The horrible sensation filled Rephaim's body and mind. Now that his mind was his own again, pain was all he knew. Then it ended. He was human again. He pulled the clothes he had left under the tree on and sat down under it. She would be here to meet him soon. She always did.
The thought of Stevie Rae brought a pained smile to his face. There was no doubt that he loved her. She was his Red One. And he knew with certainty that she loved him. Yet, lately, his mind had been plagued with doubt. He didn't doubt his decision. He would never regret turning to Nyx and happiness in place of darkness and hate. He did, however, doubt himself.
It had been less than a fortnight since Dragon Lankford had sacrificed himself for Rephaim. Rephaim was worried, knowing that, though he was a boy during the day, a part of the Raven Mocker he had once been still lived inside of him. He didn't know if he would always stay on Nyx's path. Not while the Raven Mocker threatened so near the surface.
He was terrified that he would break his oath, and Stevie Rae's heart, and face the wrath of the Goddess.
Stevie Rae still wasn't there. She ran late from time to time.
Before he knew it, he found himself nodding off with his back to the tree. A nap wouldn't kill him. Stevie Rae would wake him up when she got there anyway. He sank into blissful oblivion.
A voice in the darkness caught his ear. A familiar voice. A voice he had heard before in a miraculous apparition. He would always recognize his Goddess's voice. "Witness in silence, my son," she whispered to his heart.
The darkness evaporated, giving way to a disorienting scene. He saw many people sitting on two sides of a long aisle. He recognized many faces: the Prophetess Aphrodite and her warrior Darius, Damien Maslin, Erik Night, Shaylin Ruede, and several red fledglings whose faces Rephaim knew, but not their names. There were also unfamiliar faces, like the blonde woman crying happy tears on the very front row.
His attention was then drawn to the front. He saw Thanatos, the High Priestess with an affinity for Death, standing next to . . . Rephaim. "That's strange," thought Rephaim. "Usually when I dream, it is through my eyes that I witness everything." The dream Rephaim was smiling softly.
Soft music started to play and everyone looked toward the back of the aisle in expectation.
Three girls walked forward, all dressed in green dresses. Rephaim recognized them. Zoey Redbird, the fledgling High Priestess; Shaunee Cole, with a beautiful, filled in sapphire mark and tattoos like flames dancing around her brow; and Kramisha, the Red Vampire Poet Laureate, also with a completed and added to mark, but in crimson.
A fanfare sounded in the music and everyone stood as Stevie Rae made her way down the aisle. She looked absolutely stunning in a white, silk dress, her blue eyes sparkling behind a thin veil. It was a credit to her beauty that Rephaim noticed Stevie Rae before he noticed his winged father walking with her arm in arm.
Rephaim was astonished for a moment, then disregarded the feeling. It was only a dream after all.
Stevie Rae and Kalona reached the end of the aisle where the dream Rephaim waited. Stevie Rae hugged Kalona as he kissed her cheek, then stood in front of the dream Rephaim, smiling broadly.
Her radiant smile was the last thing Rephaim saw before the scene dissolved to be replaced by another.
Stevie Rae was here again. She was washing dishes in a small kitchen while the dream Rephaim played with her curly hair. "I guess even in dreams I can't get over my love of her hair," Rephaim thought to himself. Stevie Rae was humming an unrecognizable, yet familiar tune. The dream Rephaim's eyes closed. He sighed contentedly and kissed Stevie Rae's cheek.
The kitchen door opened and the crying woman from the first scene walked in carrying a strange little child. That the girl was beautiful there was no doubt. She had long, curly black hair and blue eyes. But there was a crimson outline of a crescent moon on her forehead. No child so young could have such a mark. Yet there it was upon a child who couldn't have been more than four or five years old.
"Mama!" Stevie Rae exclaimed excitedly. "And Valarie!"
Stevie Rae's mother smiled. "She missed her Mama and Papa. Been asking for you all day."
Stevie Rae lifted her arms to the strange little girl, who jumped from her grandmother's to her mother's arms.
"I gotta be gettin' back home," said Stevie Rae's mother. She hugged her daughter. "I'll see you tomorrow, hun." Then she left.
Stevie Rae turned to the dream Rephaim and smiled. He smiled back and took her in his arms. He put his lips to the child's forehead, right on her mark, and kissed her. Valarie. His daughter.
Nyx's voice spoke again for the first time since the start of the dream. "Remember, my son, there is happiness in following my path, just as there is misery in going astray."
With these parting words Rephaim woke up. Stevie Rae was watching him, smiling. "You looked like you were havin' a good dream. I didn't wanna disturb ya."
Rephaim looked into her bright, blue eyes and tried to recall his dream, but he just couldn't. "I do not remember my dream," he told her honestly.
"It musta been good. You looked mighty content."
Rephaim took note of the peaceful feeling in his heart, which had been turmoil before he had fallen asleep. "Yes. It must have been."
He stood up and grabbed Stevie Rae's hand in his own. He kissed her lips softly. "I love you, Stevie Rae," he said.
She smiled. "I love you too, Rephaim."
And, hand in hand, they walked back toward the depot.
Rephaim couldn't remember his dream or why he had felt so happy. But if there was one thing he knew, it was this: He felt confident that he could stay on the Goddess's path if Stevie Rae, his Red One, always remained by his side.