Social Themes
"I told you. I don't need anyone..."
"Everyone needs someone. Parents, for instance; everyone needs parents."
"I've got no parents."
"Everyone's got parents." She thought for a second. "Unless you're an orphan."
"I've got work to do. So get lost."
"You're not very nice."
He scowled. "Just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I've got to be nice."
The stars are far away and the moon is touching someone else tonight. The only sound is the wind and dry leaves crunching under my feet. I wish I was alone, but I'm not. She's here, in her black dress with its long beaded train, watching me, following me. The Shadow Lady.
And I'm lost.
"It was a nightmare," Robin said. "A—a vision, Your Highness. There was a man drowning in clouds...when I touched him, I saw things, things he'd seen, things he knew."
"What things?" I asked.
Robin took a deep breath. "They've taken the baroness."
"Who? Where?"
"Enemies," she said simply. "He didn't know where. There was a dead woman..."
My mouth was open. I know that because when I did the face-plant into the bottom of the wave, I was gargling salt water, thinking that maybe I was about to die. The wave drove me deep into the water. I flapped my arms around, thinking that going back up to the surface was a good idea.
But it wasn't. At least not then.
I surfaced just in time to open my eyes and see my airborne surfboard eclipsing the morning sun. And aimed straight for my head. Wham.
