Lucid

by L. E. Fred

  “How long do we have to find the library?” Mitch asked from his raft.

  “At least four hours.” Viv looked up at the sky. “That should be plenty of time, right, Iven?”

  Next to Kyle, Iven pulled out a book from his vest. The book was so thick and heavy that I wasn’t sure how the skinny Dreamer could conceal it behind his threadbare vest.

  “According to this, the library is in the sector closest to the mountains,” he read. Viv cursed.

  “Then we must move now.” She pushed past Kyle and darted up the ladder.

  Hope followed and jumped from my raft to Kyle’s, even more agile than I’d seen Viv do. I felt disappointed as she sprinted up the ladder without even giving me as much as a smile. Sure, I had a rough time mastering the buggy, but I got us to the dock in one piece. A simple thank you would’ve been nice…

  “Lover boy let’s go.” Kyle knocked his raft into mine. I regained my balance before falling into the water and glared at my brother. The Dreamers were already on the pier, and Mitch was halfway up the ladder.

  “After you.” Kyle bowed, allowing me to pass. I tripped, jumping from my raft to his, which made him chortle.

  “Smooth,” he said. “No wonder Hope thinks you’re a stupid human.”

  “Takes one to know one,” I said, knowing how lame it sounded. Kyle smirked and pushed me into the ladder.

  Once we were up, I could see Fantasm for what it was. From far away, the city looked grey but still intact. Now that we were actually inside of the city, various signs of war scarred the landscape. Though the skyscrapers were much larger than anything in Woodinville, large chunks of concrete were missing from the tops, and many windows were blown out. Intertwining highways that I’m sure once made transportation around the city easy, were now crumbling and caving into the streets below.

  As we moved deeper into the city, the scene changed from ruined business district to destroyed bohemian center. I now understood how humans influenced Dreamer creation; the business sector looked like a metropolis similar to New York City or Tokyo. The bohemian place resembled Vancouver, New Orleans, and other artistic cities in the world. Cafes lined the main street, but most of the signs were faded or covered in ash, so I didn’t know what they once sold. Patios that, no doubt, once held chairs and umbrellas were now empty; and a music club had its front door ripped from the entrance. I could see a half-rotted stage inside with a saxophone twisted from the heat, neglect, and who knows what else.

  “I’d never been this far inside before.” Iven looked around with wide eyes. He wasn’t even writing any descriptions down as he looked around at everything, and his mouth was set in a permanent frown.

  “I have,” Viv muttered, keeping her eyes on the ground. Though her face was obscured by her auburn hair, I had a feeling her bright eyes were filled with tears. “To try and find my parents.”

  “The story of the little girl who fled to the city — that was you?" Iven turned to her, a mixture of admiration and pity on his face. “That actually happened?” Viv nodded.

  “I was very young,” she explained. “And everyone kept telling me that my parents were trapped in Fantasm and gave me to Sophia to get me out of the city. I thought — I thought they’d be here waiting for me if I was just brave enough to come back.”

  She inhaled a shuddering breath as Iven put his arm around her for comfort. Hope kept her eyes fixed on the horizon, not daring to look at Viv. Mitch and I fell to the back of the group, not knowing what to say. Kyle, however, also put his arm around Viv.

  “Well, you came back again,” he said. “But this time, you’re not looking for remnants of your past. You’re here to save your people from another Nightmare attack.”

  Viv took his and Iven’s arm off of her, but she looked more surprised than angry. I was also surprised. Kyle was never that helpful or insightful. I sighed. This world kept getting stranger and stranger. Viv marched ahead with her shoulders rigid, and we all took the hint — even Kyle — to leave the issue alone.

  The artsy sector slowly changed to an older, more elaborate section of the city. We had to follow a street that gradually inclined until we were standing in a section that was carved from the mountain itself. Not surprisingly, this section was not covered in grey but gleamed golden and white.

  “Looks like my school,” Mitch observed, blinking in the brilliance of the change in scenery. I had to agree; this section looked exactly how I imagined Harvard or some other fancy university. The white buildings had several windows each, and none of them were broken.

  A large, white fountain stood in the center of the area with a vivid green lawn surrounding it. I had to blink my eyes before looking at the scene again. Seeing pink grass everywhere had grown on me, so the sudden change back to green sort of unsettled me. Still, it did add to the university aura. Behind the fountain, a large, white columned building stood. Midnight blue carpet rolled down its white stairs, almost inviting us in. Though the sign above the building was in Latin (or some other language I couldn’t understand) I knew this had to be the library. We approached the library in silence, wondering how complex the interior of the large building would be and what kind of traps awaited us.

  “This is definitely it.” Iven checked his book. He pushed up his glasses and looked back up at the building. “According to Sophia the ground floor should be all right, but once we reach the lower area, we should prepare for—” He stopped as the ground rumbled beneath us. We scattered as the columns rolled down the stairs, Indiana Jones style. Thankfully, we had enough time to jump on the platforms surrounding the staircase to avoid getting steamrolled. Viv shot arrows at the columns before they reached the fountain below. Each arrow lit up on contact and caused columns to explode. We shielded ourselves from shards of concrete and waited for the commotion to die down.

  “You were saying?” Kyle asked dryly, dusting himself off.

  “I guess this book didn’t anticipate a Nightmare attack,” Iven said sheepishly, closing the book. He cleared his throat. “Still, I know where to go from here.”

  We cautiously made our way up the rest of the stairs and entered the largest, most dangerous library I’ve ever been inside.

  Chapter 18

  Dangerous Library

  Think about your school’s library. It’s probably small, but it has enough books to bore you and your entire class right? I bet your library wouldn’t even be larger than a storage room in the Fantasm library.

  The outside did no justice to the actual size of the interior. The marble ceiling stretched so high that I had to crane my neck to see the elaborate chandelier glinting at the top. Large, stained glass windows the size of my house covered the walls, showering the room in a kaleidoscope of light, making the place look bigger than it already was. Of course, the library had to be this big in order to contain all of the reading materials.

  Bookshelves lined every space on the wall, glinting in the windows’ multi-colored lights. Aisles of tube-like shelves covered most of the main floor, holding what looked like old-fashioned scrolls.

  Despite the cluttered feeling, everything was organized and clean, as if it were recently used. Between each aisle stood several desks with reading lamps turned on, which I found strange. It seemed as if the place may have just been occupied before we entered, or it was waiting for our entrance.

  “It is in better shape than I imagined,” Viv muttered, looking around at the library with admiration.

  “It’s wonderful!” Iven cried, bouncing on his heels with delight. He started to run toward the nearest scroll tube, but Viv grabbed his collar.

  “Careful,” she warned. “Let’s not set off any unwanted traps. Now, where’s the room containing Sophia’s book?”

  Iven stole one wistful look at the room before checking his book.

  “On the opposite end of the main lobby,” he said, showing us the map. Sure enough, the large library lobby was mapped out in his book with great detail. The artist even captured the light from the wi
ndows glinting off the books with precision. A tiny arrow was scribbled in the back, pointing between two sets of scrolls.

  “Great,” Kyle grumbled, clearly not impressed by the library. “We have to cross the Sea of Books, probably avoiding a bunch of traps, just to squeeze between two bookshelves?”

  “You can stay here!” Hope snapped, tossing her spiky hair. Her purple eyes glinted as she observed the lobby. “I can’t wait to see what secrets this place has!” Viv begrudgingly nodded at her enthusiasm before drawing her knives.

  “We move carefully, in a circle,” she explained. “That way we can spot any traps headed our way.”

  We formed a tight circle and awkwardly made our way across the labyrinth of knowledge. I got the lucky position of looking behind the group and had to stumble backwards while keeping up with the others. As we moved farther into the library, I realized the place was much bigger than it looked from the entrance. Thankfully, the center aisle was large enough for us to walk in a circle and was a straight shot to the other side.

  “Back!” Mitch shouted, pushing us behind a bookshelf. A second later, white hot flames burst from the aisle in front. Iven breathed with relief; I realized he had been standing right where most of the flames hit.

  “Maybe this library isn’t so great after all,” he muttered, looking a bit upset that something he loved so much would have the audacity to hurt him.

  “Sometimes knowledge has damaging effects,” Viv said solemnly, frowning at the scorch marks. She stood up first. “Come on. Let us restore our faith in this place.”

  If I was grateful for anything about my experiences in the Dream world, it was that Kyle’s, Mitch’s, and my reflexes were much faster. Twice, Kyle spotted out certain peril, and I saved us from a trap door springing under our feet. Viv and Iven took care of most traps without much effort, and Hope figured out how the traps were being sprung in the first place.

  “Some of the books are setting off the traps,” she explained, studying a large, purple book at the end of one aisle. “When we walk past them, we set off an invisible sensor. Thankfully, most trigger books are close to the floor, so we can just step around them when they come.”

  “How can you tell?” Viv asked, trying to follow Hope’s gaze. She looked up at all of us and shrugged.

  “They’re brighter than the others,” she said, her own bright eyes flashing in the multi-colored light. “Can’t you tell?”

  “Um.” Mitch frowned at the purple book.

  I also looked, but I couldn’t see anything. Aside from being written in a language that used strange characters, I didn’t see anything different about the book. Still, from then on, we stepped over the books Hope told us to avoid.

  We made it past the rest of the lobby with relative ease after that. Viv looked up at the windows, and frowned at how low the light now shined through the glass.

  “That took longer than expected,” she said. “Still, we should have enough time to get in and get what we need, especially if Hope can use her gift to help us avoid any more traps.”

  “I’ll try my best,” Hope said, folding her arms. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, though, which told me she secretly enjoyed having a power that no one else possessed.

  We turned to look at the space Iven’s book had pointed to. All we saw were two shelves that had scrolls nestled in tubes. The small space between the shelves was too narrow for another shelf much less a secret door.

  “Any idea on what to do now?” Kyle asked, looking at Iven.

  “Let’s see.” Iven already had his book open. He flipped a few pages, but eventually closed the book and sighed. “Nothing. It just points to this spot and says we’ll use the tools that helped us get this far.”

  “Great.” Viv gritted her teeth and started feeling the bookshelves for any switches.

  “Um, see anything, Hope?” I asked, trying to avoid her purple gaze.

  “I’m not a tool!” Hope said angrily, folding her arms and turning away.

  Kyle mouthed “smooth” which didn’t make me feel any better. I watched Viv for a few more seconds until deciding to look around myself.

  “Other than Hope pointing out the traps, what else did we use?” Mitch pondered, retracing our steps as far back as he could without activating any traps.

  “We used our feet,” my brother offered dumbly.

  “Yes, how observant of you!” Viv hissed, turning to give my brother a nasty look. “What else do you have to offer?”

  “No, he’s right!” Mitch said, looking up at the ceiling. He grinned, seeing something we obviously didn’t. “We did use simple means to get here. Like our feet for walking, and light to guide us through the library!”

  We all looked up after that. At first I couldn’t see anything, but then I noticed one crystal from the chandelier caught a brighter patch of light from the windows. It glowed bright blue, and its light reflected down to a spot right below our feet.

  Viv took one of her knives and cut the blue carpet open. She smiled triumphantly as she grasped a bronze handle.

  “Cover me,” she said, using both hands to pull open the cellar door. We watched for any more traps, but none came. With one final grunt, Viv lifted the door, grinning like a madman. A bright light strangely shone from the marble steps that descended to the underbelly of the library. I didn’t think that a basement would look inviting, but it seems Fantasm’s architects managed it.

  “Looks like we’re back on schedule.” Viv stood up, looking at the stairs. She kept her knives drawn, though. “But let’s be careful, just in case.”

  I silently agreed, as we followed her down the passage. If the main room wanted us dead, I could only imagine how well-guarded a secret room could be.

  The most dangerous part of the trip down was trying not to stumble over each other on the spiral staircase. The narrow, white stone steps reflected the multi-colored light of the lamps that lined the wall. I guess the Dreamers wanted to capture the ambiance of the main floor, despite causing a very serious tripping hazard. The air grew colder and mustier as we descended, which was our only other cue that we were underground. Finally, after what felt like hours of trying not to fall down the swirling kaleidoscope, the hallway widened, and the ground leveled out.

  "Hey now!" Kyle exclaimed, skidding to a stop as he was the first to get down the steps. “I’m sure that took a chunk out of our time.” He turned to Iven and Viv expectantly.

  “What?” Viv asked blankly.

  “Don’t you Dreamers have magical watches?” Kyle asked, pointing to his own skull watch he got from a cereal box when he was twelve.

  “We use the sun.” Iven shrugged. “But we can calculate small increments of time on our own. It’s an innate trait we learned from humans, who take time very seriously.”

  “So how long did that trip take?” Mitch asked, not even panting from our trip down.

  “Less than an hour,” Viv said, with a little too much certainty. She exchanged looks with Iven and they nodded.

  “Regardless, we did the hard part.” Iven had his book out again and huddled under a rainbow lamp. “There is only one spell protection down here, and it’s over the case that holds our book.”

  “Very well.” Viv started forward, though she didn’t put her knives away. “Let’s get it and be gone. Sophia told me how to undo this enchantment.” Before she could walk any farther, Iven grabbed her arm.

  “Are you certain you know how to do this?” he asked very seriously. Viv shrugged him off.

  “Of course!” She tossed her hair. I could see her eyes showed a little bit of worry, though.

  I remembered what Sophia had said about how Dreamers were paired up as magician and fighter, sort of like Mitch and me — when I could control my powers. Sophia was obviously a powerful magician, so he had to train Viv in strength in order to balance his power out to fend off Nightmares. I knew Viv could do good protective spells, but she was much better, and more comfortable with, her weapons. Still, Viv carried
on, holding her head high.

  “What do you think?” Mitch seemed a little wary. “We saw what kinds of traps were upstairs. What if Viv sets it off down here?”

  “She won’t,” I said with such confidence that I even surprised myself.

  “Brave words.” Kyle raised an eyebrow at me. “You can back them up?”

  “Well, I mean,” I answered, my confidence faltering. “She got us out of scrapes with the Nightmares before, so I’m sure she’ll come through this time.”

  “Guess we’ll see.” Kyle shrugged, following the Dreamers into the next room.

  We crowded inside of a small, circular room that looked like the bottom of a tower.

  “This must be the remains of the Lucid Well,” Iven explained, flipping some pages in his book. “Aha!” He found what he was looking for and continued. “The library was built over the Lucid Well, a place where Lucids were brought to demonstrate power. This secret passage blocks out all Nightmares and ill-wishing Lucids, and is the city’s last resort should Nightmares attack.”

  “This small place?” Kyle scoffed. We could barely fit inside without our shoulders touching. “No wonder you had to evacuate to your valley—”

  “Continue!” Viv shot Kyle a look before turning to Iven.

  “Erm- that’s it,” Iven said nervously, scanning his book some more. “Oh! Wait, there’s a footnote explaining that Reverie was kept here after the desertion of Miragean. It remained in the glass case that now holds the Ancient Records and disappeared days before the Nightmares sieged the city.”

  We all looked at the sword strapped to Mitch’s belt.

  “So, it does possess the power to fight back Nightmares,” Hope said in a soft voice.

  “Or at least fend off a massive attack,” Viv added.

  “Way to go, sword.” Kyle glared at the blade. “You left your people in the dark when they needed you the most!”

  As if Reverie knew it was being talked about, it started glowing at Mitch’s hip.

  “Welcome home, Reverie,” Mitch whispered, grabbing the hilt. Though the sword started sliding from its scabbard, Mitch didn’t draw it, which I took as a sign that Mitch intended to fully master the legendary talisman at his side. Was the sword giving him trouble like my ball of light?