Page 71 of Wicked Enemy

“Hey, do you need any help?” one of the guys asked.

I barely managed to stop myself from shaking my head, since I was pretty sure that it would just make the room spin again, and instead pressed out, “No.”

Once the tavern had righted itself around me, I started towards the door without a second look back. As I pushed my way through the throng and out into the street, the warm air was replaced by chilly night winds.

Blue and green light from the colored oil lamps above shifted across the stones as another wind swept through the street. For a while, I just stood there in the middle of the road. My legs felt unsteady, but my mind still wasn’t as blank as I wanted it to be.

The memory of Ulric’s drooping shoulders and tear-filled eyes flashed across my vision. My throat closed up in response, and I tried to swallow down the lump that was now blocking it too. Guilt pressed down on my chest like a boulder.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I strode straight for the pale blue door on the other side of the street. If alcohol couldn’t numb the pain inside me, I needed something else.

Two minutes later, I walked back out into the street with a pipe full of dreamcore in my hand. I should probably have felt even worse about the fact that dreamcore, and all the other drugs sold behind the blue doors, were made by dark mages. But I didn’t care. Dreamcore let people dream with their eyes open, and they always dreamed about wonderful things. And I desperately needed that right now.

Stopping outside the shop, I held the pipe to my lips and drew in a deep breath. Smoke that tasted sweet, almost like red apples, filled my lungs.

Once again, I knew that I was being stupid. I wouldn’t get paid at all for the next three months, so money was bound to get tight soon, which was why I shouldn’t be wasting it on things like dreamcore. But who cared?

For another few seconds, I just stood there by the wall. I didn’t usually partake in drugs like this, so I had no idea how quickly it was supposed to work. Glancing down at the pipe in my hand, I wondered whether I needed more for it to work.

Then a light appeared in the corner of my eye.

I spun towards it. A warm sparkly feeling spread through my chest as I looked at the glittering ball of pink light that hung in the air. Stuffing the pipe into my pocket, I instead reached up to pet it.

“Hi,” I said.

But before my hand could touch the light, it zipped down the street.

“Wait!” I called, and raced after it.

It disappeared down into the alley on the left. My legs were unsteady so I couldn’t run as straight as I had planned, but I eventually managed to reach the corner that the light had disappeared around.

My jaw dropped as I staggered into the same alley.

An entire forest of colorful, glowing trees and plants filled the whole street. Gaping in astonishment, I wandered into it.

Twisting trees in red and purple lined the walls, and below them were countless flowers in shapes and colors that I had never seen before. I ran my hand over a massive yellow flower with a glittering pink center.

“Wow,” I breathed.

The whole alley pulsed with light and warmth. Just being there, amid all the glittering flowers and swaying leaves, filled my whole soul with the same sparkly warmth that the forest exuded. A sense of calm wrapped around me like a cozy blanket.

With a wide smile on my face, I spread my arms and spun around in the incredible land I had stumbled into. I could stay here forever.

Time lost all meaning as I just wandered through the forest, gently stroking the beautiful plants and just basking in the light. It could have been minutes or days since I found them, but I realized that I didn’t really care.

“Eve?”

I blinked, wondering where the unexpected voice had come from. Then I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I spread my arms and spun around in the glittering woods again.Thiswas all that mattered.

Air escaped my lungs as I slammed into something hard. Stumbling a step back, I blinked and looked up at the thing that I had twirled right into.

Levi Arden stared down at me with a deep frown on his face.

“Levi!” I said, my soul still thrumming with joy. Flapping my arms, I motioned at the breathtaking plant life around us. “Have you seen this? Isn’t it incredible?”

His frown deepened as he swept a quick glance around the area. “Seen what?”

I laughed. How silly he was being, pretending that he couldn’t see the spectacular forest around us. Swatting his chest with the back of my hand, I giggled and then said, “You’re funny.”