It was hour 22,215 into my enforced lesson in sleep deprivation. At least it felt like hour 22,215. In truth, I'd completely lost track of where we were in the 72-hour period. I just knew I was miserable. My limbs ached and burned, muscles jumping and jerking beneath my skin. My eyes felt like they'd been pierced by tiny slivers of glass, making every blink a lesson in abject discomfort and under the assault of the overhead light in the kitchen, I was blinking a lot.

"It's all your fault, you know."

I looked up at the sound of the whiskey-raw voice and saw my mother, Sofia, sitting across the table from me. "My fault? But I didn't do anything." My words sounded funny to my ears. "I didn't…"

"You exist."

"But…"

"I should have smothered you when you were just a little monster. I had many an opportunity. I'd stand over your crib, you know, and think about it—even grabbed a pillow a time or two. If I'd rid the world of you as I should've, my beloved firstborn son wouldn't be in mortal danger right now."

I looked at her oddly. When we were growing up, she'd never really treated Nik anymore beloved than she treated me—with the exception of sparing him the heavy-handed, often physical, discipline she preferred to dole out solely to me—but she looked so solemn and sincere, her shiny, dark ringlets cascading past her shoulders and eyes luminous, I found myself nodding in agreement. "You're right. Niko would be much better off if I didn't exist. He'd have a college degree. A good life. Instead of being stuck with me—a millstone around his neck."

"Cal? Who are you talking to?"

I jumped at the sound of my brother's voice and glanced over to where he stood in the doorway. When I shifted my gaze back across the table, Sofia was gone.

"Sofia. Didn't you see her sitting right there?"

Niko's eyebrows dived toward his Romanesque nose as he frowned in concern. I hated that I'd put that look of worry, along with lines of exhaustion of his own, on his face once again and thought about the truth of my words in response to Sofia moments ago.

"I've told you before, little brother, you are not a burden to me. A perpetual pain-in-the-ass—I'll grant you that." He dared to ruffle my dark hair. "But never a burden."

Goodfellow ghosted into the room behind my brother. "What's going on?"

"Cal was hallucinating about, and conversing with, our dead mother."

I opened my mouth and was about to protest when a flicker of movement caught my attention. I turned my head slightly and froze. My father, in all his monstrous Auphe glory, was crouched on the table before me. Skin so pale as to be translucent stretched taut over his narrow, sharp-chinned face. Stringy strands of hair so long they dusted the table top as he nodded his head just slightly. "Miiiine," he hissed and whistled around keen-edged teeth. His eyes, a deep, endless ruby, glowed with an unholy glee. "Boy. Mine. Forever." He smiled so wide I could count every single needle-pointed tooth.

I wanted to run—wanted to push the chair back and haul ass as fast and far away as my socked feet could take me. But I couldn't seem to move. My whole body felt as heavy as lead. I wanted to hide somewhere—anywhere—but that whole idea was hampered by my complete paralysis. When those long, tapered claws reached for me, I did the only thing I could—I closed my eyes.

Strong hands settled on my shoulders. "Lemme go!" I struggled against the hold, tried to stand, tried to escape, batted ineffectually at the restraint. "Lemme go!" I panted, heartbeat thumping wildly in my chest.

"Cal—it's okay—it's OKAY! There's nothing here! I swear to you there's nothing here!"

It was the soothing, protective voice more so than the words penetrated my panic. I slowly opened my eyes, blinked our drab little kitchen into focus to find Robin and Niko staring at me. A flush of embarrassment rose in my cheeks. My gaze locked on my sock-covered toes. "Sorry." The word was a mumbled whisper.

Warm fingers lifted my chin until my gaze coincided with Nik's. "It's not your fault."

I pulled away from his hold, unwilling to accept his words.

Robin, who had remained quiet till then, finally spoke. "Niko, I think—I think the Dream Weaver is luring him toward sleep. I can't say with certainty that I'm correct nor how it's doing so but now might be a good time to make a tea with those stimulants I brought. We've got another ten hours."

Nik looked less than happy as he boiled water and filled a stainless-steel tea ball with the weedy-looking stuff in the plastic bag. Five minutes later, he sat a cup before me containing the acrid-smelling "tea".

I picked up the cup, my hand shaking so badly some of the pale liquid cascaded over the sides and splashed on the table. I sipped the hot brew, felt my taste buds and throat rebel at the unpleasant taste. I coughed before trying again. The taste was still horrid, but I downed the drink with determination.

The effects were almost instantaneous. While my mind remained generally foggy with fatigue, my body got a jump start. Antsy, edgy, skittish—all were too tame to describe how I started to feel. Was there such a thing as pathologically jittery? If so, those two words quickly came to describe me to a tee. I don't remember much of the next ten hours beyond another two cups of "tea" and the feeling that my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. Niko later told me I spent almost the entire time pacing like a caged tiger, answering innumerable questions no one asked, arguing with nonexistent persons if not the walls themselves and generally driving my brother to distraction. Based on the gleam in his eyes when he eventually shared this information with me, I figured it was probably a good thing I didn't remember any of it.

Hours later, a knock at the door brought Goodfellow and Nik to their feet and me to a grinding halt mid-pace. Robin hurried to answer the door, looking about as freaked out as I'd ever seen him to that point. He returned moments later with a petite, ethereal brunette in tow. Dressed in a swirl of white and silver, she seemed to glow. "Gentlemen, this is Ealasaid. She's going to help us defeat the Dream Weaver. Ealasaid, this is Niko and Cal Leandros."

Her jade eyes glimmered with merriment and something far more mysterious. They briefly rested on Niko before zeroing in on me. She smiled. "'Tis my pleasure, boys. Now that the introductions are out of the way, what say we get to work and bring this ghastly beastie to his knees."

TBC…