Screaming.
As the world explodes around me, that's the only thing I hear.
Or at least, it's the only sound I really take notice of.
Fragments from the ring fly momentarily into the air, before they vanish as if the ring was never there at all. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was just another illusion.
Suddenly, the maze that we're standing in breaks into coloured shards of glass. Cracks runs across the sky, the ground, everything, before they fall apart. It's as if we're standing inside a giant stained glass window, shattering all around us. Suddenly we're floating. The glass fragments are streaking through the air at top speed, grazing against us as they rocket by, but never leaving a cut.
And the screaming. Amber.
All traces of normality have vanished. She's that fragile, blue figure again, made of nothing but ashes and smoke.
She looks up, and her eyes slide past me as if I am invisible. Instead they latch onto my sister. She reaches upwards, but she's starting to fade. Starting to drift away. Starting to leave.
Blue smoke swirls around her, and she starts to melt into it until she's almost indistinguishable from the heavy smoke curling into nothing. All that's left are her eyes, and as they vanish too, they never leave Rosie's for a moment.
And then she's gone.
We're flying.
Streaking through the sky in a blaze of vibrant colour. There's nothing around us but colours. And I can't hear a thing; the peace is so unexpected after the insanity of what we just went through. I know noise must surround me, but I'm blocking it all out. I want to forget the sound of terrifying, terrified screaming.
The colours dance around us blindingly, brighter and brighter by the second. Until there's nothing left but light. Dazzling white light.
Then I hit the ground. It's the first thing that has felt truly real all night, as if I've fallen out of bed after a nightmare. It feels like waking up.
But reality still holds traces of the nightmare. Because they're the same thing.
The four of us are sprawled on the floor of the attic. Weak fingers of early sunlight slide under the door from the window in the hallway, touching us lightly. And all I can hear is our uneven breathing and Rosie's quiet sobs. I reach out to hold her, but I don't say anything. I don't know how words can take away the nightmare.
"It's just..." she looks up at me, eyes glinting with tears. "I thought she left because she didn't love me... but she did... all this time... it's what I've wanted to believe my whole life, but I never thought it was true...but..."
"I know..." I whisper. "It's ok... I promise..."
"I've imagined her coming back one day... so many different dreams... I used to hope they might come true..."
"I know she wasn't what you imagined she could be like," I say softly.
Rosie gives a raspy little laugh. "Yeah. I never imagined that she would be a ghost who would try to kidnap me and trap me in a ring. That wasn't what I was expecting-" Rosie suddenly breaks down into tears again, all pretence at joking gone.
"I'm sorry Rosie. I really am."
"Do you know what the worst part is?" Rosie pulls away from me and looks miserably at my face. "I know what she did to Dad was terrible. Unforgivable. And I love Dad ten times more than I love her, but... I do love her. And I actually wanted to give her a chance... just not in the way she wanted."
"She's your mum," says Jack quietly. He's staring at the floor really hard, as if there's a secret between the floorboards.
"I know what an awful person she is," Rosie swallows. "I know... but when I looked at her just now, as she was fading away... I didn't see someone evil. She just looked... lost."
"I'm sorry we couldn't save her," Jack fiddles with a button on his pyjamas. "I know that all you've ever wanted is your real family... all of you."
"No," cuts in Adam unexpectedly. "Our real family is here."
When we all hug once again, it doesn't feel awkward or clumsy this time. It just feels... perfect.
And I know that I've woken up from the nightmare for a little while.