One week since the fall of Almadel

Trix had fallen asleep at her desk again. She had been reading Jeremiah's books and her dreams were full of images of blood and torture. Barely understood descriptions of demonic rituals further exaggerated by her imagination into orgies of sacrifice. The dream faded and she floated for a while between sleep and wakefulness.

She dreamt herself bobbing in the water, lying on her back, the waves rocking her gently. Her hair spread out behind her in the water like seaweed. The waves grew ever larger and she spun in the water, battered left and right. Suddenly she was at the tip of the wave, a great wall of water, carrying her high above the rocky grey ground below. The water was as black as the sky, everything it passed disappearing into nothingness.

She stood on the tip of the wave and looked down over the grey wasteland below. Ahead was the classroom, she saw Wilbur and herself asleep inside. She saw Salomé sitting on the table, washing her face. She looked further out and saw Emma and Dean, holding hands, facing the wave, their eyes closed. The water crashed into the classroom, the yew toppled beneath the wave, the walls of the ruin were torn apart, all signs of their presence were scrubbed from the land. They continued on, leaving behind flat empty blackness.

She awoke with tears in her eyes, the sorrow of the dream would fade in a few seconds. It always did, when she dreamt of bad things. She went and stood outside. Nothing had changed. The wasteland was still there, grey and dry. Brightly lit, contrasting with the still black sky above. Wilbur was crouching next to his mouse hole, as he did every morning. They had barely talked since their argument days before.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey." he looked up at her, he looked worried.

"What's wrong?"

"He's finished sealing himself in."

"Who, the mouse?" asked Trix. She dropped down into a crouch next to him.

"Yeah, the mouse. He's been working at this for days, pushing up masses of earth, I've no idea what he was doing down there, then he began sealing himself in. He's stuffed the entrances full of grasses and dust and stones, like he's preparing for something."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Ok. He's just scared of us, I guess."

"I don't think so, he used to dart in and out of his hole while I sat here, he didn't seem to pay me any attention."

"Whatever, do you want breakfast?"

"No, I'm fine." he said.

Trix sighed. "I'm sorry, I know you've grown attached to the thing. Come have breakfast and we can talk about it more, maybe he sensed something...coming..." she trailed off, staring at the nearest cactus, the smooth side half gone where they had taken chunks to drink from. She ran over to it, rubbed her hand over the rough patch they all seemed to have. "Did it look like this yesterday?" she said, panic in her voice.

Wilbur rocked to his feet, "what's up?"

"Look! Look at this!" she pointed at the bumps on the surface, they had dilated, opening up like funnels, like the hungry mouths of a hundred baby birds.

"No, it wasn't like that before...they were closed yesterday" said Wilbur, peering into one of the holes.

"Something's about to happen, and everything is preparing but us." she stared up at the sky. "I've been having a dream, every night since we got here. A great wave rushes across this place, scouring the land clean."

"It's been hard to sleep, I'm not surprised you've been having—"

"No." said Trix, "it's true, it's coming now. Did you feel that?" she began running back into the ruins, "We need to protect the books, keep them dry."

"Feel what?" shouted Wilbur at her back.

Wilbur walked behind her as she began gathering up the books that were spread over the desk, slamming them closed and piling them up in her arms. "Help me" she screamed.

"Trix, calm down. It was just a dream."

"It's coming, I know it! Didn't you see the mouse hole? The cactus? Didn't you feel the ground move just now? There have been hints everywhere and we've just been wasting time." She spun around herself, searching the room for somewhere to protect the books. Her eyes fell on one of the school desks and she ran over, piling books inside. "This should float" she said, "help me split the books between the desks." she flung the hinged top open and dumped a few books inside."

Wilbur grabbed her arm, "Trix, please. You're scaring me." She ripped her arm from his grasp.

"Good!" she shouted, "I'm scared too. Just help me."

Wilbur shook his head, "fine...I'll help you but once we're done you need to calm down and talk to me." She flung the rest of the books she had in her arms at him and ran back to the desk to get more. Once the books were distributed among the desks, they pulled them closer and lashed them together with the grass-fiber rope Wilbur had braided.

"Ok, feel better?" said Wilbur, breathing heavily.

Salomé had been sitting on the top of the wall watching them. Trix ignored him and scrambled up to crouch next to her. "It came from that way" she said quietly, looking out at the empty grey landscape. The cat nodded. Wilbur climbed up and sat next to her, dangling his legs over the edge. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Come down and have breakfast?" asked Wilbur, tapping his feet against the wall.

Trix shook her head. "It's coming."

"Ok. I'll start a fire and cook some greens, anyway"

The wall began to shake.