.

I shriek a third time. A fourth. A fifth.

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