Today is day fourteen of the story a day challenge. The observant among you will have noticed that I have not done a story for the past couple of days. This is not because I have forgotten about the challenge or anything like that, but I managed to go down with a virus of some description and I have been out of commission! I have looked at the last couple of prompts that I have missed and noticed they have all been to do with characters.

So, today’s prompt is:

The Prompt

Write a story that includes a sidekick

The other two days have been to do with the antagonist and the protagonist. So, today I am going to write a scene from my work in progress, Dreamweaver, that will show off all of my characters.

Channelling

Alice felt as though something had gone through her, but she could not explain it even to herself. The scene around her instantly stopped shaking and she felt as though she had scored a great victory. That was the first time that she took any notice of what was going on around her. She had been concentrating so hard on making sure that Warren did not take over the dream that she had simply ignored everything else. When she looked around her she noticed that Jordan was lying on the ground near her. At that moment, she just stared at him, not comprehending why he was so close to her when she was sure that he had been at the other end of the scene.

She bent down and rested her hand against his cheek. There was no reaction at all within Jordan, and this began to panic Alice. She gripped his shoulder and began to shake him. There was still no reaction from him, and the only thing that she could remember was that he had told her that a person was unable to sleep within their own dream. Instinctively, she sat down next to him and put her foot in front of his face to see whether or not he was breathing. Alice felt herself giggling as she realised that she had forgotten that within dreams she could have done this with her fingers. This could be put down to her state of worry over what was happening with Jordan.

Had she done it? That seemed to be the only logical explanation for what she was looking at, although she had no idea what had actually happened. She had felt as though something had passed through her, could that have been Jordan? Of course, Alice had no idea how what had actually happened but that would also help to explain the proximity of the unconscious form that she was looking at. Her brow furrowed as she trailed her fingers against his arm.

Scolding herself for not doing this earlier, Alice used her powers to move Jordan onto the blanket so that his head was resting on the pillows. There was nothing for her to do but to wait and see if he woke up. Well, she decided that if he did not wake in a few moments she was going to leave his mind and see what he was like in reality.

Fortunately, it did not take too long for him to stir on the blanket. He let out a mutter as he began to curl up onto his side.

“Don’t go to sleep because you are dreaming right now.”

“I fell asleep?”

Alice shrugged her shoulders as she met his confused gaze. “I am not sure what happened, to be honest,” she told him gently. “All I know is that the dream stop shaking and I felt triumphant. However, when I looked around you were next to me and not responding in any way. I was hoping that you would be able to tell me what happened.”

Jordan sucked in a breath. “Well…” He looked like he was struggling to form the words that he needed in order for her to be able to understand. “This is very difficult for me to tell you exactly what happened, because, to be fair, I have never witnessed it before so I can’t be sure. I think that you channelled my powers.”

“What does that mean?”

“It seems that you took my powers from me in order to use them against Warren. I had no idea that you were able to do that, or I would have been a bit more careful before touching you.”

“Sorry?” Alice stammered out, in the end, thinking that he was somehow telling her off for what she had done. “I had no idea that I could do that, did it hurt?”

“Alice, there is no way that I would have expected you to know that you could do it. Warren had discovered the power within you, then he would have told you how to use it. In other words, you would have been more controlled about how much you had taken from me, and it would not have overwhelmed my system in the way that it did. As for your other question, it was not a painless experience for me, but it was not the same type of thing as physical torture.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I feel bad for putting you through anything.”

Jordan gave her a slight smile. “You stopped Warren getting in, and for that, I have to be grateful. You know the kind of thing that would’ve happened to me if he was here because you have seen it for yourself.”

“At what cost?”

Jordan sighed and began to fiddle with one of the cushions. There was a pause before he spoke and it looked like he was trying to work out what the answer was. “I felt you trying to suck the energy out of me, and it felt completely out of control. You took a fair amount from me, and it has left me feeling weak. However, I am sure that my power will return to me and that nothing has been damaged permanently.”

“Can that happen?” Alice asked in a panic. The last thing that she wanted to do was to hurt anybody, and finding out that she could do so by mistake was not a good thing by any means.

Again there was a pause. “Channelling is not something that I know a great deal about.”

That sounded like Jordan was unwilling to answer the question, rather than simply unable. Alice stood up and began to pace around on the grassy hill. “I am sure that you know the answer to that question.”

“Well, yes.”

Alice turned towards Jordan and raised her eyebrow. “So?”

“I have only heard one story about a Walker who could channel. Her name was Scarlett, and the person that she took the energy from died.”

Her legs gave way beneath her and she sat down suddenly. “Oh.”

“What she did was not done by accident,” Jordan explained. He was going to walk over towards her to provide comfort, but he found that he was too weak to be able to stand up. “It was a deliberate act of murder, and so she planned it. You used it for the first time today, and I do not think that you will have the strength just yet to kill anybody.”

“That is just your opinion,” Alice snapped. “You did not think that I would be able to create a dream that will keep you in it on the first night. Neither did Warren. I am stronger than you both believed, and the same could be true about channelling.”

“Whatever the case may be, Alice, you have done no harm. In fact, you have managed to keep me safe from Warren. As far as I am concerned, that is a plus. You have done nothing wrong, and you have done everything right.”

“Dammit, Jordan, I could have killed you!”

Jordan just gave a shrug. “That would have been preferable to letting Warren inside.”

“How can you even think that?”

“Honey, I am already dead.”

There was not actually an answer to that. Alice regarded Jordan before she slowly stood and made her way over to sit beside him. “You would have ceased to exist and I would have been responsible for doing it. I would not like to think of you as just… Well, gone.”

Jordan turned towards her and put his hand over hers. “That is very sweet of you.” He smiled as she turned her hand so that their palms were together. “Alice, even though I would like for nothing more than escape from the world in which I find myself, the only thing that is making this bearable would be working with you every day.”

She did not reply for the longest of times. Instead, she stared down at their, by now linked, hands. “If I knew what kind of magic was holding you in our world then I would reverse it.”

“That means a lot.”

“Is there nobody that can help us work that one out?”

“What do you mean?”

“From what Warren tells me, there are plenty of Guardians out there. You must have been taught about what you were doing by somebody. Is it not possible for you to contact them?”

“Warren has stripped me of many of my powers. They are now lying dormant and unusable, and I am sure that he has done this so that I am unable to contact anybody in order to get help.”

“Maybe but we are inside your dream right now, and I can always help you to call somebody inside.”

Jordan’s eyes went wide. “You would do that for me?”

“Of course.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, Alice, but I would rather not be holding your hand when either of us is trying to use any powers.”

Alice smiled and withdrew her hand. “That is completely understandable, Jordan.” Instead, she pushed her hand through her hair and stood up again. “Let’s do this!”