Page 114 of Fire and Silk

His fingers smooth over the side of my face before he leans back against the wall again.

“They’ll travel through the night,” he says. “Six, maybe eight hours. You need to rest.”

“I can’t sleep—”

“Try.” He taps his chest.

I crawl forward and lie across him, slowly, gently. My cheek presses to the rise of his chest, just beneath his collarbone. His arms fold over my back, locking me in.

His mouth brushes against the top of my head.

I close my eyes.I drift.

The darkness shifts.

I’m barefoot in thick, wet mud. My dress is torn, heavy with rain. My hands are caked with dirt. Every breath scrapes down my throat.

The trees rise around me—tall, black, crowded close together. Leaves glisten. The ground sucks at my feet with every step. Somewhere above, a storm churns, the sky too dark to tell if it’s still night or day.

I turn in place. My heart pounds.

“Marco!” I scream. “Mamma!”

Ahead—movement.

I see them.

My brother, taller now, his shirt soaked through. My mother’s dress clings to her frame, her hair stuck to her face. They’re walking quickly, disappearing between the trees.

I run after them.

The mud pulls at me, thick and cold. I scream again, louder, the sound barely carrying.

“Wait!”

They don’t turn.

I run faster.

Then the ground disappears beneath me.

I drop—straight down. A pit. I fall hard. The air knocks from my lungs and I land on my side. The world goes black.

I wake with a jolt.

My body snaps upright, breath jagged.

Arms pull me in tight.

“Lira,” he says, voice low but close. “You’re alright. You’re here. Look at me.”

My chest heaves. My dress is stuck to my back with sweat. I blink hard, the inside of the truck slowly forming again around me—metal walls, faint moonlight through the cracks, Severo’s arms around my ribs.

He leans back just enough to see my face.

“It was a dream,” he says. “You were shaking.”

I rest my forehead against his collarbone. His hand moves slowly over my back. The heat of his skin grounds me.