“And how did Spiderweb figure it out? Don’t tell me you told him.”
“I accidentally stumbled into one of his nightmares a few Weavings ago, and I wasn’t exactly vague about what I’d seen. I thought he believed my coverup, but I should have known he was too clever to have fallen for it.”
Stardust groaned. “I told you a gazillion times not to dream-watch during Weavings, but did you listen to me? You’ve given that Nightmare another piece of crucial evidence against you. And now that he’s started spilling your secrets, you’ll be kicked out of the Dream World by dusk.”
Icy fear cinched my heart. “Surely the Council wouldn’t condemn me for having more power?”
“It’s not about having more,” Stardust said slowly. “It’s about having powers that are different. The Council is suspicious of any magic they don’t understand, magic that in the past has been used to tip the balance in unfavorable ways. Even if you have no intention of using your magic in such a way, they’ll suspend you out of caution.”
I tightened my jaw. That hardly seemed fair, especially since I had little control over my unique powers. A flare of resentment towards the Council burned in my heart before I hastily tried to squelch it. “Though Darius wasted no time in sharing my secrets with Blaze and Trinity, at least he hasn’t turned me in to the Council…yet.” But considering I now knew I couldn’t trust him, surely it was only a matter of time.
Stardust frowned. “Then he must have another plan up his sleeve, especially if he’s consulting other Nightmares about you.”
I didn’t want to think about Darius’s betrayal. Instead, the question that had been festering within me ever since my interaction with Blaze and Trinity burned on my tongue. “What do you think about Trinity’s conclusion that dreams are separate worlds? Do you think anything inside a dream could really help—”
“Certainly not,” Stardust interrupted fiercely. “And don’t you dare go trying it. The fact that they suggested it proves it’s dark magic.”
“What if they have no ulterior motive?” I said desperately. “What if it’ll really help me win more Weavings? Isn’t it worth trying?”
“The only thing that will help your Weavings is additional study, practice, and more age-appropriate dreams.” Stardust’s eyes narrowed. “You don't actually believe them, do you?”
And that’s when I realized that I did—as if the knowledge that I had the potential to influence dreams had always been a part of me, and Trinity had simply illuminated it.
“Let’s not worry about it now,” I said hastily. “Let’s just enjoy the festival. We can visit the unicorns again.”
After visiting the unicorns a third time and riding the gumdrop carousel, we explored the World of Color exhibit for nearly an hour as Stardust browsed through the newly-released coloring books and oohed and awed over the recently discovered color: a soft mix between orange, blue, and a hue I had no name for.
“Would you like to enter a name suggestion?” The tie-dyed Dreamer in charge asked.
Naturally Stardust couldn’t resist such an invitation. “I wonder when the color will be ready to include in the Mortal world?” she mused after a ten-minute ordeal of agonizing deliberation over which name to choose. “Like all the past colors, it’ll probably be introduced gradually over the course of several years. When orange was created, Dreamers began by dipping a few of the flowers in it before adding it to sunrises and even fruits. Oranges used to be, well, not orange.”
“There’s the cultivating display.” I pointed to the greenhouse up ahead. “Let’s go visit Iris.”
Stardust gracefully changed directions and kept talking.
The scent of floral perfume and earth filled my nostrils as I gingerly stepped over a vine twisting itself around the doorframe and entered the humid greenhouse. Amidst the thick crowds and pots of peculiar plants, I spotted Iris in an animated discussion with a group of wide-eyed onlookers about a rainbow-colored daffodil the size of a small shrub, with ivory fruit growing from its petals like tiny ornaments.
“This fruit creates a unique illusion with each bite,” she told the enthralled spectators as she plucked one. “Would someone like to try?”
I ducked down a row of newly created crossbreeds: a bamboo and cattail mixture, an ivy and holly hybrid that grew acorns, and pinecones bursting from honeysuckle wreaths that tinkled like wind chimes. One shelf was devoted to plants exclusive to the dream festival—such as popcorn flowers and fluffy cotton candy bushes—while another displayed unique hybrids that had been grown in the Cultivating Fields, too unusual to use in dreams: sweet-tasting rain, the tickle of purple, and the smell of discovery.
The Dreamer supervising the display fiddled with the butterflies in her hair. “Incredible, aren’t they? Some Cultivators are trying to petition for their use in dreams, but the Council is convinced using untested details not found in the Mortal world could cause havoc.”
Stardust interrupted with a tug at my sleeve. “Look over there.”
Blaze and Trinity huddled in a corner with three other Nightmares, whispering.
“What do you think they’re up to?” I murmured.
Stardust had already changed into a spyglass, which she used to study them suspiciously. “It’s hard to tell.”
“Can you get a closer look?”
“I’m on it.” Stardust morphed into a ladybug and fluttered over to investigate. I hovered beside a berry tree and pretended to be admiring it as I watched through its floral petal leaves.
“No luck,” Stardust suddenly murmured from somewhere beside me. I searched for her before finding her ladybug form resting lazily on a dancing plant.
I leaned closer. “You didn’t find out anything?”
The ladybug Stardust flittered off the plant and morphed back into her usual chubby form, nearly knocking over the row of pots and causing a nearby Cultivator to glower.
“Nothing,” Stardust said. “They were only arranging a time they could meet before the flying colors show, and then Blaze slipped something to the Nightmare oozing mold, but they pocketed it before I could see what it was. I tried to sneak inside his pocket, but it was too tight of a squeeze.” Her eyes widened. “They’re leaving. Quick, let’s follow them.”
My heart pounded in trepidation. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I wouldn’t want them to catch me.”
But Stardust was already darting through the crowds towards the door and I was forced to follow. The Nightmares were immediately swallowed up by the swarming crowd, but I should have known Stardust was too determined to allow her suspects to slip away so easily. She scanned the throng carefully before darting forward. I did my best to keep up with her rapid movements, but she was quickly lost in the crowd.
I paused with a sigh as I awaited my cloud’s return. I hadn’t been waiting long when I suddenly felt the familiar lure midst the crowds that always accompanied Darius’s presence. I stiffened and frantically searched for him before spotting him several yards away, browsing the clump of nearby stalls.
A rush of warmth filled me at seeing him…followed by the icy reminder of what he’d done. I both yearned to confront him and wanted nothing more than to hide before he spotted me. Fear won, urging me to slip into the apothecary. I peered through the slit in the curtains to watch Darius, who was staring at the door with a look like he meant to follow. I tensed. Had he seen me?
He frowned for a moment before giving his head a little shake and returning his attention to the souvenirs. I released a whooshing breath, but even my acute relief wasn’t strong enough to completely mask the disappointment I felt at not having a chance to speak to Darius. How could I experience both at once?
I remained in the apothecary, both to wait until Darius had left and for Stardust to find me. Unlike Mortal herb shops that were damp and dusky, the apothecary was flooded with dancing sunlight. Scents tickled my nose, pungent and sweet. Herbs hung drying in the windowsill, lucky shamrocks grew from pots lining the floor, and in the
corner a Dreamer ground a blue and tangy powder with a mortar and pestle.
After rummaging through bowls of gemstones and miniature moon rocks, I explored the brews used for magical healing and the array of bottled senses, lingering at the sounds—the roar of a dragon, music box tunes from centuries past, lullabies in extinct languages, and the beat of pixie wings. It was midst these explorations that Stardust finally found me.
“There you are,” she said grumpily. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why did you feel the need to hide from me?”
“I spotted Darius.”
Her bad mood immediately vanished as she accepted this reason readily, as I knew she would. “Those other slippery Nightmares got away from me, which means I’ve lost my chance to investigate what they’re up to.”
“Perhaps you’ll find another opportunity before the festival ends.” But I hoped she wouldn’t; I didn’t think I could bear another encounter with either Blaze or Trinity, and especially not Darius.
The memory of his betrayal tainted the enchantment of the remainder of the festival, no matter which wonders we visited. I felt as if a dark cloud followed me as we explored an art show highlighting the past year’s greatest sunrises and sunsets and wandered to the Weaving Museum, made up of marble columns carved with patterns of constellations. I didn’t linger there long, not with the huge displays of prize-winning dream blueprints, weaving threads I could never afford, and newly invented weaving stitches beyond any skill level I could ever hope to achieve.
Being surrounded by such weaving excellence served as a smothering reminder of my own mediocrity, and for a brief moment I felt nothing but hatred for the craft. Was Trinity right? Did the answer to my potential lay not in weaving, but in my ability to see—and possibly explore—dreams?
I hurried into the lobby to escape these tempting thoughts. Near the exit hung midnight-blue curtains stretching from marble floor to ceiling, where constellations were embroidered in gold threat that matched the surrounding columns. I peeked through the slit. “What is this place?”
“The Velvet Sky Theatre,” Stardust said. “It shows performances of this year’s most acclaimed dreams.”
“I thought Dreamers couldn’t see dreams.”
“These are only recreations made from submitted blueprints of the dreams that yielded the most dream dust. I’m sure they’re nothing like real dreams, but other than weaving mirrors, they’re the closest Dreamers ever get to seeing real ones.” She nudged the back of my legs. “Watch a few and tell me how accurate they are.”
“I’m sure they’ll only make me feel inadequate, and I already get plenty of that from Mr. Ego.” But I couldn’t quite quench my curiosity, so I drew back the velvet curtain to slip inside…only to freeze when I once more spotted Darius, who’d just entered the museum.
I stiffened, even as I marveled at how easily we were drawn to one another despite being somewhere as crowded as the festival. Once again I was torn between wanting to see him and not wanting to be hurt by him if he couldn’t be trusted.
In the end I still couldn’t face him, so I ducked into the theatre to avoid being spotted. There, dozens of dreams and nightmares, all masterpieces, lit the stage.
They were obviously not real dreams, but were like a play with magic as its actors, more elaborate than any performance I’d seen in my home village. Some were distinct stories told entirely in a single sense, while others inspired famous Mortal inventions and legends, glistening ideas planted in the night that blossomed into a life of their own on Earth. One dream stretched four and a half months for a comatose Mortal, and a single continuous nightmare had crept into a Mortal’s daily delusions and was in its thirteenth year.
I squirmed in my seat. “Do you think I could ever weave so well?”
“Maybe if you practiced more,” Stardust said wryly.
I rolled my eyes and turned back in time to see that the next nightmare had been submitted by Darius. I lurched forward. “They’re showing one of Darius’s Nightmares.”
“What?”
An incredible nightmare entirely in sound resonated through the theatre. Even without any other senses, each carefully selected resonance suggested an array of details to taunt the imagination. At its conclusion, curly scrawl stated it’d been created as part of Darius’s final exam at the Academy a few years previous.
“That creep got featured for one of his practice nightmares?” Stardust scoffed. “I’d hate to see his abilities in several more years.”
Great, my partner was skilled enough to be featured in the weaving highlights, selected from a pool of millions of dreams every year. This didn’t bode well for my future hopes of winning. My feelings of inadequacy and anger deepened with each passing moment Darius’s nightmare filled the auditorium.
There had to be a way to increase my skills. Perhaps the answer truly did lie in Blaze and Trinity’s suggestion: if I’d been granted such unique powers, shouldn’t I use them? The more I considered the solution, the more determined my desires became: the next time I went dream watching, I was going to try to explore the dream.
Chapter 27
Night had fallen while we’d been inside the theatre. Bubbles of flickering fireflies lit the trees lining the paths like miniature suns floating in the settling darkness. I used the glow from one of the nearby trees to scan the festival schedule. “The flying colors show is in an hour. We should go and find a good spot.”
Stardust stopped suddenly. “Oh no, look who’s here.”
Up ahead, Darius leaned against the souvenir stall selling snow globes, leisurely tossing and catching one in the air as if it was no concern to him whether or not such a pricey treasure broke.
Stardust tugged me in the opposite direction. “Let’s go this way before he notices us.”
Too late. He spotted us and waved me over with a lopsided grin. An unexpected jolt tickled my stomach, the opposite reaction I wanted when all my anger from having discovered his betrayal boiled anew. I deliberately made eye contact before storming off the other way.
“Wait, Eden!”
I ignored him and kept walking, trying to outrun him even while the urgings of my heart compelled me to linger. It treacherously lifted when he caught up a moment later and jogged beside me. “I’ve been looking for you. I thought we were going to spend the festival together.”
I glanced sideways at Stardust for her reaction to this revelation and was unsurprised to find her glaring at me. “I changed my mind,” I said curtly.
He blinked at me, looking first surprised by my hostility, then quite hurt, and for a moment I felt a pinprick of doubt in my suspicion towards him.
I quickened my pace but he kept up easily, tossing his snow globe as we walked, oblivious to the burning emotions spreading through me like molten lava.
It seemed to take great effort for him to clear his expression and force a smile. “What do you think of your first festival? Isn’t it amazing? Although I prefer it when the Nightmare Realm hosts due to their decorations not being quite so sparkly, I must admit the Dream Realm puts on a fantastic display.”
I took a sharp turn and darted through a large crowd of startled Dreamers, hoping to shake him off, but Darius followed with ease.
“Did you get a chance to see the hall of mirrors showcasing famous scenes from history? I thought that might be something you’d enjoy. Or how about the gallery of moving paintings?”
If I just ignored him maybe he’d go away, but like a bad dream he lingered, chatting easily about the various festival highlights without a hint anything was wrong. Whether his indifference was due to ignorance or was on purpose, it only fueled the fire simmering within me. How could he act so nonchalant after spilling my greatest secret to his Nightmare cronies?
At my continued silence, Darius’s brows finally furrowed and he stopped tossing his snow globe. “What’s wrong? Why are you so sulky?”
“It’s nothing.” I so badly wanted to confront him, but I wouldn’t give him the pleasure
of knowing I’d discovered him. A nice dose of the silent treatment would have to suffice.
His smile faltered. “Don’t give me that, something’s obviously bothering you. No one should be so gloomy at the festival. What’s wrong?”
“As if you didn’t know.”
“I don’t.”
“Why don’t you leave her alone?” Stardust interjected, giving him a deliciously malicious glare. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want to talk to you?”
He frowned. He was silent for a moment before he brightened. “I know what will cheer you up. Would you like to watch the flying colors with me?”
I froze so suddenly Stardust floated into me. “What? Why?”
He grinned crookedly through the light blush that had accompanied his invitation. “You did promise to spend the festival together, and I’d never miss an opportunity to get to know you better.”
Probably so he could gather more secrets for the Council, making the invitation nothing more than a ploy.
He gave my shoulder a playful nudge. “Come on, you know you want to.”
“Actually I don’t. Don’t jump to your usual conclusion that everyone is as in love with you as you are with yourself.”
He sighed. “You wouldn’t object to us at least walking to the show together, would you?”
I gritted my teeth. Since he was so determined to get his way I didn’t have much choice in the matter, but I made sure to ignore his overly cheerful small talk as I trudged towards the meadow where the show was to be held.
After several annoying minutes of him commenting about how he’d gotten through the challenging cloud maze in record time and been one of the few to scale to the top of the rock-climbing wall, he finally gave up trying to engage me. I risked a sideways glance to find him looking rather disheartened. Despite my best attempts to school it, guilt wrenched my heart. Even after his betrayal, I didn’t like to see him unhappy.
We walked in silence as we strolled past the various booths, slowing when Stardust became distracted with the display of souvenirs, which she eagerly browsed.
Dreamer (The Dream World Chronicles Book 1) Page 30
