Not every night she says. As if that makes it any better. As if knowing it's not real makes it any better. I know that dreams aren't real; that's what it is to be a mage, to be wholly aware of when you're dreaming, and where you are when you do it.

The reminder sends a vicious chill swimming up my spine, making my shoulders tense.

"If you know it's not real," I ask, worried about the answer. "Can't you just wake up?"

It does not actually surprise me to hear that every Dauntless had to experience such a thing. As every mage had to experience a Harrowing, however different in every way that might be from whatever-the-hell this was.