The Nightmare Dilemma

24 Dream Remix

My session with Mr. Deverell the following afternoon wasn’t at all what I expected. It was less like Star Trek and more like Luke Skywalker being tortured by Obi-Wan with the blast shield and the training remote. Not that I pointed out this comparison to Mr. Deverell. I didn’t want him to think I was a total sci-fi geek.

We started off doing some mental “exercises” designed to strengthen my mind and to make sure I could keep the important stuff hidden, then he performed the nousdesmos. It seemed a lot like being hypnotized. In seconds I found myself slipping away, not falling asleep, but more like entering a dream. Except there wasn’t a dream or even a dreamer. There was nothing but empty blackness all around me as if I’d been submerged in an ultra-advanced sensory deprivation chamber.

Mr. Deverell’s voice spoke to me from somewhere in the darkness, encouraging me to visualize the plinth. “Let your instincts guide you.”

Yeah, he might as well have said “stretch out with your feelings, Luke” for all the help it was. I didn’t feel any instinct about anything. All I felt was nothing at all, just one big black everywhere. It was frightening and yet oddly peaceful at the same time. Unbeing.

But slowly I managed to reach the plinth and focus on the words, willing them into sight. It was hard, but infinitely better than scratching away at them the way I did in my dreams. I didn’t have any fingers to scratch with in this state.

But by the end of the two-hour-long session, I’d managed to uncover only two letters: A N.

B E L L A N

It wasn’t as much as I wanted, but at least it was a step in the right direction.

“Let’s try again on Friday,” Deverell said afterward.

“Why not sooner?” I asked, trying to hide my disappointment.

He shook his head. “Your mind needs time to recover from what we did here today. The brain’s a muscle, same as any other, and we just put it through a rigorous workout.”

I wanted to argue but could tell it was no use. As I left the classroom, I decided I would have to try again in Eli’s dream during our session tonight. Deverell had said it was dangerous to let anyone else see the name, but with so much at stake, I knew it was a risk I would have to take.

I told Eli this plan the moment I arrived in his dorm that night for our dream-session.

He thought about it for several long seconds before answering. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“What do you mean? Of course it is.” I leaned forward in the chair I was sitting in. Eli sat across from me on the sofa, slouched back and looking as hot as ever. The light blue T-shirt he wore was threadbare, as if from hundreds of washings, and it had a rip on the collar, one long enough that I could see the edge of the tattoo on his chest. Try as I did, I couldn’t keep my eyes from slipping down to it again and again.

Damn him.

Eli leaned forward, too, the opening in his shirt spreading even wider. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Dusty. If Deverell says your mind needs time to recover then we better do it.”

“We don’t have time. Beltane is less than a week away. I need to be able to manipulate your dreams now. But at this rate, it’s never going to happen in time.” I stood up and started pacing the room. “And we don’t know anything at all. The Atlantean Chronicle is super long with no index. There’s no telling if we’ll find details on an assassination. And we don’t know who’s involved or where exactly it’s going to happen. I know I haven’t been there, but I’m pretty sure Lyonshold is a big place. So it’s not like we can keep on top of everything. And—”

Without warning, Eli stood up from the sofa and pulled me into a hug. I was so caught off guard, I gasped. His arms slid around my shoulders as he drew me to his chest. “Calm down,” he said. “I’ve never seen you so worked up. You’re not yourself.”

For a second I had no idea what he was talking about, but then I realized he was right. I felt like I was on the verge of a meltdown. But that wasn’t like me. I’d been under plenty of stress before and not lost it. So why now?

Eli’s hands moved up and down my back. “It must be from the session. You’re stressed out.”

I nodded into his chest, relaxing against him automatically. I suddenly felt like sleeping. Right here. In his arms.

I felt Eli’s hands slide all the way to the small of my back, the movement making every muscle in my body react. I started to lean into his touch, then realized what I was doing, and pulled back, my face flushed.

As he let me go, I saw his was, too. And he was breathing hard. I watched the rise and fall of his chest, more confused than ever. I wasn’t completely inexperienced. I could tell when a guy was reacting to me in a not-just-friends kind of way. I remembered that kiss, so hot and steamy it might’ve scalded my insides. Friends didn’t kiss like that. A boy not interested in you didn’t kiss like that.

I mustered my courage to once again ask him for an explanation, but I didn’t get a chance before he deliberately changed the subject.

“I did some digging into Mr. Corvus today,” he said, returning to his position on the sofa.

Taking a deep breath, I retreated to the desk, leaning against it. “Oh, yeah? Find out anything?”

Eli made a face. “Not a thing, although that’s telling all by itself.”

“How so?”

“He doesn’t have a past,” Eli said around a yawn. “At least not one I could find so far. All the Internet and e-net searches I’ve done were a dead end. The guy doesn’t have so much as an entry on ratemyteachers.com.”

I frowned. “He wouldn’t, would he? I didn’t think magickind used that site.”

“Some of them do.” Eli turned and lay down on the sofa. “There’re even a couple of ratings on there for Marrow.”

I gaped. “Nuh-uh.”

He grinned over at me, his eyes half-closed. “Yep. And they were pretty positive, too.”

It was sort of funny to think about, but I didn’t laugh. Folding my arms across my chest, I walked to the sofa and looked down at him. “Not being on the Internet doesn’t really mean anything. Corvus is old.”

Eli shook his head, his eyes slipping all the way closed. “His official school records were a dead end, too.”

I shoved Eli’s leg with my knee. “How did you see his official records?”

Eli opened his eyes, a smirk splayed across his lips. “Easy. I broke into the admin office today after classes.”

I dropped my forehead into my hand. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“It wasn’t a big deal. Dr. Hendershaw meets with the office staff on Tuesdays so I knew I could get in and out without getting caught. Thanks to the moonwort key, that is.”

“I’m half-tempted to take it away from you.”

Eli pinned me with a gaze. “You wouldn’t dare.” He wasn’t smiling, but I could see the humor in his eyes, and I definitely heard the challenge in his voice. It put me in mind to do something daring, and for a tense moment I imagined climbing on top of him before he fell asleep. Better yet, I imagined him grabbing my hand and pulling me there.

Stop it, Dusty. Stop it right now. “Was his file empty or something?”

“Nope,” Eli said. “But it only had one entry for prior work experience. He spent twenty years at Castlebank Academy in Scotland.”

“Well, that seems normal. Castlebank is just like Arkwell.”

“Sure.” Eli slid his hands behind his head, his arm muscles flexing from the gesture. “Except he stopped working there ten years ago. And there’s no record of what he’s been up to since.”

I hooked my thumbs into the belt loops of my pants. “Well, that’s weird. But it doesn’t exactly link him to Magistrate Kirkwood.”

“No, not yet. But the next step is to check out his office.” Eli sounded eager at the prospect, but I couldn’t say the same. Mr. Corvus was fierce. Mr. Corvus would not take lightly to catching someone breaking into his office.

“We’ll have to plan that one carefully.”

He nodded, his eyes slipping closed. “Did you get anywhere with Melanie yet?”

“No. Selene sent her an e-mail, but she hasn’t responded. Then she tried to track her down while I was with Deverell but didn’t have any luck. I have a feeling it’s not going to be easy.”

“Yes, well, it wouldn’t be any fun if it was.” His voice trailed off, and a few moments later he was asleep. Must be nice to be able to shut off so quickly.

I climbed on top of him, a dull ache beginning to pound in my temples from stress and worry. Still, I had every intention of having another go at the stone plinth tonight, no matter what Eli said. And as long as I didn’t hit him again it should work.

I reached for his forehead, ready to enter the dream, but froze as Eli shifted beneath me. It was slight, but enough to make my heart throb against my rib cage. My face went red, and my body temperature spiked. Then Eli’s hands, which had been pinned beneath his head, slipped down and landed against my waist, catching on the jut of my hips.

He smiled in his sleep. I considered removing his hands to somewhere less intimate but decided not to. Some things just felt too right to change.

What didn’t feel right was Eli’s dream. Once again, I found myself surrounded in thick fog, even worse than last time.

“Eli,” I shouted, fighting off vertigo. I tried to will the dream to take shape, but nothing happened. This might as well have not been a dream world at all. The sharp teeth of panic nipped at me, but then Eli emerged from the fog.

“I’m here.”

I wanted to throw my arms around him, but that would be a very bad idea. “What’s going on with your dream?”

“I don’t know.” Eli looked tense, and I wondered if he’d been close to panic, too. “Do you think this is because of the block?” He motioned to the fog.

I bit my lip, dismayed by the idea. “I … I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t see how. This is coming from inside you, not me.” I paused, thinking about the dreams before it. Everything seemed so muddled. I exhaled. “Then again, it might be me. I’ll ask Mr. Deverell.”

Eli ran his hand through his hair, his lips pinched. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Come on. Let’s see if we can figure out where we are. It looks like it’s clearing a little.”

I followed after him as he moved deeper into the fog. Having something solid to focus on helped with the vertigo, but I still would’ve felt better holding on to him. If only there was a way around the no-touching rule.

After we walked a few paces, I saw he was right. The fog was lessening. Something like daylight seemed to be brightening it. Ahead of me Eli came to a sudden stop. I saw at once what had caused it—a stone wall. The stone wall of a tall tower.

No, it couldn’t be. I stepped up beside him, my heart sinking. We were once again standing atop that tower, my tower. If I turned around and walked a few strides in I would see the stone plinth.

“So maybe the fog is from you after all,” Eli said as he gazed out onto the gray nothingness surrounding the tower.

I didn’t respond, knowing he was right. I squinted, trying to see through the fog. I could just make out the top branches of the nearest trees but that was all.

Eli faced me. “This isn’t where we’re supposed to be, Dusty.”

“I know.” The words came out listlessly. I was suddenly so tired, as if I’d run twenty miles without stopping and hadn’t eaten for days. All I wanted was to sit down and rest. But I couldn’t. Eli was right. “I’ll try to fix it.”

I closed my eyes and focused on manipulating the dream. I felt the magic respond, but it was weak and insubstantial, like trying to build a sand castle with dry sand or a snowman with powdery snow. No matter how I pressed and pulled and forced, the shape of it wouldn’t stay.

Finally, I gave up, making a sound somewhere between a shriek and a groan. “I can’t do it. It just. Won’t. Go.”

Eli didn’t say anything, but I could feel his gaze on me. Frustrated and growing desperate, I strode away from the edge toward the center of the tower where I knew the plinth would be. If I couldn’t manipulate the dream, then I would work on the block. No time to waste.

The fog grew denser the farther in I walked, soon becoming so thick I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of me. I pressed on, and in moments began to suspect something was wrong. In every other dream, I would’ve reached the plinth by now, but there was no sign of it. I walked on. Sooner or later I would reach the other side of the tower at least.

I was right. Except as I stepped through the fog, it wasn’t the other side, but the same side. Eli was standing right where I’d left him. I’d managed to walk a circle, missing the plinth completely.

I didn’t know how that was possible, except this was a dream. A place where anything was possible.

I stepped up beside Eli. “You try changing it.”

He rubbed his chin, mulling it over. “Okay.” Then he closed his eyes, and he held his hands rigid at his side, no doubt mimicking the way I did it.

Nothing happened at first. But then the wind began to pick up. The fog swirled around us. I expected visibility to drop even more, but to my surprise the wind seemed to be dissipating the fog.

Out of the corner of my eye, something bright caught my attention. I turned toward it automatically, walking closer to the edge of the tower. But I didn’t lean against it, the memory of plummeting over the side all too vivid.

I didn’t need to get to the edge to see what the bright thing was. The top of one of the trees was on fire, the branches like a thousand torches bound together. Soon more of the trees caught fire, not from the wind blowing or any other natural phenomenon. They just ignited as if from the inside.

“What’s going on?” Eli said, opening his eyes. He turned and surveyed the scene.

I glanced at him. “You’re not doing this?”

He shook his head. “If I am, it’s not on purpose.”

I started to reply, but a loud rumble went through the tower and the floor began to shake. Beyond the wall, one of the trees fell over with an ear-splitting crack.

Eli and I both backed away from the edge. But it didn’t matter. The rumble grew louder, the stone beneath us breaking apart. It split right down the middle, right where we were standing.

We turned to look at each other, the same thought going through our minds. Then we reached for each other just as the tower began to fall.

We woke with our arms wrapped around each other, our quick breaths mingling, our panic mutual from a brush with death inside the dream.

I started to roll off him, but Eli’s grip tightened. I froze and then gave in, letting my body relax into his. For once I didn’t question it. We didn’t speak, didn’t move. Just held each other, finding comfort in the embrace and acceptance in our shared silence.