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Raz took a few more breaths and steadied herself before answering Tuomas' question.

"This has happened before. But I've never been as far in as I just was." She raised a hand to her throat, the memory of Death standing over her a scary thought. Josie stood up and sat on the bed next to Raz, her hand on her sister's shoulder as she lent some comfort.

"We don't know why the Nightmare Realm wants Raz so badly. But I can tell you what it is, or at least, what we think it is. I'll only tell you what it is if you think you can handle it, if you can't, I won't bother." Josie fixed Tuomas with a stare as she talked, her indigo eyes showing hidden wisdom as she asked him if he could take the information.

"OK, but Raz wouldn't be lost to the Realm, only her mind would be, so don't think you'd lose her body. The Realm is nothing more than nightmares that have manifested to a point where they are real enough to kill and hurt people. There are other, less deadly Realms, but the Nightmare Realm is the only one that takes action for who it wants. The Realm gets inside a persons dreams and turns them into nightmares, but nothing usually happens after that because people usually wake up when a nightmare gets to a certain point. I, for instance, am afraid od spiders and snakes and wake up immedietly when I have a dream that has one of the two in it. Bur Raz, she's only afraid of Death and I, we, think that's the reason why the Realm pulls her in so easily." Josie paused for a minute to catch her breath and make sure Tuomas was following, she hadn't told anyone about this Realm for a long time and it was a little hard to tell him.

"In other words, I'm perfect for the Realm's Callers. The ones who pull in the victims, may it be wolves, cats, spiders or anything people fear, the Realm is trying to recruit me." Raz let her hand drop from her throat and closed her eyes, the shock and chill from before finally melting away.

"I fear only Death because of something that happened a long time ago." Raz stood up and left the bedroom, not wanting to talk about what happened. She walked into the kitchen a pulled a waterbottle out of the fridge, her thoughts straying away from her as she leaned against the counter.

"Don't ask her what happened, unless you want your jaw gone. Trust me." Josie held her hands up and let Raz leave, knowing her sister needed to leave. She cleared her throat and faced Tuomas before answering his question.

"I can tell when Raz gets pulled in because we have a telepathic connection that I put up when she was first pulled in. I don't know when the nightmare shifts, but apparently Raz's nightmares happen in a forest clearing, a large white wolf appeares and it shifts over to the Realm. Sometimes, Death in the form of the Grim Reaper comes up after the wolf leaves and beckons Raz. It's really scary, actually. She'll be sitting on the ground in a pure white dress, not doing anything wrong, then the nightmare starts. It scared her bad enough the first time, she didn't speak for a month." Josie looked over at Tuomas and bit on her lip, she knew Raz was going to say something later, but he had asked and Josie told him everything she knew.

"If you want to know, Tuomas, I'll tell." Raz had returned, onyl to hear what Tuomas had said last, and was leaning against the doorframe, her eyes quiet and staring at the floor.

"But you have to swear not to bring it up ever again, even to blackmail me." She turned her eyes to the neko and gave him a death glare, a sign that she wouldn't hesitate to hurt him badly if he even thought about bringing it up.

"Alright, I trust you." Raz took in a deep breath then let it out, happy that she could finally tell someone what had happened.

"When I was about four maybe five years old, I found out about my powers, but they were shaky, only working at certain times. At this time, I thought I could do anything, even cheat Death itself. I was proved wrong one night. I had wandered a little too far into the forest and gotten lost, typical, but I used a bit of fire to light my way and came upon a group of people from the town I lived in performing a sayonce. I yelled out at them to stop and they attacked, obviously pissed or possessed. I was raped many times, beaten up and driven through with a sword. By the time dawn reached the forest, I was near death and laying on the ground, my white dress stained dark red. I had lost enough blood to keep me there and to stop any thoughts I had. My dad couldn't find me and I just layed there, waiting to die. I realized that Death was the only thing I could actually fear and couldn't find a way out of no matter what. A wolf came by when I was losing consciousness and I found myself in the hopsital days later, my mom and dad so worried about me they hadn't slept at all while I was out. Every time I see the wolf in my dreams, its eyes just stare at me, coldly, as though it regretted saving me. That's why I'm only afraid of Death, because I learned my lesson too quickly and actually met the Grim Reaper." Raz finished her story with tears rolling down her cheeks. She hadn't told anyone about what happened and could feel a weight being removed from her shoulders. She closed her eyes and turned away, the pain from that night coming back and feeling as though she was reliving the nightmare.

"It still hurts, though." Raz felt arms wrap around her and looked up to see Tuomas, she started crying fully and buried her face in his chest, the memory a little hard to take after burying it for over a decade.

"Raz, I never knew..." Josie just stared at her sister, tears clouding her own vision as she thought about what she had gone through, and only at five years of age. It was a horrible thought to think that some of the nice townspeople would have done that to Raz. Even after what had happened, Raz had been so nice to the townspeople, helping out with the fires that started and whatever animals got out. Josie couldn't believe it, she was stunned that Raz had given her time and energy to help those who had hurt her, she had the largest heart Josie knew of and she couldn't help but admire her sister for that.

Raz pulled back from Tuomas, tears still running down her cheeks, and tried to smile. She could almost feel the anger coming from him and brushed her fingers across his cheek.

"Don't, Tuomas. The people who did that to me confessed not long after and were convicted to a life-sentence in jail. The nightmare's over." She put her hand on his shoulder and gave a full smile, the tears drying on her cheeks as she stopped crying. It had been painful, yes, but Raz knew she did the right thing in telling him.

Josie watched the two, she could tell how much Tuomas cared for Raz and couldn't help but crack a smile, it was nice to see someone was makign her sister happy. She stood up and scooped her white ribbon up off the floor from where it was. She tied her hair back up into a ponytail and looked out the window, her thoughts drifting as she stared out at the blue sky.