Dream Killers - Complete Season 1 (The Dream Killers Book 3) Read online

  “Close” turned out to be a relative term. As we continued to move forward, it moved further away.

  Dang it.

  What had I learned about Dreamland? Nothing was simple about it. Time could move forward and backward. What if space could as well? What if that dreamplane was actually trapped in a different time? What if we could see it, but getting to it meant that we had to travel through time differently?

  Something latched onto me. I stumbled forward. I could almost see it, like the ghost hands of the sea. Only this one was different, more translucent, pulsing with a pale light through its elongated veins.

  Fear shot through me, grabbing my arms and pulling them forward. It wasn’t mine. It belonged to someone else.

  Who?

  A girl. She’d been left there. Forgotten. Alone. Where was Momma? Papa? Where was her sister? Her brother?

  I couldn’t quite grasp if I was talking to someone or if I was watching a stream of memories. It wasn’t as visual as I’d grown accustomed to. It was all emotional. Questions sent in the form of emotions. I preferred words and pictures. Those made a lot more sense to me.

  I’m coming for you, I said with my mind, hoping that this dreamer could hear me like Bess could. Are you safe?

  My chest tightened and my shoulders constricted as her emotions hit me like an icy fist.

  No. She wasn’t.

  Okay. Well, just give me a second. We’re trying to get to you. Can you tell me where you are?

  A sense of “lost” swept over me. She had no names, no Place, no nothing.

  Who are you? Do you have a name?

  So many emotions battered at me at the same time. I couldn’t make sense of any of them, and nowhere in all of that, was a name.

  A shore appeared to the left.

  Bo grinned as he guided the ship and the towering wave to the pale-sanded shore. It looked like a tropical oasis—kind of like Hawaii. Though which island, I couldn’t tell you. A large mountain dominated the small plane. Lots of lush, green plants, that were strangely normal, covered the land.

  The wave lowered us until we were even with the small shoreline. The sea settled. The wind died.

  I went to the back rail and leaned over. I expected to see the sky far below us, or the place we’d just left.

  Dreams. Whispering, chatting, swimming dreams.

  The sky was pitch black still, stars darting out between the dangling, dead planes. “Huh.”

  Bo clapped me on the back, and grabbed me by the scruff of my neck. “You’ve done well, River.” He let me go and preceded me down the stairs. “Who would have ever have thought that a place like this could exist?”

  I stared over the far rail. The green landscape grew as I approached.

  He bit his lips, a frown marring his forehead. “Do you really think there’s a dreamer in there?”

  “Yeah. I felt her. She’s scared.”

  Concern softened his blue eyes. “Is she under attack? Were you able to get any details?”

  “Nope. She’s just scared. She’s not speaking in words.”

  He took in a deep breath as a row boat was lowered over the rail. “It’s a blessing the girl can communicate to you in any way. All right, men. I need the advance team with me, weapons at the ready. We have no idea what we’re facing.”

  Weapons. “Hey, uh, do you think I could borrow a blade?”

  Bo turned to me at the rail as his men dropped into the dinghy. “Where did yours go?”

  “I lost it in the sea.”

  Bo snorted. He pulled a dagger out of his belt, and handed it to me. “That was the first thing I found when I arrived here.”

  I paused in putting it in my waistband of my pants. It was a pretty simple hilt—silver with a leather binding. The sheath was plain leather as well.

  “Keep it. It’s my gift to you.”

  Even Mech had never given me anything. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Now, do you think you could land a bit more gracefully in the boat this time?”

  I glared at him mockingly and teleported myself onto the bench.

  His expression widened. “How did you do that?”

  I sent him a cocky grin. “I might show you later. Maybe.”

  He chuckled and hopped into the boat. He managed to do so with minimal sway. Once in, he sat down across from me. “I did worry about you, River. I’m glad you’re safe. Real glad.”

  I hoped I could keep him that way. “The guardians are searching for you, you know.”

  He glanced at me as we were lowered toward the calm waters. “The who?”

  “The guards of dreams, I guess you could call them. There’s a whole city of them down there.”

  He raised his eyebrow.

  “Merpeople unlike any you’ve ever seen before. There’s one who has made it her personal vendetta to catch you. She’s part squid, part human and very mean.”

  Bo leaned back with a frown. “Why is she so intent on killing me when I’ve never met her?”

  Recalling her cavern under the ocean, I lost all humor. “She collects the remnants of the dead dreams. Shoes, instruments, coins. I even saw a blanket. Bo—” I shook my head, unable to voice what it was like. “I touched them and lived their dreams. I died with them. She’s after you because you’re a dream killer.”

  He sobered and looked away. “The net.”

  “Yeah.”

  “There are a lot of nets out there, River.”

  Something in his voice as he said that, or maybe it was the way he shifted away from me, made me suspicious. “How many?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Have you come into contact with other people with the nets?”

  “How do you think I got one?”

  The dinghy touched the water. The ropes were tossed away and reeled back up onto Night’s Cruelty. The man behind Bo went to work on the oars.

  “Did you steal the net from someone else?”

  Bo winced. “How many people do you suppose are out there like us?” He gestured to his men. “A handful?”

  “I guess. I’ve only met you and that riverboat.”

  “Right. Well, there are a lot more of us. There’s a whole fleet of us sailing the Sea of Dreams.”

  “No one’s heard of you, though.”

  “The sea keeps us safe.”

  That wasn’t the only thing. “How did you come by your ship?”

  Bo smiled up at her as we drifted slowly away. “She found me. I’d been drifting for days on an old plank of some sort. No food. No water. Just daylight. Then, there she was.”

  I studied the ship. She hummed with the same resonance as the sea.

  “She keeps us fed. The water barrels never go empty. She gives us everything we need. In return, she brings us to people who need our help.”

  If Dreamland had given Bo that ship, and if she was guiding him somehow, then what he was doing wasn’t all bad. “And the net?”

  “She brought me to a shore I’d never seen. I didn’t know why I was there. I felt in my gut that there was a reason. She never took me to a place that didn’t need my help somehow. Anyway, I saw this captain feeding a dream into the motor of a conveyer belt. I don’t know what they were mining, but the motor came to life. I just knew that I had to have that net.”

  The man beside me met my gaze, and then dropped it right away.

  I narrowed my eyes at Bo. “How many nets do you have?”

  Bo watched the oncoming shore.

  For the love of dreams! “You know you can’t use it, right? You’re killing dreams.”

  “I also know that I’m supposed to help those that were left behind, River.” He pursed his lips, his shoulders hunched. “If I can’t use the net, then I have to find something else, something better.”

  “Why use motors anyway? This is Dreamland.”

  “We’re limited by what we can imagine, and we imagine what we know.” He held up his hand, cutting me off. “We’re here to save your dreame
r. Don’t begrudge me saving the wanderers. It’s what I have to do. I thought of all the people, you would understand.”

  I did. I just hoped he understood how bad his current solution was.

  The bottom of the row boat met the sand with a swoosh. The men got out. My legs tangled as soon as I stood up.

  I reached for Place just outside the boat and teleported. I barely made out of the skiff before I reappeared again. My mind shifted, making me almost dizzy. The world wasn’t quite right side up. It was as if I stood at an angle.

  Or as if something was a little off.

  What if Place was attached to Dreamland and these planes were detached? Awesome. Reason five hundred and eleven to get the dreamer off this island.

  Bo led the way into the jungle.

  I reached out and touched a shiny, green leaf. “Does anyone else see anything strange?”

  “Seems normal to me,” said the man behind me.

  “That’s what’s strange.” I frowned and continued walking, my booted feet crunching in the dirt. “Where’s the rainbow-colored leaves? Or the stripes or polka dots? Why aren’t the trees walking or talking? Why are the flowers silent? And why does this look like something straight out of a National Geographic magazine? This doesn’t look like Dreamland.”

  Bo watched me for a quiet moment and turned back to the jungle. “Can you tell where your dreamer is?”

  I reached out with my mind. Where are you?

  I got nothing back.

  We’re trying to find you, to bring you somewhere safe. But you’ve got to tell us where you are.

  Again, nothing.

  I opened my hands and moved forward. In the right direction? I didn’t know, but standing in one place didn’t seem smart, either. I just hoped that something in me was working like a homing beacon, and that the dreamer and I would somehow magically meet up. Dreamland had directed Bo to his wanderers. I hoped that she’d help me find my dreamers.

  We’d walked into the jungle for what felt like an hour. Was it really that long? It was anybody’s guess. I’d been following a trail. If there were animals around, I’d have called it a game trail. I didn’t find Dreamer’s Creek, or Dreamer’s Hill. I couldn’t even find Grandmother Willow.

  What could destroy a plane like this?

  Wind whistled past me and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I held out my arm to stop Bo who was right behind me.

  The man behind him stepped around us. “What’s going—” His question ended in a yell as he fell, disappearing into the thick undergrowth.

  Bo shot me a wide-eyed frown, and took out his sword.

  I unsheathed my knife. Together, we cut away the vegetation to see what kind of hole his crewman had fallen into.

  All I saw was black shredded fragments of torn and tattered roots dangling from the hole’s edge. Stars winked back at me.

  Bo fell backwards.

  The other three men did the same.

  “What is that?”

  I rubbed my jaw and stood up, sheathing my knife. “Aether. It’s what Dreamland sits in. It’s like space. I guess.”

  “We couldn’t even see that hole.”

  This was a lot more dangerous than I thought it would be.

  One of the men shouted from behind us, his voice growing distant before disappearing all together.

  Bo searched the area, his sword in hand. “Malcom!”

  The other two men crouched, their swords at the ready.

  A vine whipped out, wrapped itself around one of the men’s throats and yanked. His yell strangled to a stop not long after he disappeared into the leaves.

  Bo tipped his head, his lips tight. “We’ve got to get out of here. We gave it a good try, but I’m not—”

  Another vine shot towards him.

  I took the knife he’d given me and launched myself at it, cutting it before it could wrap around him.

  The fallen part twitched on the ground.

  I nodded. “Yup. Time to go.”

  We all turned and ran, following the path we’d traveled, but it was different this time. Large boulders that hadn’t been there before blocked our path. We scurried around them, fighting off the vegetation, and came across a fallen tree. Heavy, slick moss grew along its bark. There was no way it’d just appeared. It had to have been there a couple of decades at least.

  Bo’s mouth fell open. The top of the fallen trunk towered over us. “How do you propose we get around this?”

  I had no idea. “What if—”

  A girl’s scream pierced the wind.

  All three of us looked up, our noses pointed in the direction of the sound.

  “Your dreamer.”

  Sounded like. “Yup.”

  “Stay or go?”

  I tightened my grip on my knife. “I have to go. I have to help her.”

  He thought about it for a moment and then jerked his shoulders up and down. “Let’s get going, then. I want to be back on my ship before we all wind up dead.”

  I RAN AS QUICKLY as I could, keeping my eye on the vegetation. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to fall into the aether or be eaten by the vines while trying to save the dreamer. I doubted that intentions mattered much in the graveyard.

  The hairs on the back of my neck rose each time we got close to a hole in the fabric of the dreamplane. We nearly fell in once, but after that—and the glare Bo gave me—I understood how to listen to my instincts.

  “Hello!” I needed to home in on the dreamer. While it was great and all that I could hear the planes, I needed to hear her. She was the one I needed to save.

  Vines shot out of the forest canopy at us.

  The one surviving sailor lashed out at them. “When are we getting out of here? I didn’t make it this far to die here.”

  I rolled my eyes, more at myself than at him, and turned to face the direction I’d last heard the scream. I beat at a vine that got too close with my blade.

  Bo dropped to the ground.

  I glanced at him with a frown.

  He stood, something in his hand—a sword made of bone. He jerked back, the corner of his lips rising.

  “What is that?”

  His forehead crinkled in a frown as his grin widened. “A unicorn horn, I believe.”

  “Great. Well, if you’re done searching for treasure . . . ” I let that thought trail off.

  He bowed. “Lead the way. We are following you, after all.”

  Where was she? Are you still there? Are you okay? We’re here to save you. Where are you?

  A fluttering and snapping filled the air above our heads and to the right. A child’s voice rose, singing, though without words I understood.

  Bo tightened his grip on the unicorn horn. “Is that your dreamer?”

  How was I supposed to know?

  A girl flew through the trees, her hands out, her mouth open in song. She was maybe nine. Her wiry hair stood up in a wild afro. A belt of rope tied her green and black tunic into place. She was a female version of Peter Pan, but with wings.

  “When did dreamers sprout those?” Bo leaned over to ask.

  I raised my eyebrows. I had no idea.

  She saw us and stopped.

  I reached up. “Are you the dreamer? We’re here to save you if you are.”

  Her emotions wrapped around my heart—so many at the same time, so overwhelming.

  I staggered backward. The hairs on the back of neck and arms rose. I studied the ground, but only saw a thick blanket of vegetation. Digging my fingertips into my chest to dull the pain of her emotions, I reached up with my other hand. It held the knife, though. I sheathed my blade and held up my hand again. I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t force any words past my constricted chest. Her fear was going to kill me.

  She glanced around the forest with her big, chocolate eyes. Her pixie wings folded and she dropped. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she ran to me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her head in my chest.

  I enfolded her in my
arms, but her emotions only got stronger with her so close. I couldn’t breathe. My throat closed. My lungs wouldn’t inflate.

  She pulled away, her dark eyes searching mine.

  My eyes blinked closed. I fought to keep them open, to stay upright.

  Strong hands found my arms and held me up. Bo’s voice sounded like it was coming at me through a tunnel.

  You’re really here?

  Her voice was so small, and with the look in those large eyes—the desperation and the hope—I had no doubt whose voice that belonged to.

  I am.

  Her small, cold hand touched my cheek as tears filled her eyes. I’ve been alone for so long. They all forgot me.

  I tried to form words together, but without air, it was difficult.

  The tightness in my chest lessened as relief wormed its way through me like hot water to a cube of ice.

  I took in a great gulp of air.

  Bo shook me, pushing the girl out of the way. “River! River, are you okay?”

  I nodded like a drunken man and patted his shoulder. “She’s just very scared.”

  “Is she attacking you?”

  She raised her face at Bo and then back at me.

  I pushed him away and gathered the girl to me. “She’s just scared, Bo. She’s a little girl and in this place, her emotions are very, very strong.”

  Bo frowned, biting his lip. “She’s not endangering you?”

  Not as long as I could keep her calm.

  He scanned the surrounding forest. “Let’s get back to the ship, then. I want off this rock. Riv, lead the way.”

  I took the girl’s hand and ran—falling more than I ran. Her emotions calmed, but the thready pulse of her fear shot through my hand into the rest of my body like acid. I’d have to deal with that, the sooner the better.

  We hit the beach a lot faster than I thought we would. The way I’d figured, we’d been nearly half-way up the mountain before we’d discovered the girl.

  “Where’s the damn boat?” Bo stumbled onto the beach and looked around, his hands on his head.

  Night’s Cruelty stood on the horizon, anchored further out than I remembered. The crew we’d left behind and the dinghy were gone.

  Vines shot at us from the forest, finding the last remaining sailor and dragging him into the canopy.