Sleep, when it came, came wrong.
Kaelen hadn't meant to close his eyes at all. He'd meant to keep watch while the others rested, take the first turn the way he always did, but the ash-flat quiet of the hollow had a weight to it that pulled at something behind his ribs, and somewhere between one blink and the next his body made the decision without asking him.
He dreamed of the girl again.
She stood where she always stood, ankle-deep in smoke that moved like water, her eyes the color of a sky that hadn't decided whether it wanted to storm. She didn't speak right away this time. She just looked at him, the way you'd look at something you'd already grieved once and didn't want to grieve twice.
"You're deeper now," she said finally. "Than you were."
"I didn't have a choice." He didn't know what they were talking about but his mouth answered as if familiar with the dream.
