Dreamer (The Dream World Chronicles Book 1)

by Camille Peters

  We continued to converse, spending our time talking and laughing rather than studying. The bubble of warmth I often felt when around Darius grew as his words washed over me, but my pleasure came from more than his stories—it was the warmth filling his voice, the animated way he spoke with his hands, the softness in his eyes and the way his expression lit up as he spoke.

  At first I was entirely aware of all the curious and disapproving glances cast our way from the other occupants of the café, but the longer I spent in Darius’s presence, the less I cared. At first I thought him oblivious to the whispers and stares, but after a while he paused to look over my shoulder.

  He lowered his voice. “Is it bothering you?”

  I hesitated. “Not at the moment.”

  By the worried way he studied my expression, I could tell he remained unconvinced. “I’d hate to make you uncomfortable.” He broke his last pastry into pieces with his fingers, raining crumbs onto his plate.

  I glanced over my shoulder to find many people in the café still casting glances our way, not even bothering to remain subtle in their bafflement. My chest tightened. The fact that they were still watching us, even after Darius and I had been here for a while… “Is this unusual, what we’re doing?”

  His smile was wry. “Yes, especially since I’m undoubtedly not putting on a convincing enough performance that I’m here for anything other than the pleasure of your company. Dreamers and Nightmares don’t interact. It’s inevitable while attending the Academy and during Weavings, but otherwise both worlds keep to themselves.”

  I scrunched my brow. “I don’t understand. Is our magic really so different?”

  “It’s not a difference between our magic, but how we choose to use it—especially that Nightmares acquire more through instilling fear. Though I prefer how those from my world use their talents, I acknowledge the need for Dreamers. Both light and darkness need to exist; it’s all about balance.”

  I considered that. “I suppose that makes sense. I’ve seen evidence of that very notion while living on Earth. Rain is an opportunity to look for rainbows, while the night grants the chance to see the stars.”

  He grinned. “Exactly. I wish more people understood that, but most have a difficult time seeing a view outside their own.”

  “I’m glad you’re different than the other Nightmares and don’t mind interacting with Dreamers.” I frowned at his hollow, humorless laugh. “What’s so amusing?”

  “I don’t enjoy interacting with Dreamers, and I avoid doing so as much as possible. I believe Dreamers should exist and I respect them for what they do, but that’s the extent of it.”

  I stared at him, thoroughly confused. “But you and I are here together right now.” I motioned to the books stacked beside us, books which still remained unopened. “You’re even assisting me.”

  “My choice to be with you right now has nothing to do with the fact that you’re a Dreamer…it has to do with you.” He gave my nose a playful tap.

  My heart gave a stranger flutter. “But why?”

  He said nothing more, simply looked at me in the intense way he often did, causing the connection between us to deepen. I ached to explore it further, and even though the meal we’d shared together was thoroughly pleasant, it wasn’t enough. I didn’t want our time together to end.

  Yet all too soon we were interrupted by a rainbow-colored summons, which wove through the tables and stopped in front of me. I slid it open, allowing the message written in large, childish font to uncurl. Where are you, Eden?

  Stardust. I bit my lip to suppress my sigh. Perhaps my cloud was a bit too protective. “I should go before she comes looking for me.”

  Disappointment squeezed my heart. I wasn’t ready for my outing with Darius to end. While I’d enjoyed my time in the Dream World thus far, there was something different about being with him…something more.

  Darius looked just as reluctant for me to leave. “She shouldn’t see us together.” His words and wary tone only confirmed my fears: our relationship, whatever it was, was just as forbidden as I feared.

  I eyed the stack of books still resting untouched on the table. “We never studied.”

  His sober expression melted into another crooked grin. “I suppose that means we’ll have to go on another outing.”

  I smiled girlishly at the promise. I finished off the last of my tea before fiddling with my locket in order to pay Darius back for the meal, but he rested his hand over mine, stilling both it and my heart.

  “Please, allow me to pay for you. After all, we’re friends…aren’t we?”

  His words only confirmed the feelings that had been steadily growing between us, and in that moment I fully realized what they meant: despite it being forbidden, Darius had become more than my weaving partner.

  As I turned to leave, I caught more disapproving glances from those in the tea shop, confirming that none of my friends could find out about us. I didn’t need another reason not to fit into the Dream World, a place I wanted more than anything to stay, not just because it was now my home…but because of him.

  All the more reason to keep our relationship a secret.

  Chapter 20

  My heart pounded furiously, and it was everything I could do to control the anger raging through me. More evidence had been discovered of the tipping balance—not only had more nightmare flowers sprouted like weeds in the Cultivating Fields and the dream dust thefts had increased to almost one per night, but Stardust had uncovered that the Nature Artists’ paints were beginning to lose their vibrant colors.

  Icy fear had squeezed my chest at the news, urging me to once again come to Earth to experiment with my dream abilities in hopes I’d discover a way I could use them to help the world I loved. Stardust was less than enthusiastic about the outing, and kept casting me several apprehensive glances as she flew down to Earth, as if expecting my searing emotions to erupt at any moment.

  Finally it seemed she couldn’t contain her disapproval a moment longer. “I know you’re worried about the shifting balance, but I’m not sure this is the way to help.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I have to do something; I can’t just let the Nightmare Realm take over. I don’t know where my unique powers came from, but if I can use them to help the world I now call home, I won’t rest until I’ve done so. There is magic in the dreams I’m capturing. I may not know how to access it, but when I figure out how, I need to have as many as possible so I can do my part to ease the devastation caused by the nightmare events.”

  Stardust was quiet a moment. “I admire your determination to help, but I worry you’re spending more time focusing on the balance than on the Mortal you weave for. No quest, however noble, is worth risking getting suspended.”

  “If the balance tips so far as to threaten the Dream World, I won’t have a place to be suspended from.” Besides, with the recent help Darius had been giving me, I was certain I’d win my first weaving soon. But his assistance was still a secret, so I remained silent on that point.

  We reached Earth and landed in the boughs of my dream-watching tree, whose leaves were tinged in the first pink buds of spring. It was late afternoon, not the prime time to search for dreams—another reason Stardust found this entire errand foolhardy—but searching for dreams was far better than remaining helpless in my room with only my anxiety for company.

  Once I settled in the tree, I was left unsure what to do. I searched the air around the bustling villagers below. No sign of dreams. I sighed and leaned against the trunk. No matter how well-meaning my intentions, they were entirely useless without a plan.

  Stardust peered over my shoulder and down below, never mind she wouldn’t be able to see any dreams still wandering at such a late hour, even if she had the ability to see them at all. “Your brilliant plan to use your dream powers appears to be going splendidly.”

  I prickled at her sarcastic tone. “I occasionally find a dream at this hour whenever a villager fancies a late-afternoon nap.” But even i
f I did, I still had no idea what to do with it, considering I was still unsure how to excavate the dream’s magic.

  The tightening in my chest shifted—rather than anger, a wave of helplessness pressed against me, an unrelenting burden. Stardust’s annoyance softened to concern. “Eden?”

  “I just want to do something,” I murmured.

  She snuggled closer. “I know you do.” She said nothing more, but she remained curled in my lap when I settled in the tree to wait, my gaze scanning the market below for any dreams, no matter how faded the memory might be.

  The sun sank lower in the sky, the only measure of time. As the sky became aglow in a sheen of ruby-gold dusk, I straightened. “I see one.”

  A ball of tangerine light followed a bleary-eyed toddler clinging to his mother’s skirts, still rubbing his eyes from his afternoon nap. I summoned my magic and reached for the dream, enfolding it within my powers to gently pull it towards me.

  Rather than bottle it right away as I usually did, I cradled it in my hand, a warm glowing light against my palm. It immediately tried to wriggle free, as if it wanted to return to the Mortal I’d captured it from; I tightened my fingers around it so that it wouldn’t escape. I turned it over in my hand, examining every surface, occasionally capturing glimpses of the dream within—a simple one of the toddler building a stack of blocks that never seemed in danger of falling.

  Holding the dream allowed me to sense the emotions he’d felt as he’d slept—the toddler-like contentment of seeing the block tower grow taller and taller. Hmm, this was new. But although I could detect the dream’s emotions, I wasn’t sure where I could access its magic. If I couldn’t find it, how would I ever be able to give it to the Dream World?

  I tensed when I felt the familiar sensation of a heated gaze against the back of my neck. My skin prickled. Someone was watching me, but though Darius was the usual culprit, I’d grown familiar enough with his gaze to know it wasn’t him. No, this was someone else…someone far more sinister.

  I hastily shoved the dream into a jar and sealed it, my movements frantic. Stardust’s brow furrowed in concern. “What is it, Eden?”

  “Someone is—” I began, but the words died in my throat when a Nightmare stepped into view below me, a triumphant smirk toying at the corners of her mouth.

  “Good afternoon, Dreamer Eden.”

  Terror caused me to stiffen. Head Nightmare Ember. My heart pounded wildly. What was the Head Nightmare doing on Earth? Had she come to spy on me? Or had she been waiting for the magical burst that always resulted from my dream capturing? Such a notion seemed far too demeaning for the Head Nightmare, yet I had no other explanation for her presence.

  Ember continued to watch me, her look rather coy. “Come down from that tree. I’d like to speak with you.”

  I shakily obeyed, fear making my movements stiff and clumsy, causing me to scrape my palms as I dropped to the ground. I was too nervous to use my magic to heal the injury; I could barely think through the anxiety pressing against my chest.

  Had she seen me capture the dream? I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Good afternoon, Head Nightmare Ember.”

  She smiled it greeting, but it was tight and cold. “I didn’t expect to find you on Earth without a Weaving to attend to.”

  Nor had I expected her, but I was wise enough to bite my tongue. “This is my old village,” I managed weakly. “Occasionally I like to visit…” I trailed off.

  “Indeed.” Her eyes narrowed at me before flickering down to my satchel. “What do you have there?”

  My breath caught. Oh no, she’d seen me hide the jar…though how suspicious she would find it when the dream it contained was invisible to her was difficult to tell, and her cold, stoic expression gave me no hints to what she could possibly be thinking.

  My mind scrambled for anything to say to dissuade her suspicion, but my words trapped in my throat. Ember didn’t wait for my weak excuses. In two strides she’d reached me and yanked my bag from my shoulder, from which she plucked the jar containing my dream.

  For a moment she stared at it, turning it over in her hands so that it caught the fading light. “What is this?”

  I wiped my sweaty palms against my skirts. “Nothing—”

  “Don’t lie,” she hissed. “I don’t know what convinced the Dream Council to give you any chance to remain in our world, but there’s something suspicious about you. Magic is pulsing in this jar, and I’m determined to figure out what it is.”

  She dropped my bag unceremoniously onto the ground and pocketed the dream. I stepped forward. “Wait, you can’t—”

  But in a sizzling crack she disappeared. I stared after her, my mind numb with shock over what had just happened.

  “Well, that went well,” Stardust said. “Now the Head Nightmare has prime evidence needed to suspend you. I told you this quest was foolhardy.”

  I barely heard her. It was impossible to think through my rising panic. My heart pounded so furiously I could feel it against my ribs.

  No, this couldn’t happen. No, no, no, no…

  I struggled to control my sharp breaths, even as I desperately tried to uncover a solution out of my predicament. But what could I do? If Nightmare Ember figured out that the jar contained a dream…no, that couldn’t happen.

  In the midst of my panic, a single word filled my mind: Darius. The moment I thought of him, I didn’t hesitate: I created a ball of magic in my hand in the manner I’d seen Iris and Angel do whenever they sent a summons, then curled it around my fingers, ink for my message.

  Darius, I need your help. Please.

  The words formed in the air as I wrote them, and when I finished they gathered together to form another glowing ball, which immediately flew up in the air towards the Dream World to deliver itself. Stardust stared open-mouthed after it.

  “You’re sending for Spiderweb? Are you crazy, Eden?”

  “He’ll help me,” I managed breathlessly. He had to, for if he didn’t…I had no one else to turn to. My emotions from the past several minutes overcame me and I found I was too weak to remain on my feet any longer. I leaned against my dream-watching tree and slid down the trunk to the lawn below.

  I tried not to allow my mind to drift to my worries as I waited—especially as I realized too late that in my fluster I’d forgotten to tell Darius where I was—but it did anyway. My anxieties played across the stage of my thoughts, and I imagined myself being suspended half a dozen times, as well as what would happen to the Dream World because I’d failed. And I’d felt so close to figuring out how to use my dreams to help them. Now one of the dreams I’d captured was in the Head Nightmare’s clutches. If there really was a way to excavate a dream’s magic, and Ember found a way to accomplish what I hadn’t, she could potentially use it against the world I loved. The thought finally caused my fragile hold on my emotions to falter and my tears escaped.

  My worries were so relentless that when Darius appeared, I was emotionally exhausted. He arrived in his usual crack of lightning, his eyes frantic with worry. Despite my earlier concern he wouldn’t know where to find me, I found myself unsurprised that our strange connection had led him to me. Stardust’s gaze was immediately suspicious, but I didn’t care what she thought; after all his help and what had transpired during our outing a few days before, I trusted him.

  His worry deepened when he found me slumped against the tree. He stepped forward urgently. “What is it, Eden? What’s happened?”

  I weakly tried to stand and he was at my side in an instant to help me to my feet. His concerned gaze first took in my tear-streaked face followed by my scraped palms. “Your mother—she took—” I could barely speak.

  His eyes widened. “My mother?”

  “She was on Earth, she saw me—she took something of mine, something that can be used to hurt me. I need to get it back. Please.”

  It was only after I made my jumbled plea that I fully realized what I was asking: for him to help me against his own mother. How could I be
so presumptuous to ask such a thing of him? But even though my request defied sense, my heart had led me to seek his help.

  His brow furrowed. “My mother stole something of yours?”

  I nodded. “A jar. If she finds out what’s in it—” I clutched my stomach, nauseous in my fear.

  His eyebrows rose. Undoubtedly I’d just tipped my hand that the jar of mine still in his own possession was significant after all…though I had no doubt he’d already concluded that. If he hadn’t returned mine, what made me think he’d retrieve the one Nightmare Ember had stolen?

  “I’ll get it back for you.”

  My mouth fell agape. “You will?”

  “Yes.” He gave my shoulders a reassuring squeeze and left immediately. Without his presence I found myself weak again, and I slumped back against the tree.

  “Why did you ask him?” Stardust demanded. “The last thing he’ll want to do is help you.”

  I had no words to explain why I knew he would; the connection and trust I felt for him seemed to defy reason, though I felt it all the same. “He will.”

  “But he’s a Nightmare.”

  I was in no mood to endure her prejudice. I wearily closed my eyes and waited, time measured by each frantic beat of my heart. It seemed to take ages for Darius to return, and even when I heard his familiar crack I didn’t open my eyes until I sensed his approach.

  My eyes fluttered open. He held out the jar on his palm. My heart swelled in relief and gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “It was a challenge; I had to scour Mother’s room before I found where she’d hidden it.” He handed it to me and I cradled it close, more touched by his gesture than relieved that the jar couldn’t be used against me.

  “Why did you help me?” I asked.

  An intense but equally soft look filled his eyes. “Because you needed me.”

  The rest of my fear seeped away, leaving me exhausted. And even though the danger had passed, my tears still escaped.