The Land of Dreams

by Kira Moericke

“But you can’t!” Reve roared, his voice rising again. He flickered again, flashing from the handsome model form I had given him the first day I had visited the Land of Dreams to the creepy shadow form he had been when he had first appeared to me. I gasped and took a step back, pressing my back against Alec’s hard chest. He placed his free hand protectively on my shoulder.

  “Reve…?”

  “All this time I’ve wasted on you,” he seethed, taking a few steps closer. “All this time I’ve wasted trying to get you to free your soul from your body so that it was free for the taking.”

  Another ice-cold chill rushed down my spine. I dropped Alec’s hand and marched over to Reve so that we were only standing a foot apart. Anger rolled through me in waves.

  Glaring at Reve, I accused, “You lied to me! You said you wouldn’t take over my body if I chose to stay here.”

  Reve leaned in close to me so that our faces were almost touching. “I’m a demon,” he said, an icy smile spreading across his face. “That’s what we do.”

  Then he was gone.

  Chapter 24

  “We have to find him!” I shouted, whipping around to face Dharma, who stood beside Alec. I crossed the dark rooftop over to them.

  “So what was that guy?” Alec asked, out of the loop. He looked from me to Dharma, then back to me, waiting for an answer.

  “A dream demon,” I sneered. I still couldn’t believe how dumb I had been to trust him. Dharma had been right all along. I should have listened to her.

  “A dream demon?” Alec’s brows furrowed. “Like Freddy Krueger?”

  I would have smiled if we weren’t in such a serious situation. It was pretty great how Alec and I thought so much alike.

  I nodded. “Yup.”

  “So does that mean we’re in Hell?” Alec asked. He looked around, taking in the glistening lights of the city and sounds of life below us.

  “Not technically,” Dharma said. “Only immoral souls who have been terminated of life in the flesh go to Hell. This is kind of like a special realm of it. So you don’t technically have to be dead to come here, but in order to stay here, you must give up your life.” She glanced up at me.

  I swallowed hard in shame of what I had almost done.

  “Well, where is the guy, uh, err, demon, that was just here?” Alec asked, looking at Dharma, knowing she had more answers than me.

  Dharma shrugged. “I don’t know. He could be anywhere now. For all we know, he could be moving on to his next victim.”

  “So how do we stop him and the rest of the dream demons before they can destroy someone else’s life?” I asked, my voice caked with bitterness.

  “Well, I did a little research. I found out since all the dream demons are just spawns of Nybbas, we’d have to find him and destroy him. And since he’s like the powerhouse to all the other demons, if he’s destroyed, they’re destroyed.”

  “So we have to find Nybbas?” I asked, summoning it up.

  Dharma gave a once-nod.

  “And how do we find this Nybbas guy?” Alec glanced at me as if I held the answer.

  I shrugged. “No clue.”

  “We’d have to go to Hell,” Dharma said, “since he is one of the main angel’s that fell from Heaven, he’ll have his own place there.”

  “But we can’t just close our eyes and dream of being there,” I said, “because no one knows what this place looks like.”

  “You’re right.” She brushed back a strand of her white hair that fluttered in front of her face from the soft breeze. “So that means we need to figure out what this place looks like or what this demon looks like before we can get there.”

  “Guys” –I glanced between my two friends with a devious smile on my face– “it looks like we’re going to be taking a little trip to Hell.”

  Part III

  “Even if we can’t find Heaven,

  I’ll walk through Hell with you.”

  Rachel Platten, “Stand By You”

  Chapter 25

  I don’t understand how this is going to help us,” I said as we stopped in front of a large red and yellow striped tent at one end of the fairgrounds. There was an extravagant sign reading Madame Alvina right next to the open flaps.

  “Because she’ll help us find Nybbas,” Dharma replied. She started for the entry.

  I started following, but before I could get very far, Alec grabbed my wrist, holding me back.

  “J.J., I don’t know if this is a good idea,” he said softly when I turned to look at him, my baby blues locking with his emerald greens.

  “Alec, I have to do this,” I told him, my voice sounding calmer then I felt at the moment. What if we don’t find Nybbas? Or what if we don’t defeat him? “If you don’t want to do this, though, you don’t have to.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “If you’re going to do this, I’m going to too.”

  I smiled lightly then raised up onto my tiptoes and placed a soft kiss against his lips. “Thank you.”

  Alec gave me a small, unsure smile as I dropped back down onto flatfeet. He let his grip slide down my arm to my hand where he laced his fingers with mine.

  I squeezed his hand gently before we headed into the tent after Dharma.

  Inside, it was dim, the only light coming from a half melted candle that sat atop a small wooden table along with a clear crystal ball the size of a large coconut. Behind the table sat a woman dressed in flowy green and gold fabrics, her mane of red curls tied down with a matching green scarf. I gasped and took a step closer to Alec when I saw the woman’s eyes. Instead of having an iris and pupil like everyone else had, all she had were the whites of her eyes. It gave her a ghoulish appearance.

  “Madame Alvina,” Dharma said, walking close to the table. She wrapped her hands around the edge of it. I gave the girl credit; she had backbone for walking up to the creepy psychic lady. “We need your help.”

  “Of course you do,” Madame Alvina said.

  “Can you show us where Nybbas is?” Dharma asked.

  “I can show you many things,” said Madame Alvina, her voice sounding more like a moaning of a ghost. “But not that.”

  “Why not?” Dharma frowned, her white eyebrows knitting together to form a vertical crinkle between them.

  “Because I know you plan on destroying him,” the psychic said. “And I know that if you succeed, all of this will be destroyed along with him, which will destroy me. And for that reason, I cannot show you where Nybbas is.”

  Dharma opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.

  “Fine.” I dropped Alec’s hand, pulled back my shoulders, and walked over to the table, despite the tingle of fear that raced up and down my spine. “If you’re not going to help us, we’ll just help ourselves.” With that, I snagged her crystal ball, surprised by how heavy it was, and hugged it close to my chest.

  “What are you doing?” Madame Alvina called out, standing up so abruptly from the table that she shoved her chair back.

  “We’re going to find Nybbas,” I told her, back-stepping toward the exit. Then, I turned around and started out.

  “Stop! Thief!” Madame Alvina’s voice rolled through the air in waves. The soft soundwaves stirred my hair and picked up the attention of the dream demons on the fairgrounds. They all turned their colorful glowing eyes on me just as I stepped out of the tent.

  I stopped just outside the tent, feeling cold fear spiral all the way down to my feet. Then, without thinking, I bolted down the Fairview as fast as my feet could carry me, dream demons following right behind.

  “What are you doing?” Alec shouted, appearing to my right. It was hard to hear him over the loud thumping of the dream demons’ shoes slapping against the pavement, sounding like nearby thunder.

  “We need to find Nybbas!” I shouted back, hanging onto the crystal ball with dear life.

  “I can’t believe you did that!” Dharma said, appearing on the other side of me.

  I opened my mouth to say something l
ike “We had to!” but before I could, a demon pounced on me from behind, knocking me to the ground. I shrieked and gasped when my bare arms scraped against the pavement, tearing skin, the crystal ball rolling out from my hands.

  “The ball!”

  Thankfully, before any of the demons could snag our only chance on finding Nybbas, Dharma swooped in and snatched the rolling ball, then ran as fast as her skinny legs could carry her, a couple of demons chasing after her.

  “J.J.!” Alec started to come to help me, but a large he-demon jumped him, knocking the both of them to the ground.

  “Alec!” I could feel the demon who attacked me, claw at my back. I twisted and saw a he-demon with a sharp-looking, black Mohawk and a bunch of creepy facial piercings, attacking me. But it wasn’t the Mohawk or all the piercing that nearly made me pee my pants; it was his eyes. They were blood red, the same as the demon that Dharma and I had found on the internet when we were looking up dream demons.

  At the sight of his eyes and sharp, pointy teeth which he directed at me, I screamed and started to kick my feet in an attempt to shake him off me. At first, the demon hung on like a leach, but then I got my foot high enough that I was able to slam my heel against his face.

  The demon groaned, his grip on my ankle loosening just enough that I was able to slip away. I scrambled up to my feet and started toward Alec, who was now struggling with one he-demon and one she-demon. I went for the she-demon, figuring I would have a better chance at taking her down than the he-demon. I wrapped my hand around her thick mane of brown hair and yanked her away from Alec. She screeched an inhuman sound and whipped around, shoving me back and making me fly through the air like a rag doll, a couple feet before I landed painfully on the ground. I groaned and focused on the she-demon just as she lunged at me, her eyes burning with rage and teeth bared. I closed my eyes, ready for her attack, but before she could, there was a loud pop! that ruptured through the air, making my ears ring. Snapping my eyes open, I saw the she-demon, who was about to attack me, sprawled against the Fairview pavement, moaning. Suddenly, she burst into a pile of glittering mauve-colored ash. It was the same color that her eyes had been.

  “What the…?” I whipped my head around and saw a guy, who looked close to the same age with a crew cut and army-patterned attire, holding a small handgun. He looked down at me, our eyes locking.

  “Thanks,” I said, scrambling up to my feet even though my body felt sore all over.

  The boy nodded then turned to face the crowd, who had all froze at the sound of the gun shot, but now went back to action, demons coming at Alec and I, left and right. But instead of just Alec and I fighting, more people–people who were visiting the Land of Dreams for the night–started to gather around, seeing what all the commotion was about. As I hurried to Alec to help him fight off the he-demon that was still attacking him, I heard more popping of gun shots and whizzing of arrows slicing through the cool night air. I figured that more people were conjuring weapons and dropping dream demons.

  “Alec!” I rushed behind the he-demon and jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him off of Alec. The demon cursed and swiped at me, giving Alec enough time to get to his feet. Once on his feet, Alec came forward and swung a fist into the demon’s gut, making him buckle over, gasping.

  “Come on!” Alec called, motioning for me to follow him out of the chaos.

  I dropped my arms from the he-demon’s neck, and started after him.

  “Where did that one girl go?” Alec shouted as we ran away from the war between demons and dreamers.

  “Dharma?”

  “Yeah.”

  I shoved some hair that had flown into my mouth behind my ear and replied, “I don’t know.”

  “Jaqueline! Alec!”

  Digging our heels into the pavement, Alec and I stopped and looked in the direction we heard our names. We saw Dharma in a blue cart on the Ferris wheel, riding up into the night sky.

  The sound of feet slapping against pavement sounded from behind Alec and me. Turning, I saw five dream demons charging at us, their eyes blazing.

  “Uh, Alec?” I called, my voice rising with panic.

  “Come on!” Alec snatched my hand and pulled me toward the Ferris wheel.

  The ride was moving and I knew we couldn’t stop it while we had demons on our tails. So when we started for the ramp, I gripped Alec’s hand tighter in nervousness.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he reassured. He squeezed my hand back. “I’m here.”

  I swallowed a lump of fear that was lodged in my throat and charged toward the ramp. I locked my eyes on a green cart that was coming our way. Timing ourselves, we ran up the ramp and jumped.

  Our timing was perfect. We caught the safety bar just as the cart rose up into the air, rocking it dangerously back and forth.

  Beside me, Alec crawled up over the safety bar and collapsed into the padded seat.

  “Alec!” My hands started to ache from gripping the metal safety bar so hard. I looked down as the seat swung forward and saw the demons who had followed us, standing below, looking up at us, their colorful eyes glaring with hatred.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” Alec reached over the safety bar and wrapped his hands around my arms to help pull me up into the seat.

  I let out a breath of relief once I was safely in the seat next to him. But that relief quickly fled when I realized Dharma was on the other side of the Ferris wheel and that the demons who had followed us were now climbing up the metal skeleton of the ride.

  “Dharma!” I turned in my seat so that I sat on my knees. Through the colorful lights and the steel beams that made up the frame of the ride, I caught Dharma’s faded blue eyes and waved her over. “Over here!”

  In a blink of an eye, Dharma was gone from the other side of the Ferris wheel and was suddenly sitting between Alec and I with the crystal ball in her lap.

  “Okay, make that thing show us where Nybbas is,” I demanded, turning back around in my seat. I peered over the side of the cart and saw that the demons were about halfway toward us. “And hurry!”

  “Okay.” Dharma sucked in a deep breath and looked deeply into the crystal ball that sat in her lap. In a low voice, she said to the ball, “Show us Nybbas.”

  At first, nothing happened, and fear rushed through me like a tidal wave. Was it not going to work? Were we damned sitting here, while demons crawled up to get us? But then, after a moment, a soft light started to pulse within the glass ball. It slowly filled the crystal ball and swirled within.

  “Can you make it go any faster?” I asked Dharma. I peered over the cart again and saw that the demons were even nearer. I scooted closer to her, wanting to put as much space between me and the side of our green cart. “Like, a lot faster?”

  “It’s going as fast as it can,” Dharma replied, her voice sounding strained with panic. On the other side of her, I could see Alec peering over his side of the cart, and when he looked back at me, I could see the fear in his eyes.

  I could hear the heavy breathing of the demons now. They were close. Really close. I turned to look at the crystal ball and saw other colors beside the glowing light, and images just starting to form.

  Glancing over the side of our cart, I shrieked. The demons were here with anger blazing in their colorful eyes.

  “I got it!” Dharma exclaimed. “Hang on!”

  I grabbed onto Dharma’s arm just as a she-demon popped her head over the side of the cart and hissed at me. I screamed as she reached a hand out toward me, but before she could touch me, the world around us vanished.

  Chapter 26

  When my world came back into focus, I saw that we weren’t on the Ferris wheel anymore, but in a large, beautifully decorated office with dark mahogany flooring. There was a large matching desk on top of a handwoven Persian rug. Behind the desk was a large window covered with heavy, burgundy drapes. The room was dimly lit, the only light being half-melted, blood-red candles that sat in elaborate gold holders that w
ere scattered around the room, their amber flames dancing in the semidarkness.

  “Where are we?” Alec asked, rubbing his forehead as if he could feel a headache coming on.

  “I don’t know,” I replied honestly, taking in what lay before me.

  “Wow.”

  Alec and I spun around and saw Dharma standing a couple of feet away, her back toward us, staring straight ahead. When Alec and I focused on what she was looking at, our own mouths dropped open in awe.

  All around us, there were shelves and shelves of glowing snow globes. I walked over to a shelf on my left and let my eyes scan over the hundreds of snow globes, all of them showing something different than the rest. But unlike normal snow globes, the scenery moved as if they each carried their own little world inside of them.

  “Snow globes?” I heard Alec say from the other side of the room. “Why are there so many of them?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied with awe in my voice. I picked up a snow globe that glowed a soft shade of purple, and brought it close to my face so I could see within it. Inside, there was a girl with a waterfall of golden hair, swinging on a swing made completely out of green ivy. Behind her, a handsome boy with shoulder-length black hair and iris-colored eyes, pushed her. It looked like some kind of fairy tale scene. The girl wore a loose white dress that fluttered in the breeze and the boy wore a white tunic that was open just a little bit on top and brown slacks.

  “These are beautiful,” Dharma stated, observing a snow globe from the wall she had went to.

  “Thank you. I do find it a very exquisite collection myself.”

  The three of us whipped around and saw a man who looked to be in his early twenties in a fancy three-piece suit. His hair was so blue that it looked black and was gelled back, giving him a very businessman-like air.

  “Who are you?” I demanded, clutching the snow globe tighter in my hands.

  “I am Nybbas,” the man replied with an exaggerated little bow.