by Gareth Otton
The smile returned, more genuine this time, and it was closely followed by a shrug.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just didn’t feel like moving on. I think this world has more to offer before I make that decision.”
“What about your family? You going to try to find them?”
She shook her head. “I know where they are. They know where I am. I don’t think either of us are ready yet.”
“Oh,” Tony said, suddenly uncomfortable. “So what are you going to do?”
Amber hesitated, looking away from him before she blurted, “I thought I might hang around with you for a bit… You know. If you don’t mind.”
“What? Why would you want to do that?”
Again came that shrug and then silence for a couple of seconds. Finally she looked up, looking him directly in the eye but not in a challenging way, more like she was checking for something.
“Would that be so bad?” she asked.
“No… of course not. I just can’t figure out why anyone would ever choose to hang around me when they have other options is all.”
She must have found what she was looking for because she smiled. “I don’t know. Things have a tendency to get interesting around you.”
Before he could ask her what she meant by that, she suddenly leaned in and kissed him. It was quick, barely a brush of her lips against his, and then it was over.
She quickly jumped to her feet and said, “I’ve got to go. I’ll speak to you later, okay?”
“Uh… yeah. Okay,” Tony said, suddenly unsure of himself and not able to think of a better answer.
It didn’t seem to matter though, Amber just grinned once more and then she was off. He didn’t want to say she ran out of the room, but she wasn’t hanging around. His brain rebooted just in time to shout a goodbye, but he wasn’t sure if she heard or not.
She just kissed me, he thought to himself, stunned. No one had ever kissed him before, not like that anyway. He’d had the cheek kisses of family, but they didn’t count. They had to kiss him, it was practically an obligation. But Amber… she had a choice.
My first kiss, he thought, a slow smile creeping to his face. However, then another thought came to mind which wasn’t nearly so pleasant. And she’s nearly fifteen years younger than me.
Groaning at the sudden war in his brain, Tony’s head fell into his hands. Why could nothing in his life ever be simple?
32
Friday, 22nd July 2016
13:31
“Tad took me and the legal guys to China this morning to talk with his dreamwalker contact, and we’ve finalised the contract,” Stella said. “We should have the first batch ready by next Wednesday. Thanks to the dreamwalkers involved, that means that if they’re okay, we’ll be able to distribute them Wednesday as well.”
Stella, Tad, and, of course, Freckles and Growler, had dreamwalked to London to have a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss next steps. Sitting on the other side of the antique table, Norman was nodding, but not giving away any insight into his feelings beyond that.
“And they’ll definitely work?” he asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Stella said. “I made one based on Mitena’s instructions, as have a few members of my team. Mitena has checked them all over and said she would expect them to work. We obviously can’t test the nightmare ones as those would be random, but we have worked with Tad to test the effectiveness of some others and she’s not wrong. You don’t even need to be all that creative or skilled to make one work, you just need to follow the instructions.”
Norman let out a breath Stella didn’t know he’d been holding and slumped back in his chair.
“Thank God for that. So you’re telling me I should be able to tick nightmares off my problems list starting Wednesday?”
“There’ll be a transition period, we can’t supply a dreamcatcher for every bedroom in the Borderlands in just a couple of days. But I hope to see a drastic reduction in nightmares over the next few weeks and definitely in the next couple of months.”
“Thank God,” Norman said again, sharing one of his looks with Amelia before letting himself smile. “I’ve been sitting here expecting the other shoe to drop since you first got the idea to use dreamcatchers. It’s always seemed a little too simple.”
“Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth,” Stella suggested and Norman quickly agreed. “Speaking of gift horses,” Stella was hesitant to add, not sure how this would be received. “I’d like to keep working with Mitena on her dreamcatchers.”
Norman’s smile faded. “Are you telling me you’d like to give a self admitted serial killer a pass for what she’s done, because I can tell you now that—”
“No, I’m not saying that,” Stella interrupted. “I’m just saying that with everything that’s going on in the Borderlands and all the changes we’re dealing with, it seems wasteful to throw away a potential resource. She still needs to see the inside of a jail cell and I in no way endorse the idea of letting her off… But she is useful and she is trying to make amends. I say we let her. It could be our ace in the hole…” Looking at Tad, she quickly added, “Our other ace in the hole.”
Norman caught the look and frowned deeper. “I take it still no movement on getting those dreamwalkers to come work for us? I’d hoped that now they’d outed themselves in the ambush they’d have had a change of heart.”
“They didn’t mean to out themselves,” Tad pointed out. “That was the work of an opportunistic Movement member who saw the cameras and thought he’d run with it. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have set them up to stream the footage and record it at the same time. We thought that if the stream failed, then we’d at least have video evidence, but that’s our bad.”
Norman waved that comment away.
“There’s nothing we can do about that now, we just have to live with it. It is a pain, though. Just as we get a handle on nightmares, something else comes along that undoes all our good work. Between those dreamwalkers throwing power around and your performance outside that FBI field office, the media’s having a field day. That’s enough incidents on American soil now to prove that the effects of the Merging aren’t just localised to the Borderlands and people need to be worried.”
“It’s not all bad news,” Stella corrected, bristling at the thought of their hard work being for nothing. “People will be safe from nightmares. That’s countless lives saved by my book.”
“Of course it is,” Norman said, again dismissing her comment with a wave. “I just hoped to get a reprieve from the bigger problem coming our way. No luck, though.” Turning to Tad he said, “Time to move onto stage two of the plan.”
“Stage two?” Tad asked.
“Solving the nightmares was only stage one, remember? Stage two is you getting your arse out here more often and sitting on my Borderlands council. It’s time you take a more active role in what’s coming.”
Tad groaned, but didn’t protest. He’d worked with Norman long enough to know it wouldn’t do him any good. He couldn’t say he was looking forward to it though, and for some reason that coaxed the biggest smile out of the Prime Minister yet.
“Oh, don’t look so glum. It’s a lot more interesting than it looks over here, you’ll love it.” Then to Stella he said, “I agree with your assessment of Mitena Campbell. She’s an asset we can’t ignore. Considering we’re currently refusing a very strong request to send her back to America to face justice there, we might as well get something from her. I’ll have to run it by some people and pull some strings, but I think we need to milk her for everything she’s worth.
“This isn’t in place of actual punishment though. I want to show the dreamwalkers of the world that we care about the persecution they suffered at the Campbells’ hands and the British government will have no tolerance for it. When she’s not working with you I want her locked down in the nastiest prison we can find. You got that.”
“Of course,” Stella agreed.
“Good. Then, for now, I think that’s everything. Tad, considering it’s Friday, I’ll give you the weekend off. But be here bright and early Monday morning,” he said as he climbed to his feet. “Oh, and wear something a little more work appropriate.”
Stella glanced at Tad in his jeans, shirt and blazer combo, which she knew was what Tad considered to be his best outfit.
“You’ve got more chance of getting a smile out of Amelia than you do of making Tad look presentable for the Westminster crowd,” Stella said, and she almost laughed at Tad’s hurt expression. Norman did laugh, which only made Tad frown deeper.
“Just make sure he’s wearing a tie and I’ll call it a victory,” Norman said.
“I’m not some animal who can’t dress himself,” Tad protested, but everyone ignored him which only made him more sullen, which in turn made Stella want to laugh harder.
“Right, that’s it for today. See you Monday,” Norman said.
Stella collected her things and the moment Norman and Amelia left the room, she offered her hand to Tad then jumped, her feet leaving the ground in London and landing in Cardiff.
“I don’t think that went so bad,” she said.
“I don’t see why everyone thinks I’m some kind of idiot who can’t dress himself in the morning,” Tad complained, and Stella did laugh this time.
“I meant about Mitena.”
“Yeah, that went well,” Tad begrudgingly admitted. “Are you sure, though? I know you said you trust her, but what if she does something?”
“What could she do?”
“She could give out wrong information that would put people in danger, make dreamcatchers explode or something… I don’t know. But remember, she orchestrated the killing of a lot of dreamwalkers before she had a change of heart,” Tad said, putting the last phrase in air quotes.
“Maybe,” Stella agreed. “But I have a good feeling about her, Tad. I think she made a massive mistake and now she wants to make up for it. I think she could help us.”
Tad’s phone buzzed as she was speaking and though he was still listening, he fished it out and gave the screen a once over. His eyebrows raised in surprise.
“What is it?” Stella asked.
“Jacob. He wants to meet about something.”
“Go for it, I think we’re done here,” Stella said. “I need to speak with Trevors, anyway. I’ll see you tonight for dinner, right?”
“Of course. We’ve got to get ready for Jen’s birthday party tomorrow. If you think I’m dealing with all that on my own, you’re crazy.”
Stella grinned and promised she’d be there. Tad kissed her goodbye, then vanished, leaving Stella free to go in hunt down Trevors.
She found him in the break room with his men, all of whom looked up when she entered and none of whom looked happy to see her. Judging by what Trevors said outside the hospital, she shouldn’t be surprised. It hurt a little though as she was only doing the best she could. She’d just have to work harder to earn their approval from here on out.
Trevors was on a table with Harry and some of his men, and the two team leaders were close in conversation. Stella decided not to read too much into that and asked Trevors if he could come chat for five minutes so she could fill him in with what they had talked about with the Prime Minister. Trevors agreed and they went back to her office.
“Good news, I hope?” he asked as she closed the door behind them.
“Always,” she said, trying to keep the tone light. “It looks like we’re getting our first batch of Dreamcatchers on Wednesday, so hopefully we should start seeing a downtick in nightmare activity from Friday onwards.”
“I see,” Trevors said, neither sounding pleased nor upset about that news, just lowering himself into her guest chair with a neutral expression. “What else?”
“Tad’s leaving us, heading off to Westminster to throw some weight around there.”
Trevors frowned at this, something Stella was genuinely surprised about. Trevors got on well with Tad, most people did, but she also knew that most of the Dream Team weren’t that trusting of him. They struggled with the guy who looked like a strong wind would knock him over wielding enough power to deal with a stadium full of dragons and tidal waves big enough to wipe out Welsh coastal towns. She thought Trevors would be happy to see the back of him.
“I know these dreamcatchers are supposed to be the second coming and all that,” Trevors said cautiously. “But should we really be benching our best asset before we’ve guaranteed the win?”
“We’re not exactly benching him,” Stella said. “If we need him, he’s only a phone call away. He’s just going to be moving his focus from stopping nightmares to giving the Westminster crowd a taste of what the Borderlands is actually like. He will be fighting for us with people of power, so I think this should be a good thing.”
“I suppose so,” Trevors said, but still he didn’t look happy.
He hadn’t been comfortable around her since their talk at the hospital and she knew a rift had opened between them. She didn’t wholly agree with every point he made, but she respected the fact that he was honest with his feelings and confronted them head on. She hoped that sharing her next sliver of information might mend some bridges.
“I’ve also got the Prime Minister to agree to using Mitena for other things besides those dreamcatchers to stop nightmares. It’s pending some official approval, but that’s just a formality now.”
Trevors’ frown deepened. “Why would we want to do that?”
“Well, I was thinking… How would you feel about levelling the playing field a bit?”
“What do you mean?” Trevors asked.
“I was just curious how many of your guys might be up for getting some tattoos.”
“Tattoos?” Trevors asked, then suddenly his eyes went wide. “Wait, you mean like those tattoos?” When Stella nodded, she finally got that grin she had been waiting for. “You know what, I think I might be able to sell a few of my guys on that.”
“I thought you might,” Stella said. “I’ve been thinking of getting one or two of my own. The dreamwalking one in particular would be really, really handy.”
Trevors’ eyes widened further. “She’s agreed to do this?” he asked eagerly.
“Not yet, but I know she will. She’s ashamed of what she’s done so far and wants to make it right. I take it you approve?”
Trevors grinned wider than ever and leaned forward eagerly. “When can we start?”
Stella looked up at the knock on her door and waved Denise inside.
“I thought you’d gone home,” Stella said.
“Just heading out now. There’s someone here to see you though, said he’s family.”
Stella sat back as she tried to think of who would dare use that to get in to see her.
“He have a name?”
“Leon Galanis. You want me to chase him off?”
It took Stella a second to recall the name, then suddenly her eyes widened and she shook her head. “No, I want to hear what he has to say.”
“You want me to stick around? Maybe get you in five minutes in case you need an escape?” Denise asked, correctly reading Stella’s mood.
Stella shook her head. “No, go home. I’ll be fine.”
“I know you’ll be fine, it doesn’t hurt to get help now and again though.”
Stella smiled. “Go home, Denise. Have a good weekend.”
“Fine. Yeah, you too,” Denise said, waving at her as she left the room.
Less than a minute later there was another knock. This time when Stella looked up she found her newly discovered cousin standing in the doorway looking awkward. That being said, he was dressed a lot more casually than when last she’d seen him, this time wearing a t-shirt and jeans.
“Hello,” he said as he nervously stepped inside.
“I thought you’d be back in Greece by now,” Stella noted.
“I was. I came back. I didn’t like how we left things.”
“Oh?�
� Stella asked, not giving an inch.
“Can I sit?” Stella nodded and he slipped into the chair in front of her desk, though he never really relaxed. “Our first meeting did not go as I hoped. I mean, I didn’t even know you existed. I knew Stella Martin existed, but even with you looking so much like yia-yia, I never realised. I…” He paused and took a deep breath. “There’s not many of us Galanis’ left. There’s only me, yia-yia, and now you.”
“I’m a Martin,” Stella pointed out.
“You know what I mean. I was so happy when I found out you existed. I had a long, angry talk about why yia-yia kept you secret.”
“Did you get an answer?” Stella asked, trying to sound casual but hating how much her voice shook. Though she wished otherwise, she cared more about his answer than she would admit.
“I think she was ashamed,” Leon said. “Yia-yia and your mother were always fighting. She feels like that drove Sophia away. Then Sophia died in a foreign country thousands of miles from her family. I don’t think she could bear seeing you and remind herself of that.”
“Oh, well, so long as she was comfortable, then she made the right choice,” Stella said bitterly.
“She is just human. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Stella sighed, trying her best to let go of her anger, but never quite succeeding.
“Oh, I know that. I’ve made enough of my own. But some mistakes cost more than others, and I am a big believer in personal responsibility. We all make choices, good and bad. It’s important that we pay for them.”
“I made a choice. I decided that the last time we spoke was not how I wanted to meet my cousin, so I came back to make things right. I hoped that maybe… I just want to show you we’re not all bad.”
Stella frowned, not sure how to deal with this. Falling back on bad habits, she analysed his reasoning through a detective’s perspective and soon found his explanation wanting.
“That’s not the only reason you came here, is it?”
Leon sighed. “The only one that matters. But no, not the only reason.”
“What’s the other one?”
