by James Phelan
None of this is her fault.
“There’s nothing to say,” he said quietly. “There’s nothing anyone can say that will bring him back or make any of this less terrible.”
04
Sam started walking toward the dorm building again. He reached his room, going inside, but leaving the door open behind him. Eva followed and sat on the floor at the end of his bed.
Sam stared absently out the window, his back to Eva.
“The others want to see you too,” she said. “After nearly losing Xavier in Istanbul …”
“I was there, you know,” Sam said. “Not at the Doors, but—”
“Sam, please, it’s OK if you don’t want to talk.”
“No, I mean … your dream. I know that I have to go to Australia with you.”
Eva looked up, shocked. “You dreamed it too?”
Sam nodded. “It’s dangerous out there, Eva. Like, really dangerous.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, of course I do.” Sam turned to look at Eva and could see the expression on her face slowly change as she understood what he was saying. “You think I shouldn’t go with you.”
“You could die out there,” he said. “He—Tobias—knew the dangers better than anyone. And even he couldn’t stop what was coming for him.”
“Oh, Sam …” Eva stood up and came over to give Sam a hug.
“It’s changed how I see everything,” Sam said, unresponsive. “He was more than just a teacher to me. He was like a best friend, someone I could trust, someone I could go to if I needed … and now he’s gone. He wasn’t even killed by Solaris, but some random violence we never even saw coming. I don’t know why that makes it worse, but it does. I know that’s crazy.”
“It’s not crazy, I can understand why you’d say that,” Eva said. “I’m sorry, Sam, I really am.”
“No, it’s not understandable, no one understands,” he said.
Outside in the fading light of the afternoon, some students were starting hockey practice against a neighbouring school. Sam watched them running over the field. “Look at them down there. It’s like they don’t have a care in the world …”
“It’s not that, Sam,” Eva said. “Life goes on for them, no matter what. That’s a good thing. They feel safe and secure, because of you. Do you realize that? They believe in you—that you can win this for them. Sam, I don’t think we need a superhero to save us. I think all we need is a regular guy. And maybe a few of his friends … we need you, Sam.”
Sam let out a tired sigh.
“What do you think Tobias would want us to do?” Eva wondered. He could feel Eva looking at him, waiting for an answer.
“I know … I know.” Sam sighed again. “I’m just tired of all this. Tired of running, of fighting. Tired of being the one that everyone is counting on to do a good job. Tired of losing people …”
Eva put an arm around his shoulders, the two of them looking out the window, beyond the sports field. “You know the name the media have given this place?” she said, motioning to where white tanks and helicopters from the UN circled the perimeter of the campus.
“The nightmare zone,” Sam said.
“Yep. The nightmare zone.” The two of them laughed. “It’s like something out of a really bad movie, our new little city state they’ve created around the school grounds. Their soldiers watching our every move while they debate what to do. “No one in or out without UN chaperones.” Talk about crazy!”
“Yeah, except it’s not a movie. Not exactly what I was expecting either,” Sam said, resigned.
“After your speech?” Eva asked. “What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know. Tobias thought we could … well, I don’t know, but I don’t think they truly get what’s going on.”
“Hmm. But we have to go out there. You and me,” Eva said. “You know that, don’t you? We have to follow my—our—dream. It’s our destiny to get the next Gear.”
Sam looked at her. “I always knew your time would come, Eva,” he said.
Eva laughed nervously. “All this time, wondering if I would be one of the 13, but kind of knowing all along. Now I have the responsibility, I hope I’m up to it.”
“I believe you are. And I’m so glad you’ve had your dream now.”
“So does that mean you’re ready for our next adventure?” she said, a slow smile coming back to her face.
05
ALEX
The pirate crashed out the door, his forward momentum carrying him straight toward the railing ahead. In a lucky moment of timing, Alex was there to give him a little helping hand and he went overboard in one swift movement. The splash was a lot louder this time and the pirate’s startled scream echoed in the night, even over the engine’s noise. Alex held his breath, expecting trouble at any moment.
“And stay out!” someone yelled out the door. “Do not come back!”
Can’t believe they didn’t hear that.
He crept closer to the open doorway and listened.
Now there was only silence. He stole a glance around the doorway. A huge pirate stood at the wheel.
Alex gripped the old machine gun tighter.
Sneak in, club him and knock him out. OK.
On three.
One.
Two.
Two and a half …
Alex let out the big breath that he’d been holding onto and barrelled through the door, half-expecting to see the pirate waiting for him. But the man was still standing at the wheel, his broad back to Alex.
WHACK!
The guy slumped to the ground as Alex used the butt of the gun to club the pirate in the side of his beefy head.
“Two for two,” Alex said, a small smile on his face. “Not bad batting—”
He paused as he smelled something vile, like decaying fish and ripe blue cheese … he jumped as he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
Alex turned around slowly. “Oh boy.”
He recognized this pirate. He was a huge guy, easily the biggest of the twelve pirates he had counted earlier. He had long straggly hair, a tanned and craggy face, a huge grin revealing missing teeth. The few teeth that remained were like lonely black tombstones, rotting in his swollen gums.
Gross.
“You know,” Alex said, trying to buy time and figure out what to do, the machine gun still in his hands as he took a step back, “maybe with your loot or bounty or whatever it is you pirates call all the stuff that you steal, maybe spend a little of it at the dentist? Or buy a toothbrush? Mouthwash or floss even. They say you should only floss the teeth that you want to keep …”
The giant bared his teeth in an angry grimace, a low snarl sounding from the back of his throat.
OK, maybe the wrong approach.
In a fleeting second of inspiration, Alex suddenly looked wide-eyed and terrified over the pirate’s shoulder. The guy fell for it and instinctively turned to check behind him, dropping his guard for a split second.
Alex pounced. He swung the gun, arcing it high through the air with his weight behind it.
CLONK!
It hit the pirate’s head and the reverberation from the impact travelled back through the gun, down Alex’s arms and right through his body, rattling Alex’s own teeth in the process.
The giant pirate did not budge. He stared at Alex, his snarl even louder now.
Oh man!
The pirate pulled out a knife. It was a big rusty blade with a dull gleam to it.
Alex fumbled to turn the gun around in his hands.
The pirate took a step closer.
So maybe he knows I’m not about to shoot anyone.
Alex extended his other hand. “Look, maybe we just got off on the wrong foot. Hi, I’m Alex.”
“Arghh!” the pirate lunged for Alex. Alex ducked the attack and scurried around the giant, out the open door behind him. He turned right, hugging the bridge wall, waiting. The giant pirate came rushing out.
&nb
sp; Alex kicked out a leg, tripping him up.
The pirate hit the handrail hard, which barely reached above the height of his knees.
“Arghh!”
SPLASH!
Alex looked over the side, seeing the giant pirate bobbing in the water, a dark writhing shape in the black sea that was soon left behind.
“Yes! Three for three, not bad, if I do say so myself,” Alex grinned, going back into the pilot house, hurrying to find the key for the stateroom where the others were being held captive.
He powered the engines down to an idle, then looked at a large red button marked “anchor.”
If I hit that button, everyone on the ship will know that we’ve stopped. But if I don’t, the ship might hit something without someone at the helm.
Alex looked at the key in his hand, then the open door. “OK,” he said. “This is what happens when you mess with one of the last 13 on their quest to save the world. Hope y’all are ready.”
Alex hit the button and ran.
As he went below deck, he could hear the chains from the anchor already winding out. He hoped he could make it to the others before the anchors bit into the sea floor and brought the Ra to a jerking halt. That would alert the rest of the pirates that a mutiny was underway.
And I’m not sure I can deal with another nine of them on my own.
Alex sprinted as if his life depended on it. He slid down the stairs, his arms out on the railing and hitting the next level down in a second. He ran on. In the mess hall, six pirates lay scattered around the tables sleeping, having helped themselves to the spoils of the kitchen. Alex forced himself to stop and slowly tiptoe around them to the next set of stairs.
Hans’ main cabin was there, and Alex took the stairs down quietly, the machine gun again in his hands like a baseball bat. Before he got to the bottom, the rolling hum of the anchor chains stopped.
Alex gripped the bannister as the three pirates guarding the door to Hans’ stateroom saw him, springing to their feet, bringing their weapons up at the same time.
Uh-oh.
And then the Ra came to a full stop.
The sudden and unexpected halt knocked the pirates from their feet and gunshots rang out as they fell together in a heap, landing on their own weapons.
Alex let go of the handrail and used the butt of the gun to smash the glass door of a fire suppression system on the wall next to him. He pulled the handle.
Clouds of gas blasted from the roof, blanketing the room. Alex ran blindly, aiming straight ahead. He felt himself brush by the pirates as he crashed through their pile. He reached the door and used his hands to feel for the keyhole, unlocking the door. The door swung open, letting wispy clouds of gas into the stateroom.
Hans’ rogue Guardians came storming through the blinding mist, rushing out into the hall to deal with the pirates.
“Alex!” Dr. Kader said.
Alex crawled toward the voice. The Egyptologist’s face appeared, Hans close behind.
“Upstairs!” Alex shouted out to the German Guardians. “Six more of them are up there!”
Hans asked, “And the others?”
“Swimming in the Pacific.”
“As to what this “ultimate power” beyond the Dream Gate is, or even where it is,” the newscaster was saying, “we are unsure. All we know, from information being confirmed by the spokesperson at the UN, is that right now the world’s greatest hope of finding it rests on the shoulders of a fifteen-year-old boy named Sam.”
Alex watched the news channel on the large television screen in the communications room on the Ra. The ship had been sailing south at full steam since leaving the last port, where they had delivered the remaining pirates to the waiting police. Alex had been so buzzed by the pirate ordeal and preoccupied with thinking about Sam’s public revelations, that he’d forgotten to slip away to call his mother as he’d planned.
Since Sam’s address to the UN, the revelations and speculations about Dreamers had been escalating, with attention turning to famous people and world leaders. A news channel had twenty-four-hour commentary dedicated to Sam, speculating that he was everything from a clairvoyant to a superhero, a delusional troublemaker or a front for a secret crime organization.
“But it’s the UN,” Alex said to the screen as the “expert” commentators continued debating Sam’s credentials. “Can’t they see that he’s telling the truth?”
“Sam’s address to the United Nations again?” Dr. Kader said, heading over from his desk.
“Yeah, and all the commentary since,” Alex replied.
The Professor had appeared at length on news telecasts, being quizzed about Dreamers and the secret battle raging around the world.
“Tell us again about this figure that calls himself Solaris …”
“Is it true that if you lose, we will lose our ability to dream?”
“Will we all be locked in a world of non-stop nightmares?”
“Who are the last 13?”
“Where did they come from?”
“Who’s left—are they out there?”
“Are you one of them?”
And on it went …
Some programs started having competitions, seeing if they could uncover the remaining Dreamers of the last 13. All kinds of people were coming forward claiming to be the next Dreamer.
Alex muted the television and walked over to the port window. He watched the setting sun hitting the peaking caps of the angry ocean.
The water outside was a constant rolling swell and the Ra rose and fell as it sailed south as fast as the engines would take her. As a refitted icebreaker, the boat retained the capability to smash through thick sheet ice but had a ton of luxury thrown in for good measure. It was a five-star hotel on the water. All thanks to its owner, the billionaire Hans Schneider, leader of the traitorous German Guardians and, as far as Alex could tell, one of the “bad guys.” Alex had agreed to come along on this voyage, under the guise of helping Hans, but really as a way to discover his plans and, hopefully, to stop the Dream Gate ever falling into his hands.
As they travelled farther south, the weather grew colder. The Pacific Ocean was unforgiving as it sent six-metre-high swells smashing against the Ra’s strong hull.
“I’m going to my room,” Alex said to Dr. Kader as he left the communications quarters. When he got there, he stretched out on his bed and got out his computer tablet. He’d manage to find a way to hack into the superyacht’s comms system undetected, and could now report back to the Enterprise without having to sneak into the communications room and use the satellite phone. He smiled, thinking how all those countless hours messing around on computers had paid off.
Shiva would be proud.
He started up the program and waited a few seconds for the connection to establish. Then a familiar face flickered onto his screen.
06
EVA
The eleven Dreamers of the last 13 met in the Academy’s basement storeroom, a dusty, dimly-lit room barely big enough to seat them all amid the piles of student chairs, desks and outdated computer equipment. There were heavy wooden shutters over each of the narrow glass windows, all stuck tight with age and lack of use. The only light came from a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling by a tenuous, aged cord.
“I call to order the first secret meeting of the last 13,” Xavier said in a mock-serious voice.
“Secret?” Rapha asked. “Why?”
Eva rolled her eyes at Xavier. “He’s just messing around,” she explained to the Brazilian Dreamer. “And as if we’d elect you as the leader anyway,” she said to Xavier.
“Well, I have had a recent near-death experience,” Xavier laughed, “so surely that gives me some kind of privilege, no?”
“But really,” Cody said, looking around the room, “why are we meeting down here? Are we starting some lame 13 club now?”
“Pretty lame if you’re a member,” Xavier said.
Cody laughed, and it didn’t take long for Xavier and then the othe
rs to join in.
“Nah, it’s ’cause it’s the only place we could think of where we’d be free to talk without being interrupted, or overheard,” Xavier explained truthfully. “The common room is so packed, especially when Sam’s there.”
“Or Gabriella,” Eva added, rolling her eyes. She looked around at all the faces in the room, lit by the glow of the light bulb, as they continued to laugh and chat among themselves, taking comfort in each other’s company. Only Sam remained quiet, just watching the group thoughtfully. Even though she knew each of the 13 had sought him out to pass on their condolences and support after what had happened in Cambodia, this was the first time that they had all been in one room together, and alone, since Sam’s return. It felt good to be away from the curious and watchful eyes of the Academy’s students and staff.
Eva suspected a barrage of questions was about to begin, and she guessed Sam could too, because he stood up to speak. The laughter and chatting died down almost immediately.
“OK, firstly,” Sam said, “I’d like to apologize for my behaviour these last few days. I’m sorry …”
“Sam, we underst—” Maria began to say, but Sam held up his hand to stop her.
“I know. Please, let me finish. Losing Tobias … he was … well, it … it just hurts more than anything.” Eva saw Sam take a deep breath and glance at Poh, who smiled calmly. “But I shouldn’t have shut you all out. You guys are the ones who can probably understand the most. What—what I’m trying to say is that I know we still have a job to do. And I’m still willing to do it and I’m pretty sure you are too.”
Everyone nodded in unanimous agreement. Sam turned to look at Eva and she met his gaze with happy tears in her eyes.
I’m so glad that he’s come back to us.
“We’re all here for you, man,” Xavier said, his voice serious this time.
“To help you however we can,” Arianna added.
“And to be there at the end when we need to,” Zara said.
Eva couldn’t stop smiling as Sam thanked all his friends.