Unshed tears fell from her eyes as she turned to face me. “My sister,” she started, but a painful sense of alarm contorted her expression. “Where is Bryn?” she asked as she glanced down at the still woman lying beside her.
“I do not understand,” I said as I shook my head. I was frustrated and confused. I did not know why I was forcibly ejected from the vision and brought back to this room. “I never touched the flame and yet, here I am.” The realization dawned on me with so much severity, I could barely manage to add, “I must return!”
“What happened to Bryn?” Mathilda asked, moving toward Bryn’s body. She took the still woman’s hand and tapped her cheeks vigorously, attempting to wake the sleeping angel. “Why hasn’t she awakened yet?” Mathilda’s eyes met mine. “Where is she, Sinjin?”
“I had to protect the queen first and foremost.” I shook my head, trying to remember exactly what happened as I glanced down at Bryn’s lifeless body. I took her hand in mine and recoiled when I touched her skin. She felt cold and clammy. “I must return … now!” I finished as I jumped up from the bed, my angst propelling me. I glanced first at Mathilda and then at Mercedes. “Bryn was trapped in a battle with Luce …”
Mathilda’s eyes grew wider. “You left her with Luce?”
“Sinjin had no choice but to leave her,” the queen nearly interrupted. “Bryn insisted on it.”
“Regardless, you must now send me back. I must return immediately,” I answered quickly. Mercedes did not respond and had yet to utter a single word. She just looked at me blankly, as if she failed to understand the exigency of the situation. “Prophetess! I must go back! Send me back now!” I yelled at her while taking the steps that separated us.
“No,” Mercedes said as she turned toward me with visible resignation. She sidestepped me to take the bowl and her mixture from the bed. She carried it to a table in the corner of the room, where she originally combined its contents.
“No?” I repeated, utterly astonished and incredulous.
“Each time someone enters the vision, there are more risks involved in getting them out again,” she responded.
“I am perfectly willing to take that risk,” I announced flatly.
“I am not,” Mercedes answered, equally flat. “No one is going back inside the vision. Bryn must find her own way out now. She needs to reach the flame without endangering anyone else in the process.”
“You obviously do not understand,” I began, taking a few steps toward her. “The flame changes position whenever the vision shifts. And the vision has already shifted more than once, numerous times in fact! If I do not return at once, and lead Bryn back to the flame, the chances are she will never find it on her own. And then, as you mentioned earlier, she will be lost forever inside her mind.” I closed the distance that separated us and towered over her. “I must return immediately, and I command you to send me.”
“I know you have no love for my sister, but I will not allow her to remain trapped inside her hideous vision,” the queen interjected as she pulled her head away from her husband’s chest and glared at Mercedes. “Regardless of what you might think of her, she saved my life.” Jolie glanced at me and added, “She saved both of our lives.”
“Neither one of you seems to understand the terrible risk involved,” Mercedes replied while holding her chin higher and spearing us with her sternest expression.
“I care not for risks,” I responded, “but what I do care for is the time you are wasting with this inane argument!”
“And what happens if you return to the dream state and we lose you to it as well, hmm?” Mercedes asked me as she propped her hands on her hips. “What then, Sinjin? Do we send someone else to rescue you? And risk losing them? Each time someone jumps into the vision, they could get lost themselves. We could end up losing countless innocent people.” She turned and glared at Jolie. “And I’m not denying Sinjin’s reentry because I don’t have any concern for your sister!” she nearly yelled. “I’m denying it because I do respect her. I readily admit that she’s an asset to our kingdom, but I’m not about to jeopardize your life or anyone else’s either, not until we’ve given her ample time to find her own way back.”
“I find that totally irrelevant and do not care,” I continued, but the queen interrupted me.
“How long then? How long must we wait?” she asked.
“Let’s give her another three minutes,” Mercedes replied as she glanced at the clock on the table that was sitting beside the bowl of charmed magic. “Time is indefinitely malleable and it can be extended inside the visionary state. So while for us it may only be three minutes, it could be more like fifteen minutes for Bryn. If she fails to return by then, I will grant Sinjin reentry.”
Mercedes picked up her mixing bowl again and began to measure the various herbs and ingredients. She started blending a new charm all over again.
“Very well,” I conceded as I stared down at Bryn’s inert body. I’d certainly given the little hellion a hard enough time, and there were plenty of moments when I questioned her loyalty. But after today, and seeing her gallant performance against Luce, and the self-sacrifice she displayed by sparing her sister and me, I would never question her loyalty again. She was every bit as worthy and determined to protect the queen as I.
I took her hand in mine and gently rubbed her cold skin, while staring down at her perfect lips and sun-kissed complexion. Suddenly, I felt her hand heating up and I noticed her skin beginning to take on a much rosier hue. As I held it in mine, the heat continued to grow, and the pale pink tone of her skin began to deepen into a darker, much healthier shade.
Moving my eyes across her body, I perceived her face was very flushed as were her arms and her legs. “Something is wrong,” I said when the heat of her hand became so hot, I had to release it. “Her body feels as if it is about to burst into fire!”
Everyone centered their attention on the still woman. Bryn did not wake from her slumber although her skin was now the color of a very ripe tomato. The queen leaned over her sister and touched her forehead with the tip of her finger, immediately pulling it away again.
“She’s incredibly hot,” the queen agreed, and her expression grew overly concerned.
Mercedes left her potion on the table and immediately approached the bed. She was staring down at Bryn with a furrowed brow and an expression of sheer surprise.
Mathilda pointed to Bryn’s arm. “Flames.”
“I don’t understand!” the queen cried as she shook her head and looked up at me in alarm. “Is it Luce?”
“No,” Mercedes answered. “It is not Luce.”
“It is her gift,” I explained as I studied the beautiful woman. Flames were sprouting all along her body from head to toe. They began dancing and flickering, though there was no wind to fuel them. I ran my hand over the very tips of the flames above her hand, but had to immediately withdraw mine back as soon as the fire touched me. The yellow, orange, and red flames were unbearably scorching.
“She will surely burn to death!” the queen cried.
“No,” Mathilda answered while shaking her head. “Look at her. She is unscathed, completely untouched by the incendiary heat she produces.”
We were all forced to back away from the bed when the heat of the flames threatened to blister us, the entire inferno coming from Bryn’s small body.
“What should we do?” the queen asked in a panic-stricken voice. She faced Mathilda and Mercedes and added, “I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“We must leave her be,” I answered as the queen faced me with an expression of utter surprise. “The Lady Bryn is not on fire—not in the way you might think,” I calmly replied. Only then did I realize I would need to explain all that I knew about her … condition.
“Why is this happening to her?” Jolie asked as she watched her sister’s body seemingly consumed by the heated flames, lapping in the air. But the flames did not damage her clothing, nor the bed linens beneath her.
 
; “This is her gift, her innate ability. She is merely defending herself,” I explained.
“Against what? Luce?” Randall asked.
“I can only suppose such is the case,” I answered, turning from the clock to Mercedes. “Three minutes have already passed. Send me back into the vision at once.”
Mercedes did not say anything but returned to the table and began stirring the ingredients again while chanting her incantation above them. A spiral of smoke burst out from inside the bowl and she fanned the smoke up to her face and nostrils, inhaling it.
“You must lie down on the floor and you cannot be near Bryn,” she warned me, and I nodded and obeyed her instructions.
As soon as the back of my head touched the floor, a piercing scream rent the otherwise quiet room. I sat bolt upright while turning to find Bryn’s eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth gaping open before another shrill scream left her lips.
I was instantly on my feet beside her, although I could not touch her as long as the flames continued to dance along her skin.
“Bryn!” I called to her.
“Bryn!” the queen repeated in quick succession. Jolie leaned over her sister but Randall pulled her away, clearly afraid she would get burned herself.
Bryn finally stopped screaming but her eyes remained wide, although they did not seem to be focused on anything or anyone. She merely stared up at the ceiling, and I could only wonder if she were seeing anything.
“Look!” the queen said as she pointed toward her sister. The flames that previously engulfed Bryn’s body suddenly vanished, leaving her skin only slightly redder than before. Holding my hand an inch or so above her arm, the heat continued to billow out from her. She was still smoldering and very hot.
“Bryn,” I said again, only this time, it was much softer. “Can you hear me?”
There was no response. I leaned down, trying to detect her heartbeat with my enhanced auditory ability. Her heart was racing!
Her skin began to cool, going from deep red to dark pink. Rows of small, hive-like welts started popping up all over her skin where the flames had recently erupted. When I touched her the second time, she was many degrees cooler.
“Mercedes!” I yelled as I turned around to face the woman. “We must hurry!”
“Bryn, can you hear me?” the queen asked as she faced her sister, tears filling her pale blue eyes before rolling down her cheeks.
Mercedes shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s too late.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded.
“Look at her!” Mercedes responded.
I glanced back at Bryn and saw she was looking at me! Her eyes were still huge with an expression of abject fear. But at least they seemed to be focusing now. On me.
“Bryn,” I crooned while tenderly placing my fingers on her pink cheek. “Did you find the flame?”
“Is she okay, Sinjin?” the queen asked after turning to me.
I could not respond because I did not know the answer. It was too soon for me to draw any conclusions. Facing Bryn again, I studied her more closely, trying to determine if she had wholly returned to us.
She just stared up at me, saying nothing.
“Bryn, I would like you to tell me that you can hear me, and that you understand what I am saying,” I said to her, taking her hand and holding it tightly. Her temperature had dropped to lukewarm, and she was bordering on feeling cold.
Her eyes searched mine, yet she said nothing. When I glanced up at Jolie, I instantly knew she had arrived at the same conclusion I did.
“Something is wrong!” the queen whispered as she shook her head. “Something’s wrong with her!”
Randall pulled Jolie away from her sister, and she buried her head into his chest and cried while he tried to comfort her. I glanced at Mercedes for an explanation.
“What could have happened?” I demanded.
“I don’t know yet, not for certain,” she started.
“Shall we assume she must have reached the flame?” I inquired while studying the prophetess. I was trying to ascertain if she knew more than she admitted.
“Yes,” she answered with some trepidation.
“Then?”
Mercedes shrugged. “We’ll have to thoroughly evaluate her. Bryn was subjected to the visionary state much longer than any of you. And you said the vision was shifting?”
“Yes, multiple times,” I answered.
Mercedes nodded. “With each shift, a rift in her thoughts would follow,” she said somewhat reluctantly.
“What does that even mean?” the queen demanded.
Mercedes faced her and took a deep breath. “Bryn expected the vision to go a certain way because that is how she first experienced it. When the vision changes, her mind fails to recognize it, which creates a rift in her consciousness because it confuses her mind and she does not know which reality is the true version.”
“What does that mean in layman terms?” Randall asked.
“It means that her brain is not certain of what is true and what is false,” Mercedes explained. “She could currently be caught in this stupor because her mind can’t decide if this is the visionary world or the real one.”
“You mean, she doesn’t know the difference between the dream world and this one?” the queen asked.
Mercedes nodded. “She could be experiencing something similar to that, yes, I’m afraid so.”
“Then is it too late for me to retrieve her and extract her from the vision?” I asked. For one of the few times in my many centuries on this earth, I was not entirely certain I fully comprehended the situation.
“I … I believe she’s already out,” Mercedes responded, but doubt plagued her eyes.
I continued to hold Bryn’s hand as I stared into her empty eyes. It was very eerie to see her that way.
“Will she eventually recover?” Jolie asked Mercedes.
“We can only hope so,” the prophetess answered. “At this point, anything is possible. Remember, she was exposed to the vision longer than either of you. And she also confronted Luce.”
“Could this be his fault?” Jolie asked.
“Perhaps,” Mercedes responded. “There’s no way of knowing what he could have done to mess up her mind and thinking.”
“Luce failed in his attempt to victimize her,” I deduced when Jolie faced me with worry and concern. “She protected herself from his influence with the flames,” I explained.
“Regardless, we should give her plenty of time to rest now. We have to allow her mind enough time for her to assimilate what happened before she can distinguish the difference between reality and virtual reality,” Mercedes announced.
Jolie sat down on the bed beside her sister and took her other hand. “I’m going to talk to her telepathically now through our connection,” she said as she faced me and the others in the room. I nodded to convey my agreement that it was a good idea. “Maybe she’s just having trouble speaking. She can tell me her thoughts with her mind.”
The queen stared down at her sister and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them and faced me, but her expression was nothing less than crestfallen.
“Nothing!” she exclaimed. “I told her how worried we were about her and asked her if she could hear me, but she never responded!”
When I glanced down at Bryn, I noticed she was still staring up at me. She never turned her head in her sister’s direction, which suggested that she hadn’t perceived the queen’s voice in her head. Perhaps she was suffering from a mental firewall of some kind.
“There is nothing more we can do for her right now,” Mercedes sighed. “She must use her mind and willpower to heal herself now.”
“There’s nothing any of us can do?” the queen repeated as she shook her head in defeat.
“First of all, she needs to rest,” Mathilda answered as she leaned down and kissed Bryn’s forehead. “She will come back to us when she’s fully rested and recovered,” she continued. “Never have I seen a braver nor str
onger woman.”
“And now, you should all get some rest too,” Mercedes stated as she blew the smoke away from her tincture and carried it across the room.
“I shall remain here so I can keep an eye on her,” I volunteered.
“Thank you, Sinjin,” the queen said. When she smiled up at me, her tears shone in her lovely eyes.
“If anything changes in her countenance or physical condition, you will be the first to know, my queen,” I replied with a nod before returning my attention to Bryn. Her eyes now seemed focused on the wall behind me.
Jolie faced Mercedes and Mathilda. “Please stay close by. If anything changes, we may need you both here at once.”
Mathilda ran her hand over Bryn’s arm. “Fight through this, Bryn,” she whispered, “and come back to all of us.”
Mercedes stopped at the bottom of the bed and addressed us. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up though, not yet.” She faced the queen and me, but her expression fell as soon as our eyes met. “There is also the very real possibility that too much damage might have already been done.”
“Or not,” I answered simply.
“The most important point for everyone to recognize and be grateful for is that the queen is safe,” Mercedes added as she faced Jolie. “The queen is more important to us.”
“My sister is equally important to me!” the queen retorted angrily.
“Whatever fate holds in store for her will be,” Mercedes finished as she strode toward the door, and Mathilda followed directly behind her.
“Your sister is very tough and cleverly resourceful,” I whispered to console the queen after Rand finally pried her away from Bryn. “She will return to us unharmed.”
“Thank you, Sinjin,” she said with a sad smile before her husband escorted her out.
***
Bryn
A dense fog rolled along the floor of the forest in my mind and I was left in silence. Kinloch Kirk was gone! It just disappeared. One second, I was running downstairs, heading towards the front doors, and the next, everything around me simply vanished.
Now, I didn’t have a single clue where I was. Surrounded by darkness, and nothing, I could only wonder if I still existed. Floating effortlessly in a vast sea of blackness, at first my fear overwhelmed me and wouldn’t let go. But after what felt like several hours, my original panic began to subside and my insatiable thirst for logic kicked in.