by Gareth Otton
Harry’s eyes were wide and terrified as he stared at the man holding him, begging for his life. Stella couldn’t hear the response thanks to the safety glass, but she could guess what they said. The man moved his hands to the sides of Harry’s face and started rubbing. It was a bizarre sight until suddenly it made sense. Stella had seen Tad use this trick when practicing, rubbing his hands together to create friction and then using Dream to augment the heat of that friction.
Harry’s face melted under the man’s touch. He thrashed so hard that even the six ghosts holding his arms had trouble keeping him still, and his screams were horrifying. But they didn’t last. The heat grew until Stella couldn’t see melting skin, but instead an intense ball of flame as it turned Harry into a human candle. That flame burned bright for a moment, then went out.
All that was left of Harry was the same thing that was left of a used up match. A blackened and charred lump sat atop a lifeless body, and when the ghosts let his arms go, he crumpled into a heap.
“Oh my god,” Chakikra whimpered, breaking the silence in the reception and pulling Stella back to the moment. She had been silently screaming at the horror she witnessed, but Chakikra’s words reminded her that if she didn’t act soon, they could all be in for a fate as awful as that.
She turned away from the destruction and rushed at the door again. She didn’t hang around for anything as time-consuming as unlocking it this time. She dipped her shoulder and ran through it. She barely felt the impact as she broke the door, shattering the lock and rushing into the corridor beyond.
The remainder of the tactical team, hardened men one and all, flinched as she entered, some even letting out terrified squeaks. She thought she might be attacked entering like that, but there wasn’t enough fight left in the faces she saw for anyone to be so aggressive. They had just witnessed a massacre. For all of their dreamcatchers, for all of their training, they had been taken apart in seconds by an extreme, overwhelming force. They had lost twelve of their own and only taken down two in response.
The looks directed at her were those of broken men. Right now that was fine, because Stella had something she needed to say and she didn’t need them arguing.
“Trevors,” she shouted at the big man who stared out of a window, his eyes locked on the smoking head of Harry’s corpse. “We need to lock this place down. We can’t let them get inside or that’ll happen to us.”
Trevors wasn’t listening, just staring and muttering to himself.
“Trevors,” Stella tried again, grabbing him this time and turning him to face her.
“He’s dead,” Trevors whispered. “They’re all dead. I need to go get them,” he said. “I need to—”
Stella slapped him hard enough that she staggered the large man and the sound of it was like a gunshot in the corridor. Trevors raised his hand to his stinging cheek and looked at her with wide eyes, before she recognised his shock leave him.
“I need to—” he started to say again, more firmly this time, but she wasn’t about to let him talk.
“You’ve done enough,” she snapped. “If you locked this place down like I wanted, you wouldn’t have killed those ghosts, you wouldn’t have pushed them into a rage, and there would have been no need for your men to die. It’s time for you to listen.”
“They just killed my men,” he said, regaining his anger. “I can’t just let them—”
Stella slapped him again. This time he saw it coming and tried to dodge, but she was too quick and again she knocked him back a step.
“Listen to me, you fucking moron,” she snarled. “That macho attack first and think later attitude just got your men killed. Put your pride aside, admit you’re wrong and do as I said. Right now none of those dreamwalkers can get in here because of the dreamcatchers. The ghosts don’t want to come in because they don’t want to be destroyed. So that leaves—”
“The garage,” Trevors said, glancing back over his shoulder in the garage’s direction.
When Mitena set up the dreamcatchers, Stella insisted on a few requirements. She needed her people to train with their dreamcatchers, so Mitena had crafted a barrier or sorts. They could use Dream within the building and outside it, but Dream could not cross the barrier. That meant no dreamwalking in and out while the defences were raised. However, considering she had a team of people who needed to dreamwalk from time to time, there had to be a place for them to do that. Therefore, the garage had a deactivated dreamcatcher inside that allowed her team to come into the building.
“That’s right,” she answered. “Lock that down so we don’t have a waiting back door for them to walk through and lets regroup and figure out what the hell we do next. But no more rash decisions. We don’t act again until we have a plan.” When he didn’t respond she demanded, “Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” he answered, shaking off the last of his shock. However, he couldn’t keep from looking out of the window and shaking his head. “Stella. I’m… I should never… I mean—”
“Forget it. We’ll talk about it when this is over. Right now, I need you to act. Come on, Trevors, we don’t have all day.”
He blinked once, then the fight returned and he started barking orders.
“Nigel, Sam, and Carl. Head upstairs and cover the exits. Wallace and Sally, you’re taking up positions in reception. Nothing comes through that door without going through you two first. Ben, Tom and—”
His orders were cut off by a click at the far end of the hallway as the door to the garage opened. Everyone spun in that direction as guns came up to face this new threat, and Stella’s heart pounded when she thought they might be too late. However, she breathed a sigh of relief when Freckles padded in through the door with Leon one step behind him.
Leon froze when he saw the guns pointed in his direction and threw his hands up in a fearful surrender.
“Whoa! Easy. It’s just me.”
“Stand down,” Stella shouted, rushing through the group and pushing gun muzzles down when some of the more spooked men looked reluctant to follow her orders. “Stand down I said. Trevors, get control of your people. This place still needs locking down.”
While she was barking her orders, a wide eyed Leon looked outside and gasped when he saw the war zone.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked.
Freckles rushed up to Stella, throwing himself into her legs in greeting, and despite everything, Stella couldn’t help but feel relieved by his presence. She fussed her dog and met Leon’s eyes.
“We’re under attack.”
“The Eidolon?”
“No, dreamwalkers. What are you doing here? I thought you went to check on Lizzie.”
“We couldn’t find her. We saw signs of a struggle though, and I was worried the Eidolon had gotten to her. As soon as I found out about it I came straight here to regroup.”
Stella’s gut twisted and it was her turn to look outside. Until Leon spoke she was focused on what was happening in her carpark and not thinking of the bigger picture. But as soon as she heard Leon’s words, she knew it wasn’t the Eidolon behind whatever happened to Lizzie. That would be too much of a coincidence right now. She had a sinking feeling that whatever was happening here was part of something bigger. As she stared at the ghosts and dreamwalkers who were talking amongst themselves and glaring at the building with hatred, she couldn’t imagine what that was.
However, she was sure of one thing. For now the Dream Team weren’t going anywhere, and if this was part of something bigger, then that left no one with training against supernatural threats to stop whatever else was happening.
Well, maybe there was one person.
Thinking of what happened to Lizzie and realising she hadn’t heard from him since last night, Stella swore and pulled out her phone. A moment later she had it against her ear and was listening to it ring, and ring, and ring. As soon as she got to the answerphone she hung up and tried again, once more listening to that electronic ring.
But it was no g
ood. Tad wasn’t answering and as a fresh fear gripped her. Stella hung up and dialled once more.
The phone continued to ring, and ring, and ring.
27
Wednesday, 30th November 2016
3:14 (local time)
Tad sat on the floor in the centre of the circle, cross-legged and eyes closed as he dripped with sweat. His clothes had been neat before coming here, but now they were covered in dust and his jacket lay in the dirt beside him. His tie had long since been discarded and overall, Tad looked a mess as he tried his hardest yet again to break the barrier between himself and Dream.
No matter how much of a mess he looked, he was more focused than ever. He ignored the burning heat of the giant Dreamcatcher as he concentrated on the barrier in his mind, trying to free himself from this prison. However, the pressure in his head was building and he was on the verge of passing out. The pain was unbearable, like he hadn’t felt since he first learned how to use his powers.
His heart beat faster as he gritted his teeth against the pain and pushed harder. He felt like he almost had it. What had once felt as hard as glass was now like reaching through warm plastic that was melting as he pushed it. However, there was still just that little too much pressure against his fingers, and he wasn’t able to break through.
Tad, you need to back off. You’re just hurting yourself for no reason.
The voice was Tony’s, coming from inside his head. Tad was using the power he got from Tony to help push, but no matter how much Tony helped, he couldn’t succeed.
Spots danced before his eyes, his limbs shook, and his heart beat a thousand times a minute. Every nerve in his body was on fire, but the pain was centred on his brain, like his head was in a vice and it was being crushed.
Tad! Stop!
Tony’s voice broke through his stubbornness, and Tad pulled back, admitting failure.
Opening his eyes, he ignored the brightness of the glowing metal and hit ground in frustration. Back to reality, he felt the heat of the dreamcatcher along with the sweat that made his clothes stick to him and the dust turn to mud against his skin. He felt wretched, and only part of that feeling was physical.
“Are you okay?”
Thomas was leaning over him with a concerned look. Genuine emotion wasn’t something Tad expected from the often self-centred politician. To see that concern for someone else’s well-being, Tad felt guilty for misjudging his character.
What’s wrong with me? Tad asked himself.
It seemed like no matter what he tried, he messed everything up. Whether it was dreamwalker meetings, politicians, interviews with Lizzie, helping with the Dream Team, or even trying to make things right with Jen, it all turned bad when he got involved. He was a walking disaster. The Merging was far from his first mistake, but since then he’d been making bigger ones. Each was worse than last with higher levels of fallout, and he was running out of energy to keep pushing on.
What’s the point? No matter what I do, I’ll just let people down.
There was pressure inside his head, a familiar feeling of frustrated ghost wanting out. Seeing no reason to keep him inside, Tad let Tony go. Mist rose from his body, followed by agony as his actions over the last hour caught up with him. He groaned and closed his eyes, missing Tony’s angry expression as he glared at Tad, tapping his foot impatiently.
“Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself?” Tony asked.
“Leave me alone. I’m not in the mood for this.”
“Do you really believe that Jacob’s plan ends with locking you in this dreamcatcher? He’s out there doing God knows what because we haven’t found a way out yet. People are relying on you.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Tad asked. “Even if I could get out, everything I touch turns to shit. I can’t win, no matter what I do, and I just make things worse.”
“I thought we were past this guilt trip when we laid Charles to rest once and for all. I thought burning your hand was enough to make you realise you’ve given enough, and not everything in the world is your responsibility to fix. Can we please move past the self-pity and get on with finding a way out of here?”
“How do you expect us to do that?”
Tony pointed behind Tad and said, “Maybe he has some ideas.”
Tad looked up to see Rodney returning. There was no hope to be found in his appearance as Tad could read his expression. Another failure.
“I found the house,” Rodney said in way of greeting. “But it was empty, and I couldn’t find anything else for miles around. I could have kept going, but I didn’t want to get too far away. Sorry, guys.”
Tad shook his head and waved him off. “Don’t worry, this isn’t your fault. Jacob and Brad thought this through before bringing us here. They wouldn’t have left if there was help nearby. Maybe it’s time you three think about saving yourselves. I’m not going anywhere, but you three can—”
“Tony’s right,” Thomas interrupted. “Now is not the time for self-pity. We need to identify the problem and think of a way out of it.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing?” Tad asked.
“It looks like you’ve been doing the same thing over and over, then banging your head against the ground when it doesn’t work. Maybe it’s time we tried something new.”
“New like what?” Tad asked, still not up to this conversation but at least willing to hear the politician out.
“I don’t know, but there must be other things we could try. Has anyone thought of raiding those stables for tools we could use to tear this dreamcatcher apart?”
“It wouldn’t do any good,” Tad said. “I can’t get near this dreamcatcher to so much as touch it, and you guys can’t touch things without me making you real. Remember, we’re not in the Borderlands.”
“Shit,” Rodney said, aiming a kick at a stone on the ground but his foot passing through it. “Why didn’t we think of that earlier? It would have saved me a trip.”
“Think of what?” Tony asked, not getting it.
“That we’re not in the Borderlands. Even if I found someone who could help, how would I get their attention if they’re not a dreamwalker?”
“Oh yeah. That was a waste of time,” Tony said, laughing as he always did at the most inappropriate moments. “I guess thinking wasn’t your strong point in the army.”
“You know, one of these days you’re going to say something that you can’t take back,” Rodney warned, squaring off with Tony like he might knock the teenage ghost’s head off his shoulders.
“Guys, this isn’t helping,” Tad said, groaning again as his headache grew worse. “I think we need to face facts. We’re stuck here.”
“Good idea,” Tony said. “Let’s cross our legs and hope Jacob has a change of heart and comes to set us free. You’re a genius Tad, why didn’t we think of this sooner?”
“Now’s not the time to test me, Tony,” Tad warned.
“No? You mean you might get off your arse and do something. That would be a change.”
“I have just spent the last hour trying to break this thing, don’t have a go at me for not doing anything,” Tad snapped.
“Okay, so you tried and failed. Doesn’t mean you should give up.” In a more gentle tone he added. “Come on, Tad, this isn’t about us. You know that if whatever Jacob is doing is bad enough to lock you up, then he can’t risk the Dream Team stopping him either. If you don’t do this for yourself, at least do it for Stella. Who knows what they’re going through back home?”
Tad recognised Tony’s attempt to manipulate him, but he couldn’t deny that it worked. Just because Tony was pulling his strings, didn’t mean he was wrong.
“Fine, but what can I do? I need to get out of here if I’m going to help anyone. Right now I can’t move more than two feet in any direction without triggering this stupid dreamcatcher.”
“Right, so that’s the problem. What would need to happen to change that?” Rodney asked. “That’s what one of my instructors used to say. Iden
tifying the right problem is half the battle, then it’s just a matter of figuring out what needs to change to make that problem go away. There are no wrong answers, because just by brainstorming responses you might stumble onto something good.”
“Alright, so what needs to change?” Tony asked, trying to sound enthusiastic.
“Well, if there was no dreamcatcher, that would be nice,” Thomas pointed out.
“Okay, so how do we make that happen?” Rodney said, ignoring the sarcasm.
“We could dismantle it,” Tony said.
“It’s welded together and none of us can touch it,” Tad pointed out.
“Then maybe we could bury it to block its effects,” Thomas suggested, a little more seriously this time.
“It won’t make a difference. The Campbells buried a dreamcatcher around their house and that worked fine,” Tad answered.
“So how did you get past that one?” Rodney asked.
“I overloaded it.”
“Great, so we just do the same thing to this,” Rodney pointed out, excited like Tad hadn’t been trying that for the last hour.
“This thing is better put together, and last time I had help because the dreamcatcher was blocking Growler and three other dreamwalkers at the same time. All I had to do was add my energy to the mix and it became unstable. There’s just me here now, so I can’t do that.”
“Can we get someone else here somehow?” Thomas asked. “What about Growler? He normally follows you around. Where is he?”
“I’m guessing that whatever it is about dreamcatcher that blocks me from Dream blocks me from him as well, or he’d be here right now. I’m sorry guys, it’s just not happening. Without other dreamwalkers here to help or me somehow getting a boost in strength, I can’t think of how we could destroy this.”
Tony looked up sharply, his eyes narrowing.
