“Three blocks from here, you will find a creature that calls itself ‘Timothy.’ He will have all of the answers that you seek.”
Olivia asked, “How are you certain that Timothy will know what we need?”
The ancient boy looked slightly annoyed as he answered. “Do you seek the whereabouts of Dr. William Dyer?”
Olivia’s face contorted, first with shock and then rage. I experienced no real surprise. I had come to expect that this gentleman child knew much more than he was letting on.
“I will take your silence as confirmation.” He pointed again out the door. “Timothy will have your answer. Also,” he added, “I have a free piece of advice for the both of you.”
Concern washed over me. He didn’t seem like someone who gave away anything.
“Timothy is a talker. He loves to chat with just about anyone at all, no matter their political orientation. He relished the chance to speak with several Germans this morning.”
That was incredibly useful information that he had just given us. The Nazis had been here already. They had already found out where Dyer was. On the one hand, we were in second place in this race, but on the other hand, we were on the right course.
“And now,” the ancient boy continued, “a piece of advice for only one of you.” Before we could ask what he meant by that, Olivia was tossed out of the door by an invisible force. Before she could get to her feet, the door slammed shut.
I spun on the child, my pistol, which I hadn’t brought with me, was suddenly in my hand and pointed at him.
“Put the toy away, Doctor. If I had wanted you dead, you would have been long before now.” The child waved a hand dismissively at the door. “I simply wanted to share some information with you...and only you.”
I chose against lowering the gun. I had learned a long time ago that people’s lips moved much more freely with a gun pointed at them than not.
He frowned at me, but continued. “Ask yourself this; with your...friend...outside the door, if you were to return to your body in this very moment, what would you find?”
I didn’t reply, but I was fairly sure that he wasn’t expecting me to. This was something for me to think on.
I had needed Olivia to get me to the Dream Lands, but if I was to find my way back without her, maybe with the help of a Night Gaunt, she would remain behind. In this new reality, Olivia and I had become separate entities. If I was to return home without her, my head would be mine again.
The downside to that idea was that I couldn’t keep her in the Dream Lands, and the last thing that I wanted was for an angry and betrayed Olivia to return to taking up residence in my head.
The ancient child must have been able to read my mind, because he responded at that moment by saying, “Timothy will ask for payment. He is powerful and can hold her.”
As the ancient boy said it, a wave of guilt filled me. Could I really do that to her?
The root of that question was whether or not Olivia was an individual soul, or simply an extension of myself. Would I be selling a person, or would I be simply cutting off a finger? Was she a mind, or the tumor that needed to be excised?
“Why are you telling me this?” I demanded. The ancient boy had already stated that everything had a cost. What was the cost of this piece of invaluable information?
He shrugged at me, and those small shoulders made it look more like an imitated action than any real sort of curiosity. “She is a being of power, but she is only using what she has learned from you. Your ‘Olivia’ is a corrupted copy of yourself. By the looks of it, one of you is difficult enough to manage, I doubt you really want two of you.”
The boy paused, but his brow furrowed with legitimate concern. “While you don’t need two of you, others might. An Andrew Doran with a strong will and his own mind is useless to your enemies, but an Andrew Doran with a child’s potential for corruption could tip the balance of the scales.” He nodded toward the door. “A world with ‘her’ in it, is a world that does not fit well with my concerns. Removing her from you does us both a favor.”
I lowered my pistol, but kept a tight grip on it. “How do I know that you and Timothy aren’t planning that same thing?”
His eerie smile returned. “You don’t, but you can see how easily I can manipulate those in my home. If I wanted her, I would take her.”
The finality with which that child’s ancient eyes said it left me with no doubts. He could hold either of us indefinitely, but he didn’t want to. It was as simple as that.
Very suddenly, I was no longer in the small shack. Instead, I was standing in the marketplace directly next to Olivia and the shack was gone. I spun around looking for it, but it was nowhere to be seen.
Olivia grabbed me by the shoulders, and a wild anger had filled her eyes. “What was that about? What did he tell you?”
With more force than was necessary, I shoved her away from me. I jabbed my index finger in her direction. “You don’t get to make demands of me. I’ll tell you what I want when I’m good and ready.” I didn’t like how little control I was in while in the Dream Lands, and Olivia’s inability to be inside my head was obviously wearing on her. She didn’t like being kept out of the loop that had made up the entirety her existence.
Realizing that she lost control of herself in her panic, Olivia nodded, but I could tell that she didn’t like it one bit.
That’s when I made my decision. I just didn’t care what she thought. The ancient boy had said that she was a corrupted copy of myself. That made sense with everything I had managed to piece together since learning the truth about her.
Olivia was a corrupted piece of me that craved power, which explained why she was always encouraging me to use it. It was why she had helped me to cross Europe. It had all been an effort to get me to use more and more of my power. All while driving me crazier and making herself stronger. She only cared for me in that I could make her stronger.
As these thoughts crossed my mind, it also occurred to me how nice it would be to have my life and magic back under my own control. That thought sealed my decision for me. Timothy would help me, and if not, I would shackle her to a damned wall before I left.
We followed the ancient child’s directions, walking the marketplace. All around us were magics and creatures that even I had never seen or heard of before. Large bipedal plants were selling memories in translucent jars at one stand, while at another a faceless dog was offering to augment your body in the Dream Lands. The people that spoke to the dog would step up, trade some sort of black crystal, devoid of any reflection, and be instantly transformed. One such being, a man as far as I could tell, traded the crystal and was immediately changed. Gills sprouted from his neck, his eyes bulged to a wider and more fish-like shape, and his arms were replaced with tentacles all within the blink of an eye.
As we made our way through the narrow streets, Olivia and I noticed that up ahead the crowd had began giving a wide berth to something. When we stepped closer, we saw that it was a Child of Dreams.
The results of being born in the Dream Lands to parents from a different reality was that the Dream Lands had only a very basic template to work with, and the children always came out...unnatural.
This woman was no different. She walked, naked, through the marketplace. While her body was that of an ordinary woman, it was the only thing ordinary about her. Her age changed with each step she took. In one moment she was in her mid-thirties and in the next she was well over the age of eighty. Her next steps saw her change from old to a young girl to old again and then to a baby. She cried once before returning to the woman in her thirties.
What also made her uncomfortable to be around was that from every angle she also looked a different height and weight. The world that she’d been born into hadn’t been prepared for creating a being from scratch and had opted to create a being that was some sort of odd amalgamation of all versions of that being. It was saddening, but not nearly as sad as the look in her eyes.
All of her
other features, in every state of change, were completely human, but her eyes lacked something and it was clear to see that the something missing was why people gave her such a wide area. She had no morality and no understanding. She was taking in the entire world around her, yet none of it was retained. Her devoid gaze was so alien that you could see the powers behind it. This Child of Dreams contained the ability to unmake the world around her if she so chose, but instead walked through it.
It was why so many people were keeping their distance. No one wanted to be the person or creature that aroused the ire of someone who could unmake them.
I had been so enthralled this creature that I hadn’t realized that Olivia had stepped away from me or that I had almost walked right up to her. It crossed my mind then that I was once again in the mode of tourist and it was about to get me killed.
As soon as I realized the predicament I had put myself in, I made motion to remove myself from it, but it was too late.
“Doctor Andrew Doran,” she said to me and it was in a thousand voices, all shifting through different pitches. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, carefully, “but, have we met?”
This woman with brown, red, blonde, and gray hair giggled, and it was a terrifying sound unlike anything that I had ever heard before. Like a train crashing into a thousand cats.
She reached for my hand, and it took everything in my power not to flinch. “No, Doctor, it is I who am sorry. My people, as you’ve helped me to learn, exist outside of conventional time. This would be your first meeting with me, but not mine.”
As she held my hand, I noticed that she stopped phasing in and out of bodies and her voice became only one. Before me stood a tall and graceful woman with blonde hair who looked to be in her early forties.
The comfortability that she had with me helped me to calm down. This was a woman who trusted me, therefore, I felt as though I could trust her.
“What is your name?” I asked her.
She giggled again, and this time it was a simple giggle with an innocent child-like quality to it.
“My name is impossible for you to pronounce, but you have taken to calling me Annie.”
I smiled. “Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Annie.”
She nodded. “I will be afraid when it is my turn to meet you. Be yourself, and don’t give up on me.”
I returned the nod and watched as her gaze slid over my shoulder.
The smile stayed on her lips but fled from her eyes. “Andrew, is that her? The being of your mind?”
I knew what she meant. She had seen Olivia. “Yes,” was all I could think to say.
“Then today is the day of your decision.” Annie brought her eyes back to mine, and the previously soulless gaze I thought that I had seen was completely gone. This was a being who had known love and concern.
“Stay strong, Doctor. In the coming weeks your decision will haunt you, but I truly believe that you made...will make...the correct one.”
“Haunt me?” I asked, suddenly concerned.
Annie’s smile widened. “You told me not to share such things with you, and now I see why. You linear-folk are incapable of handling well-meant advice.” She pulled me into a hug and I tried to ignore the nakedness pressed against me. “I will leave you now to forge that path that will bring you into my life. The most powerful thing Andrew Doran ever did was remain true to himself.”
In that instant I was standing alone in the marketplace filled with confusion and annoyance. Confusion at the portents of my future, and annoyance that everyone here could vanish at will except for me.
Olivia was by my side again, and I was very aware of her wanting to ask me what the entire scene had been about, so I threw her a bone. “I guess she’s from my future.” Olivia’s gaze changed to one of concern and I smiled. “She’s a friend. Her name is Annie.”
The people all around were keeping their distance from us now. Fear filled their eyes and I could see that, while I couldn’t disappear at will, being friends with a Child of Dreams was a thing of power. These people feared me. That would work to my advantage, I hoped.
We walked another block before Olivia’s very obvious frustration began to annoy me. “What is going on?” I demanded.
She replied by returning the shove I had given her earlier. “You’re not telling me everything!” Olivia screamed. “I...I am...” she frowned as she searched for the word, “disconnected. I can’t just pull clues from your consciousness. I am not used to you keeping secrets from me!” She began crying as rage flooded her eyes and stamping her feet. “What did that boy in the shack tell you?” she demanded again.
I stepped right up to her and laughed in her face.
“You immature child!” I prodded. “You aren’t a person without me. How much of me do you use to make you? My maturity? My memories? You’re so used to having so much access to my mind that when you finally have a life of your own you throw a tantrum.” I stepped back as she cried harder. “What is it? You don’t like being out and about? Building memories and thoughts for yourself for once?”
Olivia looked around the marketplace and wiped her tears. “It is nice to be out, but I am so much less than I was.”
“Wrong!” I shouted. “You’re so much more! You’re independent and free to live your own choices instead of mine. You’re not a voice in the back of a head, you’re free! You’re...oh!” It suddenly hit me. “You’re lonely? One voice in your head isn’t enough for you?”
She began glowering at me then and sticking out her bottom lip, but I continued. “Well, no worries, because the sooner we find this Timothy character and find out what he knows about our man Dyer, the sooner we can get back to our regular routine.”
Olivia seemed to calm down immensely at that, but added. “You could still tell me what he said to you. Or what that dream girl said.”
Ignorant, childish, and immature when she was outside of my head, I figured that meant gullible as well. “He wanted to buy you off of me. I told him that nobody gets a piece of me and then I demanded to be released.” I poured conviction into my voice and watched as Olivia’s eyes went from cautious distrust to trust. She had taken the bait.
“My hero.” Olivia was smiling and wiping away the last of her tears.
I rolled my eyes and added. “He already had my Night Gaunt spell, he didn’t need access to anything else that I might know.”
Olivia feigned pain at the implied insult, but I could tell that she was pleased with me and my lie.
We walked another block in silence, her frustration having abated, before we finally reached where I could only suppose Timothy resided.
There was a ragged cough to our right and we turned to check it out since nothing else of interest existed in this area. There was a large stack of rags and torn cloth that stood at least as tall as myself and twice as wide.
Without any sort of fear, but a little bit of excitement, I stepped up to it and asked, “Timothy?”
A loud noise that could only be described as a belch erupted from the rags and they tremored gently.
A high-pitched voice said, “Dr. Doran, I have waited so long for the winds to carry you to my shores.”
I skipped the pleasantries and stated very plainly. “Is there anyone in this damned world who doesn’t know who I am?”
“That is not the question that you have come to ask me.” Timothy replied.
“No,” I frowned. “Where can we find William Dyer?”
The rags shook again. “I can tell you where your colleague is. It will, of course, cost you.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” Timothy asked in his high voice. “Were you told the price?”
I nodded and ignored the confused look that crossed Olivia’s face.
“Your Dr. Dyer sings the song of the lonely in the Blasted Heath. He shakes in fear at the legend of colour and locks himself away.”
“What does that even mean?” Olivia demanded
, but I cut her off by raising my hand.
“I know where he is.” I told her.
“What?” Olivia demanded. “Where is he?”
Timothy was suddenly shaking much more violently than he had previously. “May I have my payment now?”
Nervous that I might get double-crossed, I nodded and said, “You may collect at any time.”
The confusion on Olivia’s face was quickly turning to frustration after I said that. She spun to me to ask again what the payment was, but she wasn’t fast enough.
A section of the rag pile shifted and a scarred eyestalk popped out of the top of the cloth. At that same time, two black and purple tentacles as thick as my leg and covered with brown suckers shot forth from the base of the stack of rags and grabbed Olivia’s legs.
Even with her supernatural strength, she was no match for them as they dragged her back toward Timothy.
Olivia’s initial reaction was complete terror until her eyes fell on me. When she saw my complete lack of surprise, or maybe my complete lack of action to defend her, her eyes were filled with a sad look of betrayal.
Before she was pulled into the rags, I saw a quick flash of rage fill her eyes.
Then Olivia was gone.
“You should go now,” Timothy said under strain. His still visible eyestalk was bulging with the effort of subduing Olivia.
“Can you hold her?” I asked.
“Easily, but you should leave.” Was all that Timothy said before retracting his eyestalk back within the rags.
There was a sharp sound behind me, and I spun to see what it was. There was nothing there, but when I spun back, Olivia and Timothy had completely vanished and I was alone on that block of the marketplace.
It didn’t take me long to decide that I didn’t want to be in the Dream Lands any longer.
Quickly and quietly, I mumbled the Song of the Gaunts and waited for the strong, hooked feet of the Night Gaunt to grab me by the shoulders.
Focusing my will, I guided the beast back to my body.
Chapter 4: The Blasted Heath
The Adventures of Andrew Doran: Box Set Page 28