by Cameron Jace
“I know that,” Loki screamed. This time, he decided to let go of Axel before he fainted between his legs. He was too young to die in such an embarrassing way.
Then, a miracle happened. The crow let go of Loki who crashed down on the floor, listening to the bird squawking louder.
Loki whirled back and saw the crow heading to the window it came from although it knew it couldn’t pass through.
Next to Loki, Fable was screaming too; a long uninterrupted piercing note that hurt his ears and should have broken glass, had Fable’s spell not been protected by it.
Cute girls screaming. Awful. Awful. Awful.
She held her trembling hands to her sides, showing her tiny veins, unable to stop as if she had seen a ghost. Before Loki turned to see what she was screaming at, he saw Axel finally picking himself up. But when he looked in the same direction Fable was looking in, he bent like a dying plant and fainted respectfully and silently on the couch.
The crow was so scared from whatever Fable was looking at that it kept banging its head against the window until it broke, and escaped the madhouse on Breadcrumb Street. Then Fable fainted as well. Even the spiders were scared and crawled out the windows.
What was scaring everyone so much?
Loki turned to look at what caused the horror, feeling like the last man on earth to survive the apocalypse.
But Fable had seen a ghost. A scary ghost with its head cocked to the side, checking Loki out. It floated two inches above the floor.
The ghost smiled at him. It seemed that all ghosts and vampires were fond of Loki lately.
Loki smiled back reluctantly at it, saying, “Hi… mom?”
***
The fact that Loki’s mom saved them by scaring the crow away made Loki gorge on food like Axel. He needed to eat and re-energize himself to handle the ridiculous amount of scare trauma he had been through in the last few hours, plus the embarrassment his ghostly mother had caused him.
Having a ghost mom made it harder for Loki to believe he was the greatest Dreamhunter in the world. Even his reflection in the mirror wouldn’t believe him now.
All the people I like are scary, mom, Fable, and Snow White. Did I say I like Snow White? Of course, not. I didn’t just say Snow White. I must’ve imagined saying that.
Well, Loki couldn’t deny there was something about Snow White that was terribly attractive, like a nagging girlfriend that he couldn’t live without; but, nah, he didn’t like her, no staking way. In fact, she got on his nerves, and he was vulnerable to her charms every time they met.
It escaped Loki how Axel, Fable, and him gathered around the table, eating dinner with Babushka who had cooked for them. He only remembered fainting next to Axel after he’d said ‘hi’ to his mom—pile’m up mama.
When he woke up, his mom had changed into an almost human-looking form with a few scars and slashes here and there. It was one of the few times he’d seen her look like most mothers do, almost.
Now that she looked a little more human, it felt good to have a mom he could introduce to his friends without being embarrassed—or frightening them. Axel and Fable being weirdoes who lived in a weird house in an even weirder town helped a lot, too. They adored Babushka, and she double-adored them.
As Babushka stood cooking in the kitchen, Loki noticed that she had altered her ghostly appearance to looking as if she had a little chubby belly and lovely full cheeks. She was wearing an apron, and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, only missing some locks, some parts burned out, but that was much better than when she first arrived at the Candy House. Fable had given her a pair of oversized glasses, homey rabbit flip-flops, and let Bitsy help her with the cooking—he came walking with a bowl full of spoons and a fork on his back.
Loki liked looking at his relatively new mother. She actually had a caring motherly smile—altogether she was missing one of her front teeth—and had the most beautiful grey-blue eyes.
Way to go, mom. How did you learn to change like that? And why didn’t you ever cook for me?
No matter how she looked though, it still didn’t make her human. She was as dead as the chicken she cooked for them; ice cold and pulse free, but at least she was available, unlike his father whom he’d never met, which reminded him to ask her about something.
“How come you appear whenever you want to, mom?” Loki said, watching Axel devouring a chicken wing as if it was going to somehow teach him how to fly.
“I don’t know, sweetie,” she said, watching Axel and Fable, making sure everyone liked the food. “I told you. I suddenly got the feeling as if you were calling me.”
“So you have no control over this?” Loki remembered she told him the same thing in the Cadillac.
“I told you I still need to learn a lot. It just happens. I’m here now. That’s what matters.”
“But you won’t be for long. You always disappear eventually,” Loki said.
“I can’t help it, sweetie. I’m not a normal mother, and you should respect that. I am a—” she looked at Fable and Axel reluctantly.
“A Ghost,” Axel said with a mouthful. “We know. But you cook the best chicken ever.”
“You’re so charming, sweet cheeks,” she said to Axel. Loki didn’t feel comfortable with his mom calling Axel sweet cheeks. He was sure no one had called him sweet-anything since dinosaurs roamed the earth.
“I love you, Mrs. Babushka,” Fable cheered.
“Just Babushka. No Mrs.,” she said to Fable.
“I love you, Babushka. I haven’t eaten such good food for some time,” Fable said.
“You’re such a sweet girl,” Babushka blew Fable a kiss.
All the fluffy love filling the room made Loki furious. Babushka and Fable made him feel like they had found love at first sight. When Babushka cooked, Fable kept asking her how to do this and that and tried learning from her. Loki thought it made them look like mother and daughter, which also annoyed him.
“So, mom,” Loki tried to remind her that she was his mom. “Why don’t you stay for a while? Why do you have to go, especially now that you seem to have mastered looking normal.”
“Don’t talk to your mom this way,” Babushka said, slapping him on the back of his hand while sipping from the bowl of soup. Loki hated it when parents referred to themselves in third person. ‘Don’t talk to your mom this way?’ As if she wasn’t even there, which in this case, was kind of true? Babushka wasn’t really Babushka. She was Babushka’s ghost.
“Yeah,” Axel grinned. “Don’t talk to your mom this way.”
Loki was about to send two dead chicken wings flying across the table, hitting Axel in the face, maybe poking out his eyes and then drowning him in his bowl of soup.
“I can’t stay for long,” explained Babushka, addressing Fable and Axel. “I have business to attend to. Ghost business, you know.”
“Of course Mrs.—I mean Babushka,” Fable agreed. “Being a ghost isn’t easy. I think you’re doing a great job, being a ghost and raising a kid.”
Loki was thinking of drowning Fable in her bowl of soup as well.
Being a ghost isn’t easy? The next thing Fable is going to tell my mom is that she wants to become a ghost like her when she grows up.
“You’re such a sweetheart, and you’re fabulous, too,” Babushka said. Fable giggled with rosy cheeks.
“You should’ve seen her evil grin when she cast the spell on the house earlier,” Loki said.
“That was for your own protection,” Babushka defended her. “And she put the spell out now—I mean, I saved the day and broke the spell with my powers. Look around, everything is fine. After we finish eating, Fable and I will clean the house. You and Axel should fix the broken window.”
Axel stopped eating as his jaw dropped, looking at the window. “Is there a possibility the crow can come back, Babushka?”
“Not a chance, dear,” Babushka said. “It’s scared of me. Ghosts are much more powerful than a crow.”
“You’re absolutely a
wesome, Babushka,” Axel said.
“Thank you,” she said, and turned to Loki. “I really wonder why you still insist on killing Snow White when you have amazing friends like Axel and Fable.”
“Yes, Babushka,” Fable said. “Please tell him to forget about killing Snow White. She needs our help.”
“Are we really going to have this conversation again?” Loki said, and stopped eating.
“I think Fable is right,” Babushka said. “From all she’s told me, there is a possibility Snow White needs your help.”
“Ugh,” Loki was about to leave the table. “This is unbearable. It’s like me against the world.”
“Sit down, Loki,” Babushka demanded, losing parts of her human form to ghostly anger. “It’s impolite to leave the table like that, kiddo.”
“I am not a kid, mom,” Loki slammed the spoon on the table. Axel hid his laughing behind the sound of the ringing spoon. Fable wondered why Loki acted so grouchy in his mother’s presence.
“You’re going to be sixteen soon, baby,” Babushka reached to touch his face, but some of her flesh peeled off and got in the way a little. She pulled it back and covered her bones with it.
“It’s all right, Babushka,” Fable said. “You’ll get better.”
“Aw. You’re so kind,” Babushka said.
“Look mom, I don’t need to have this conversation now. Not when I don’t even have a clue how to enter her dream without her making fun of me.”
“Who said you can’t?” Babushka said.
“Didn’t Fable tell you?” Loki said. “She can control her dreams, and there is no way for me to kill her like that. She even told me that she won’t let me enter her dreams if I don’t try to save her.”
“But of course you can still enter her dreams,” Babushka said. “It’s all written in your Dreamhunter notebook.”
“No, it’s not,” Loki said.
“Yes, it is,” Babushka insisted. “Show it to me.”
“I can’t. If you read the page it will dissolve into sand.”
“I won’t read it. I will just point out the page. Show it to me.”
Loki handed her the notebook, wondering what his mother knew about the notebook. She flipped through it as if she had read it many times before. She stopped where the missing pages had once been and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “There are missing pages and they say exactly how to enter a controlled dream. There are also other pages that are missing, too.”
“How do you know that?” Loki said.
“I just know, and I will tell you how to enter Snow White’s dream, under one condition.”
“And what would that be?” Loki asked worriedly.
“That when you enter her dream, you investigate her story and why she wants you to help her—“
“But, mom—“
Babushka shushed him. “That or I won’t help you.”
Loki said nothing, staring at Axel and Fable.
“What it will be, son?” Babushka said. “Make up your mind because I’ll be leaving soon.”
“And I can still kill her if I decide I need to, whatever her story is?” Loki said.
“You can do what you want. It’s your life. You only need to gather the right information to make your decision,” Babushka said.
“Why would you want me to do that? Don’t you care if I find my way back home?”
“I care for you to be happy. Home is where the heart is,” Babushka said. “So I need to hear you say that you’ll investigate her story first. And remember that good people keep their promises.”
“Yes, I will,” Loki said, lowering his eyes. “Now how can I enter her controlled dream and defeat her if need be?”
“If a vampire controls her dream, there’s actually no easy way to enter it,” Babushka said. “But you could enter something we call a Dreamory. It’s still her dream but it’s also a memory. It’s a very sophisticated medium in the Dreamworld, but it will do the job—whether you want to kill her or investigate her story. To enter a Dreamory, you need two things.”
“I’m listening,” Loki’s eyes glittered.
“The first thing is called an Incubator.”
“What’s that?” Axel said.
“An Incubator is a word and date, that when whispered in the dreamer’s ear while they are in the Dream Temple, triggers a certain memory so the dream takes place around the time and the ‘word’ of the memory.”
“That’s awesome,” Loki said. “What is that word?”
“It’s not a fixed word,” Babushka said. “It differs from Dreamworld to Dreamworld. I think this is where Axel’s knowledge comes in handy.”
“Me? How so?” he said with a mouthful.
“You have to find a word and date from your research that would transfer Snow White’s dream into that memory. It could be many words—most words describe places. You will have to search hard for it.”
“Can you explain this a bit more?” he asked.
“It has to be a word like her place of birth, the real name of her father or the queen, anything that you can get from the books in the Bedtime Stoories library.”
“Oh. That makes sense, but what if I don’t get the word right?” Axel wondered. “Will she still control the dream?”
“If you manage to get the second thing, she won’t be able to control the dream, but there will be no guarantees where her dream will take Loki, or how dangerous it will be. So finding the right word will be your job, Axel.”
“I can do that,” he said.
“And what’s the second thing?” Fable asked.
“That’s the best part, I have to say,” Babushka smiled. “You’ll have to go on a little adventure to obtain a liquid that when dropped into her eyes stops her from controlling her dreams…or any dreamer that has that power for that matter.”
“There’s such a thing?” Loki said.
“Indeed. Remember how part of the ritual was to place two Obol coins on Snow White’s eyes so she couldn’t connect the dream and the real world? It’s almost the same, only the liquid fills her eyes in a way that she will not be able, no matter what, to control her dreams or play games with you. It blocks any powers she’s obtained in the waking world from controlling the Dreamworld.”
“Where is that liquid?” Loki’s eyes widened. “Does it have a name?”
“It does, and it’s a very rare and rather sensitive liquid,” Babushka said. “It’s called Baby Tears.”
“Really?” Fable raised an eyebrow. “You’re not trying to say that it’s actually real baby tears.”
“In fact, it is,” Babushka said unapologetically. Loki remembered she was a ghost, and that in her job she must have made many baby’s cry.
“Where can we get Baby Tears, mom?” Loki asked eagerly, remembering that Lucy had offered him a drink called Baby Tears when they were back in the Deadly Ever After party. He wondered if it was real baby tears. “I mean are they easy to obtain in Sorrow, or are we going to end up having to scare babies in their cradles?”
“I think I know where you can get Baby Tears in Sorrow,” Babushka said. “It’s not going to be an easy ride, though.”
17
The Boogeyman
Babushka left right after lunch. It was an abrupt disappearance like usual, only this time she didn’t leave him alone.
Loki was surprised to learn that Axel and Fable were preparing a room for him to stay in—finally, an actual bed. He was eager to sleep in a room he could call his own for the first time. He had to admit that Axel and Fable had become like family and that it made things harder since he knew he couldn’t stay. He didn’t know much about goodbyes—and even less about ‘hello’—but he didn’t resist going against the flow as much as before.
He decided he’d go out to his Cadillac and nap in it one last time. He’d been exhausted, and he needed a little relaxation—and the chance to say a small goodbye to Carmen’s driver seat.
A couple of hours later, Axel came back to wake Loki up.
“Uh—“ Loki looked at Axel, right next to him in the passenger seat. “You finished my room?”
“Fable did,” Axel said. “But that’s not important right now. You’re not going to use your room before we get the Baby Tears.”
“Baby Tears,” Fable cheered from the backseat.
“Yeah, I’m not deaf,” Loki said. “Can you remind me again where Babushka said we’d get the Baby Tears from?”
“Your mom said we should get them from a Boogeyman,” Fable said.
“Ya—my mom. Um—where is she?”
“Are you on drugs or something?” Axel asked, checking Loki’s pulse. “She had business to finish.”
“Ghost business,” Fable giggled. “She told me she had to scare some bad boys who were bullying a little girl by dragging her into a haunted house. Your mom will kick their behinds. Did I tell you your mom was awesome?”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Loki muttered. “So what was the plan again?”
“Offff. What kind of Dreamhunter are you?” Fable puffed, folding her hands. “We need to get back to the castle so you can get into Snow White’s dream again, and since she has the ability to control her dreams, the only way to strip her from that power is to drop Baby Tears into her eyes—“
“Yes, I remember,” Loki blinked, looking at Fable in the mirror.
“And then I have to find the Incubator,” Axel said. “I just came from Bedtime Stoories. I brought all the books needed. I’m on it. You think we could use the word ‘Sorrow’ as an Incubator?”
“How should I know?”
“According to what we read, the kingdom where she lived in the dream was called Sorrow. I am guessing this town is the Kingdom of Sorrow, two hundred years later. I think the word ‘Sorrow’ should do it.” Axel speculated.
“Maybe her real name could be an Incubator,” Fable said.
“How can I get her real name,” Axel said. “Even Jacob Grimm’s diary doesn’t mention her real name. And who said she has a name other than Snow White?”
“I don’t remember the Brothers Grimm fairy tales mentioning names,” Loki tried to interact with the detective duo.
