And, if he got access into my brain again, he would have unfettered access into anyone’s mind.
That was the one thing the Wizard wanted from me. He was always jealous that I could walk through dreams better than he could. Where I was a cat burglar traipsing through others’ minds, he was as subtle as an eight-foot alien clown ravaging the streets with a chainsaw.
The dreamer would always wake up and break the connection.
There was an air of mystery that needed to happen to have a successful dream walk. Even more so to have one so real that you can make the dreamer believe that what you showed them was reality.
Taking things out of dreams, though. That was a skill that no one else seemed to possess. Not anything that the scientists for all their skills and doctorate degrees were able to duplicate. That was why the Wizard hunted me so badly. The scientific implications were enormous, he had said.
He didn’t know though what the other side of that equation would be.
After I had taken that brass key out of my dream, I was never able to find it again, that beautiful house with the hedge maze. It was as if bringing that artifact out made the rest of the dream crumble.
There was no reason that I’d been able to focus my intent and find my other dream worlds, but not that one.
And that was my favorite one, too.
“What are you doing, Val?” Michael’s voice pressed insistently next to me.
He was a shimmer beside me, something like a blue glow outlined his body as he crouched next to me. You would think that since I was in my dreams, that we would be able to touch even more, but that wasn’t the way this worked.
Michael and I had joined roots, connections that ran deep; when I was conscious in the real world, we would be able to visit each other and it would be as real as touch. But when I was unconscious and dreaming like I was now, it was like I was separate from him all over again.
At least while in dreams, I didn’t have to worry about being tracked as I moved around. I had to eventually configure the dosage, though, because I could dream now, whereas the pills were supposed to knock me out into a dreamless stupor. But, if I took any more per dose, I would be in serious danger to damaging my internal organs permanently.
There had to be a new way. A better solution than pills.
I didn’t know how else to change my metabolism to slow it down. I barely moved as it was. I laid in a drug haze on a dirty mattress. I barely ate.
Michael was right. I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. And that was exactly why I wanted to try for this break now. I would only get weaker from here on, and I didn’t want to take the chance on whether or not I would be able to dream again.
I might not have been at my best when the Wizard first found me — I hadn’t expected to dream, after all. But controlling my dream was my skill. I had the ability to travel and take information and more from this place. It was because of me and my abilities that I had been targeted and recruited by Helping Hands in the first place.
It was also thanks to those abilities that I had lasted this long...
“If I can just track him down, here and now, and see how he found a way into my dreams, I would be happy.” I saw another blood drop staining the floor. The Wizard had definitely come this way.
“He just found you because your dosage is off, and instead of being unconscious in a dreamless state, you were able to dream.”
Something about that felt wrong to me, though. “That was rather convenient.”
“You went to Vegas because we knew that he would be there to speak and recruit at the schools. He is at better facilities. His proximity probably helped him boost his power or strength.”
That explanation didn’t feel right to me, but I wasn’t going to argue it.
I need to focus.
The good thing about dreams: even if I was trackable, I wasn’t as vulnerable here as I would be if I were in real life. The thought of having to put up a fight in my drug-addled body right now was hilarious.
Loopy Val wouldn’t be able to raise my arm let alone kick, punch, or even walk straight. More likely, I’d face plant and be easily arrested. I’d be under the Wizard’s dominion within a blink. Two for added emphasis.
I heard something and froze, not wanting to give away our position. It was odd, like the rustling of leaves. Whatever it was, it didn’t belong in a lab setting.
I put my finger to my lips just as Michael opened his mouth with what was likely an epic speech I didn’t have patience for. Glowy Michael faded from view but he was still with me.
The rustling of leaves was just a little bunny rabbit with a twitchy nose hopping along the edge of a woods. I blinked as if I must be seeing things, but the rabbit was still there. It was white, and could have been one of those animals used in the labs as an experiment. But that didn’t explain the edge of green lawn and hint of trees that should have been the sleek white wall of a lab’s clean room.
The bunny froze, then dashed off into the woods when it saw me.
I tore after it, a feeling of déjà vu rushing through me. As I ran, the landscape around me changed as if I was fast-forwarding through multiple movie sets. Crowded Asian markets slick with refuse the air thick with cooking grease. Paradise beaches on far off islands. The dry heat of a sprawling desert.
I slowed when I reached a familiar-looking woods with thick old growth trees that tapered into more manicured versions with lights and decorations that bordered a stretch of flat, green lawn.
I stumbled out of the forest and paused at the break between trees and manicured lawns and blinked into the sunny blue day that floated above a mansion and hedge maze.
There was a figure clipping the tops of the hedges, every leaf and twig perfectly in place. It felt like it should have taken much longer to walk the distance between the edge of the forest and the manicured hedge maze. But that was what dreams were like. They didn’t follow any laws or rules, at least none that I could see.
As I drew closer, the gardener hadn’t changed. He was still the gardener of my childhood with the bark for skin and the leaf on the twig that was his nose.
“Hello?”
The gardener stopped his trimming, lowering his clippers as he looked around for the source of that voice. Finally, he looked down and saw me. As I looked up at him, it was one of those moments where he seemed to loom even more above me.
He was as tall as I had remembered him as a five-year-old girl, no matter that it was fifteen years later, and I was a hell of a lot taller now.
The gardener grinned, a slash in bark that looked like a small hollow in a tree. I half expected a squirrel to scramble out of it to find more nuts. “Oh, well hello there, miss!” His voice was as slow and booming as I’d remembered. “Time to come and play again?”
I opened my mouth then closed it again. “Do you remember me?”
He smiled, and it was like he intensified the sun. “Of course, young miss. Do you still have your key? You ran off so fast the last time, you probably forgot to give it to me.”
I reddened. It had been so long ago, but I still felt the embarrassment that I did when I’d found the key in the pocket of my pajamas, that morning that I’d woken up in the back seat of the car to yet another town. “I did forget. I’m so sorry. But it was so long ago, I think I might have lost it.”
The echo of old woods creaked and moaned in the distance as if buffeted by strong winds. The gardener had tilted his head as if he listened to something. Small knobs protruded from the sides of his face, and I wondered if those were actually ears.
He nodded as if answering something only he could hear, then focused on me again. “Why, have you checked your pocket, miss?”
I blinked at the gardener. My pocket? Without taking my eyes off his happy face, I put my hand in my pocket, and felt a small metallic object inside of it.
A crop of goosebumps trailed over my body.
Slowly, because I couldn’t believe this was happening, I drew the object ou
t of my pocket. After what seemed like an eternity, I looked down and saw the old brass key that I had taken out of my dream so long ago.
“How?” I wondered aloud. If I were here physically, I would have swayed on my feet from the surprise. My mind was still blown regardless.
“You put it in your pocket, and so that was where it stayed.” He smiled at me like he was explaining something to a child.
Maybe to him, I still was one.
“It was real,” I whispered more to myself. Then, I looked up at him, speaking with more nerve than I felt. “I’d tried to come back here several times growing up. I never could.”
“Well, there was a bit of a scuffle over the years. The lords and ladies in the land were helping the king look for someone who had slipped away from them. The king had cut off the paths to make sure that the person would remain here, on this side of the mortal veil.”
The gardener picked up his clippers again, and continued trimming the hedgerow. Such a mundane task made this experience even more surreal.
“Mortal veil?” My voice seemed to come from far away.
“Why, yes. You’re in the fairy lands, well, technically in the home of Manor Whitestorm.”
“Wait. I’m not dreaming?”
The gardener stopped his task to look at her. “Well, your mortal body might be, I suppose. Sometimes the young ones experience that.” He shrugged.
“Young? It’s been fifteen years since I’ve been here,” I insisted.
“Is that all? Child, I have seen many of those trees out there grow from acorns. Fifteen years is barely more than an eye blink to me. Besides, the years don’t touch Fairy as much as it does the mortal world.” The gardener returned to his clipping.
I wanted to say something else, but the high scree of a trumpet rang out, and the baying of hounds drew near. The gardener stopped what he had been doing, and looked at me nervously for the first time. “I think now would be a good time to return to where you had been, young miss. The lord of this manor does not like to be surprised, and I have seen him not take kindly to unexpected visitors.”
I wouldn’t have blamed him. “I suppose I’m trespassing?” I looked around, and the maze was as good a place as any to hide until the coast was clear.
“Trespasser? Why young miss, don’t be silly. You live here, too. You’re just unexpected. Now, why don’t you hide in the maze like you always do, and I will tell you when you may emerge? It will be just like old times.”
Old times? That would mean that we had done this before, yet I remembered no such thing. I took into account his nervousness though, and my gut feeling that he wouldn’t knowingly harm me. So, I followed his instructions wordlessly.
Besides, when a gardener that looked like an animated tree told you that you lived in Fairy and had been unable to come back because of some path restriction, you played along.
And so I scurried into the maze, letting my feet lead the way. I found one of the pretty settees and sat down, my mind was abuzz with thoughts. .
I was in Fairy?
4
Purpose In A Strange World
The tugging in my gut felt different than before, but I didn't know what it was. Now that I was here in this manor dwelling, I had the sneaking suspicion that I'd been called here by someone.
Seeing that the only other person that had been able to pull me anywhere was the Wizard, I didn't have much faith that I was being called by anyone benevolent.
The ground shook like thunder and I was worried that an earthquake was going to tear everything apart. I slipped off of my settee, and crouched on the ground to remain hidden. The noise kept growing. I clapped my hands over my ears, squeezing my lips shut so I didn't scream.
The moment when the noise and rumbling grew to such a height that I thought the ground would literally tear apart, it all stopped.
The stillness from one minute to the next unsettled me more than seeing the Wizard in my dream. I took my hands from my ears, expecting stark silence. Instead, I heard the neighing of horses.
Horses? Did an entire herd gallop here?
With a sound like that, there must be an entire army that rode in at the same time. I crawled over the ground, pulling myself forward on my belly so that I peeked from beneath the hedgerow.
Yup. Tons of horses. All extremely well-trained given that not one of them whinnied or stamped their feet. As much as there was a clamoring before, there was now calm stillness. If I hadn't experienced it, I wouldn’t have believed it.
The gardener strode up to the rider on the black horse, as dark as pitch. I couldn't see who the rider was but his robes were like smoke, spilling over his horse's back. "How goes the hunt, Your Majesty?"
Ice water trickled in my veins. Your Majesty?!
This wasn’t just a random man, this was royalty. A king, or someone equally important.
The rider answered, voice crackling with lightning as he spoke. "It goes well, Alder."
It didn’t sound like the rider was happy about the hunt. In fact, it sounded like he want to kill the first thing that moved.
I wanted to get closer, but the gardener — Alder? — made it pretty clear that I would prefer to be hidden. Something about the lord of the manor not wanting to be surprised, nor taking too kindly to unexpected visitors.
Considering I ran through a dream to get here, I was likely pretty unexpected.
Plus, given the size of this hunting party, I didn’t feel like putting myself under the spotlight and make myself an unnecessary target.
Listening and observing in the field during my missions had saved my life countless times. I decided that this was the correct course of action now.
I closed my eyes so I could listen even more without distraction.
There was something about this hunting party. Specifically that lead rider. When he started talking, I felt that tug in my belly again. This was different than the one I felt when the Wizard drew near, but it was there all the same. I didn’t trust it.
Yet, for some reason, I was compelled to come closer and reveal myself to whoever they were and ride with them. As it was, I had this feeling of freedom, as if I could almost imagine the wind through my hair as I rode on my horse faster than was humanly possible.
As it was, I had to fight to keep myself still.
"We will feast for the night, then resume our quest in the morning. There have been a lot of changelings lost to us. With the paths finally open again, there have been an influx of recruits, which pleases me."
"Very good, sir."
As quickly as they appeared, the hunting party dismounted from their horses and disappeared into the manor. The horses seemed able to direct themselves to where they needed to go.
Even though I could see for myself that they were gone, I stayed still. I needed time for my mind to realize what I had witnessed.
With my belly on the ground, I felt each step of Alder's lumbering gait. He stopped knowing exactly where I happened to be hiding. "All right now, little one. They're gone."
I stepped out of my hiding place. "Was that really necessary? And who were they, anyway?"
"It doesn't matter now. You're probably better off in the mortal world for now, at least until the King of the Wild Hunt has his temper under control. He doesn't take kindly to deserters, no matter who they are or their reasons." Alder's penetrating gaze seemed to scrape over parts of my soul.
Was he talking about me?
"Why do I have a strange feeling that you're talking about me?"
He smiled, or at least, I assumed he did. The slash in the bark on his face that kind of tilted up again. "Because you're smarter than you look."
I put my hands on my hips. "Hey now! What's that supposed to mean?"
Alder lifted his hands toward the sky, his twig-like fingers splayed wide. "I mean that you look like a child. Do not be offended,” he said before I could interject. “I did not say that you acted like one. But compared to me, a child is exactly what you are."
I wanted to argue, but it was hard to find an argument against a living tree. "Fine. You want me to leave, great. I'd love to leave. Just tell me one thing. How did I get here in the first place? And why?"
Alder sighed. "King Thallen closed the paths when he dethroned his predecessor, Ryul. He hoped to ensnare Ryul, but it seemed that he had escaped into the otherworld — your mortal world — before the paths were closed. King Thallen finally accepted this fact. He and his hunters were in fact verifying some rumors to that regard. It seemed that Ryul had been lost to them after all, and so there is no need to keep the restriction on travel. He lifted it shortly before you arrived."
My head spun. The timing couldn’t have been a coincidence. The king had opened the paths and then the Wizard found me in dreams and I found myself here after fifteen years.
"So that was the reason why I hadn't been able to travel in my dreams anymore?"
I said this more to myself than to Alder, but he took up my question.
"As dreams are a path to Fairy, then yes."
Could that have been the reason why the Wizard had found me so suddenly when he hadn’t been able to infiltrate my dreams like that before?
Was that the reason I was here now?
"You said that the paths had been closed suddenly. Surely there were people who had expected the paths to be open for travel. What about the people who were caught unaware when the king closed the paths? What happened to them?" I asked.
The way Alder looked at me made me feel small, but at the same time part of a greater universe. "Why, those who answered the call to return to Fairy did so, and those who chose to run away did so. There was a choice."
There seemed to be something unspoken there. Like, the ones who never returned might not be welcomed here. As if they had made their choice to stay away.
Did I have a choice?
Did my mother know? Did she decide our fates for us? Did she choose to keep us away from here? And why?
My heart was heavy because I would never know.
"Am I here then? All of me? Or am I really in a dirty church in the middle of a city?"
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 19
