As I slept, someone tried to talk to me.
I wanted to talk to him.
Something stopped me.
It was another cloud, like before. Like the prison that Brade had put around me. Though…it felt different. Like a march set to different words. Same sounds. New song.
I fought through it, but no matter which way I turned, I got lost. I tried telling myself that none of this was real, that there were no places here. Nowhere to go. I merely had to…make myself be somewhere else…
It was hard to think through this fog.
“Spensa?” Jorgen’s voice. “Spensa, I can feel you.”
I…I can’t feel you…
“You seem distant. Why? What is wrong?”
I’m lost.
“I can barely hear you. What was that?”
Lost…
“Spensa, things are tough right now. I… Everyone is looking to me for answers. I could use someone to talk to.”
He needed me. That need made the haze thinner, and I thought I saw the way. I moved toward it, but each footstep was sluggish. I was lost. Hadn’t I been…warned…about that?
But I was tired.
Just. So. Tired.
Moments later, I was asleep.
