The entire group minus Ben Gallagher returned to the Coldwater hotel floor. Ben returned to wherever he was residing and was preparing supplies. The plan was to get some sleep before reconvening tomorrow morning to figure out what to do.

Bryson stood in the middle of the elevator. Nico stood behind him while Viola and Lila stood on either side of him. He could feel the awkward tension between the two. Evidently both of them still didn’t like one another.

This elevator ride seems pretty slow. Bryson thought as he tried to make the elevator faster by staring at the buttons. It did not work, and the air stayed awkward.

Upon reaching their floor, the elevator door opened and Bryson breathed a sigh of relief only to then take a sharp inhale of dread when Sable greeted them on the other side.

“Oh...” He said.

“Sable… your awake.” Viola said in surprise.

“Yes and the two of you were missing from your rooms.” Sable said with her arms folded.

“So? We had a nighttime stroll.” Bryson said with a shrug.

“Were you now? Where to?” She said suspicously.

“Just across the beach, did you know that there are islands that you can easily sail or swim to?” Bryson said coolly.

Looking unconvinced, she glanced over to Nico and Lila, “So what mess did you get yourself in this time brother?”

“Why do you think I got into a mess?” Bryson said defensively.

“Aside from you two sneaking out of your rooms. You have Nico and Lila with you. It’s a combination that asks for trouble.” Sable said unimpressed.

“Reese is a guard, only appropriate for him to accompany us. Frost is my maid, she goes where I go.” Bryson replied immediately.

“Where’s Viola’s servant then?” Sable asked.

“Well…” Bryson began before being interrupted by Viola.

“I dismissed them before getting here. Bryson simply hasn’t dismissed them yet.” Viola said.

Sable continued to stare at them with suspicion, “How come I don’t believe you?”

“Because you’re paranoid obviously.” Viola said, earning a glare from Sable, “Now if you don’t mind, I am headed to bed.” She said as headed back towards her room.

“Hey! Wait!” Sable cried out, Viola didn’t bother to turn her head and closed the door behind her.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“What happened?” She demanded from Bryson, snapping her attention back towards him.

“Nothing.” Bryson said with a shrug as he headed to his room, stopping for a second he turned towards Nico and Lila, “Ah, right, you two are dismissed.”

Nodding their heads they quickly scurried back towards the elevator, “See you in the morning Lord Bryson!” Lila called out before the elevator door closed behind her.

Sable gave an angry exhale before marching back toward her room and slammed her door shut. Bryson gave a small shrug, too tired to care anymore tonight.

Closing the door to his room he collapsed onto his bed and let the darkness of sleep consume him.

***

Bryson found himself sitting leisurely on a cushioned seat, building a small toy model of a car atop his desk. Outside his window was a small clearing and light snow gently drifted its way onto the grass. Next to Bryson was a screen playing one of Bryson’s favourite movies.

Happily working on his model, he hummed to himself. Pausing for a moment he went to glance out the window only to jump backwards as he saw a man standing before the window peering in.

“What the?!” He yelled as he jumped backwards, his chair toppling over.

The man at the window calmly stared at Bryson before giving a quick once over of the interior of the room. Pressing his forehead onto the glass he squinted as he tried to peer inside. Obviously not able to get a good look, the man proceeded to open the window.

“What are you doing?” Bryson shouted at the man. He ignored Bryson.

As the man’s upper torso entered through the window Bryson was able to get a good look at him. He wore some sort of school uniform that even had a tie and looked oddly familiar. Short black hair, dark brown eyes that you could mistake for being black. His facial features looked similar, like Bryson had seen it somewhere before. Bryson glanced at a mirror and realized that for whatever reason, he resembled Bryson.

“Okay, I’m dreaming.” Bryson muttered to himself.

“Yes you are.” The man replied emotionlessly as he continued to stare around the room, “This is a quaint dream. It’s nice.” The man said giving a polite nod.

“Who are you suppose to be?” Bryson asked glaring at the man.

“Just a visitor.” The man said suddenly appearing in the middle of the room behind Bryson.

“Degh!” Bryson yelped as he jumped back again.

“What are you doing? And why do you kind of look like me?” Bryson demanded getting annoyed at this stranger who began to search around his room.

“I’m looking, and for very complicated reasons.” The man replied as he wandered towards some drawers and began to open them.

“Hey, that’s my stuff!” Bryson complained, “Who are you?”

“My name is Valer.” Valer replied as he walked over to the door. Opening it and revealed a dark void, “Makes sense.” He said to himself as he closed it again.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking.”

“For?” Bryson asked exasperated.

“For information.” Valer replied as he knelt down to the bookshelf and read through the titles.

“I beg your pardon?”

Rising back up Valer looked at Bryson, “You should learn to protect your mind a bit better. This is second time someone entered uninvited, correct?” He advised.

“Last time something entered my head it got eaten by the void.” Bryson said continuing to glare at Valer in suspicion.

“Yes.” Valer replied, “The ghoul.” He said changing the subject, “It’s controlled by a gem in its head. You should separate it.”

“What?” Bryson asked bewildered.

“You should also learn some light-based magic.” Valer said before disappearing. Leaving a very confused Bryson alone.

“What just happened?” Bryson asked aloud. Then he woke up.

Slowly blinking awake, Bryson woke up on his bed in the hotel room at Wemore. The sun’s rays peeked through the curtains and shined on Bryson’s face. That was weird. Bryson thought as he slowly sat up checking the time, it was nearly noon.

Okay, put that aside for now and meet the others. He thought as he picked himself up from the bed and readied himself out of the door.