Wonderful. She was late for class. Lara jumped out of bed and yelped. She stared down at her bruised and swollen feet. What in the world? Lara did a quick sweep of her dorm room, searching for anything she might have stepped on. Everything was as it should be, so she shouldn’t feel any pain now, right?

Lara parked herself on the bed and inspected her feet. The soles were raw, looking as if they’d seen the wrong end of a meat tenderizer. Putting weight back on her feet, she limped through the living room to her roommate’s door. Not hearing a response to her knock, Lara cracked open the door and rolled her eyes. Becky was sound asleep in bed.

Lara tumbled onto the bed in her haste to get off her feet. But even that didn’t wake her friend. Giving her a rough shake, she huffed, “We missed class again. We were supposed to get our tests back.”

Groggily, Becky opened her eyes. “Wha—? Missed class?”

She jerked her head up and down, anxious about her predicament. Slightly more alert, Becky rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and asked, “Why didn’t you go?”

“I only just woke up myself, but,” she waved a foot above the bed so Becky could see the damage and stated the obvious, “I can’t walk.”

Becky sat up, alarmed. “Oh my God, Lara! What happened?”

“I had another dream last night.”

Becky eyebrows drew down into a frown. “Okay,” she drew out the word, “you had a dream. That still doesn’t explain why your feet look like you walked through hell and back.”

Lara took a deep breath and exhaled. Intently focused on straightening the wrinkles in the blanket, she explained, “That’s the problem. In my dream I did walk barefoot for hours. I’m exhausted this morning, like I walked all night long.”

When no response was forthcoming, she slid her gaze over to her friend. A perplexed expression was plastered on Becky’s face.

“Well, I’m fairly positive you don’t sleepwalk. I mean, you’ve never done it before, you know? So…what could it mean?” Since she made it more of a statement, Lara didn’t bother replying. After a minute of blinking up at the ceiling, Becky admitted, “Seriously, Lara, you are beginning to freak me out. I don’t understand what’s going on, but first things first. You need to get some gauze on your feet. You should make an appointment at the medical clinic. With your feet looking like they do, infection is probably a given. When you get back, I vote we sit down and examine the heck out of your dreams.” Becky turned her head to peer curiously at her. “How was it this time around? Was it anything like the battle?”

Grinning, Lara shook her head. “Actually, it was a lot of fun. I didn’t see anyone at all. I ended up exploring for hours.” After a moment’s thought, she continued, “Then I found a place to lie down and fell asleep.”

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait,” her friend said, lifting a hand to stop her. “Let me get this straight. You fell asleep in your dream? You can do that?”

Getting back to her feet, Lara hobbled back to her bedroom so she could take a shower. “Apparently,” she yelled back across the living room. “I’ll tell you more when I get out of the shower.”

<< >>

“Maybe you really should talk to someone about your dreams,” Becky pressed, continuing their earlier conversation as she helped Lara back into the car. The doctor had wrapped her feet after giving her a prescription for medicine. The horror Lara felt at Becky’s suggestion escaped her before she could stop it. Hearing her gasp, her friend pleaded, “Hear me out. Neither of us know the first thing about what’s happening. You need someone who can really help you. Not mess things up even worse than they already are. You know this.”

Shutting the car door, Lara watched Becky walk around the front of the car and get behind the wheel. Seeing her scowl, Becky sighed, concentrating on exiting the parking lot. In a wheedling voice, she said, “Okay, fine. Let’s compromise. Promise you will go see someone if you have another dream? I’ll even go with you if it’ll make you feel better.”

Seeing the look of determination despite Becky’s attention on the road, Lara relented, “Yeah, I promise.”

Staring out the window at the passing scenery, Lara felt a moment of remorse. There was no way she would keep that promise. There was nothing wrong with her.

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As Lara prepared for bed later that night, she strapped on the sandals. If her subconscious mind took whatever she was wearing into the dream, it’d make it easier on her abused feet if she had shoes. If nothing happened, no one else would know about the precaution.

Lara smiled at her logic, though it was more a grimace than anything else. It was either that or scream herself hoarse. She rubbed her hands over her arms, feeling the goose bumps.

Lara knew she wasn’t crazy. She did. She felt almost as if she was being physically pulled into her dreams.

With that last, eerie thought, sleep was a long time coming, but it did finally claim her.

Lara found herself in the same room where she’d lain down. Relieved, her chest eased imperceptibly at the knowledge she wasn’t in a new place.

The sandals!

She lifted one foot. She had shoes, and the bandages covered her feet.

Her grin turned into a wince when she took her first step. She’d forgotten the pain’s intensity from the previous night. Lara funneled her fingers through her curly hair with a heartfelt groan. It was going to be a really long night if she couldn’t walk anywhere.

Resigned, she spied a chair she’d missed last night. Sometime in the past, the chair had lost its backing, though it was perfect for the purpose she planned for it. She dragged the chair back to the pile of rugs, leaving four, disturbed trails of dirt in its wake. Before she lay down on her back, she picked up the short sword and draped it across her stomach. With a grunt of pain, she propped her feet on the chair.

An indeterminate amount of time passed with Lara dozing until a soft, clicking sound intruded. Her muscles twitched. When she didn’t hear the sound again, she didn’t bother opening her eyes and settled more comfortably on the bedding.

When the clicking started back up, her eyes flew open and her right hand tightened its grip on the sword. She searched the room.

At first, Lara didn’t see anything. But then a light glow in the periphery of her vision caught her attention. With growing dread, she tilted her head, looking up at the ceiling behind her.

And let out a piercing scream.

Lara scrambled to the opposite side of the room, her only thought to distance herself from the creature. It didn’t move from its position. She held up the sword—in case it attacked—and studied it.

Oh, God. It was a monster.

Five times the size of a tarantula, it emitted an unearthly, pale-yellow glow. She counted eight, spindly legs. Lara shuddered. She abhorred spiders. Their creepy eyes and hairy legs always sent her scrambling in the opposite direction. Lara jumped and let out an uncontrolled screech when the creature skittered across the ceiling, heading in her direction.

Hoping to scare it away, she screamed, “Get back. Get away from me.” Lara wasn’t in any condition to make a run for the door, and escaping the room meant walking under the glowing spider.

Like that was going to happen.

Every time she shouted, the spider grew increasingly confused. It stopped for a few, short seconds before advancing, zigzagging forward.

When the spider loomed above her, panic overrode her fear and she ducked her head, stumbling for the door. Glancing over her right shoulder, she saw the spider crawl its way almost to the floor. Once in the hallway, Lara could lock the glowing creature inside with her safe on the other side, and she hurried faster. She turned around in time to smash her face against a white, furry wall blocking the exit.

With another shriek, she bounced off the newest intruder and landed in an undignified sprawl on the ground. She swallowed yet another scream when her eyes fell upon the single largest feline she had ever seen outside of photos. Its mouth opened and its lips stretched back in a silent snarl, showing her an impressive number of gleaming teeth. She gasped in incomprehension. The sheer shock at the beast’s size left her frozen for several long seconds.

Remembering the spider, Lara rolled over, her hand clutching the short sword. She scanned the room for the arachnid. A second passed before a slight movement by her legs not three feet away made her screech again. The spider jumped and scuttled closer. Whimpering, she held the sword in a stabbing position, ready to skewer the disgusting thing if it took one step closer. She was trapped.

A low growl from the cat sent the spider scuttling for the safety of the walls. Her eyes bounced back and forth between the feline and the spider. She followed the glowing arachnid’s progress until it stopped behind an old tapestry. The creature was so large its legs were in full view.

Lara slid back until she hit the wall adjacent to the spider and the cat, keeping them both in her line of sight. Trembling from trepidation and adrenaline, she eyed the cat. She was gonna die, she knew it. The creature sat down and watched her in return, intelligence gleaming in its golden gaze.

Latching onto the tattered remains of her courage, she swung the sword toward the cat. “Now, what the hell do you want?”

The cat didn’t move a muscle; its eyes riveted on her. The sleek muscles beneath its coat showed the raw power of the animal. Her arm began to tire, and her weapon wavered in the air, and this all happened while her arm shook like a leaf. A deep laugh resonated through the room.

Hefting the weapon higher, Lara wildly searched the room. Her heart pounding, she cried out, “Who’s there? Show yourself.” The sound cut off, almost as if the person behind the laugh was startled.

Without turning her head away from the cat, she slid her eyes over to check the spider’s location. It hadn’t moved an inch.

A disembodied, male voice spoke, So, you do hear me. Interesting. There was a slight pause, and then the voice continued, How did you come to be down here, Pyranni?

As he spoke, the voice sent an uncontrolled shiver down her spine. Even though it held an edge of suspicion and wariness, to her ears the deep, male voice sounded of music, beautiful music from faraway places. It beckoned to her as the sound blew gently through her mind.