In Exchange for Magic

I think Ez's feelings were hurt when I told him that I wanted to go home.

I'd only really said that in the heat of the moment. Sometimes, when you spend a lot of time with one person, they start to get on your nerves. Ez and I just needed a bit of time apart.

That's why we decided to stake out our tents in different clearings, not very far from each other.

Ez had suggested it because, as promised, I still hadn't said anything to him.

Ez awkwardly bade me goodnight and told me that he'd be able to hear me shout from my clearing, so I was safe.

Oddly, this didn't comfort me in the slightest.

I was restless, tossing and turning through the night. I felt bad about yelling at Ez... I mean, he was right. I wouldn't have wanted to go if I he said I had to. The only reason I'd kissed him back at the campsite was because I thought it would be the only way I could go on this expedition.

I squeezed my eyes shut. I was Ez's only friend.

It was weird to think of myself like that... Like I was special, or something. I mattered to Ez and it was wrong for me to make him feel like crap. Plus, he called me Sweet, and that was... Well, that was really sweet.

I threw back the thin blanket I was using and headed towards Ez's camp. I treaded carefully, as to not step on any stickers or thorny vines. I stumbled into the clearing where Ez said he'd be sleeping and was met with a surprise... Ez was twisting and turning in his bed... Just like a nightmare... But he wasn't supposed to be having nightmares yet! He was still supposed to be a human!

"Ez?" I called tentatively.
He stuck out an arm and swung at an invisible predator.
"Ez?"
He let out a strangled cry and curled up into a tight ball. He clutched his stomach, as if he felt sick.

I slowly walked over, my hands shaking. Ez's nightmares made me nervous...

"Hey, Ez... You okay?" I asked uselessly.
He started to stutter something that I couldn't decode. I moved to his bedside and crouched down, for lack of something better to do.

"I... I guess I'll just sit here," I told him.

Ez once told me never to wake him up during a nightmare. He said that it would set off his bloodlust and I'd be in danger.

"R-Ro..." he managed.
I clenched my fists. Was he going to say what I thought he was going to say?
"Rose!" he suddenly screamed, clawing at his head. "Rose!"

I gasped and grabbed his hand in my panic. This turned out to be a bad idea because, at my touch, he sprang awake. He shot up in his mass of blankets like a cannon, his eyes wide and his face drenched in sweat.

There was a second where he just looked at me, horrified. I grew nervous and backed away, remembering how he'd wanted to kiss and/or bite me after previous nightmares.

But he didn't try to pull anything funny. He just looked at me like he couldn't believe I was here, and then blinked heavily. His expression changed into one of gratitude. He grasped my shoulders and laughed in relief.

"I thought... I thought..." he laughed
"What? What?" I asked eagerly.
"Nothing, Sweet. I just had a really twisted dream," he said and let go of my shoulders. He flopped back down onto his bed.

Something in my mind clicked. "Ez... I thought you said that you can't have dreams."
He shrugged. "I guess it's just because I'm human, or something."
"Have you had dreams any of the other times you were human?"
"Well... No..."
"Have you ever had a dream that wasn't a vision in your entire life?"
"I... Well..."

His face fell.

"Oh, no..." he muttered.
"This dream," I asked. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"
"No."
"It was a vision, right?"
"Right."
"So... What did you see?"

A look of utter horror crossed his face.

"I think I'm going to throw up," he choked, leaning over slightly.
"Ez, what did you see?" I screeched.

He suddenly leapt up and stumbled a few feet before vomiting spectacularly into a small shrub. He coughed and groaned, falling onto the ground and holding his head in his hands.

"Ez," I demanded, scrambling towards him on my hands and knees. "What the hell did you see?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and a pained demeanor played about his brow.
"I saw you."
"And...?" I coaxed.
"And... And you were dead."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.
"Oh," he muttered, taking my face in his hands and turning it this way and that. "But, oh, you're alive."

I shook his hands off me.
"Ez, I'd like to know the details of this so-called dream," I told him stonily.
"I can't believe you're alive..."
"Cut it out! Tell me what happened!"

He rubbed his forehead.

"Can we not talk about it right now, Sweet?"
"No! We can not not talk about this now?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Can we please not not talk about this later?"
I thought about that for a moment.
"Tell me."

He crawled back over towards his bed.

"Okay... I'll tell you. But only if you sleep in my camp tonight."
"Fine," I sighed.

The next thing I knew, I was cramped in next to Ez in his bed. The blanket was just barely big enough to cover the both of us, and Ez kept hogging it. We soon settled and realized that it was very uncomfortable to be packed in a bed like sardines.

"This is awkward," Ez stated.
"I know."
"Your feet are touching my feet."
"Sorry," I muttered and scooted slightly.

There was a thin line of space between our bodies where we were careful not to touch.

I groaned in frustration.
"This is silly!" I told him.

I touched his nose.

"Any bloodlust?"
"No. I'm still too human for that."
"Well, then I'm sorry Ez, but I think that my arm might have to touch your arm."
He chuckled. "Don't be so sexual, Rose."
"Oh, and then maybe, just maybe, during the night our elbows might bump."
"Dirty," he muttered.

I laughed and settled down next to him without the thin line of blank space. He tensed, but, frankly, he was always tense.

"Ez," I told him. "Calm down."
He shot me a look and I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, now it's time for you to tell me about that dream. Well, vision. Thingy."
"Thingy?"
"Just get on with it!"

He sighed and reached over, pushing my bangs from my face and tucking them behind my ear.

"You sure?"
"Yes." I slapped his hand away. "And don't do that."
"Sorry."

He looked upwards, turning his eyes to the stars.

"The first thing I can remember is that you ran to me... I don't remember where we were, though."
"Keep going..."
"Okay, this is the part that makes me a little sick."
"Take your time, then," I encouraged.
He took a breath to steady himself.
"So... So you collapsed. I knelt down beside you and... And I took your head in my hands... And everything was bleeding. Your nose, your lip... Just... So I tried to ask if you were okay... And then I noticed that my fingers were sticky. Wet, sort of. And there was a gash on the back of your head."
I winced and Ez looked over at me, scared, as if he was afraid he'd been too graphic.
"No," I reassured him. "Keep going."
"The gash was deep. I tried to help you out, you know? I tried to figure out what was wrong... And there was an arrow."
"In my head."
"I'm feeling sick again..."
"There was an arrow in my head?"
"Yeah... I really think I'm going to puke again..."

He sat up in the bed and rested his head on his knees.
"I couldn't do anything. I just sat there as you... As you..."
I sat up as well and fiercely hugged him. He jumped about a mile and wiggled out of my reach.

"What?" he asked, as if he'd done something wrong.
"Nothing. You just care a lot," I said, crossing my eyes and sticking out my tongue.

"Don't joke, Rose! This is completely serious! This was a vision of the future! It could happen!"
"Relax, you said yourself that it was probably a dream!"
"I hope it was, Rose. And you should hope it, too. It was a gruesome death."
"Sweet dreams to you, too."