Zac and the Dream Stealers

by Ross Mackenzie

  “Your secret headquarters is a pub?” said Zac. “And the Dream Stealers have never found it?”

  Granny smiled. “This is no ordinary pub.”

  “It’s protected by powerful magic,” said Gideon. “A Knight cannot reveal the location of The Forty Winks to anyone who’s not connected to the Order. As far as I can tell the spell is unbreakable.”

  They made their way through a labyrinth of torch-lit streets and twisting alleyways. Zac read some of the shop names as they hurried past: MADAME MORTIMER’S MASSIVE MUSHROOMS; WILBUR J. CRINKLESNITCH & SON APOTHECARY — RARE PIXIE DUST IN STOCK; WILLOW THE WARLOCK’S WITCH AND WIZARD SECOND-HAND EMPORIUM. There seemed to be at least one pub on every street, and most were filled with a rabble of cheery customers.

  Zac lost count of how many corners they turned before they ventured up a winding cobbled lane. A minute or two later, Cornelius stopped in his tracks and turned to his companions.

  They were standing in front of a row of run-down buildings, and sandwiched between two of them was a crumbling cake of a tavern. The windows were completely black with grime. A crooked sign hung above the door. It was so faded that the gold letters were barely visible: THE FORTY WINKS.

  “This is it?” said Zac. “This is your HQ?”

  “Yes,” replied Cornelius, looking a little hurt.

  “I mean it’s, um, brilliant,” Zac said quickly.

  Cornelius cheered up at once. He walked up to the prehistoric door and placed his hand on the doorknob, which was shaped like a crescent moon.

  “Well,” he said with a wink, “shall we?”

  Fresh, cold water trickled down Rumpous Tinn’s face, waking him from an exhausted slumber. His dry eyes cracked open. The first thing he saw was a wet rag floating gently above his head.

  “Who’s there?” he said.

  The rag dropped to the floor.

  “A friend.”

  Tinn recognized the voice. It belonged to the invisible person he’d heard earlier.

  “You’re weak,” she said. “You ought to eat.”

  Glancing around, Tinn realized he was back in his cell. He must have lost consciousness. The things Shadow had made him see . . . But he’d managed to resist telling her anything. He shook the horror from his head. His mind ached.

  A plate of bacon and eggs lay on the floor beside him. He was so hungry he didn’t even care if it was poisoned. Grabbing the plate, he began to eat greedily.

  “Drink,” said the little voice once again, and a sumptuous goblet was pushed into Tinn’s hands. He took a long draft. The water rushed through his body, immediately rousing every muscle and nerve. He sat back against the wall and let out a sigh.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “That’s all right,” said the voice.

  “I must confess,” added Tinn, “that I am very curious to meet you properly. What is your name?”

  “My name?”

  There was silence for a moment.

  “It’s Noelle,” said the voice softly. “My name’s Noelle.”

  “A beautiful name. Mine is Rumpous Tinn.”

  “I like my name,” said Noelle. “My mum used to sing a song about it. It’s been so long since I’ve heard anyone use it.”

  Tinn leaned forward, searching the room for any sign of movement.

  “Tell me, Noelle,” he murmured, “how did you come to be in this place?”

  “It was so long ago,” whispered Noelle. “I can only remember flashes of what happened. Our village was attacked one night. The screams woke me up. My mum sang to me. She was tryin’ to keep me quiet.”

  “Who attacked your village, Noelle?”

  “Vampires. It was vampires, Mr. Tinn. Sent by the Dream Stealers to drive us out. They were feedin’ on almost everyone they could find, but they kept some of us alive so they could bring us here, to this place. They have a deal with the Dream Stealers, see. The vampires bring folk to the Dream Stealers, and the Dream Stealers keep them here in secret and practice their dark magic on ’em.”

  Tinn sighed.

  “Mum and me hid as best we could, but they smelt us out us eventually. Mum wouldn’t let me go. I was screamin’, so they bit her. And she fell.”

  Tinn bowed his head.

  “I was brought here with a few of us from my village. They’re all gone now. The Dream Stealers finished ’em off.”

  “But they didn’t finish you, did they?” he said softly. “You were different from the others. You could disappear.”

  Tinn saw the air flutter slightly, and out of nothingness a girl emerged. She was pretty with dark, soft features and olive skin, and she was dressed in rags. She was crying.

  “At first . . . ,” she said, wiping her hazel eyes, “at first I couldn’t control it — it just happened. I’d disappear sometimes when I was scared. But as I got older and stronger, I started understandin’ it. Now I can be invisible whenever I choose. That’s how I survived down here for so long. When I’m invisible I can go wherever I please. I steal food — they got kitchens here. Some of them Dream Stealers stay for days at a time. And they have to feed their prisoners — gotta keep ’em alive for a while at least. I nicked your breakfast off the kitchen table.”

  “And most delicious it was, too.” Tinn smiled. “Noelle, I have a question. If you can slip past doors and such, why have you never escaped?”

  She laughed. “You think I ain’t tried? I can only get so far, up to the ground level. But the exit is guarded.”

  “Well” — Tinn smiled again — “with my help, I’m sure we can get past a few guards.”

  “You don’t understand,” she said. “It ain’t guarded by Dream Stealers, by people. It’s guarded by water — by a lake. The water is . . . it’s alive. It’s bewitched. Anyone who touches it is pulled into a watery grave, sucked into the lake and drowned. I’m too scared to swim. I’ve seen it happen.”

  Tinn’s face darkened. “Why didn’t I know about this place?” he muttered quietly to himself.

  “They built it in secret,” said Noelle, “a long time ago. I’ve heard the Dream Stealers talkin’. In the old days lots of ’em were rich and they wanted a comfortable place somewhere out of the way where they could come to practice their dark stuff. So they built this place up here in the North. Nobody knows about it, except the goblins, and they only sneak in and steal food, or prisoners. It ain’t possible to escape.”

  “Nothing is impossible,” said Tinn. “There’s always a way.”

  Noelle rolled her eyes doubtfully.

  “I have a question for you, Noelle,” said Tinn. “Have you ever heard of the Knights of Nod?”

  “Yeah, I have,” she said. “I’ve heard prisoners telling stories about the Knights. Some of them said they died out after the last war. Other people said they never existed to begin with. They were just a fairy tale made up to make people feel safer.”

  “And what do you think?” Tinn asked.

  Noelle pursed her lips in thought, then said, “Well, I think they’re probably a fairy tale, too.”

  Tinn smiled sadly to himself.

  “What?” asked Noelle. “What you smilin’ at?”

  “Oh, my dear girl,” replied Tinn, holding his hands up, “I am certainly not laughing at you. It’s just that I find it a little sad that all this time you believed the Knights of Nod to be nothing more than a bedtime story when here you are, talking to their leader.”

  Zac and the others shuffled into The Forty Winks out of the cold night air, and were greeted by the warm, inviting glow of candlelight. The room in front of them was long and narrow, and divided into padded booths furnished with chunky tables and mismatched chairs and benches. The wooden floor looked ancient and rather sticky. The bar was at the far end.

  As they trooped forward, a ma
n’s head popped up from behind the counter. He had a bushy black mustache and a few wispy strands of hair on his head, and his many chins wobbled as he moved.

  “Who’s that?!” he yelled.

  “Relax, old man.” Cornelius grinned. “It’s us.”

  “Oh, Cornelius!” said the head. “Thank the stars you’re all right!”

  The man struggled to his feet. He had very little neck and was wearing a puffy checked shirt under a plum velvet vest. His mouth fell open when he saw Granny.

  “E-Eve?” he stammered. “Eve Wonder? Is that you?”

  Granny stepped forward. “How are you, Barnaby?”

  “By the stars!” he yelled, and rushed over to greet her. “Eve Wonder!” He hugged her tightly. “I can’t believe it. For so long we all thought you were . . .”

  “Dead?”

  “Well, yes. You’ve been gone for fifty years, Eve! And then the Dream Stealers returned, and Tinn decided to tell us the truth — that you’d been hidden in the Waking World, and he was going to bring you back.”

  “Well,” replied Granny, “here I am.”

  “And the Dream Stealers won’t know what’s hit ’em!” said Barnaby. “But where is Tinn?”

  “Come,” said Granny. “I think we should all sit down.”

  “Good idea. I’ll fetch some powder-keg punch,” said Barnaby.

  They sat in one of the booths and Barnaby brought a tray full of drinks. Zac lifted a heavy tankard and took a swig of the clear liquid inside. It was wonderfully cold and sweet, and when it hit his stomach, he felt heat burst through his entire body. He gulped the rest gratefully.

  “Well?” said Barnaby. “What’s happened?”

  Cornelius began to recount the evening’s events, from Tinn’s capture in the Eternal Forest, to escaping through the Gateway, to finding Granny waiting there with her grandson.

  “Seems a bit fishy that the Dream Stealers knew where to find Tinn,” said Barnaby. “I wonder if they’ve been following one of us?”

  “It’s possible,” said Cornelius.

  Barnaby turned to Zac, who became very aware that all eyes were now on him.

  “Pleased to meet you, Zac,” he said, reaching a fat hand over the table. “My name is Barnaby Smudge and I am the chief watchman of The Forty Winks.” He puffed out his chest proudly, and because there was a lot of Barnaby to puff out, several candles were knocked over.

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Zac, shaking Barnaby’s hand. The bartender’s fingers were like thick sausages.

  “No one gets into HQ without going through Barnaby first,” said Julius.

  “And speaking of HQ,” said Gideon, “shouldn’t we be heading there now? We must decide what should be done.”

  “Right you are,” replied Cornelius. “Barnaby, take us down, will you?”

  “Of course.” Barnaby toddled back to the bar. “Is everyone ready?” he shouted. Then he reached over and pulled on one of the large beer taps.

  There was a loud clunk-clank-clunk, and the floorboards beneath Zac’s feet disappeared. He looked wildly at Granny.

  “Hold on to your hat,” she said.

  The bench in the booth tipped forward, dropping them down through a black hole in the floor.

  Zac found himself sliding down a chute so fast he thought his stomach might bump into his brain. He could hear the others thundering along beside him.

  “Wheeeeeeeeeheeeeheeee!”

  That was Gideon.

  Before he knew what had happened, Zac whooshed out of the darkness and landed with a bounce on a soft, springy surface. The floor was a trampoline. They had arrived in a large circular room, brightly decorated in red and gold. There were two heavy wooden doors on opposite sides.

  “What now?” he said.

  “Follow me,” said Cornelius. He half walked, half bounced to one of the doors, and pulled it open to reveal a grand corridor.

  Cornelius led the way along the corridor and through a set of double doors to a remarkable room.

  A gold spiral staircase wound up toward the high ceiling, which was painted with a picture of the night sky. In the very center of the picture, a moon actually glowed. A tall window provided a panoramic view over the city and beyond. Every square inch of the walls was covered with books, and there were several ladders on rails attached to the shelves. The room was alive with the sound of ticking, clicking, whirring, and buzzing from intricate devices stacked everywhere. Some devices had been taken apart; others seemed to be in the process of reassembling themselves. Scrolls and parchments were scattered everywhere, and a miniature steam train sped happily around the room.

  “Right,” said Cornelius. “Everyone here? Good, good.”

  “Where exactly is ‘here’?” inquired Zac.

  “Grandmaster’s quarters,” said Granny.

  “But we’re deep underground!” said Zac. “How can there be a window in here with a view?”

  Granny grinned. Zac got the feeling that he wouldn’t understand even if she told him.

  “Grandad!”

  A boy and girl around Zac’s age came rushing down the spiral staircase. They leapt the final few steps and threw themselves at Cornelius.

  “What took you so long, Grandad?” asked the boy, excitedly.

  “He won’t tell you, squirt,” replied the girl, rolling her eyes.

  “Tilly, Tom, there are some people I’d like you to meet,” said Cornelius. He turned to Granny. “Evegenia Wonder,” he continued, “it’s my great pleasure to introduce you to my grandchildren, Tilly and Tom Huggins.”

  Tom and Tilly stared at Granny.

  “Is this the lady you told us about, Grandad?” said Tilly.

  “The one you thought was dead?” added Tom.

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Granny.

  “Hello,” said Tilly. She was tall and skinny, and her messy blond hair fell over her face as she smiled at Granny. She had a gap between her front teeth.

  “How d’you do?” said Tom. He was much shorter than his sister, with unruly short black hair, a freckled face, and thick eyebrows.

  “And this is Eve’s grandson, Zac.”

  Tilly and Tom sized him up. Zac stiffened. Whenever he met anyone his own age, the outcome was usually miserable.

  “All right?” said Tom and Tilly.

  “All right?” replied Zac, nodding slightly.

  “Jolly good, jolly good!” Cornelius beamed. “Children, you stay here and chat. Get to know each other and whatnot. We’ll head upstairs. Tilly, are your parents up there?”

  “Yes, Grandad.”

  With that, the Knights of Nod began climbing the golden spiral staircase. Granny squeezed Zac’s shoulder as she went by.

  “We won’t be long, lad,” she said.

  When they were out of sight, Tom slapped his hand on his forehead. “That always happens,” he said.

  “What does?” asked Zac.

  “They always go off and leave us just as things get interesting.”

  “They’re hardly going to tell you everything, Tom, are they?” said his sister.

  “Why not?” replied Tom, looking miffed. “I’m a Knight, too, aren’t I?”

  “You are?” said Zac, surprised.

  “Well, kind of,” said Tom, turning pink. “We’ve just started our training.”

  “Yeah,” said Tilly. “Last month. Grandad was thrilled to bits when Mum and Dad gave permission. He’d been telling them for ages that our magic should be developed. Most people simply don’t bother anymore. It’s easy not to in a place like Nocturne.”

  “It was the proudest moment of his life,” added Tom. “He was crying and everything.” He looked at Zac and raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”

  “Me?”
<
br />   “Yeah,” said Tom. “With your granny being such an important Knight, you must have some powers, too, right?”

  “Well, I — I don’t know,” said Zac timidly. “I — I don’t think so. I’m not from here, you see.”

  Tilly’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  Zac swallowed hard. They didn’t know. They didn’t know that he was from another world, that he was an alien. When they found out they certainly wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Things here would be just like they were back home. He didn’t belong anywhere. He found himself backing away. Before he knew it, he was pressed against a huge bookcase.

  “That’s the thing, you see,” he said. “I’m not from Nocturne at all. I’m from the Waking World.”

  This time Tilly and Tom stepped back, their eyes as wide as full moons.

  “You mean, you’re a Wakeling?” whispered Tom.

  “ ’Fraid so,” said Zac with a sigh. “Well, part of me is. Granny was born here, so I suppose part of me is from here, too. I suppose I’m a bit of both.”

  Tom’s mouth fell open. “Brilliant!” he said.

  “Unbelievable,” croaked Tilly.

  They both gazed at Zac in the way someone might look at the most interesting animal at the zoo.

  “What?” said Zac. “What is it?”

  “Sorry,” whispered Tom. “It’s just that we’ve never met anyone from the Waking World before. What’s it like there? And how come you’re wearing pajamas? Does everyone there dress like that all the time?”

  Zac had forgotten about his pajamas. He blushed, tying the belt on his robe a little tighter.

  “Oh . . . this is just what I wear to bed,” he babbled. “Usually I wear different stuff.” He fought back a smirk. “Sort of like what you have on, actually.”

  Tom was wearing terrible bright blue pants, with a pink shirt and vest.

  There was a moment’s silence. Zac put his hands in his pockets and felt something cold and metallic. He jingled it between his fingers.

  “What have you got there?” quizzed Tilly.

  Zac pulled his hand out and opened it. Nestling in his palm were two shiny ten-pence pieces.