Dreameater, Part Four

         Isaac turned over onto his side, away from Naomi, in obvious dismissal. Naomi fumed silently, eyes boring into his bare back before getting to her feet in a huff. She could pretend everything was normal just as well as he could. Couldn’t he realize it was obvious to everybody that something was wrong with him?
         Naomi realized that she was tracing the unseen pentagram seal over her heart and furiously controlled the unconscious movement. She didn’t know if wizards could see their own aura, but his had been guttering like a dying candle, its colors pale and vague. The Spellbinding Isaac had used on Naomi had connected them together, giving her a sort of sympathetic sense of Isaac’s magic. Today, she had felt his magic in a way that she never had before. Naomi had felt the strain it had taken Isaac to move the water and sand and it had surprised her. Usually, magic came to Isaac like second nature, but it had been a struggle today.
         So what? What did she care? Naomi looked around, frustration overtaking memory. If Isaac wanted to keep secrets, fine. She scowled over her shoulder as she walked away toward the pond where Sam and Jo were still floating languidly in the summer heat. Naomi couldn’t help but notice the way Isaac’s spine pressed against the drawn skin of his back.
         “What’s up with him?” Johanna asked, floating lazily on her back, her wild hair drifting around her head.
         “Nothing,” Naomi said, scorn in her voice.
         Sam frowned and his voice was sarcastic, “Right. He always faints like that.”
         “I’m worried about him,” Johanna said quietly, rolling in the water to kneel on the sandy bottom, her face just above the water.
         “Maybe if he didn’t stay up all night with Naomi, he wouldn’t be so tired,” Sam grinned wolfishly.
         Naomi felt her face heat and tried to make sure the twins didn’t see her by sending a large splash of water their way. Sam laughed and covered his face, but by the time he had recovered from his dousing, Naomi had dived under the clear water of the pond. Sam gave his sister that same grin and Johanna rolled her eyes.
         The water was cool on Naomi’s face as she darted through the it, arms out in front of her like an arrow, and it did much to cool her face and her temper. She surfaced in the shade of a weeping willow on the far side of the pond. Sam and Jo were still in the middle, heads together and shoulders shaking in silent laughter. Isaac still lay on the bank, but he’d rolled over onto his back and his head moved side to side as if looking for someone.
         Bad dreams.
         Naomi wondered, not for the first time that day, if what Isaac said about a wizard’s dreams coming to life was true. There was so much she didn’t know and Isaac seemed determined to keep everything from her. “For her own protection” or some other ridiculous notion he had gotten into his head, most likely. Naomi’s jaw tightened at the thought. Big bad wizard indeed. She could probably kick his ass without even breaking a sweat and he was going to protect her? An idiotic train of thought if ever there was one.

         Naomi had been stewing with the thoughts and staring at her hands, which had started to wrinkle in the water, when she felt the first touch of magic dance across her skin. It pressed against her skin like phantom cobwebs, impossible to brush away. She felt a tug in her chest, just over her heart, as her sympathetic connection readily identified whose magic she felt. She snapped her gaze to Isaac who had begun to toss and turn on the beach. His fingers were alight with faerie fire and clawed at the sand, leaving shining glass furrows in their wake.
         “Naomi!” Sam was calling to her urgently as he and Johanna rushed to shore.
         Naomi was clear on the other side of the pond and she cursed loudly. She scrambled up to the pond’s bank underneath the weeping willow. She could run faster around the pond than it would take to wade through it. Isaac’s thrashing became more violent as Sam tried to shake him awake. He was yelling Isaac’s name, but it was clear he wasn’t getting through.
         The distance melted under Naomi’s powerful sprint as she tore around the pond. When she crashed down on her knees next to Isaac, she could feel heat radiating off of Sam. The big twin was drawing on a part of his spiritual power to keep Isaac down as he began to thrash like an animal in its death throes. Johanna hovered behind her brother with her hand to her mouth and eyes wide in panic.
         Isaac’s face was a mask of pain as his back arched, trying to break Sam’s hold on him. Light pulsed from Isaac’s fingers and Naomi could smell the ozone tang of discharging electricity. His eyes were screwed shut and the only noises he made were ragged breaths.
         “Get his hands!” Sam yelled, dodging Isaac’s hand that crackled with scintillating light of raw magic.
         Naomi grabbed both of Isaac’s wrists and forced them to the sand. She was surprised at the strength in those whipcord arms, but she held on with a grim determination. Naomi thought frantically, but her mind kept coming up empty. Was this some wizard thing or was it a seizure? Everything she’d ever learned told her to call 911, but if this was something magical, she could be putting a whole hospital at risk. Isaac wasn’t especially known for subtle expressions of power.

         Frustration warred against uncertainty. Naomi screamed at Isaac to snap out of it, but he continued to surge against her grip.
         Finally, she grew so mad that she slapped Isaac across the face while yelling, “Damn it, wake up!”
         For a brief moment, Naomi felt a surge of satisfaction when she hit the scrawny kid who’d been making her life very difficult for the past ten months. All that ended when his eyes snapped open, shining electric blue with unchecked magic power.
         Isaac’s back arched like a bow drawn and ready to fire. He made a sound like he was retching and a bilious smoke erupted out of his head. The smoke roiled and seethed, gathering together in a huge mass. It swirled, black as night, around a hulking shape twelve feet tall. Isaac sounded like he was vomiting up a lung and Naomi could see the greasy smoke pouring from his mouth, nose and eyes.
         It congealed rapidly into huge slabs of slimy muscle and wicked, pointed quills. At the end of gorilla-like arms, giant hands tipped with razor claws formed. Deep within the boiling clouds, the laughing bark of a hyena ripped from the unearthly throat. Four amber eyes shone with a baleful flame and stared out at the gathered friends.
         All attention was on the horrible monster taken from nightmares and Naomi got a sinking feeling that Isaac’s nightmares had just crossed over into the real world.
         Isaac’s choked voice was barely audible over the rumble of the new-formed monster.
         “No…”
         With a shudder, Isaac slumped to the ground, his eyes staring into infinity. Naomi couldn’t tell if he was still breathing. The demonic eyes blazed with a terrible hunger and they were focused on the three kneeling friends.