Stephanie Thomas - Lucidity Read online

  “No.” I look at the queen. “I’m not.”

  “She is ours until agreements are made.” The queen regally pulls back her shoulders to stand taller. Prouder.

  “You can’t do that.” Elan frowns. He stares at the queen, unimpressed with her.

  “I am the queen here, I can do as I please. And if you don’t watch your tongue, Seer, I will string you up at the end of a rope, just like you did with our people.”

  Elan shuts his mouth.

  “Enough,” Echo cuts in, the one word carrying weight and authority. “I brought Gabe here so that I could make Beatrice happy. And so I can heal him.”

  The queen suddenly turns to Echo. “You will do no such thing. It is too much of a risk.”

  “I don’t care, Mother. I am doing it for Beatrice.”

  “Doing what?” I don’t understand past the part where Echo mentions healing Gabe. The Dreamcatchers are known for their capability to heal, but is there some danger in healing a Seer that I don’t know about? Why doesn’t the queen want Echo to heal Gabe?

  The queen, furious now, gives Echo a disappointed look. “Get the Seers inside and secure them in a room. This circus is over. You and I will talk alone.” Without another word, she turns and goes back into the palace, guards following behind her. Most of them, though, surround us.

  Echo takes a deep breath and turns to me, Elan, and Brandon. “Let’s get you guys inside. There’s been enough of a show today.”

  Chapter 6

  “What is going on?” Elan asks as we are escorted into the palace. Echo and his mother have long since disappeared down the hallway, leaving us with a retinue of guards who won’t let Gabe, Brandon, or Elan go any further than the receiving room.

  A medical team is soon to arrive and they approach Gabe’s stretcher, which I’m standing beside, holding tightly to his hand. I don’t move for them, though it’s clear by the way they move around me that they expect me to. “What are you doing?”

  “We’ve been told to take the sick Seer to the healing center, Keeper,” a female Dreamcatcher responds. She is dressed in a white robe with the symbol of the healing hands embroidered over the left breast. She must be a healer, but it doesn’t mean I trust her any more than I do any other Dreamcatcher.

  “He’s not going anywhere without me,” I insist and step closer to the stretcher, even if there isn’t any more space to close between me and it.

  “They are our orders,” the male attendant adds.

  “And I am telling you no.”

  Elan and Brandon watch the exchange curiously, though Elan’s permanent frown is much more serious than Brandon’s expression.

  The two healers hesitate and trade glances with one another, as if speaking without using any words at all. It makes me wonder, if but for a moment, if Dreamcatchers could have that capability, and I realize that it’s not entirely impossible. They could be doing just that.

  Thankfully, though, Irene arrives and clears her throat to try and draw the attention to her.

  “Who is that?” Elan demands.

  Brandon crosses his thick arms over his chest and peers at the girl who seems half his size.

  “This is Irene. She’s one of my servants.” I realize how awkward that sounds only after I say it, and I shoot Elan a precursory glare. “Don’t say anything. She’s a very nice girl, and she and Jamie are the only neutral company I keep here.”

  “And what about Echo, hmm? You keep his company, too, don’t you?” Elan snaps.

  “Echo is different.”

  “Different in the way that you left us all here so that you could be with him? A Dreamcatcher?”

  I frown and hide the fact that it feels like Elan has punched me in my stomach with his words. And though Brandon doesn’t say anything now, I know by the way he’s regarding me that he feels just as betrayed. And if Gabe was awake? Would he feel this way too? Guiltily, I mutter, “You don’t understand.”

  “So you keep saying.” Elan isn’t taking it as an excuse.

  “And I will say more when we are in private. But this is not the time or the place, Elan. And I won’t have any more of it.” For the first time, I speak as the Keeper, holding all the authority in my words as the Keeper before me, no matter how jaded she turned out to be. And although I left the City behind, I know Elan still recognizes me in that role, as his mouth shuts and simply nods his head, gaze smoldering.

  I return my attention to Irene. “Did you have something to say, Irene?”

  The young woman curtsies and addresses us all as she speaks. “The queen would like to invite you to an audience in her throne room. She and our prince are waiting.”

  Looking down at Gabe, I brush his somewhat greasy hair back from his face and sigh. “Just as I get you back, I need to leave your side again. I’ll come back to you as soon as I can, Gabe.” And, even surrounded by all the Dreamcatchers who expect me to marry their prince, I kiss Gabe’s still mouth and allow for the healers to take him away just as soon as I stand up.

  “We shouldn’t keep them waiting, I suppose.”

  ***

  When we arrive to the throne room, the queen sits on the dais with Echo standing beside her. He looks at me apologetically, and I know right away that this isn’t going to turn out the way that I would want it to. Irene and Jamie are also present, standing at the side of the room, waiting solemnly in case they are needed.

  Brandon and Elan walk behind me, and with them, I feel more secure than I have before. I am no longer outnumbered, and I am less of a prisoner than I was the previous days. I stop a few feet in front of the throne and my robes ripple around me, eventually settling about my form.

  “My son, Echo, has taken many liberties as of late. Perhaps he has forgotten himself after his sister’s execution. Perhaps he has forgotten that we are not friends, that we are very much enemies still. We may have come together to eliminate the Beacon and rid ourselves of your corrupt Keeper, but the rift that was before still exists,” the queen begins in her smooth voice, her words drifting over us like a lullaby.

  Echo doesn’t speak, but I know he wants to. I can see it in the way he is keeping his gaze on me. I can see it in his tense posture that his mother has threatened him with something too great for him to beat on his own. Maybe it has to do with us. Or Gabe. I try to encourage Echo’s behavior with a slight nod of my head, and eventually, I give the queen the attention she so craves.

  “His first transgression was bringing the Keeper back to Aura, a city that has prided itself on rebuilding after a past Keeper had us indefinitely removed.” The queen’s silky hair drapes around her face, lending an ethereal presence along with the rest of her pale, milky features. She’s beautiful to look at, and it’s no wonder why Echo is so startlingly handsome as well.

  “His second transgression was taking the Keeper into the Settlements and leaving with a Seer child that should have been eliminated at birth. No mercy is shown to the Dreamcatcher children back in the City, and so no mercy should be shown here.”

  Echo shifts in his place, never taking his blue eyes from mine.

  “And his third transgression was bringing more Seers here with the intent to heal one of them as a gift to his future bride.” The queen pauses here, and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. “These things will not happen the way that Echo believes that they will.”

  “And what, exactly, does that mean?” I ask in a neutral tone, since the queen is not denying that they could happen. She’s only stating that they aren’t going to happen the way Echo wants them to. There’s still a chance to save Gabriel.

  “It means that there will be a price, Keeper. If you want the child returned to the City, if you want your friend healed, if these two,” she nods to Brandon and Elan, “ever want to see their home again, you will pay a price.”

  I try not to let it register that I would pay any price to save Gabe. I would pay any price to protect my people as well. I can’t let her know I am so desperate, and so I don’t respond and only
wait for her to continue.

  “Tomorrow,” the queen presses on, “you will marry my son. You will form an alliance between Aura and the City. You will agree that healthy Citizens will be transferred to Aura in order to replenish the sick that we will lose. You will bring forward an heir that has both the capabilities of a Seer and a Dreamcatcher, and it shall belong to Aura. Only then will we uphold the terms of sending the child and your friends back to the City, and of healing the dying Seer.”

  “Beatrice … ” Brandon starts in a whisper, and I turn to look at him, my mind reeling. Never before has the decision been so immediately important, and yet, if I just say “yes” everything can be fixed. Everything besides the fact that Gabe will never forgive me for marrying Echo. And I’d never forgive myself for breaking both his and Echo’s hearts.

  “What am I supposed to do?” I whisper back to him, turning my back on the queen. “He will die if I don’t do this. We all know that he won’t ever wake up again.”

  “And if you do do this?” Elan returns with the question I don’t want to think about. “What will you be giving up in order to save two people?” For once, Elan looks sympathetic, and he sighs, not knowing the answer himself. “I don’t know what you should do, Keeper.”

  “It’s true … that he won’t wake up. The doctors said as much back at the Institution. They mentioned that only the machines are keeping him alive right now.” Brandon lifts his gaze to Echo, staring at the Dreamcatcher prince with a certain wariness in his eyes. “But you will be married to him.”

  I bite on my lower lip. “Do you think Gabe would forgive me?”

  “You will be saving his life … how could he not forgive you?” Brandon replies, and he is right. A marriage is so small compared to Gabe’s life. How could he hold it against me? I know the choice I have to make.

  I have to marry Echo.

  Turning back to face the queen and her son, I lift my chin and state very clearly, “I will take you up on your terms. Tomorrow, I will marry Prince Echo in exchange for Gabe’s life. But,” I narrow my violet eyes at them both, “if Gabe’s life cannot be saved, then the whole thing is off.”

  “Very well, Keeper.” The queen smiles pleasantly. “We have a deal.”

  From the side of the room, Irene claps her hands in excitement, having no idea what this means to me. My chest feels tight, like I’m being squeezed between something too great for me to escape. I’ve placed myself in a trap, and I’ve done it for no other reason than to save Gabe.

  Brandon puts his hand on my shoulder, as if knowing the very thoughts that run through my head. I lean back against his touch, suddenly feeling dizzy from all of the pressure. My head is beginning to throb again, and I know another Vision is materializing.

  Echo can see it too. “Beatrice, are you okay?”

  “I need to go back to my room. If you’ll all excuse me.” I murmur the words and start toward the exit to the hallway. Brandon and Elan both follow along, but the guards are quick to stop them at the door.

  “Let them go,” the queen instructs with that serene smile still pulling at her lips. “They are no threat to us.”

  She is right. The Dreamcatchers are more a threat to us than we are to them. They could, if they really wanted to, kill us with just a touch. But they can also heal us with just a touch as well, and it’s the latter I’m more concerned about.

  Elan and Brandon stay close behind me as I hurry through the halls and back to Paradigm’s room. Jamie and Irene are not too far behind. I need to get away from everyone before the next Vision comes; judging by the headache alone, it’s not going to be easy to bear.

  I round the corner and push open the door to my room. Once I am inside, I put my hands to my head and sink down onto the floor as the Vision takes control of me. Ever since becoming the Keeper, they’ve been much more frequent and harder to withstand. They leave me exhausted when they pass, and sometimes I wonder if I will ever recover from the throbbing headaches that follow.

  Brandon rushes to my side. “Beatrice, are you okay?”

  But his words seem miles away, and I lose grip of the world around me.

  ***

  I am lying in a bed, and nurses are hovering around me, as if I can’t see or hear them. But I can see and hear them, and when I try to speak, to let them know, they can’t hear me. They are Dreamcatcher nurses, with their white robes and the healing hands symbol marking them as such.

  “So what are we supposed to do with him?”

  “Nothing, yet. Our orders were to bring him here and keep him stable.”

  “I don’t see why we should be helping the Seers at all. Since when have we become a bunch of Seer-lovers in the first place?”

  “It’s the prince,” the one female nurse whispers to the other and looks around to make sure no one else is listening. “He’s so taken by that Keeper that nothing he is doing makes any sense anymore.”

  “And just think. If he never would have Caught that Keeper, we probably would still have our princess, too. She would have never tried to stop him by killing her.”

  I open my mouth to try and speak again, but my mouth doesn’t move at all, and I’m stuck lying there, unable to move. It occurs to me that I am Seeing through Gabe, and that these nurses around me must be the nurses that are currently around him. It’s a new sort of Sight, one that I’ve not had before. I wonder if it means Gabe really can hear what is going on around him. Could that part of it be true?

  “Prince Echo is normally a very sensible young man. There really must be something about that Keeper that has changed him so much.”

  “And now look … we’re stuck healing those Seers as if they were our own. It’s ridiculous. I should refuse to do it.”

  “We should. Who would know any better if we just ended him now and said that it was just too late?”

  ***

  “I would know!” I shout with a start, grabbing whatever is close by to me, which just so happens to be Elan.

  With a shove, he scrambles away from me and frowns. “Keeper?”

  “It’s Gabe. They want to hurt Gabe. Kill him even.” I try to push myself to my feet, but the force of the headache behind my eyes brings me back to the ground again.

  “Calm down, Bea. You need to rest.” Brandon urges me to stay down with a gentle nudge, guiding me to the floor once more.

  “Who is going to kill Gabe?” Elan is more practical in times of crises. Where I just want to react, he wants to plan, and it doesn’t surprise me when he starts to pry for details. “What are you talking about?”

  “In my Vision. It was Gabe’s Vision … or … it was something. I was in his body. I could see and hear the nurses around me, but I couldn’t speak, and they didn’t seem to know I could see or hear them. They said that they were going to kill me. That no one would know any better.” I swallow back tears, not knowing if this is really going to happen or not. But with my Vision, it’s very likely. I’m not the Keeper for nothing.

  “Irene? Jamie?” I call for the serving girls since I’m too weak to get to the intercom myself. They both appear no sooner after their names leave my mouth.

  “Yes, Keeper?”

  “Please tell Echo to bring Gabe back. I want him here with me, where I can keep an eye on him. And hurry.” I grab one of their hems. “I mean it … hurry.”

  “Yes, Keeper,” they both reply in unison and scramble out.

  I go back to holding my head, resting it against one of Brandon’s broad shoulders. “They hurt so much now … and in the last few days I’ve had at least two Visions. They were both of something different … first of Gabe … then of the Citizens in the Camp, and now this … ”

  “What do you think they mean?” Brandon brushes my hair back out of my face. “You know, don’t you?”

  But I don’t know. How do I tell them I don’t know when I’m supposed to be the Keeper, and the Keeper should know these things? “I have to think on them a little more. They seem so obvious, but it’s the obviousness tha
t makes me feel as if it’s something much more complicated than what I think.” This time, I pull myself up to my feet, using one of the nearby side tables to assist me. Once I am up, I stumble over to the vanity table and pull the bench out. Once seated, I look back up at my friends and regard them each for a moment. Now that we are truly alone, I can pull my thoughts together enough to process that they are actually with me.

  “I am so glad to have you both here. Everything has been so … so strange.”

  “You could just come home, you know,” Elan says as they both take a seat on the edge of my bed. “Though, it seems like that’s less of a possibility now, given the current situation.” His mouth turns downward into another frown. “What are you going to do about this, Keeper? Marrying a Dreamcatcher? The people back in the City are going to flip out once they hear about it.”

  “Then maybe they shouldn’t hear about it just yet, hmm?” I shoot back expectantly. “In fact, they won’t hear about it. That’s an order. When you guys go home, you aren’t to say anything to anyone about any deals made with the Dreamcatcher Queen. Not yet, at least. There’s still much that I have to figure out, but I’ll make this right. I will.” I have to. If I’m to be Echo’s bride, and if I’m to send off hundreds of Citizens in order to save Gabe’s life, there has to be a way to turn this to my advantage. Our advantage.

  “As you wish, Keeper,” Elan mutters. “I’m not thrilled with having to keep secrets from the City though.”

  “But you will,” I am quick to add. “Because I told you to. The Institution was built on secrets, Elan. One more isn’t going to hurt it.”

  We all glance up at the doors when someone knocks. “Who is it?” I call, hoping with all my heart that it’s the healers delivering Gabe back to me.

  “It’s Echo. Can I come in?”

  I turn to look into the mirror, quickly pulling on my hair to straighten it so it doesn’t look like I just took a tumble to the ground. Not that I have to be presentable for Echo, but, part of me knows I should be. He’s always so presentable to me. “Yes, come in.”

  The presence of Echo brings an intensity with it. Elan and Brandon tense, not used to being so close to a Dreamcatcher, or for a Dreamcatcher to be so close to me. The prince strolls over to where I’m seated and looks down into my eyes. “You had another Vision.”