by L. E. Fred
“You never pay attention,” I told Kyle, ducking as he tried hitting me in response.
“Well, you three wouldn’t, would you?” Hope turned to us. “You’re humans.”
She studied each of us curiously but from a distance. I could tell that even though she knew we wouldn’t attack, she was still innately afraid of us. Hope was younger than Viv and the others, so she probably grew up with horror stories about humans. Her eyes met mine, and I tried to smile to show her I was all right. To my horror, she started laughing.
“I guess the stories were wrong,” she said. “You don’t seem like horrible killing machines. In fact, I’m pretty sure I could take any of you in a fight—”
“You’re confident, aren’t you?” Mitch said, clearly aggravated by the girl. He drew Reverie, which glinted even brighter than normal in the sunlight. Hope’s purple eyes grew wide and she looked at Mitch with a new expression.
“Champion,” she said her mouth still open as she stared at Reverie. “No wonder you need to go to Fantasm.”
“Yes, and you’re doing a wonderful job stalling us.” Viv didn’t hide her sarcasm. “I suppose we do not have a choice.” She sighed and studied Hope one more time. “You’re in.”
“Yes!” Hope said happily, dropping her serious composure. For the first time, I could tell she was significantly younger than Viv and Iven.
“But you will follow my directions,” Viv said sternly, causing Hope to stop smiling. “And if you even cough without my permission, I will tell Elis you snuck away. Understand?”
“Yes.” Hope sighed. She ran to the shore, stopping where the waves lapped the toes of her boots. “Now let’s go! Where is our canoe?”
“Canoe?” Kyle laughed, wading into the water up to his shins. “Kid, you’re with the humans now. Watch and learn.”
He raised his arm with the bracelet. It caught the sunlight and glowed with a blinding, blue light. Kyle closed his eyes in concentration — which still looked funny on his face. In a few moments, his black speed boat reappeared but with a few extra seats.
“Brilliant!” Iven cheered, his eyes shining with pride. He also sighed with relief that his invention worked. The inventor was still beaming after we all climbed aboard the speedboat. “I can’t wait to see what else you can create with the bracelet.”
“Oh, you’ll see.” Kyle turned to give the inventor a grin before speeding us to the grey ruins of Fantasm.
Chapter 17
Fantasm
Kyle’s trek across the bay varied greatly from Austera’s carriage ride. Four of us had already experienced Kyle’s not-so-smooth driving, but regaining his power caused him to speed across the bay even more recklessly than normal. To top it off, the bay wasn’t exactly the calmest body of water.
“Hey!” Viv gasped as Kyle hit a big wave, dousing her with icy water. Iven hid his laughter as she pushed a curtain of auburn hair from her eyes to glare at Kyle.
“Whoops.” Kyle didn’t sound like he cared as he sped along. “It’s just that I feel great! This is what dreaming’s all about!”
“Yes,” Iven agreed, stumbling as he made his way to the front passenger seat. “A new age of positive relations between Dreamers and Lucids!” He pulled a notebook from his vest pocket and tried scribbling notes down, blotting pages with every bump.
Hope remained at the stern, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the boat with her arms folded. Though she was putting up a good front, I noticed her flinching as we sped over bumpy waves. She caught my gaze and narrowed her eyes. I wanted to say something to her. Welcome to the mission. Or, I’m Devon, and I swear I’m not as crazy as my brother, but my throat closed up and I looked away.
“Kyle usually doesn’t act like this.” Mitch, of all people, was the first to break the ice with Hope. She frowned, which caused him to add, “Well, he doesn’t drive like a complete maniac. He’s just excited he can use his Lucid power again. I’m Mitch, by the way, and this is Devon.” He nudged my shoulder and I swore he gave me a shadow of a wink.
Great, I thought gloomily as my face heated up again. Now Mitch is my wingman. Still, he was doing a better job than my own brother. I shook my head. We were about to attempt to cross enemy lines to recover hidden and potentially dangerous information that we needed to save the world. Now wasn’t the time to try to get a Dreamer girlfriend.
“You possess Reverie,” Hope responded, sitting up a little straighter and nodding at Mitch’s blade. Her eyes turned to mine, which caused my stomach to do an unwelcomed backflip. “But what do you do?”
“I summon balls,” I said lamely. Hope raised an eyebrow.
“Devon saved my life back at the Lucid arena,” Mitch added. “He’s also the reason I have Reverie in the first place.” He grinned at me as I felt my face heat up even more. I was grateful he was making me seem like a team player instead of a lame tagalong.
“Devon can use magic that wakes up enslaved humans and protects us against Leona’s minions.” Mitch wasn’t finished making me seem like the real hero. “She’s the one who created the arena—”
“I know who she is.” Hope waved her hand impatiently. “I spied on her resort when she first built it, which was very far away from any Dreamer villages, as I’m sure Austera is aware,” she added, turning to Viv. “Did you really think you could fool her?”
“Of course not.” Viv shrugged. “But, nosy though she may be, Austera is very good about keeping information to herself. She’s trustworthy, and I fear we may need her in due time.” She glanced at Iven uneasily. Thankfully, he was too busy asking Kyle questions to notice her.
“What happened between them?” Mitch asked in a quiet voice. Kyle’s speedboat was much quieter than those in our world, but the waves made enough noise to cause Viv to feel comfortable enough to speak.
“About two years ago, Iven expressed his feelings for Austera,” she said, making sure the two up front weren’t turning around. “He wasn’t the most popular of the Dreamers our age, but to everyone’s surprise, Austera agreed to go on a date with him. She told him to meet her at the library, which elated him even more. When he arrived, of course, there was a Sunset Glamor ball taking place—”
“That’s the old woman club in Woodinville,” Hope explained, trying to mask her smile.
“Yes, and poor Iven, fully dressed for a date, was one of the only men in the library.” Viv wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked at Iven pityingly. “Though he says it no longer upsets him, and thankfully Deem has helped to curb his shyness, he avoids Austera. She, on the other hand, doesn’t think much about the incident, saying she thought Iven was joking when he asked her out in the first place. She finds it very amusing that it upset him so.” Viv wrinkled her nose as she thought about her cousin.
“She sounds horrible.” Mitch frowned. “Why did she offer to help us?”
“Austera is a good friend to those she allows to become close to her,” Viv explained. “And she owes me for convincing Sophia to teach her magic and getting her the Driver position.”
“Sounds complicated.” I found my voice, despite Hope’s eyes on me. I looked at Iven, feeling really sorry for him. How many times have I heard the story of a nerdy guy being played by a popular girl? The girls at my school made fun of me and my friends enough. I was beginning to see why Sophia called Deem an ignorant teenager gang.
“She is harmless,” Viv assured us. She sat up straighter and looked beyond the bow. “And it seems we have bigger problems to face now.”
We followed her gaze. To my surprise, the mountains were much closer now. Even if I craned my neck, I could no longer see the peaks of the mountains. They were also much farther away from the shore than they appeared from the other side. Ahead of us however, stood Fantasm.
The buildings formed a skyline twice the height and four times the length of the isle of Manhattan. Skyscrapers varied from traditional designs to graceful forms that would drive any architect into a full-out creative frenzy. Though the size and beauty we
re marvelous, there was something very wrong with the scene. We were still pretty far away from the shore, but even this close, I could tell Fantasm was not always a charcoal grey color. It looked like a fine layer of ash covered the city.
Viv, Hope, and Iven looked at the city with a mixture of fear and longing. I figured all of them had to leave the city at a very young age; Hope probably wasn’t even born when it was destroyed. All they had were the older Dreamers’ memories and tales of this once-great metropolis. The grey monstrosity in front of them probably greatly contrasted with the old tales of glory.
“Head west, to the sea,” Viv urged Kyle.
“What? Can’t conceal us like you did at Leona’s place?” Kyle asked, turning to look at us.
“We can’t use our powers in the sea,” Iven stated. He looked at the water uncertainly. “Its own forces are comprised of a strong, ancient power that existed before the Dreamers and mankind. We couldn’t work magic here even if we tried.”
“How come Kyle can?” I asked, begrudgingly admiring my brother.
“Because I’m awesome,” Kyle said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“One of the Lucids’ many powers.” Viv shrugged. “Leona created her arena in a barren wasteland; she physically created an area where she can create and we can work our magic.”
“Some say the Lucid’s power to create from nothing is a sign that humans came before us,” Iven added thoughtfully.
“Or, you know, I’m just awesome,” Kyle persisted.
“Yes, it is definitely that!” Viv snapped. “Just go closer to the sea before a Nightmare shoots us down.”
“Jealous,” Kyle muttered, though he obeyed her command. We sped along the curve of the shore, though keeping our distance from the land. As Fantasm faded from our sight, I saw smaller buildings made of a dark, black stone. I strained my eyes to find some Nightmares, but it appeared the camps were deserted.
“They’re all asleep,” Mitch said, as if reading my thoughts. “I guess they’re nocturnal or something, but that camp is definitely crawling with Nightmares.”
“How do you know?” I asked, looking at him. In the morning sun, Mitch’s wavy hair looked like it was spun from actual sunlight. His grey eyes glinted as he looked down at Reverie.
“I think the sword’s telling me.” He pulled it out. Sure enough, Reverie was vibrating slightly in his hands, as if itching for a fight.
“Put that away!” Hope hissed, as Viv grabbed his arm. “The Nightmares will definitely wake up for that!”
“Sorry.” Mitch grinned sheepishly as he replaced Reverie.
He straightened up and continued to look at the Nightmare camps like a general planning an invasion. I had to admit he played the leading commander role well. Not like me, who didn’t even have a cool talent. I thought back to what Mitch had said about me earlier. Part of me knew he was playing me up in front of Hope (I can’t believe my instant crush was that obvious) but he’d told me encouraging things like that before.
Mitch made me sound like I was the better champion, even though I did nothing compared to him. Sure, I could summon Reverie, but that was a one-time occurrence, and I couldn’t even use the sword properly. The power I had in Leona’s arena surprised me just as much as everyone else, and even though my ball of light reappeared from time to time, I had no idea how to fully master it. Still, people kept seeing my potential to be a great hero, so I guess taking their words for the time being wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
A few minutes later, Viv thought it was safe for Kyle to land on shore. Since there were no trees, he simply drove as far inshore as he could before grounding his speedboat on a sandbar. As we all jolted forward, he made the boat disappear completely. We landed waist-deep in the surf and waded the rest of the way to shore. I thought back on the history lessons I had about the WWII D-Day invasion in Normandy. Unlike the Allies, we stood no chance against our enemies. If three Nightmares against five of us ended badly earlier, there was no way we could take on an entire camp.
Thankfully, there were many caves and hidey holes against the mountains cliffs. We darted through the sand — which is a lot harder than it sounds — and took refuge in one of the smaller, shallower caves. Though the Nightmares’ camp was just out of our line of sight and miles away from the mountain’s base, we didn’t want to take any chances. Plus, we didn’t know if the Dreamer clothes completely hid us from Nightmare detection.
“Where do we go from here?” Hope asked excitedly. To her, this was just a rite-of-passage. She was finally going on the adventure her brother and the older Dreamers always talked about.
“We will stay along the cliffs,” Viv said, poking her head out of the cave. “The Nightmares fear the mountains and their camp is closer to shore. We’ll keep their borders within sight, but be close enough to the caves for evasion. Once we pass their main building, we can start moving closer to the sea gates of Fantasm where we can easily slip onto the city’s docks.” She said this in almost a bored tone. I knew she’d been to Fantasm once before, but something told me she’d actually gone more than that.
“And you know where the library is?” Mitch asked.
“We have a general idea,” Viv said, looking to Iven for more information.
“I have my guide,” he assured us, patting his vest confidently. “The city’s layout isn’t very complicated, so we shouldn’t have a problem finding it before sundown.”
“Right, let’s go, kiddies!” Kyle clasped his hands together excitedly. “I hope you weren’t planning on walking the entire time.” He summoned three dune buggies large enough to seat two people.
“Are you insane?” Viv said in a strangled voice. “How can we possibly sneak past the Nightmares in these contraptions?”
“Hey, I made them silent,” Kyle said. He walked to the nearest one, which was black with electric red and blue stripes. I knew my brother would call dibs on that one. Kyle sat in the driver’s seat and, despite Viv’s warnings, turned the key in the ignition. If I didn’t see the car moving slightly, I would’ve thought it hadn’t started yet.
“Impressive.” Mitch raised his eyebrows, nodding. “Also, I love riding these things.”
“I figured we can drive them,” Kyle said, indicating himself, Mitch, and me. “Since we’ve had some experience.”
“What experience have we had?” I asked, eyeing the things suspiciously.
“Devon, they’re just like go karts.” Kyle said. “Surely you can handle that.”
“But they’re not really—”
“No time!” Kyle cut Mitch off as he looked at Viv. “So, do you approve, dear Mistress?”
Viv eyed the buggies suspiciously. I could tell she favored any plan that would get us to Fantasm quicker, but her distrust of Kyle kept her at bay. Iven and Hope, on the other hand, seemed all for them. Hope was already sitting in the passenger’s seat of one of the beige buggies. She folded her arms and had a smug expression, as if she already knew Viv’s answer.
Iven bounced around the black buggy, scribbling frantically in his notebook while muttering “Genius… humans are fascinating!” He touched something on the dashboard, and the headlights turned on. He squealed with delight, but quickly stopped as he caught Viv’s expression.
“Erm, so what do you think?” The inventor cleared his throat and tried to sound more mature. Viv raised her eyebrows but sighed.
“I suppose we must trust our Lucid ally one more time,” she said. Kyle grinned devilishly.
“For that, Viv, you get to ride with me,” he said.
The lesson of the day? Dune buggies are not like go karts. They’re more like low, trundling four-wheelers from hell. To my dismay, Hope rode with me and had to experience first-hand all my jolts, stops, and swerving. Sensing I was about to give up — or, you know, she got tired of hearing my frantic yelps — Hope reached over and took the steering wheel. I inhaled sharply as she learned over me and I caught the scent of lavender and vanilla.
&nbs
p; “Stop jerking every time you hit the sand,” she advised, moving us closer to the cliffs. The sandy ground turned to gravel and I found it much easier to ride along that side.
I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding and took hold of the steering wheel again. Hope leaned back, pleased that I had calmed down.
“Much better.” She smiled briefly, which made my stomach flutter. “It’s a shame humans are too dumb to master their own inventions, though.”
My stomach sank at that remark, but I focused my attention on following Mitch and Kyle.
You’re here to save the world, I thought to myself. Not some pretty, though sassy, Dreamer.
Despite being dangerously close to the Nightmares' camps, we only had two scares. Each time, I wondered whether we could move fast enough in our dune buggies. We were making great time, but it was harder to jump into an elevated cave while trapped inside tons of metal.
Kyle, surprisingly, was a few steps ahead of the game. Each time a Nightmare searchlight would come our way, the dune buggies would disappear, turning into a camouflage net that blended perfectly with the sandy, rocky environment. I heard Viv and Iven chanting a few times to conceal us even more with Dreamer magic. Once the danger passed, Kyle changed the buggies back, and we were on our merry way to the ruined city.
Miraculously we ended up making it to the docks of Fantasm before the sun had reached its peak in the sky. I assumed that meant it was just before noon, which left us at least seven hours before sundown. Then again, I wasn’t sure if the seasons or sun/moon ratio were the same in this world. I had long since abandoned looking at my watch, which didn’t work anymore anyway. Human time didn’t correspond very well to the Dreamer world.
“That was quick.” Viv was apparently pleased by our time.
Just before hitting the docks, Kyle changed the buggies into rafts. We splashed softly into the water below the docks, bobbing in the wake as Kyle conjured self-tying ropes to secure the rafts. A rope ladder appeared from his raft and shot up to the ashen pier directly above us.