Dream Killers - Complete Season 1 (The Dream Killers Book 3) Page 13

  But when she was alone with her teddy bears and Barbies, she had them call her Dice. She really did like it better.

  That was all nice and all, but I needed to know where her dreamplane was and how to get there. Which thread was she? Which one did we need to follow?

  It was so hard to find. There were so many. The harder I concentrated, the more I saw. There were dream threads shooting through us because we in their space. We simply couldn’t see them because we weren’t aware of their universe or dimension. Threads stacked on top of thread.

  I had to stop looking at them all. My head was beyond exploding. Beyond.

  Dice. Take us out of here, okay. Where’s your dustman?

  Dice prattled on like she didn’t hear me. She talked about the Barbie whose foot she’d accidently bitten off the other day, and how she had to come up with a new name for her. Names were important.

  Of course they were, but as she talked about absolutely nothing, she latched onto me and gave me a heading.

  I blindly reached out and grabbed Zoe. I hoped she’d grab everyone else. Concentrating on Dice and trying to ignore all the other dreams was difficult. I couldn’t quite manage it while concentrating on the people who were standing right in front of me. It didn’t help that I could see strings digging through and around them, or that they were standing on nothing.

  Nothing. We weren’t standing on threads of dreams. We were standing on the aether itself.

  The only thing holding us up was the belief that we weren’t going to die. That we weren’t going to fall through.

  As if on cue, Violet raised her face, her eyes rimmed in red. Her stare penetrated the haze of the dreams and all the dreamers. Her expression ironed out, relaxing in peace. She closed her eyes.

  And disappeared.

  Harper and Bo reached out for her, yelling her name.

  Zoe stood in a shocked stupor.

  I was too overwhelmed to react. I closed my eyes and rocked with the beat of my heart. I knew what had just happened. Dreamland had claimed another victim. Who said the land of dreams was safe?

  They were wrong.

  I LOST TRACK of time and space and all the other things that made Place. I dragged one foot in front of the other, following the prattling voice of Dice.

  We needed to get out of the web. It was consuming me.

  No. It was feeding me. More than I could handle. I felt like a man at a buffet that couldn’t stop eating. I wanted to throw up, but had to hold it all in, keep it all down.

  “River.” Bo’s voice was a bare rasp.

  I didn’t turn around. I concentrated on just moving forward.

  “You’re glowing.”

  I was going to burst. Where was the exit?

  Zoe pulled on my hand and pointed.

  I couldn’t see what she was pointing at. Why?

  Because I saw Anabel on her cross country bike ride with her husband. I watched a tumble weed hop across a broken blacktop highway.

  I saw Michael laughing as he stared at a mason jar full of apple pie moonshine, telling the story of how he found it.

  I saw Alice as she retold the story of how she met her boyfriend.

  I saw her boyfriend doing the neighbor.

  I saw the neighbor flirting with the man at the counter.

  And the man at the counter eyeing the girl with the really short shorts.

  And the girl with the really short shorts telling her besty about how stupid her mother was for not understanding what Ask.fm was.

  And another girl on the other end of the continent collapsing against the bathroom door reading the replies to a simple question she’d posted.

  And the look on the man’s face as he typed in the horrible answer that made absolutely no sense, didn’t answer the girl’s question, and only tore her down.

  And his mother glaring at him and berating him for breathing.

  And her boss who couldn’t understand why he’d hired her.

  And his wife who couldn’t stand being married to him.

  And her brother who worked at a sleep lab of patients who couldn’t wake up. Hundreds of them.

  And his associate who worked in the lab where are all the bad experiments were stored—people with one too many arms, or those who couldn’t breathe oxygenated air. The ones the mechanics couldn’t fix.

  Or the woman who kept them all safe from being discovered, who kept everyone out so the dreamers could do what they were designed to do. Dream.

  Or the dreamer who . . . just . . . wanted . . . to . . . wake . . . up.

  Lillian.

  Her name was Lillian. She knew where the other dreamers were being kept. She knew they were all in danger, but more than that, so were the dreams. The dreams were wrong somehow. Contaminated. Drugged. Damaged. But how? She didn’t know. Why? She didn’t have that answer either.

  She simply knew she had to get out. Had to wake up. Had to—

  And the little boy who found her. Tripped into her dream stream one day. He’d awakened.

  And died the next day.

  And…and…and…

  I reeled.

  Zoe pulled on my hand. “I see it. We’re going to be okay.”

  How were we going to be okay? I’d brought Zoe here to keep her safe from Bo.

  Bo.

  Where was his strand? Where was his history? Where did he come from?

  There. Bo stood in a field of wheat, a broken path carved out. A crashed 1945 Oldsmobile lay at the end of the path. He turned. His red tie fluttered in the wind. Blood laced the ripped buttoned front of his white shirt. His black hat lay flattened on the ground beside him.

  A woman stood in the middle of the dirt road, her white dress with red polka-a-dots fluttering in the wind. Her bright red hair was done in tight pin curls. She looked like something out of a black and white movie.

  She opened her mouth. No words came out.

  He walked backward, getting back into the car. The door unfolded. The car got back onto all four tires and drove in reverse. The woman stepped into the fields of wheat.

  The scene blipped and Bo stood in a brightly lit farm house. The woman in the polka-a-dotted dress stared up at him, her bright red lips full. “I’m pregnant.”

  Bo’s face lit up like a light bulb. He picked her up and twirled her around with a whoop.

  Her eyes were sad, her lips never rising in a curve. Her expression was dead.

  The scene blipped again. They were in a bar, the music loud and sultry. The woman with the bright red hair sat at a table surrounded by her friends.

  He was surrounded by a group of his own friends—all dressed like sailors in the U.S. Navy. The one beside him—his name tag was folded in half so I couldn’t read it—thumped him on the arm and pointed his thumb at the woman.

  Bo looked over and grinned.

  She smiled back and brought her chin to her shoulder, dropping her gaze bashfully.

  His entire demeanor changed.

  The men around him hooted and hollered, clapping him on the back and pushing him toward her.

  The scene blipped again. I found myself in the middle of a battlefield. Explosions filled the air, hitting me in the chest with the repercussions. The men from the bar were around me, guns in hand. They shouted at me. One raised his arm, turning to retreat.

  A bullet caught him in the head.

  Bo reached—

  —out and grabbed my arm, his gaze latching onto mine.

  I swayed where I stood.

  His swaying met mine.

  Neither one of us were doing really well.

  Zoe tugged on my hand, digging in to pull harder.

  Harper had her hands at Bo’s back and pushed.

  I closed my eyes and followed Zoe. If I didn’t look at the web, I wasn’t tempted by the visions—the memories. I knew I wouldn’t fall through. The web was too complex, too intense, too complete.

  The only thing I could do was to reach out to the land Zoe saw and ensure it didn’t drift in time, or that we
didn’t. I wasn’t sure which. Both, I guessed.

  I didn’t think we were going to make it. The land seemed so far away—all red and blue. Suddenly, it was right in front of us. My feet touched sand, dug in. My steps became sluggish.

  The dreamweb retreated like a lowering tide. Darkness took its place. No sea. Just a starry night sky.

  And drifting dreamplanes.

  We hadn’t made it out of the graveyard. We’d simply traveled from one dead dreamplane to the next.

  If this was the place I was supposed to protect, if these were the people I was supposed to save, I would do what I could. As long as I could survive it.

  I had to wonder though. Just how many more of them were out there? And how was I supposed to save them all?

  I would find out. The graveyard of dreams was now under my protection. I’d keep them all safe—the forgotten dreamers, rogue Dreamlanders and the dream killers. They were mine now.

  Mine.

  DEDICATION

  To all you fabulous failures!

  You are beautiful and amazing

  and really, REALLY brilliant.

  Keep it up. One day, others

  will see how amazing you are

  and wonder why they were so blind.

  Wait. No, they won’t.

  They’ll wonder where you were hiding.

  Not to worry. That’s on them.

  Not you.

  Stay gorgeous.

  SOUNDTRACK for DREAM KILLERS SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

  Audiomachine “Existence” (album)

  Audiomachine “Tree of Life” (album)

  Music Junkies “Torque” (album)

  “I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!”

  Lewis Carroll

  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

  CHILLS CASCADED ACROSS my body. Antiseptic and the smell of death assaulted my nose. Cold shot through my veins. Something beep-beep-beeped in the darkness surrounding me.

  Where was I?

  In a flash, everything changed. My world tilted, shifted, went sideways and upside down. Hundreds of people screamed at me—screamed through me. I tried to make out individual sounds, but nothing made sense. Why was everyone screaming?

  A crashing boom made my ears pop, forcing the deafening sounds into silence.

  I stood in the shadowy void of darkness. Was I alone?

  I shouted.

  Nothing.

  I reached out with my hands, and stumbled through the gloom. I couldn’t tell what I walked on, or where I was.

  Light stabbed my eyes with a sudden radiance.

  I raised my arm to shield my face, peering over it. The dark hairs stood on end, glistening in the sunlight.

  Sunlight? Dreamland didn’t have sunlight.

  Someone laughed nearby. A boy.

  I turned. A wide, grassy park stretched before me. I recognized the trees from the dreams I’d watched. Towering green pines stood guard along its border. Tall cottonwoods nestled between them sporadically.

  So, this was someone else’s dream?

  A golden retriever ran, his tongue lolling. He skidded to a halt, his fur flying, and picked something up in his mouth. Twisting around, he galloped toward me.

  A ball. He shoved a red ball in my hand.

  In my hand? I watched the dreams of others. I didn’t participate.

  Slobber slimed my palm. Huh. I took the ball, scratching his ear with a frown. “Who do you belong to, boy?”

  In all my years of watching your dreams through the sea, I’d never once participated. Yes. I gained experience through you, but I never touched, never played. I wasn’t a dreamer. I’d been born in the one land where no one dreamt.

  A woman shimmered into existence on the far side of the park. Her tall, curvy body had me mesmerized with each sensual step. The sun glistened along her dark blue skin. A waterfall of gorgeous black hair fell over her shoulders. An ocean stared back at me from her wide, blue eyes. She drank me in as if I were the only person in the universe.

  I straightened, my hands forgetting the ball. I felt complete. I’d been searching so long, and she was here.

  Who?

  She smiled, gliding toward me. Her dress fluttered around her ankles. Her webbed feet didn’t move. She cupped my cheek with one hand, green membranes unfurling between her long, lithe fingers. She put her cold forehead to mine.

  A long, pent-up breath escaped me as I sagged into her embrace.

  Her arms drew me close.

  I wanted to stay there forever. I’d never had anyone to hold, to belong to, to cherish or love. I’d never been anything more than a burden to anyone else.

  There is Mech. Her voice rang like a siren’s song.

  Yes. There was Mech, but I’d abandoned him weeks ago in a mad search to discover where I came from.

  You need to find him again. He is your friend. More than you realize, I think.

  Who was this woman?

  She pulled back, her smile still warm upon her midnight blue face. Red veins stretched lazily from her temples to her finned ears. I will find help for you. Just stay safe. Please, my Riv-boo. Stay safe.

  I swallowed, not knowing what she was talking about, but nodded.

  She let me go and drifted backwards. It’s time to wake up now, my boo.

  Was she a traveler? She didn’t speak like one, but she’d called me her boo.

  Worry about other things, River. Like how to wake up.

  I didn’t wish to. My only thought was to stay there, in that strange place where I was accepted. Wanted. I was wanted. Why would I leave that? Leave her?

  The corners of her large eyes tipped down. Wake up now, River.

  I shook my head.

  Wake up! This new, higher-pitched voice held no pleasant ring. It shrilled with the tones of fear.

  The blue woman turned her face away, her finned ears twitching as though trying to find the source of the other woman’s voice.

  Let me wake up! Dear God, please!

  My ears perked, my attention immediately going back to the strangely green trees. Green trees? We didn’t have green trees in Dreamland, and the only way I even knew about them was through your dreams on your Earth. Where was I?

  My beautiful blue woman raised her face to the blazing sun and closed her eyes. This woman is a lost dreamer, River. Ignore her. You must return to your dreamers.

  My dreamers? I didn’t understand.

  A cold nose nudged my fingers.

  Zoe. Guilt washed through me. How could I have forgotten her? What I felt for her? Granted, I’d only just met her, but she was . . .

  An amazing little girl who had completely wormed her way into my heart. I had no idea what life would be like with her, but I couldn’t imagine it without her.

  Or Bo. He’d become a big brother and a father figure all rolled into one. I had to get back to him. I couldn’t do this without him. I didn’t want to.

  Zoe needed me. Bo wanted me. I had to wake up. What was I doing here?

  The dog hadn’t gone anywhere. Probably because I still had his ball. I raised my head to say something to the blue woman.

  She was gone.

  I massaged my temple with the hand holding the ball. A headache rolled in from the main muscles in my neck, rising to build pressure behind my eyes.

  The dog whined and pressed his nose into my leg.

  I threw the ball with a flickering frown and turned away, looking at the sun. We didn’t have a sun in Dreamland, so where was—

  “Who are you?”

  A real voice. A real person.

  I spun around. The park evaporated. The grass. The pines. The sun.

  A different woman stood in front of me, her straight, blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail. She wore a loose, white tank top and pale blue pajama bottoms. She
smiled and stepped forward. “Who are you?”

  “Uh.” Four walls caged me in, all covered in mirrors. Okay. I couldn’t quite tell if there were four. It could have been a fun house for all I knew.

  “Tell me your name’s not Uh.”

  I snorted a chuckle. “No. No. I’m River.”

  “You don’t look good. Are you okay?”

  I glanced at my reflections and cringed. I looked like something a basher had beat up. My normally angular face was now gaunt. Thick, dark stubble graced my chin, and my black hair stood up in odd angles. My loose, shirt remained on my body in tattered fragments of a dingy white, and my blue bandana was covered in soot.

  “Can I help you?”

  I turned back to the woman. “Who are you?”

  She put her manicured hand to her chest. “I’m Lillian. What are you doing here?”

  I wasn’t sure where Here was. I couldn’t get a lock on Place. It was like I had no relevance to my current location. Was it possible I was dreaming? Really?

  No.

  She flattened her lips with a frank smile. “Okay. You’re lost. I can help.”

  “What kind of Dreamlander are you?”

  “We’re dreaming.” Her eyebrows rose as she chuckled and turned away. “The trick is to wake up. Everyone who comes here figures out how eventually.”

  “I need to wake up.” My heart jumped a beat. My dreamers were out there in the graveyard without Bo’s ship. They were stranded, lost.

  She looked at me like I was a simpleton. “Yes. You do.”

  I rubbed my eyes with my fingers and thumb, then pinched the bridge of my nose. “What do I do?”

  “If I could figure that out, I’d wake up myself, but I’m trapped here.”

  “Most people don’t worry about being stuck here. It’s where they want to go.”

  “Most people aren’t me. I had a life out there, you know.”

  “Had a life? How long have you been asleep?”

  She met my gaze. “Years.” She frowned as she raised a hand to my forehead. “You’re sweating. You have a fever.”

  That was impossible. No one in Dreamland got sick except Zoe, but she wasn’t a Dreamlander and she wasn’t supposed to be stuck there. I belonged, and those that belonged were safe from sickness. I dodged her hand. “I’m sure it’s just this dream. I need to get out.”