Book 2: Death Dream

Isla

“It felt so real, Isla,” Ben says to me from his position in bed. “It was like we were really there.”

I smile at him from my chair near the window. I was really hoping he’d fall asleep, but he hasn’t, and even after I went and cleaned up and checked on Poppy, who was fine and helping the injured, Ben is still wide awake.

I even asked the nurse to put something in his IV, and I think she did, but he’s still chatting about his dream, and I know he wants me to ask him exactly what his dream was about, but I am hesitant. It’s clear to me that Maddox doesn’t think there’s anything special about the dream Ben had when he was dead–if dream is even the right word–and it’s probably silly of me to even ponder asking him.

But Ben isn’t going to rest until I tell him. “What happened, Ben? In your dream. Or vision. Or whatever it was?”

He takes a deep breath, and his eyes glass over a little bit so that he is looking off in the distance. “We we