"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Adira was getting used to the loud buzz of the cell doors. The sound no longer made her shrivel back into the dark corners of her new home. Instead, she stood at the bars, waiting for them to slide open.

Ryder met her out in the corridor, his wheat-colored hair wild on his head. His eyes sparkled when they met Adira's making her cheeks flush with color. They had stayed up the rest of the night whispering through the bars of their cells of their pasts and pointless hopes for their futures. She learned all about his headstrong sister, Marina, who Ryder prayed to the Stars wasn't making any stupid decisions. He hoped their friend Colson was taking care of her, but he wasn't too sure after he had separated himself from them.

Adira was thankful Ryder had woken her from her dream the night before. It wasn't a nightmare, but every time afterwards, she was left with this pit in her stomach. The dreams felt too real, like they actually happened.

Soren's face rarely left her mind during the days after. There was something about him that drew her to him, something broken inside of him that longed to be fixed. Who was he? And why was he in her dreams?

You keep seeing me because I want you to see me.

Adira couldn't help but think there was a deeper meaning to those words than she thought. She was beginning to believe that he wasn't just a dream – that somewhere out in the vast world of Evaros, he was there dreaming along with her.

"Sleep well?" Ryder asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. A smile tugged at his lips.

"Real funny," Adira answered, glaring at him from under her brow.

Ryder chuckled, then sighed, his face becoming more serious. "Listen," he began. "Thanks for listening last night. I actually feel better getting all of that off my chest. But I feel like an ass because I didn't give you a chance to say too much."

"Well, there isn't much to say, honestly. I've been an orphan ever since I can remember – grew up hiding from the Authorities in alleys until someone took me in." She let out a gust of air she'd been holding in. "Bea saved me. But now she probably wishes I were dead."

"Don't say that," Ryder assured her, wrapping his fingers around her wrists. "She could be worried about you. Surely she doesn't wish you were dead."

"But I'm a Wielder," she finally said aloud. The words felt foreign on her tongue. "Humans hate Wielders."

"Don't let the Authorities speak for the entire human race. I'm sure some of them have minds of their own."

A brutal sob shot through the air, raising the hairs on Adira's arms. The sound was the same from the night before when the Authorities brought in a new Wielder. Adira remembered the blazing orange of her hair as the men whisked her down the corridor and into the cell next to hers. The girl cried herself to sleep, a whimper escaping her lips every now and then throughout the night. The buzz of the cells must have woken her up.

Adira turned over her shoulder and walked to the cell next to hers, peering around the corner. The girl was curled into a ball on the edge of her bed, her long hair brushing the mattress beneath her. Her body rocked as she continued to sob.

"Leave me alone!" the girl screamed, making Adira jump back out into the corridor. "I don't want to listen to you anymore! All you say are bad things. Bad, bad, bad things!"

Adira glanced back at Ryder. He edged closer to her, his brow turning down in confusion. "Who is she talking to?" he whispered. Adira shrugged her shoulders and leaned back into the opening.

"Go away," the girl whimpered to herself. Her hands cupped over her ears, her fingers digging into her hair. "Please." Her voice was pained. Adira couldn't let it go on any longer.

"Are you okay?" she asked, taking a step into her cell.

The girl lifted her head, her hands falling away to her sides. Her eyes were swollen and raw from tears, her cheeks blotched with pink. She gazed at Adira for a moment then looked around the room frantically, her eyes growing wide.

"You made her go away!" the girl said, her voice rising an octave. "She's gone!" She jumped up from the bed and rushed to Adira, throwing her arms around her. "Thank you." She sighed as she squeezed Adira.

Adira glanced back at Ryder. She mouthed the word help to him but he just smiled. She would have to get out of it herself.

"Who exactly did I make go away?" she asked, nudging herself apart from the girl.

She gazed up at her with large doe eyes. Adira knew she was around her age, but she was so small. So so small.

"The other Wren," the girl answered as if it were obvious. "She's as evil as evil comes."

"So like..." Adira paused, trying to find the right words to say. "A voice inside your head?"

The girl laughed, her curls bouncing. "She's worse. Way, way worse. She says that she's the real Wren, but that's a lie! I'm Wren." She pointed to herself then to the opposite end of her cell. "She was there, in the corner."

"Is this a power of yours?" Adira asked, confused. "How are you using it down here? We are surrounded by kraenite."

"No, silly," Wren replied with a smile. "My power has done this to me. The more I see—" she tapped her finger on her temple. "The more I see."

Adira cocked her head to the side, confused. What did she mean? Footsteps sounded from behind her and she turned over her shoulder. She spied Obsidian and Taliyah poking their heads around the corner like curious children. Their eyes both lit up as they spied Wren.

"It's her!" Taliyah yipped, coming into the cell. "You poor thing. I heard your cries last night."

"I think we all did, Taliyah," Obsidian chimed in, sliding in next to Wren. "It's always the hardest on the first night."

"We've been there." Taliyah placed her hand on Wren's shoulder. "We know what it's like – how you feel right now. We know."

"We're here for you." Obsidian's fingers grazed Wren's forearm. "If you ever need a shoulder to lean on, just call my name."

"And it starts," Ryder whispered in Adira's ear. His sudden proximity and breath on her skin shot chills down her spine.

"His shoulders are actually pretty bony," Taliyah sneered, draping her arm over Wren's shoulder. "Yours are so delicate." She gave her a little squeeze.

"Really, guys?" Adira asked, shifting her weight to one side. The motion made her fingers brush against Ryder's, but he didn't jerk away. His hand stayed put, warming her fingertips, her arm tingling as blood rushed through. She almost forgot where she was until Taliyah retorted.

"Jealous, Adira?" she teased. She glanced down at Adira and Ryder's touching fingers. "Seems like you're taken anyways."

Adira yanked her hand away, playing with her fingers like she her hand had never been touching Ryder's in the first place.  Her face flushed.  The warmth left her fingertips, the tingles left her arm, but she wished they would have stayed a while. She dared a glance at Ryder, who was already watching her with his crystal blue eyes.

No.

No matter how much her heart melted under his gaze, she could not get involved with someone. She had always been alone and she was going to stay alone in the Pits. She shook out the thoughts from her head and distracted herself.

"You two aren't even giving her any room to breathe," Adira laughed, pointing at them. They literally weren't. There was barely any space between the three of them.

"We're just making a new friend, Adira," Obsidian scolded her.

"New friends!" Wren squealed, pulling Taliyah and Obsidian in for a group hug. "I love new friends! My last ones didn't last very long."

The two pulled away from her with questioning looks in their eyes.

"What do you mean they didn't last very long?" Taliyah asked, stepping away from Wren like she might be diseased.

"My old new friends," Wren began, the smile leaving her face. "They tried to save me. They were so brave – braver than I could ever be." Her face dropped towards the floor.

"What happened, little bird?" Obsidian asked, his voice worried.

"They tried to take me to a safer place, but the Authorities showed up and ruined everything. They—they killed my friend Casson." Wren's voice broke as Obsidian pulled her closer to his body, tucking her into the crook of his arm.

"The fire Wielder and the ice Wielder tried to get me out after that," Wren continued. "You should have seen them. She created an ice wall and stopped the bullets while he scooped me up and ran with me like I weighed nothing."

"Well, you probably don't weigh very—"Taliyah started before Obsidian shushed her.

"You said an ice and a fire Wielder?" Ryder asked, his voice quivering. Adira could feel the nerves rolling off of him from a few inches away.

"Yes," Wren breathed in wonder. "They were everything I've heard about. All the stories Casson told me as a kid about the Children of the Stars – they were just like them. They were amazing, they were brilliant, they were—"

"What were their names?" Ryder cut her off, his voice growing impatient.

"The ice Wielder was Marina, one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen, but I haven't seen very many."

"Is she spacey, or what?" Taliyah snorted.

"And the fire Wielder was Colson. He was hot, if you catch my drift." Wren tilted her head back, and giggled at her own joke.

"Well, what happened?" Ryder was frantic. He breathed through his teeth as he stalked towards Wren, whose eyes grew wide. "Are they okay? They're my family! I need to know."

"I—I don't know," Wren whimpered.

"What happened to them?!" Ryder grabbed her shoulder, trying to shake some sense into her.

A croaking gasp echoed throughout the cell as Wren opened her mouth wide, trying to get a breath of air. Her eyes rolled back in her head as it fell back, limp like a doll.

"Oh, Stars!" Taliyah gasped, rushing to Wren's side. She pushed Ryder out of the way. "What did you do her?" Her eyes shot daggers at Ryder who stumbled back next to Adira.

"I—I didn't do anything," he answered, his voice weak and detached. "I just touched her."

"Lay her on the bed," Adira directed, springing into action. She edged closer as Obsidian lifted her into his arms and laid her down. He was the most gentle that Adira had ever seen him be.

"Give her some room," Obsidian chided Taliyah. He sat on the edge of the bed and shooed her away with his hand.

"What's happening?" Taliyah asked, eyes darting around the room to look at everyone's faces. "Check her pulse Obsidian. Is she breathing?"

He rested his fingers against Wren's throat and leaned his ear close to her face to listen. "Yes, just unconscious."

Wren suddenly sprang up, knocking Obsidian off of the bed, making Taliyah shriek before she tripped over herself.  Wren's breathing was hard and raspy like she had just run a long distance. After a few seconds of breathing, she choked out a sob.

"Hey," Adira soothed, rushing over to the side of the bed. Her hand went to Wren's back. "It's okay. What happened to you?"

"It was the Eye," Wren hiccupped. She breathed in through her nose, trying to calm herself. "I'm a Seer, that's my power. And I just saw." She threw her face into her hands, her voice muffled as she continued. "Oh, Stars, the things I just saw."

The rest of them looked to each other, like someone would have the answer for what just happened – why Wren's power appeared while in a kraenite cell and why it occurred in the first place.

"What did you see?" Adira asked calmly even though her insides were a cluttered mass of chaos and nerves. "Can you tell us what you saw?"

"You have to understand," Wren answered, her face rising from her palms splotchy and tear streaked. "Every sight I've ever had, comes true. Every single one. I saw the store massacre, I saw the Purge. I've seen so much terror come to life. But this... this is terror."

The room stilled, even breathing halting.

"So much blood, so much pain." Wren's voice shook like she was about to crumble to pieces. "So much death. It's coming. They are coming. We can't be here when they rise."

"Who is coming?" Ryder asked.

"The Foulings. They've been trapped under the city for ages. The Children of the Stars put them there. But Acadia has been digging, using the kraenite against us. They're going to dig too far, they're going to unleash them. They have no idea what they're doing!"

"How do you know this?" Taliyah asked. "I thought the Foulings were just nightmares our parents told us to keep us in line."

"Have none of you read the Book of Time?"

"The Council burned them all."

"Obviously not all of the copies," Obsidian chimed in.

"Obviously," Taliyah mocked. "But there wasn't exactly easy access to them."

"Sometimes you are so transparent, Tali."

"Sometimes you are just a jerk!"

"Wait!" Adira yelled. "Will you two stop?"

Obsidian and Taliyah snapped her jaws shut, but still argued with their judging gazes pinned on each other.

"How did you even have the vision?" Adira asked Wren. "You're in a kraentie cell. It should be impossible."

"I don't know," Wren answered. "I wish I knew the answer, but I don't."

"It happened when I touched you," Ryder said from behind Adira, his voice close. "Could that have something to do with it?"

"Sometimes." Wren shrugged her shoulders. "A few times someone has touched me and I had a vision about them, but this one had nothing to do with you. All I saw were creatures, teeth, and bodies torn apart, human and Wielder alike."

A chill swept down Adira's spine. She had never heard of these Foulings, but she also grew up thinking she was human so she was lacking in the general knowledge department.

"Wait," Ryder said, his eyes brightening. "I have a theory. Obsidian, touch me."

"Dude," Obsidian replied. "You know I fancy the ladies."

Ryder grunted before grabbing Obsidian's hand, his strength keeping his fingers in his grasp even when he tried to squirm away.

"Come on, man," Ryder sighed. "Work with me here. Try to summon the dark."

Obsidian froze, looking at Ryder like he had lost his mind. Maybe they all were, Adira thought. It was too insane to believe that their powers could work down there.

"Just do it," Ryder growled.

"Fine," Obsidian closed his eyes and breathed deep.

Taliyah gasped. Adira followed her gaze to the space below her and almost gasped herself when she saw a shadow slithering out from under the bed, next to her feet. The small sliver snaked into the air, growing as it rose higher and higher. In just a few seconds, the shadow curled itself around the light that hung down from the ceiling. The room was thrown into darkness.

"Oh. My. Stars," Taliyah whispered. "How—why....how?"

"I was right," Ryder said, pulling his hand from Obsidian's. The shadow on the light vanished like it was never there. "When I was first captured, I thought I could still feel my power when I had the kraenite cuffs on. I haven't felt as drained or as tired as a lot of Wielders down here. At first I thought that maybe it was all in my head, maybe it was for a different reason, but now I see it."

All eyes were fixed on Ryder, daring him to say what everyone was surely thinking.

"I'm immune to kraenite."

Playlist ~ When Ginny Kissed Harry by Nicholas Hooper

Image - Taliyah

A FEW THINGS:

I want to know:  Who is your favorite character and why?