That night I dreamed, but not about the Never Wood. This time, I dreamed about my father.
My father was chained to a rock wall, in a dim cave. Above him, a lantern glowed faintly, throwing his ragged features into relief.
His manacles were bound so tightly that raw welts and cuts bled freely and large blisters oozed clear liquid. I winced, feeling weak. He's your father, I told myself. It's him who's chained to that wall, not you.
I ran to him worriedly.
"Dad..." I whispered. My father looked up wearily and smiled, despite the heavy bags under his eyes.
"Oh, Samuel, it's been so long..." He tousled my hair and then I recognized features similar to mine: thin nose, full lips, same light brown hair, same chin, same eyes, same ears. I hugged him close, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Oh, how...epic." A reedy voice curled around the air, clinging to each precipice in the cave. I spun around and was at my feet in an instant.
A thin woman with pallid skin, even paler in the little light, glared at me narrowly. Long black hair flowed down past her hips, like snakes.
She lashed out, raking her fingernails across my face. I screamed, falling to the floor as a flaming pain burned across my face. "Your son is weaker than I expected, John," she said, her voice oily. The falsetto made me sick.
"He's only a child, Naga," pleaded my father. I could imagine him clasping his hands... "Just set him free." So this was Naga!
"You know," I said, trying to ignore the fiery pain that blasted across my face. "I thought you would be a little taller than this. " Naga hissed and brought down her foot on my wrist. I screamed, feeling a sharp pain travel up and down my arm.
"You should be more astute than this," said Naga. "Now, be a good boy, and let me help you. It would do you good, after such bad influences from that filthy place those ratty humans make their holes in."
"I'd never let you help me," I whispered. Again she ruthlessly stomped on my arm, making me want to cry in pain. Breathlessly, I spat back,
"Like you did my father? I see he's in much better shape the last time I saw him."
"I can make you squeal, boy," hissed Naga. "Until you will beg me for mercy and wish you had never gone against the greatest sorceress of all time."
"You're no greater than a pig's backwash," I said. "My mother is better than you."
Naga growled. "Your mother is dead, like your father will soon be. And when you come, I will have you join them."
"That's your problem," I said with as much poison as I could muster. "You think death is the worst of all." Naga straightened, hands on her hips.
"And what is worst, boy? Losing your own family to death? I know that trick, fool. You cannot sway me with your relentless whining."
I shouted back, my voice rising up in my throat.
"No," I said. "Betraying them is worst." I woke up with Naga's hiss still stinging my ears.
Helen stood over me, eyes wide with worry and fear. Jared held an empty pot, water spilled all over his leggings. Drops of water slide down my hair and I stood up.
"My father didn't join Naga," I said triumphantly. "He's her prisoner." Helen looked even more worried.
"It would be easier rescuing your father from himself than from Naga," she whispered. "But we can give it a shot."
"How much time left?" I asked, knowing the answer. It wouldn't be long before the prophecy expired. We had to do this now, to make it work. But we were so far away...it would take so long to travel over the Sierra, not to mention the desert, then finally climb the capricious mountains that surrounded Naga's not-so-humble abode.
"Two weeks."
"Let's do it."