He woke a few hours after sleeping, but for the first time in a long time, not because of his own discomfort but the growing pain that Keira was expressing from her nightmare. It was different than before as the spirit responded to her panic. The room was lit in a hue of red as the aura that surrounded her body expanded and the mark on her arm became brighter with the pulsing heartbeat of her contract. He sat up and moved to her side by the bed to try and calm her.

“You’re safe, Keira, it’s alright," he said brushing her shoulder.

But she wasn't soothed—rather things only got worse as the aura became vigorous and she pulled away from his touch as though fighting something within her sleep. He tried again to calm her, to wake her but she didn’t respond and instead only worsened the fight against the invisible entity of her dreams. It wasn't long before her aura had filled the apartment, stained in a blood red he couldn't help but worry there wasn't more to this than just a dream.

“Keira, wake up, it’s going to be alright.”

With each attempt to wake her she only seemed to become more plagued by the nightmare. She sat upright and opened her eyes, a sudden change but without the relief that she had woken as she was still unresponsive and under distress. Her eyes filled with the shimmering light of her spirit but her face was in agony. He shook her, called to her again but there was nothing but pain and rather than wake, she struck out and threw him back across the floor with more might than he knew she had. She lifted her head and screamed without pausing for breath while he scrambled to his feet and her side again.

Almost in response, as if answering his desperate need to help her, the spirit of the amulet started to radiate its light. He could feel its warmth, the beating pulse of its desire and that light spread from the amulet around his chest and along his arms. He knelt on the bed beside her and clasped his hands to the side of her head. She struggled and scratched at his arms with the ferocity of a wild cat but he knew he couldn't let go. He didn’t understand, he didn’t know what was happening but he knew that this was what the spirit wanted and was trying to help.

The light from the amulet continued to spread until it reached Kiera and appeared to fight with the red aura that engulfed her. A flickering dance enshrouded her as the two colours parried with one another but the amulet seemed to be winning. And as his light surrounded her, she started to calm, her hands dropped back to her sides and her body relaxed. The red flickering glow from her eyes disappeared and she blinked rapidly as she finally woke up. Her face contorted from the pain she had shown to sadness as she burst out in tears and fell forward into Finlay’s arms. She sobbed as he held her, watching the blue aura that had shrouded him fade back to the amulet that drew upon it.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“No.”

“Just no.”

“Just no.”

They sat for a while longer as she didn’t seem willing to move and only the soft sobs told him she was even still awake. He was working through the events and trying to understand what happened. Her spirit had reacted to her fear, her nightmare, but then why wouldn't she wake? Had his spirit tried to protect her—was this how it interpreted his core want during the contract formation? It wasn't exactly what he had in mind but it was effective in this moment.

“I’m sorry,” Keira whispered and pulled herself back from him after she felt calm enough to do so.

“It’s okay, I'm just glad I could help.”

“I’m such a mess,” she said pulling herself around to lean against the wall.

He did the same so they were sitting by one another. “You’re not a mess, you’re just dealing with a lot.”

“I should have slept in my own room, I’m sorry, this time I definitely woke you.”

“I suspect your screams would have woken me regardless of being next door or not.”

“I was screaming?!”

He smiled in a failing attempt to be reassuring. “It’s not a big deal, well assuming no one charges in here to find out what's going on—but your spirit reacted to you and I had a hard time waking you up.”

“What do you mean reacted to me?”

“You lit up the room in that same aura you had during the contract formation, your eyes, your mark were all glowing, I’ve seen it before with Sara.”

"That's worrying, it's bad enough having these stupid nightmares without my spirit going crazy over them."

"It might have been trying to protect you. What was the dream about?"

“The same as always—the station, the hell birds, you dying.”

“Wait, me dying, you’ve never mentioned that part before.”

“It’s the crux of the dream—wait; your arms, the hell happened, did I do that?!" She noticed the scratches that had shown from when she had tried to fight him off.

“It's nothing, don't worry about it and look—I'm alive and all is well.”

“Easy to say when I’m awake. I really did try and fight you off, I'm sorry. I knew it felt different but it's strange to hear how different.”

“You remember?”

“Vaguely. I remember feeling anger, normally I’m just terrified as I watch—well you don’t need to know the gory details of your death. But this time there was anger with it, I wanted to fight I had this urge to kill them all.”

“Well, you did want to be able to fight, to be strong in dangerous situations. I'm more concerned over how hard it was to wake you."

“So now I have something else to be scared of—never waking up.”

“I'm not sure about that, it was trying to protect you, to give you what you wanted when you formed the contract. It's just that your spirit's understanding and way of dealing with threats is to fight, which might not be the most suitable response when you're asleep and dreaming."

She dropped her head into her hands as she pulled up her knees and curled into a ball. “Why does it all have to be so difficult?”

“It’ll be okay, maybe we should talk to someone in the morning.”

“And say what—I’m having nightmares from a near-death experience and now my spirit is trying to kill the things that attacked me in my dreams?”

“I think you summarised it pretty well there.”

She tilted her head to look at him. “Thanks, but I don’t think I want to tell my future instructors that I can’t even handle some nightmares.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“I don’t know if it’s just a nightmare any more.”

“I’ll be okay, I’ll figure it out, it was the first night with the spirit and I was already having a hard time dealing with it. Like Faye said, it’ll just take some time.”

“If you’re sure but I still think it would be a good idea to tell someone.”

“I’ve told you.”

“Pretty sure I found out on my own before you actually told me anything.”

She paused for a moment and her eyes narrowed when she spoke again. “Why were you holding my head?”

“Changing the subject, I see how it is.”

“It’s a valid question.”

“My spirit reacted to your pain and it needed me to hold you so that it could help. I think it calmed you, though I'm not entirely sure how."

She lifted her head as though surprised. “Your spirit helped me?”

“I guess, when I formed my contract I was thinking of the boat and the man who created that barrier of light. I wanted to be able to protect others in the same way. I was trying to help you so I guess it interpreted that as needing to protect you. You calmed down pretty quick once it got involved.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” she leaned over and spoke down towards his chest. “Thanks, little amulet spirit—I appreciate you helping me.”

He laughed, happy that she seemed to be easing from her panic but still worried that she was being too dismissive over it.

“Things are changing pretty quickly,” she said, leaning back against the wall again.

“We knew it would.”

“I don’t know if I knew it was going to be like this. I’ve got something inside me that wants to fight everything that moves and you’ve got a companion who can apparently calm nightmares and who knows what else.”

“Okay fair—it’s not exactly what I was expecting either, but I think it’s going to be okay. We’re learning, we’ll come to understand our new companions in time and things will only get better from there.”

“I hope so.”

“Do you want to try and go back to sleep?”

“No chance, I’m wide awake now; but you should sleep, I’m sorry again for waking you up with my craziness.”

“It’s fine, I don’t think I could sleep now anyway. How about we go look for somewhere that’s open?”

“Okay, but I’m going to go have a shower and get changed first, let’s meet back up in half an hour.”

*****

It was the awkward time between very late at night and very early in the morning when next to nothing was open, even in the heart of the city. They walked around the streets for over an hour which was a pleasant experience as they were empty and the world felt calm and still in the low light. After finding themselves near the guild block they discovered a small cafe that was open twenty-four hours. When asked, the staff explained they remained open for the guild as they operated in unusual hours.

They decided to have a hot breakfast, realising this would likely become a usual spot for them and Keira was craving something more substantial than sugar for once. There were a few people that came and went throughout the early morning and as the staff had said, all seemed to be associated with the guild.

As the morning went on and it reached time to leave, they sent William a message to see if he was up and whether he wanted to meet them there. He replied almost instantly and seemed enthusiastic to join them, telling them he’d come to the cafe they were at. When he arrived, he ordered some things to go and the three set off to the guild to have their first real day as members.

When they arrived, the guild assistant explained they'd split into groups again but this time would continue in these groups for longer. The guild would also take into account their party selection if they already had established one which they were thankful for as none of them wanted to be separated again.

Keira and William were waiting as Finlay stood in line but as he got to the desk, Faye appeared from somewhere he hadn’t seen.

“Make sure his group is in my section,” she said to the clerk at the desk.

The woman looked at her for a moment, clearly puzzled but didn’t question further and did as she said. Faye walked over to him, putting her arm over his shoulder as she had done when they first came to the guild, and the two walked back to Keira and William. He noticed several people glaring at him, and he couldn’t help his rather exaggerated sigh.

“What, you don’t want me as your instructor?” Faye asked with a grin on her face.

“You’re making me even more unpopular than I already am.”

“And here I was thinking it’d help if they saw you so casually talking with me.”

“I think envy overrules any positive feelings it might generate.”

"I can only do so much, you'll have to figure out a way to become popular on your own."

“Why did you want us in your section?”

“Maybe I’m still suspicious of you.”

“I guess that’s reasonable.”

She laughed. “So willing to accept that—you’re hilarious.”

"I thought the guild might still be watching me. From what others have said, you're one of the best and not usually an instructor so it kind of made sense."

"This is my first time, aren't you lucky? But you don't have to worry, Ronan and Sara have both vouched for you at this point, no one's questioning you any more."

When they reached the other two, Keira beamed at Faye but William looked horror-struck.

“How’re you feeling today, any better?” Faye asked Keira.

“Actually yes, surprisingly, but I did have a rough night.”

“Her spirit tried to save her from a nightmare.”

“You didn’t need to tell her that part.”

“How sweet,” Faye said. “Don’t worry, as I said yesterday, you and your spirit will take some time to adjust to one another and to know the appropriate responses for different situations.”

“I hope so, I can’t help feeling a bit worried about it but I guess it just needs to learn that bad dreams don't mean all-out war.”

“It seemed pretty aggressive, I couldn’t wake her and the aura filled the room.”

“Oh ho, I didn’t know your relationship was like that,” Faye smirked, looking at Finlay—still with her arm over his shoulder.

“It was our first night away from home and it had been a long day, I just felt more comfortable sleeping at Finn’s,” Keira corrected.

Faye held her stare on Finlay for a moment but then let him go and looked back at Keira. “I understand your worry, but for now I think everything is fine. You have a very high level of Anam and a powerful spirit to contend with. It’ll take some time to adjust but if you continue to feel like there’s a problem, tell me.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate that.”

William had been silently watching, surprise visible on his face at multiple moments, including hearing Keira slept at Finlay’s. But it was the fact Faye was casually talking to them that bewildered him the most and when he finally spoke, his words were stuttered.

“Ms Liscaria, are you our instructor?”

“Finally, someone who appreciates the gift I’m giving you all with my tutelage. Yes, I’ll be your instructor going forward, and please, call me Faye.”

“We appreciate you,” Keira insisted.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to you telling me where you got your bike.”

“I knew you were going to ask about that at some point. But unfortunately for little lost boys, it’s a closely guarded secret that you’ll have to work hard to find the answer to.”

There was some kind of disagreement happening at the register, it seemed as though a group had a preference for their instructor and weren't able to get them. Given the response people had over Faye, he suspected it was her fault which only made him think he was going to receive even more hate-filled envy. Faye seemed to pick up on this as well so she left them to go on to where their section would be while she dealt with it.

William continued to ask questions, first to Keira and her nightmare as he was concerned for her and also wanted to reassure her that he was having some problems with his spirit as well. Apparently, he had been testing the edge of the blade on the only thing he thought was cuttable in his apartment and sliced straight through the lower part of his bed frame. The most pressing concern was, as with everyone else, how they knew Faye.

“She’s different than I expected her to be,” he said after Finlay explained how they met.

“It’s definitely going to be an interesting experience having her as our instructor.”

“I think she’s great,” replied Keira.

When they arrived at their assigned building, a clerk directed them to a new room. The room was large enough for fifty people to be comfortable inside, the ceiling was high and there was nothing else but the other members of their group who had gotten there before them. They all turned to look as they entered and he immediately recognised several that Keira had blown off after the contract formation. Some had been in the same section as William and they again resumed their glaring at him.

“Well, this is going to be interesting.”