I yawned loudly and Master Evan smoothed my hair. They’d worn me out earlier. If they finished what


    we had started earlier, I would be too tired to enjoy it. That did not particrly bother them, no one felt


    denied.


    “It is time for sleeping,” Master Damien announced rising and stretching.


    We crawled into bed as a group perfectly content to rest and I dropped off to sleep.


    “Where are we?” Christof asked looking around therge crowded auditorium.


    It was the school near the motel. This was a branch campus to the localmunity college. I had


    nned to attend the next semester’s courses.


    “Again with the dreams, Ciara?” Damien questioned leaning his tall frame against a desk beside us.


    I felt rushed and frantic. My pen was buried in the bottom of my bag and I’d never find it in time to take


    the test. The paper I was supposed to be filling out kept disappearing off the desk. Failure was


    imminent if I didn’t find a pen and hang onto the paper.


    “Ciara,” Master Kein said standing in front of me, “this is a dream. There is nothing to do. Tell us where


    this is


    I wanted to stay anxious and fret, but it wasn’t possible. My men didn’t feel anxiety in this situation, just


    curiosity.


    “School,munity college, to be exact,” I said Looking around. “I had nned to apply to take


    sses the next semester. If I got a degree, I could get a better job,” I exined. “I wanted to teach,” I


    told them as they walked around the auditorium.


    I’d visited the localmunity college several times. In my room at the motel I had my application all


    filled out. I had been figuring out how to work the financial aid the state offered. It wasplicated, but


    this would have been my road to a better life.


    The anger welled up surprisingly fast and I couldn’t hide it. This dream had been ripped from me, just


    like everything else. I would never be able to do anything Like this. I was taken and trapped on a world


    of monsters now.


    Damien didn’t understand. My anger was misdirected, he believed. They took good care of me. I had


    done a horrible job of looking after myself. He shuddered remembering my hands.


    A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y


    “It would have gotten better!” I screamed at him in the dream. “I was going to make it better. It was my


    life, mine!”


    All the barriers to such an outburst existed in my conscious mind and that was not present in dreams.


    The anger rolled through me and I wanted to escape them. I hated what they had done to me.


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    In the dream I ran through the halls of the school and onto the road. I ran as far as I could, but I could


    not escape them. When I turned to look they were always merely a step behind.


    I woke up shaking and crying. Not since the first night had I let myself feel this. The sense of loss was


    too great and I crumbled beneath it. Moving quickly I went into the bathing room and sat cross legged


    on the floor to cry alone.


    I cradled my pregnant belly and prayed for my child. Her life would be free, I hoped.


    Christof came to get me. He had persuaded the other men to let me be for a moment.


    “Comey on the bed,” he soothed. “You will feel better closer to us.” I shook my head ‘no’. I wanted to


    be alone to grieve for what I had lost. Being right next to my owners wasn’t going to make me feel any


    better. Closing my eyes with my arms wrapped around my stomach I sat and sobbed.


    Warmth settled on my other side and I opened my eyes.


    “May I please be alone, Masters?” I asked the five men now sitting in the bathing room on the floor


    around me.


    “No,” Master Bane said simply leaning against the wall.


    “We suffer this together.”