Free Mind Games: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 6) by J.A. Cipriano

more sure of it by the moment, I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.
    It didn’t make sense because she was probably an illusion perpetrated by the world, but well, I’m not sure how to explain it. My mom was dead, at least I was pretty sure she was dead, but seeing her alive and well made it easy to forget. Which was probably why she was here. As long as I kept second guessing myself, kept wanting this world to be real, whatever was controlling me would keep its slimy grip on my body. I knew this, and yet, I wasn’t sure I was ready to return to a world where she was dead and gone.
    That said nothing of the actions of the mysterious white man who kept appearing. I had half a mind to write him off as a weird delusion, but Ian had seen him too. I shook my head in frustration. Ian could be made up as well. Maybe everything was made up?
    What I needed to do was find Ian and have a more pointed conversation with him. Yeah, that was exactly what I needed to do. Well, that and remember what the man’s name was. You know, assuming he wasn’t a delusion caused by my broken brain. It was enough to make me wish I had some kind of litmus test for reality. The problem with that was any litmus test would be bogus if something was trying to make me think I was crazy. It could just manipulate the data as it saw fit.
    Without realizing what I was doing, I had walked off of campus. I was on one of the large main streets leading toward the center of town. How was that possible? I’d barely made the decision to do anything and suddenly I found myself miles away from my high school. How had I crossed so much distance so quickly?
    I spun in a slow circle, my heart hammering in my chest as I realized I had no idea where I was. Cars raced by on the street, not paying much attention to me. The most generic houses I’ve ever seen were plastered along either side of the road. It looked like the same three houses built over and over. It was either the world’s most boring housing tract or whoever was manufacturing my dream world couldn’t be bothered for more than three unique building designs. Sadly, in this particular case, I was inclined to believe the first reason.
    “This isn’t good,” I muttered to myself. I had been waiting for my mother. Now I was lost and had no idea how to get back to her. I spun on my feet, fear rampaging through me as I headed back down the other way, moving as quickly as I could.
    Houses flew by me as I ran in the opposite direction I had come, but after a few minutes, I still hadn’t reached the school. Hell, I didn’t even see it. Ticky tacky houses stretched out in every direction and tears of frustration, fear, and failure tugged at my eyes. What was I going to do?
    No, I wasn’t going to cry. I wasn’t just some helpless crazy girl. I was Lillim Callina, damn it. Even if I wasn’t a real Dragonslayer, even if I was just a little girl with a broken mind, I was not going to cry over being lost. I just wasn’t. At least, not yet.
    “Last night I had a dream.” The sound of the substitute’s voice shook me to my core, and I whirled around to see him standing there beside a parked car the color of freshly spilled blood. He smirked at me and held his hands out toward me. “It was dark as night, so black, not even the stars shined.” He took a step toward me, and as he moved darkness seemed to wrap around his pale flesh, so it was like he wore a suit of shadow and ink.
    “Who are you?” I asked, taking an unconscious step backward. Some part of me knew I shouldn’t be afraid, knew that, somehow, this person was a friend, an ally, but looking at him wrapped in the writhing night, I couldn’t help the fear settling over me like a thick blanket.
    “I cannot say. When I speak my name, he hears me and comes to intervene. You must remember on your own.” He shook his head. “Only then can I properly help you. Even now, he is drawing out my essence, using it to feed his own power.” He