Aster: She was stuck, with no idea how to get out. For just one split second, before he dragged her into the light, she glanced over her shoulder, hoping to get one last glimpse of her mother and brother. When she looked back Declan was gone and so was the beach. Aster stood rooted, a thin trickle of fear running through her. She was stuck in a dream with no idea how to get out. She had nowhere to go, because there wasn’t anywhere to go. She was trapped in nothingness. She tried to conjure up the lost beach, but now that she knew it was nothing but a hallucination, it was impossible. Her brain wouldn’t believe it, so she couldn’t make it happen. Her world was nothing but deafening silence and the bright light. It was peaceful for a while, but then she slowly started to lose her mind. With nothing to do, no one to talk to….Declan was right – with or without the beach, she would have lost her shit eventually. Punching at the void, she screamed

Aster:Aster looked around the little room, a small frown on her face. Her bed stood against the wall in the corner. Next to that was an uncomfortable looking steel chair. The rough walls were painted an uninspiring white, but like the dungeon at the old estate, this place was damp and slightly mouldy. At least they tried to keep it clean. There was no accumulated dirt or dust that she could see.Against the opposite wall was a small dresser and another door. She opened the top drawer of the dresser first – nothing but a few t-shirts and leggings, exactly like the ones she had on. The door led to a small bathroom with a shower, basin, and toilet.That was it. There were no windows, no carpet, or even an area rug -- the floors were nothing more than smooth, grey stone. Even the cot that had been her bed for seven years had nothing but a simple, white sheet on it.Sighing, she sat back down, running her hands over the fabric. It remin

Aster: “Can you fly?” Eros asked. Aster nodded, and he let go of her. For a heart stopping moment, she dropped like a stone, then remembered what Joel had taught her, “Just imagine you’re floating in a big swimming pool,” he had said. She relaxed, and immediately shot right back up. Bopping in one spot was easy, going in a specific direction wasn’t. Eros showed her how to flip herself from vertical to horizontal without flopping around light a wingless bird, and taught her how to control the direction she wanted to go in by slightly alternating her body’s position. After about half an hour in the air, she had the general idea and easily followed him. He took her to the peak of the mountain, and caught her as went past, missing the landing spot, and heading straight for a gorge.  “It takes a while to get your eye in,” he said, smiling. “Thank you,” she grinned sheepishly, and looked out over the valley below, in the direct

Declan – part two: Declan jerked awake. Inhaling sharply, he sat bold upright. It was the middle of the day, and while the curtains were drawn, and the shutters closed, it was still difficult to see through the red fog. The usual ‘daylight troubles’ as Eros liked to call it, plagued him – pounding head and aching body. He had no idea what woke him…the only time he ever woke during the day’s rest was if someone forcefully woke him, but apart from Cassidy sleeping next to him, there was no one else in the room. Frowning, he lay back down, staring at the ceiling. His eyes were just about to close again, when a feeling of fear and panic hit him right in the chest. “Christ--” he sat up --“Aster.” She was rarely afraid – the last time he felt this kind of fear from her was the night the Lincoln clan attacked them, and even then, she didn’t panic, because she instinctively knew that her family would come. Groaning, he put his hands over his face, an

Declan: Declan watched Cassidy sleep. She was up all day, turning the house upside down looking for him. After the way he had left, he didn’t blame her. She sometimes forgot that it was nearly impossible for him to die, and that which could kill her, couldn’t kill him. She thought he had crawled off to die somewhere alone, like a sick dog. The relief when she saw him alive was such that she cried for hours while he held her. He had never seen her so upset, and he suspected as the war went on he would see more of it – her sunny, joyful exterior was nothing but a thin veneer for the deep fear she must have felt every waking moment. Once, he reached out to feel how Aster was coping…she was extremely frustrated, which he expected – learning how to use her gifts wasn’t going to be easy. Then he blocked her out again. He honestly thought he’d be ecstatic when she woke up, and for a split second when she said his name again after seven years