As the barrage continued around us, my barrier all that kept us safe, I quickly filled Steph in on what had been going on with the sleep, and how we thought it was a clue to finding the Liahona.

“Which we’re not entirely sure we should even be looking for,” Ebrill pointed out. “But… it might be the only way to wake Kordelia.”

Steph nodded, glanced at me and asked, “And you, what do you think?”

“Until yesterday, I thought I knew you, thought you were just a regular girl. Then, until a few minutes ago, I was convinced you were evil this whole time, just using me. What the hell do I know?”

“Still… what does your gut say?”

I looked to Ebrill, sighed, and said, “That there’s a reason these dreams are happening. That whatever the reason was for the Liahona being gone, it’s over, and we might need to wake Kordelia to find out why.”

“Or the answers might come in your sleep travel,” Ebrill said.

“Each time, with the sleep… it’s not long enough.”

“With all this,” Steph motioned around, the sounds of attacks on the building as others tried to break in, “I don’t see that changing.”

“Unless… you two hold them off.”

Ebrill frowned. “What?”

“You two work together, keep them off us long enough for me to get the answer we need. Can you do it?”

Steph and Ebrill shared a worried look but seemed to agree. Steph nodded and turned back to me. “We’ll do our best.”

“That’ll have to do.” I turned to Kordelia, confused but ready. “When I dream, what exactly do you think is happening?”

“You’re opening up memories,” Ebrill said, “but… being there. The strange part for me is that I have no idea if you were in those situations the first time or not, since I don’t fully have the memories. So, you’re either time traveling, or accessing my memories in a way that unlocks them, but altered.”

“A form of time travel, perhaps,” Steph added.

Ebrill seemed unsure but nodded. “It’s possible, maybe, that his transmutation power is working to fix my memory in this odd way.”

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“Yes!” Steph leaned in, eyes showing her excitement. “And that’s the key to finding it.”

“The Liahona,” I said, unease crawling up my spine. “Everyone seems to want it, even knowing it’s so… dangerous. Can we be certain this is the real you, now?”

“You never really knew me, but going forward, I hope that can change.” Steph put a hand on my arm, earning a glare from Ebrill that she ignored. “But you saw a side of me that is the only side I hope to show going forward. We’re on the same side, Jericho, and I want to kick their asses for doing what they did to me, and to you.”

“Good enough, at least for now,” I said, and chuckled. “Well, here goes. Try to keep us alive while I go under.”

A barrage of attacks hit at that exact moment, causing the remaining shisa to tense up and growl while Ebrill’s hand lit up blue, and Steph’s red. With a wave of Steph’s other hand, several death wraiths appeared and dashed out through the stone mixture I had created to guard us, the sounds of steel on flesh following a moment later. Explosions came, too. Our little fortress rocked but held.

“How many of those can you send?” Ebrill asked.

“Seven,” Steph replied. “But I can replenish them… as long as I have energy.”

“We’ll have to keep up your energy, then.” Ebrill stepped over, hand on the other woman’s cheek, and smiled.

It was clearly an odd moment for Steph, but as blue energy flowed into her, she went with it, closing her eyes and forming more death wraiths as her others perished on the other side of the walls.

I was about to get to it, when a voice carried from the other side. “Are you a pearl, now, boy?” Fatiha, but… raspier. “Do I have to pry that clamshell open and pluck you out?”

“This won’t go the way you hope,” I replied.

She laughed. “Oh, silly Jericho. It already has, in every… single… way.”

The frown of confusion on Steph’s face matched my own, and she stepped up to the wall. “Let me out of here, so I can tell her what I think of her plan.”

“No,” Ebrill countered. “You might be strong, but alone out there…. No. Right now, we need to focus on this—on getting Jericho back.”

A barrage of attacks sounded, during which Steph closed her eyes again and sent wave after wave of death wraiths out. Even with Ebrill’s power refueling her, it was only a matter of seconds before both dropped to their knees, spent. The shisa nudged Steph’s side. A new round of energy flowed from it, and she grunted, pushed herself up, and waited.

The attacks had stopped. Silence carried on for longer than a moment.

“Ignore them,” Ebrill said. “We need to get you back… asleep.”

“Seriously?” I replied, considering how drained they were.

“Sweet dreams,” Steph said, nodding for me to get to it.

I chuckled, but more at the thought that I had no idea how I would actually fall asleep amid all the chaos. My heart still thudding, I lowered myself to the roof, unable to take my eyes off Steph and Ebrill. These two beautiful, amazing women were going to fight off anything that came my way, right? They could handle themselves, as they had proven.

Yet, there was some serious power out there trying to get at us. The shisa could help but I still wasn’t at ease. I was about to push myself back up to say we could try again later, that this wasn’t going to work, when Ebrill lowered herself to my side, put a hand on my forehead, and whispered the same spell that Fatiha had cast on me earlier.

This time, though, as Ebrill said, “Gorffwys” and my surroundings faded to dreamland, I embraced it as a pleasant warmth tingled through me, a quick dream as my mind hazed and I imagined Ebrill’s hands in many more places than just my forehead.