Authors: Erin Kellison
Maisie shrugged. “I can handle them.”
The murmur of the crowd had been growing, so she raised a hand to get their attention and stepped forward. “People! Shut up!”
Sera scowled at her.
Really?
Maisie caught the look and rolled her eyes. She raised her voice again. “I mean…Welcome to Maze City.”
The murmur quieted.
“You’re safe here,” Maisie called out. Then added a plastic, winning smile. “I’m going to house you until we can help you wake up.” The smile dropped. “Just remember: I’m the boss, and you will do what I say. If you try anything sneaky, I will kick your—”
Someone deep inside the reveler throng screamed.
The crowd exploded outward into the street as a shouts of “Nightmare!” rose from within, followed by more screams, mixed with sobs and cries from people begging to wake up.
“Oh God.” Sera stayed where she was, pushing the revelers who were backing toward her to the sides.
“Shit,” Maisie said.
Rook dived into the mass of people and they parted for him willingly. Sera followed in his wake. Shouts of “Kill it!” meant someone had already apprehended the thing. At least some of the black market people were stepping up to contribute.
The crowd divided into two flanks on either side of the street, and in the center, a gray creature lay on its side as a ring of three scurvy-looking revelers took turns kicking it in the guts, head, and back. None seemed to want to touch it with their hands. When they saw Rook advance, one of the revelers got in a last, hard strike to the thing’s head, and then they all backed off.
Sera felt Harlen take her by the waist. Still protecting her. She didn’t miss the tremor in his hands, aftereffects of the proxy.
But it seemed there was no need for protection. The nightmare had recoiled into the fetal position, arms over its head, legs drawn up. The position made something like pity curl in Sera’s belly.
Aside from the massacre on the Scrape, she didn’t have any experience with nightmares, but this one was the weirdest thing she’d ever seen. Naked, its limbs looked…human. It was hairless but still had muscle definition between the striations of its ribs and the knobby line of its spine. Its bare butt had both curve and definition.
“It’s not one of them,” Harlen said.
Sera didn’t think so, either. But then, what the hell was it?
Rook crouched at its side and nudged its shoulder, trying to get a look at its face. “I have no idea what it is.”
Then the creature moved, and Rook jumped back out of striking range.
The thing rolled onto its belly, butt flexing, and pushed up a little, lifting its head to reveal telltale nightmare eyes. Its lip was torn, nose crooked, black blood splashed down its chin.
The crowd backed away still farther, stringing out along the sidewalk on both sides of the street.
Its shoulders shook as it held itself up. Taking a wheezy breath, it said in a dusty rasp, “The Sandman is rising.”
Sera looked to Harlen, eyes wide. The only place to rise to from underwater was into the waking world, but the Sandman couldn’t do
that
, could he?
But it was Maisie who stepped forward toward the creature, voice uncharacteristically tremulous. “Steve? Is that you?”
The story continues in…
SANDMAN
Reveler Series 7
Coming Soon
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OTHER BOOKS BY ERIN KELLISON
The Reveler Series
The Shadow Series
The Shadow Kissed Series
Night Kissed (book three - coming soon)
The Shadow Touch Novella Series
Shadow Burn (part four - coming soon)
Hotter On The Edge Anthology
Anthology of science fiction romance novellas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erin Kellison is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of the Reveler series, as well as the Shadow series and Shadow Kissed series, which share the same world, where dark fantasy meets modern fairy tale. RT calls
Soul Kissed
, “a dark fairy tale with a twist, perfect for readers who love passion with their fantasy.”
DELIRIUM
Copyright © 2015 by Erin Kellison
ISBN: 978-0-9904107-9-9
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