The cloak disappeared.

Selene sat up and gulped a lungful of air as her vision returned.

“Very good. But what about memories?” the harsh voice whispered.

Before she could take another breath, Selene found herself back in Levellon’s gardens at twilight, standing on a path surrounded by towering trees and scented flowers. Below her gurgled a stream, with a small wooden bridge. And on that bridge stood Damien and the Luceras siblings.

Her breath hitched at the sight, and a wave of painful loneliness swept across her body. She turned around and held her arms across her body.

“Why do you look away?”

An invisible hand yanked her face back toward the scene. Lord Elric held his sister as Damien stood beside them. Her stomach clenched. “No,” Selene breathed and looked away. Again, her face was brought back.

“You’re not the only one who can manipulate memories. This particular one hurts you.”

“I will not be controlled by you!” Selene brought her power and force of will against the dreamscape. The scene cracked seconds later and fell away like glass, only to be replaced with the night when she walked inside Renata’s dreams.

Renata lay in a pool of moonlight on her sleeping mat, her eyes distant, a speck of blood beneath her nostril.

“You did this to her,” the Dark Lady whispered.

Selene stared down, horrified. “I know.”

Suddenly, more people appeared inside the small cabin, all on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, their eyes like Renata’s. Taegis. Karl. Cohen.

Damien and Ophie.

“You are the mind shatterer, little raven. This is your future.”

“No!” Her voice tore across the dreamscape. The scene disappeared into the air like smoke from a fire.

Selene fell to her knees. Her power was a match for the Dark Lady, but only just. And already she was feeling fatigued from changing the dreamscape. She gripped the sides of her head. I can’t keep doing this. Perhaps I will be giving my life. She lifted her head and dropped her hands. But I won’t follow her. I won’t be a dreamkiller.

She closed her eyes and pictured Damien’s soulsphere—the first time she saw the light inside of him, and how much she wanted what he had. She still wanted it, to be filled with light, to hold it inside of her like he did. To be a reflection of the Light and not a vessel of darkness.

She gripped her hands tightly together as she knelt there in pitch-blackness. Light, please hear me. Whether I live or die, do not let me go down the Dark Lady’s path. Help me be strong, even to the end.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes. A small light appeared, no bigger than the flame on a candlewick. Just a pinprick in the darkness, but it was light, and it was something to hold on to. It was hope.

Selene held on to the image with all her being.

A great gust of wind sprang up out of the darkness. It pressed against her like a typhoon, filling her ears with its harsh whistle, tossing her hair above her head, cutting her skin with a thousand tiny blades. A voice spoke within the wind. “You can never outrun the shadows, little raven. A shadow exists even in the greatest light. I will find you again. And you will be mine.” Then the voice and the wind disappeared.