by Gareth Otton
Therefore, as her stomach did somersaults, she knew she should pay attention. However, tonight was a busy night and she didn’t have time. There were so many moving parts to pull tonight off and as the clockmaker who arranged those parts, she needed every cog to turn smoothly.
Of course when fate sees an opportunity to throw a spanner in the works, it would never let it pass.
The awful wail of a siren split the silence office and her nauseous feeling doubled. This time it was dread rather than anything supernatural.
Why now? She asked before running out of the office. She made it to the break room in time to catch Trevors rushing out, the last of his team to exit the room.
“Can you believe this?” he demanded.
“Of course I can. Sod’s law has always bloody loved me.”
“What do you want me to do? Harry’s already out at one nightmare and he’s taken Chakikra with him.”
“There’s only one thing you can do, you need to take care of the nightmare. That’s what we’re here for, remember.”
“Will you put off moving Mitena?” he asked, and when Stella shook her head his face went stony. “We spoke about this. The word is probably out that she’s in custody. If anyone’s going to try anything, it’ll be tonight when you’re on the road. You need tactical support.”
“I’ve got Tad,” Stella said.
Trevors bristled at his whole team being written off in favour of one dreamwalker.
“We’re talking about dreamcatcher’s, Stella. If you walk into the wrong trap then he will be as useless as any normal, untrained man. You need backup.”
“Well, beggars can’t be choosers. If we wait for the perfect time, we’ll never get her moved.” Trevors opened his mouth to argue, but Stella spoke over him. “You’re wasting time. I hear you. This is a massive risk. I take full responsibility. But the nightmares always come first. We all agreed on that.”
Trevors clearly wanted to argue, but Stella said one last thing to mollify him. “Look, I’ll make sure Tad is in constant communication with Chakikra and Gary. If anything looks like trouble, I promise I’ll get the word out so you can dreamwalk to the rescue.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Trevors argued before finally giving in to the urgency of the situation and rushing off.
Stella watched him go and wondered if she was making the right choice, but now wasn’t the time to second guess herself. She’d been planning this for days and she couldn’t give up just because of a few changes.
Pushing the last of her doubts from her mind, she rushed downstairs and through the tactical part of the building, ignoring the situation rooms where Trevor’s men were assembling and ending up in the garage next to the van she’d be driving tonight.
“All set?” she asked Tad who stood next to it talking to Gary. He looked up when she spoke, but it was Miles who answered. Her technical wizard was leaning over a workbench in the corner and collecting some tools.
“She’s good to go,” he said. “I’ve made the modifications you asked for and we’ll have eyes on you the whole way.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Miles.” Then, after suddenly remembering Trevors’ words outside the hospital and Denise’s constant badgering, she added, “And great work recently. Between finding the Campbells and sorting this out on short notice, I’m really pleased with what you’ve been doing.”
Miles blinked at her, then a big grin split his face.
“Uh… thanks, Stella.”
Instantly uncomfortable, Stella just smiled back and turned to the dreamwalkers who were watching her. Gary looked like he’d just witnessed something astounding, while Tad had a sly grin on his face as he read just how uncomfortable she was.
“You ready?” she asked.
“Just waiting on you,” Tad admitted. “What about the alarm?”
“Trevors is gearing up now. Gary, you’re with them tonight.”
“What about the plan?” he asked.
“Nightmares take priority and no tactical team goes out to a nightmare without dreamwalker support. So off you go.”
Gary hesitated for a second, looked at Tad as though for permission, then ran back into the building.
“We postponing this?” Tad asked, but Stella shook her head.
“No, we’ll manage with just us. It might even be better without an entourage, less attention grabbing.”
Tad didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t argue either.
“Come on, let’s get this going. I’m driving,” she said, snatching the keys off the workbench Miles had been working at.
They climbed into the van and the moment Tad closed the passenger door, Stella fired up the engine and rolled out minus the armed escort she arranged for tonight.
She and Trevors had timed this well, and as eight o’clock rolled around the vast majority of the traffic in Cardiff had died down enough that she could move freely, but not so much that she stood out on the road. They made good time headed north-east and soon the industrialised central city was giving way to heavily packed suburban streets. Less than fifteen minutes later the last of those houses slipped away into the moderate darkness of a summer night and they left the last of the city behind them, deliberately avoiding the motorway and moving gradually from A-roads down to country lanes as they wound their way through the Welsh countryside.
The conversation in the van was non-existent as they were keeping their eyes sharp and whits about them, prepared for the possible attack. However, just ten minutes from their destination, it was looking likely that nothing would happen.
As the last car on the road with them turned off, Stella couldn’t help but catch Tad’s eye. His returning look was as incredulous as her own. Neither of them expected to get this far with nothing going wrong.
Of course it was in that moment when Tad tensed up and slapped the dashboard before shouting, “Watch out!”
Stella’s head snapped forward and before she could even process what she was seeing, her body reacted by slamming on the brakes. The laws of physics took hold, throwing them into their seatbelts and pressurising their insides as the tires screeched and skidded over the narrow road, and Stella struggled to avoid putting the van into the hedgerow.
Standing in front of them, calm as the summer weather, a giant stood alone and bare chested in the middle of the road. His teeth flashed white as they reflected the headlights, but they weren’t as striking as the design on his stomach that was glowing as though lit from within. Had Stella time to think on such things, she’d have remembered Mitena telling her this was his replacement for strength and durability and was considerably larger than the last one.
Abruptly the screeching and skidding stopped, and they were thrown back into their chairs.
“You should have driven over him,” Tad said, his voice panicked. A flash of light had him checking the mirrors. There was more screeching as the car skidded to a stop, blocking their retreat, quickly followed by a second. “You still could. He’s the only thing stopping us from moving forward.”
Stella looked over to see if he was serious and noticed he already had the door open, knowing she wouldn’t do as suggested. He stepped out of the van, looked back at the cars blocking them in, then swore before turning to face Kuruk.
“Nice of you to show up,” he taunted the giant. “Ready for a rematch?”
When Tad’s door closed, she couldn’t hear Kuruk’s response, but she didn’t like how cocky he looked. If he was worried about facing Tad, he wasn’t showing it. However, Stella needed to trust that Tad could deal with him. Her attention was needed for whoever was behind them.
“…need to let my sister go,” Kuruk’s deep voice carried to Stella as she opened her door and looked back down the length of the van. “Or I’ll come in there and get her myself.”
Stella ignored him, trying to see just what they faced from behind.
She saw two cars, both sedans, with men climbing from the vehicles and surrounding the van. Stella didn’t recognise them
at first, but then she spotted the lone figure that hadn’t exited his car and was still sitting in the passenger seat with a smile on his face. She’d seen that face a lot over the last couple of months and had long since learned to hate it.
Marcus Riley.
So these were the Children of ADaM. Suddenly she was rethinking sending Trevors off to deal with that nightmare.
“Both times you faced me you had the element of surprise,” Tad answered Kuruk. “Since then I’ve learnt about your dreamcatchers and how they work. You can’t rely on surprise any longer. You should turn yourself in. It’s the only way you’ll get any kind of leniency when this comes to trial.”
Kuruk laughed in response, a deep, rumbling belly laugh. Seeing that no one was making a move for the back of the van, Stella risked glancing back at the giant. It was hard to credit that this was the life long nice guy Mitena spoke about. However, none of Stella’s senses went off when Mitena shared her story and Stella believed her. In fact, she had come to grudgingly like the young woman from Chicago. Stella would never forgive her actions, but she didn’t doubt that Mitena was genuinely sorry.
She suspected Kuruk wouldn’t feel such remorse. He might have been the gentle giant once, but a river of blood had drowned that man and this is what was left.
“This will never come to trial, and you’re not the only one who has come prepared for this,” he said.
“Your protestor pals in the cars?” Tad scoffed. “Marcus Riley and his gang? Oooh… I’m shaking with fear.”
Stella smiled at Tad’s acting. He sounded like the most confident man in the world and if she were not so good at spotting a lie, she’d believe it. He had come a long way since she first met him, but that was what facing a madman like Joshua King, overcoming nightmares like fire monsters, and dealing with a lifetime of mad ghosts did to you. After facing down all that, how could Tad not have come out stronger on the other side.
Unfortunately, it didn’t have much of an effect on Kuruk. Though not laughing, he still smiled.
“Go ahead, belittle my brothers in the Children of ADaM. They won’t lose sleep over disrespect from a freak like you.”
“They’re just normal people. After I’m done with you it’s not going to take long to deal with them,” Tad answered.
“Maybe,” Kuruk agreed. “But I learn from my mistakes. I underestimated you and got burned for it. I underestimated you a second time by not making sure you were dead in the explosion. It won’t happen a third time.”
Stella frowned as she sensed no falsity to his confidence. It chilled her, because no matter what he said, he should at least hesitate before going back up against Tad. There was something else going on here that she wasn’t seeing, and she didn’t have to wait long to find out what.
“Marcus, give the signal,” Kuruk shouted.
Stella looked back sharply, watching as the man in the passenger seat of the two cars spoke into his phone. There was no chance of Stella hearing what he said, but she didn’t need to because suddenly there was a pop.
It was the sound of air suddenly being shoved aside as an object occupied a space that was previously empty. It used to be a sound unique to dreamwalkers. Now, there was a rat-faced man wearing a greasy white vest and sporting a glowing design on his right shoulder.
There was another pop, then another, then another. Soon the air was alive to the sound of popping as maybe fifty people winked into existence, filling the road and even some of the field on the other side of the hedgerow.
Stella swallowed hard and shook her head. She thought she’d planned for everything, but she hadn’t planned for this. Mitena had been wrong. Kuruk could recreate tattoos. Evidently he’d been busy since she turned herself in.
“Like I said, I learn from my mistakes,” Kuruk shouted. “Now I’d stand down if I were you. And don’t go doing anything stupid like trying to dreamwalk out of here because we’re ready for that too. Aren’t we boys?”
Stella looked around to see who would answer, but was caught unaware when there was a pop from behind her. She spun in surprise but wasn’t quick enough. A thick, greasy hand, heavily calloused and strong as iron, clamped over her mouth and pulled her the rest of the way out of the van. Before she could put up a fight, another arm slipped around her torso and she was being lifted from her feet.
“We have your woman,” Kuruk said, still talking to Tad. “You do anything stupid and she’s the one who pays. You hear me?”
“I hear you,” Tad said, all confidence gone from his voice. “Just don’t hurt her.”
“You aren’t giving orders any more,” Kuruk snapped, the joviality gone from his tone. “You freaks get a taste of power and think you can do what you want, rule over the rest of us? Well, this is a wake up call.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Tad said.
Kuruk burst out laughing. “What is this? A kids cartoon? You won’t get away with this!” he mocked, shaking a fist as though he were an old man threatening some punk kids. “Grow up. I already have got away with this. There’s no way you’re overpowering all of us. You don’t even have any human support. If only there weren’t nightmares to keep them busy, hey girl?”
This question he threw at Stella who, still kept from speaking by the hand covering her face, could only frown in response.
Kuruk motioned to the ground in front of him and on cue a man with a spray can rushed forward. He painted a thick red circle and then with more delicate strokes he roughed out the shape of a dreamcatcher on the ground. It was about the same size as a manhole cover, and Stella wondered just what he was doing. Kuruk supplied an answer shortly after.
“Mitena is the genius in the family when it comes to these,” Kuruk said, nodding to the dreamcatcher. “But I’m not without my moments.”
He pulled what looked like a child’s toy from the back of his jeans. It was an action figure, an alien monster that had a tiny dreamcatcher etched onto its chest. Stella flashed back to the image of an eight-year-old boy playing with something similar a couple of months ago and what that nightmare had turned into. It was the first nightmare that truly got out of hand and Stella’s stomach clenched as she realised just what Kuruk had done.
He tossed the toy onto the hastily drawn Dreamcatcher and the moment the toy struck the design, the lines flared to life. Light chased away the evening gloom on the narrow road, momentarily blinding Stella and anyone who didn’t look away. When her eyes cleared, she found Kuruk was standing next to a giant, hulking creature from nightmare. Unlike the purple monster from a year ago, this one had no fur, but the warty skin of a toad. A light sheen of slime covered its skin and accentuated the shape of its enormous muscles.
It leaned forward on forearms which were twice as long as they needed to be and made up for the stubbiness of its legs. However, even hunched over on all fours, the thing stood six foot tall. With a head that was as wide as its shoulders and a mouth filled with sharp teeth that ran from ear to ear, it was a terrifying sight, yet Kuruk stood beside it casually.
“It’s amazing what you can conjure in Dream,” he said. “But if there’s a dream that can be dreamt, there’s a dreamcatcher to capture it.” He nudged the charred circle of the painted dreamcatcher on the floor with his foot, “And another design to set it free.”
Stella was feeling sick again, though this time it had nothing to do with lies. She’d been played. All this time she’d been planning for something like this, but Kuruk had been on another level. He’d lured the tactical units away with false nightmares, and now he had them cornered. She was unable to keep her distress from her face, and Kuruk grinned all the wider when he saw it.
Tad’s own helpless expression fell further when he came to the same realisation as her.
“You’re beat, Dreamwalker,” Kuruk said. “Now it’s time for you to give me what I want. Let my sister go.”
“Then you’ll let us go?” Tad asked.
“Then I’ll let her go,” Kuruk said, nodding at Stella. “Yo
u on the other hand...”
“Tad, don’t do it,” Stella wanted to say, but through the hand over her mouth it came out as muffled garbage. She saw the moment the fight left Tad and knew instantly what his decision would be.
“Fine,” he said. “Follow me.”
With only one last glance in Stella’s direction, Tad walked the length of the van towards the rear doors.
The way was crowded with Children of ADaM, each wearing sneering, hateful expressions as they watched Tad walk by. One even spat on him in disgust. Stella had never seen such naked hatred, and even as she was dragged around the side of the van by the walking muscle holding her in place, she wanted to scratch the looks off those faces.
Tad reached the back of the van with Kuruk one step behind him. He wore a look of triumph that was almost as bad as the hatred on the faces of the others, and he stared at the van eagerly as Tad tapped a key code into the lock and threw open the rear doors.
Stella’s captor had marched her around the side of the van to join the others at the rear, so she was in the perfect place to see Kuruk’s satisfaction vanish.
“What the fuck is this?” he asked, and the giant monster behind him grumbled angrily in response to its master's tone.
In response to that grumble, another grumble, deeper and louder, genuinely terrifying, echoed from the back of the van. It was a sound that refused to be ignored, and though Stella knew exactly what was making the sound, she had no choice but to turn her head to look inside the van. It was Growler’s speciality, and when he used that Dream laden growl of his, it was impossible to ignore.
Kuruk had heard it before on the night he got his biggest defeat and he took an involuntary step back, a look of uncertainty on his face before that was replaced by rage.
“What the hell is this?” he demanded a second time, reaching out and grabbing Tad, spinning him round to face him.
Tad grinned at him, and knocked Kuruk’s hand away. Stella suspected he must have been using Dream because Kuruk’s hand was brushed aside like it was nothing.
