Andrew had rolled his eyes affectionately when Rose had used the dream root, and made a point not to take his yet. He caught Rose as she fell to the floor, careful to lay her down gently before he sat himself against the wall and placed two drops into his eyes.
It was cold, always so cold. The condemned warehouse had no heating, and more broken windows than not. It was the dead of winter. He couldn’t remember how long this had been going on, but fading in and out of awareness he could see his entire pack. A dull pain was emanating from his left hand, and as he tried to twist his hands to relieve it, he cried out. Suddenly he was on the floor, weak and holding his mangled hand to his chest. God, it hurt so much.
The young boy looked around with his bright blue eyes, barely strong enough to stand on his feet. When did everything start to smell so bad, smell like death? He turned quickly at a faint sound, and stumbled, dizziness overcoming him. “Who’s there?” He cried out weakly, barely able to talk. There it was again, but it was behind him this time. He tried to get up but suddenly there was something grabbing him, dragging him back to where the monster had him tied up. He fought as much as he could, claws coming out from his right hand and slicing the arm of the beast. It dropped him and he fell in his left hand again, but this time he ignored the pain as he tried to stumble away.
He had to get out, or he was going to die. Like the rest of his pack. The rest of his pack. He turned then, the beast no longer there, and saw the bodies of his pack. All strung up like he had been, but dead. He knew they were. He could feel it.
“Noooooo!” He roared out, pain etched in his features as his fangs dropped and his eyes turned blood red instead of the beautiful golden they had once been. “Aggghhhhhhh!” There was nothing but pain.
The warehouse was as cold and dark as the cave, and immediately, Rose realized where they were: the djinn’s previous lair; where it had kept Finn’s pack beforehand. Her heart ached, and the rage she felt subsided briefly to something else, something more raw and painful, as she surveyed her surroundings.  “Come on,” She whispered to Andrew, leading him deeper into the cold building. Â
She heard Finn’s roars, and ran towards the sound. She could hear his screams as she approached him, and she ran to him, dropping to her knees before him.  “Finn! Finn, can you hear me? Please hear me. Finn…I know I’m no one to you yet, but…you are everything to me. It’s Rose. Andrew is here with me, too. We are here to help you. Finn, it’s a djinn that did this. It has you trapped in a nightmare even now. You escape this, Finn, and you came to warn another pack about this thing. It took us again, but we are breaking free. We are getting out! I can get you out of here, and I can get you out of it’s reach. We can save everyone this time. Please, let us help you.”
Andrew stood back as he watched Rose race up to Finn and fall to her knees. Finn was so young, barely ten from the looks of things. It was no wonder the three of them had bonded the way they did. Andrew had only been 13 when the hunters came for his pack, when Olivia had been killed as he tried to protect her. He stepped forward when Rose mentioned him, and he crouched down. “Finn, we need you to remember us.” He said softly, hand resting on Rose’s shoulder to offer her some small comfort.
“You can win this time.” He started. “The monster that did this, it has us now. But most of us have been able to break through the nightmares. And we need you to break out of this too, we can’t fight this thing without you.”
