Air whooshes from his lungs and when he catches his breath, I hear that laughter again, a high-pitched sound. “There he is!”

My fist meets his gut, and he doubles over with a grunt. “Let’s see you fight me, you fucking bastard. Or don’t you dare to fight someone who is your equal in size and strength?”

He raises his head, that grin gone, his blue eyes almost black. “Oh, no, brother. I dare.” He charges me, screaming, and I see too late the wooden paddle he must have grabbed off the wall at his back as he brings it down across the side of my head with a force that makes my brain rattle.

I stumble backward and he comes at me again. My vision is double, but I bend to tackle him knocking him to the ground.

“I’m going to kill you,” I tell him, smashing his wrist, throwing the paddle from his grip.

“I have no doubt,” he manages as I rain blows down on his face again and again and again. Blood splatters across my cheeks, my eyes. It blurs my vision and I taste the coppery tang of it on my lip. Theron’s face is slowly becoming unrecognizable but then I hear a moan. Mercedes.

I stop, turn to her. Her limp body is still flopped over the bench. But she’s waking. And she can’t see me like this.

“Mercedes!” I stagger to my feet. My knuckles are raw, my knees hurt, and the room spins so I have to grab the corner of a nearby table to steady myself. I look down at my brother who lies unmoving in a bloody heap. He may be dead for all I know but he groans when I trip over him, not yet steady from the hit to my head.

He’s not dead. Not yet. Good. I’ll do the job properly later. First, I need to tend to Mercedes. I need to get to her.

But just as I reach her, she’s gone. Like every other time.

“Judge. Judge, wake up.”

I grab the hand that’s shaking me and leap from my seat.

Lois gasps, her eyes huge. I blink, and look at her face. Then down at how I’m holding her.

“You were having a nightmare,” she says as I release her. I step away in shame.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry if I hurt you.” Fuck. I gave in to the monster inside me when I beat Theron. Will it no longer sleep? Is it hungry for more now that it’s had a taste?

“It’s alright. You didn’t hurt me.”

She tries to give me a reassuring smile, fails, and turns her worried gaze to Mercedes.

“Has it begun?” she asks. She doesn’t have to say what. The nightmares. They're a nightly occurrence. She’s asking if they’ve begun today.

“Not yet.”