This wasn't quite like any nightmare she'd ever seen before, the Dreamwalker quickly learned. Marlow winced, dropping her hand to the ground to hold herself steady, willing her heart to keep from bursting. Her eyes darted from Issac to the silvery appendages creeping nearer; she should have been able to stop them with a single thought. To control them and shape them into any benign thing her imagination could dream up. To destroy the silver entirely. She did try, but this, this magic, was a contender far greater than anything her abilities had ever gone up against. How do you take on something you have very little understanding of?
The best place to start was to stay calm. Marlow jumped forward and put her arms around Issac, casting green life into the winding black limbs climbing over themselves, veining up the walls like an illness. The ceiling crumbled open and let in rose-gold rays that touched warmly against their skin. "It's Marlow," she tried, holding on so tight, the silver would have to take them both. "I'm right here, Issac. Follow my voice and look at me." She bit back a whimper and pressed her head against his arms for a moment as a sharp pain cut through her mind. That bell. Marlow raised her head--she had to try to dismantle it.