**Hello readers. I have no links today, but I am asking a question... Sort of. I try to add some realistic traits to characters, and realistic scenarios within the story. I try to keep in mind that this is a fantasy, so I add aspects of that in as well...

How am I doing? Does it flow well? Is the pace too fast? Slow? All over the place? Like it? Dislike it? Why?

Whether it's good or bad, this feedback will help me become a better writer. One day I want to publish books, so this is a good practice ground. I won't have headers like this in real books, I'll only have reviews from real critics.

So any feedback is appreciated!

Enjoy Chapter 28! :)**

Chapter 28: In the Castle

Hiro was asleep. She felt her mind drifting, and this familiar feeling wash over her.

She sat up, and she was in the castle. Eiji was with her.

"This again?" He asked. "It's like we're where we left off..."

Hiro looked around. "Where are we? Is this place real or not?"

Eiji looked at her. "I'm starting to get a feeling that this is more real than we first thought."

Hiro looked around the room. It was dark, and there wasn't much light coming in because the windows were all boarded off.

Hiro looked up. "I wonder if I could..."

She jumped, and flew upward.

"How did you do that!?" Eiji gaped.

"I just DID!" Hiro exclaimed. "Eiji, you have to try this! It's awesome!"

He jumped, but he jumped normally.

"I...I can't." He said.

She sighed. "Yes you can! You have to know you can, I think that's how it works!"

Eiji looked up. "Yeah... Let's try again."

If she can jump, then I can FLY!

He floated up, and laid down on the air next to her. His position was relaxed, and he held his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, check this out!"

Hiro laughed. "Wow, you're such a show off!"

He grinned. "Maybe just a little..."

She smiled. "Help me get these boards off, can you?"

He nodded.

They started pulling all of the boards off of the windows, and lighting up the castle's interior.

They floated back down.

"It still looks a little dull..." Said Hiro.

Eiji looked at the walls. "Look, there are candles on the walls. We could light those!"

Hiro looked at him. "With what, Eiji?"

He grinned. He held out his hands, and the candles lit.

"By being more creative than you!" He laughed.

She smirked. "Oh yeah? Watch this!"

Chandeliers formed on the ceiling, and brightened up the whole place.

"This is awesome!" Eiji exclaimed.

Hiro looked ahead. "Eiji... Look at that."

He did, and saw a set of stairs going down. The path was lit by torches.

"Was this here before?" She asked.

He shook his head. "I don't think so..."

They walked down the torchlit path. A trap door closed behind them.

They looked back. "I'm starting to get kind of creeper out." Said Hiro.

"No kidding." Said Eiji. "Should we just stay here?"

Hiro shook her head. "I think we have to move forward. There are lots of rules we make, but I guess there are some basic ones we have to follow. That's what I'm picking up on..."

Eiji nodded. "Alright then."

They moved forward, and saw a bright and beautiful room in front of them.

They ran in, and their sight went dark.

They grabbed on to each other.

"I can't see!" Eiji exclaimed.

"Yeah, neither can I!" Hiro replied.

They walked around. Hiro noticed something.

"Eiji, the floor looked like marble when we saw it, but it feels like dirt."

He shuffled his feet. "You're right, it does."

Hiro felt a wall, it was stone...

There was a hole. She traced her hand around it.

Clawed hands shot out of the hole, and grabbed her, cutting up her hand.

She let out a painful yelp, and pulled back.

"What happened!?" Eiji exclaimed.

"I-I don't know!" She replied. "But my hand hurts, don't touch the walls! Why aren't we waking up!?"

"That's a good question!" He said, he sounded scared.

They heard a grumble in the room.

Hiro woke up.

She looked at her hand... It was bloody, and all torn up.

She turned pale.

"It's... It's real..."

She jumped as the door cracked open.

"It's just me." Said Eiji.

She sighed. Then she got slightly dizzy.

"Uh oh..."

She turned the lights on, and quickly wrapped hear hand with a spare T shirt.

Eiji gaped. "Hiro! Your hand! So..."

He went pale. "These dreams are real..."

She nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah... We could really get hurt in this. Did you hear the growling...?"

His breath was trembling. "Yes.. I.. I did. What's going to happen Hiro? It's still dark out..."

She shook her head. "I don't think the dreams happen twice in one night... But I still don't want to go back to sleep."

She felt another wave of dizziness. Blood was soaking through the T shirt, and the bleeding wouldn't stop.

She fell to her knees.

"What's happening...?"

Eiji ran up to her. "Hiro, the bleeding hasn't stopped. We have to tell our parents."

"Th-They'll never believe us..." She said.

He looked at her hand. "Well, they'd better. Stay there, I'm getting them now."

Hiro waited, and watched as the blood dripped from the soaked T shirt.

Her eyes felt heavy, and she didn't notice the amount of blood soaking the carpet...

"See! I'm not lying! It wasn't JUST a bad dream, those aren't normal dreams!"

Her head bobbed back and forth.

"Wow... What the...? It hasn't stopped yet."

She saw her dad, and Kahn in front of her. Kahn tried to heal her.

"Why is it taking so long!?" Kuhn exclaimed.

"I don't know." Said Kahn. "It seems to be the work of an anticoagulant."

Shisuta took samples of the fallen blood.

"That is a nasty one alright!" She exclaimed.

She concocted an antidote, and handed Kahn that, plus a serum.

"Here, do it quickly."

They injected both an antidote, and the serum. Her eyes felt more awake.

She looked around, and saw all of that blood...

Something triggered, and she started shaking. She closed her eyes, and couldn't move.

She had never seen so much blood... Even when she'd broken her arm, the skin stretched, but didn't bust. Eiji's blood mess was cleaned up before she saw it. She had hardly noticed the small amount then. Even in the pit, she was never exposed to much of it.

She realized that all of the times she had shed blood, she didn't really remember any of it.

She remembered the aftermath of the pub, and she ran from that.

She was surrounded by it now...

Blood...

Blood!

SO MUCH BLOOD!

She was shaking heavily.

"B...Blood... S-So much... Blood!"

"Hiro... Calm down..." Said Shisuta.

"I can't!" She yelled. "Just get it AWAY!"

"Open your eyes Hiro..." Said Eiji.

She shook her head sharply.

"You'll only see me, I promise..." He said.

Her eyes squinted open, then focused.

He stood with her, leading her out of the room.

"Hemophobia." Said Shisuta. "An intense fear of blood."

Eiji's eyes had relaxed her, and he had already finished cleaning the blood off of her.

She sighed. "Sorry about that..."

He shook his head. "No, it's no problem..."

He gave her soft kisses on the lips.

He looked down. "These dreams... What do we do?"

She sighed. "Let me think. The next time we go in, that grumble... Whatever it was, it will probably want to hurt us. We need to find the next place, and then I can find a pattern. The third place might determine a pattern, because it's an odd number, and only two things have happened."

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I might be wrong." She said. "But I think the next place will be nice like the first one. Even patterns will always repeat on an odd number, that's what I'm saying. I have a feeling, that's all."

"What about an odd pattern?" He asked.

"The opposite." She said. "It repeats on an even number. I'm getting an even pattern vibe from this though..."

"Maybe there's not a pattern." He said.

She looked at him. "There is ALWAYS a pattern. In any case, we'll find out next time we sleep."

He shivered. "Yeah... IF we find out."

He had a point. If they died in the dream, they'd never find out, because they'd die. Hiro had a feeling that if they died in the dream, it was bad. Worse than bad.

I don't know what this is, but I'm finding out. We won't die, I'll make sure of it.