Chapter 4.4

That night we all slept in Alex's room, it was the closest to the stairs and neither of us felt comfortable sleeping spread out throughout the house. It was strange, it was my home, but it felt different. It was calm, but it didn't feel safe anymore, for that matter, neither did anywhere. I remember feeling like that when I slept on the floor next to Rickon's bed, with only a rag blanket. But this time I had friends and something to lose.

I tried not to think about Alex, but that made me feel a little guilty. Theo took the bed even when she tried to insist I take it, she finally relented when I told her I slept better on the floor anyway. Tommy curled up at the foot of the bed, and I stretched out near to doorway, wrapped in a fluffy duvet taken from my bed.

Just before we went to sleep, Theo handed me a bottle, "I found some medicine in the cupboard." it was a few years old and meant for children who couldn't swallow tablets. I remember because a few years ago Alex got sick but refused to take any tablets and claimed he couldn't swallow them. I made fun of him at the time. The memory made my stomach twist uncomfortably, and it must have shown on my expression because Theo's eyebrows knitted with concern "are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I was just remembering something."

She nodded like she knew exactly what I was remembering. I tried to shake away the uneasy feeling and took a swig out of the bottle. I thought later, maybe it was a bad idea to take out of date medicine because I had another strange dream.

The sky was red, and I knew immediately I was in the shadow realm. Although I didn't recognise my surroundings, I couldn't see the blue tipped mountains, fields of cat tailed grass or the lake I saw on my last trip there. Instead, I was surrounded by sandy rocks and the sun bore down on me. I squinted against the light and surveyed my surroundings. I appeared to be in a sort of dried-up ravine, the ground was so dry that the floor had massive dark cracks in it. Above, there were trees, only they didn't have any lush green leaves, they were dehydrated carcases that hardily offered any shelter at all. They jutted out of the sides of the ravine, like broken teeth.

"Shadow!" I called, but my throat was dry with the scorching heat, and it came out more of a croak. I wandered down the ravine, searching in the shadows for my overgrown protector. First, I noticed the bush, it was ash green, but the fruit it bore was bright yellow with green pustules, it was rounded at the top, while the bottom appeared to have multiple tendrils or tails. It was the only other living thing around. Then I noticed Shadow below it, clinging to the ravine wall like some overgrown spider and reaching out to pick one. I watched him carefully select a fruit (which was the ugliest fruit I have ever seen) and cautiously descended. Once on solid floor, he presented me with the fruit- which smelt. It smelt bad.

My throat ached and itched, and the prospect of eating something so gross looking and putrid smelling made my stomach twist in knots. I shook my head, but he shakes the fruit in front of my face, flicking tiny bits of foul-smelling juice in my face. I gently push his arm out my face. "I'm not eating that." I told him, and his arms drop to his side, his shoulders stiff. I think maybe he got annoyed, but I wasn't going to eat such a suspicious-looking fruit from an alternative plane! He let the fruit drop, and it splattered on the ground, sending large pieces of flesh askew. The sound echoed through the ravine, and an uneasy feeling settled in my bones. The echoes got louder and distorted, until I wasn't sure what I was hearing, and then I felt someone shaking me, urgently.

My mind ripped from the dream, and after a second of confusion, I snapped back to reality. Theo's face was next to mine and her eyes were wide and frightened. Behind her Tommy crotched, like he was ready to pounce. Downstairs, I could hear people moving about and yelling. They sounded Garlantian but I could hear what they were saying.

"Where did you leave the map?" She whispered.

Shit. My look of dread communicated all I needed to, and her expression dropped even further. "Shadow will get it." I whispered.

She nodded tensely. I summoned Shadow, and he seemed to know my intentions as he glided part and crept down the stairs.

With each crash and shout, my muscles tightened, and my heart sped up. They weren't meant to be checking this part of the district yet, did they follow us? No, they would have got here much earlier if they were. They were tearing downstairs apart; I could hear things smashing and furniture being pulled over. Were they looking for something? Did they know Sean lived here? Is that why they were here? I prayed over and over that Shadow managed to get the map before they found it. I quietly pulled the duvet off and slung my rucksack on my shoulder, ready to leave. The others had done the same, and we were just waiting for Shadow to reappear, staring intently at the top of the stairs. Theo too, even though she couldn't see him. Then a dark misty head popped up from the stairwell, and relief eased through my body, especially when I saw he had the map. We gently eased open the window and one after the other lowered ourselves down so that we hung from the windowsill and dropped lightly onto the grass below. Theo went first, then Tommy, and finally, giving one last look at the house that became my home, I followed.