Beyond the Dawn 
chapter VII. Raven
Page 1 of 28
“Daddy!”
I awake with a start as an almighty thump rocks the bed, and Damien lands on my stomach, pulling at my hair and poking at my mouth in an attempt to force me to open my eyes.
Not yet, I try to beg of him with a small sigh, brushing his hand away with my free arm. My…free arm…?
It’s too late, and I sit up so suddenly that Damien almost tumbles backward off the bed. I reach out and grab for him in the nick of time, before I notice what’s trapping my other arm.
Lying beside me on the bed, Pegasus still sleeps, most of his face obscured by a long mane of silken hair, his fingers poking out above the doona, gripping it tightly even through unconsciousness. I glance over at the alarm clock as the wave of memories come flooding back. A quarter-to-six. It’s still dark outside. I saved your life last night, little one, told you I loved you, showed you everything I could to make you stay, and in just fifteen minutes, you’ll be leaving me again.
“Food!” Damien shouts enthusiastically, as I try to block the visions swirling through my mind.
Of dragging him out of the water, of the terror accompanying the knowledge that perhaps I was already too late, of his stories of what they did to him, before I could get there…get to him.
“Ssh!” I hiss at my son, putting a finger to his lips. “Don’t wake him up!”
Even now I am too selfish to actually wake him myself. I know that the alarm clock in this room never works, which is why I put him here; all I had to count on was that I was going to wake up first. I don’t want you to leave. And I don’t want you to take Damien. Wendy won’t miss him…just like I won’t miss her… Just like you won’t miss me.
Please don’t leave me. Not after last night. Just because I told you how I felt, that doesn’t mean everything’s been magically resolved.
