Year One: Dreamers

by Cara Wylde

  “If you say so,” Domina singsonged. “Again, not what I heard.”

  I ignored her.

  “I have a question,” Scarlett, Domina’s best friend, chirped. “Why don’t you make this… switch or whatever it’s called? Are you afraid someone’s going to burn your body and leave you stuck in another dimension?”

  “I don’t think anyone hates me that much,” I chuckled.

  “But you do have enemies, don’t you?”

  “I do?” I cocked an eyebrow.

  “Come on. You’re human, yet you don’t age. You can cross dimensions and you saved the world.” There was a sarcastic inflection in her voice. “The simple fact that you exist steps on many supernaturals’ toes. At least, that’s what I presume.” She grinned. She winked at Domina, which wasn’t lost on me.

  “You presume wrong…” I whispered.

  “Okay!” Mrs. Crane stepped up, motioning for me to sit back at my desk. “Thank you for the presentation, Miss Aleksiev, and thank you everyone for your questions. We don’t have much time left.” She checked her watch. “For our next class, please read the lesson on lucid dreaming. We’re going to discuss the technique in comparison with out-of-body experiences. Class dismissed! You all did great today. Thank you!” As the students rushed to gather their stuff and put as much distance as they could between themselves and a subject they could barely wrap their minds around, she tucked her hands behind her back and mumbled softly: “Wonderful generation. Wonderful generation.”

  Hayley and I slipped out of the classroom, praying she didn’t stop us for a chat. In her enthusiasm, she’d done enough for one day.

  “She could have given you some worth points,” Hayley said bitterly.

  “Yeah.”

  “You practically taught the class for her.”

  “Not my intention… I hope she doesn’t do this every week.”

  “Honestly, she should have given you fifty worth points, at least!”

  “She’s human. New to the Academy. She probably forgot about the system.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “She’s okay. One of the good ones. I don’t think she did it intentionally.”

  “Still.”

  I actually agreed with Hayley.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  At lunch, I sat at the end of the MDC table. From now on, I was going to make sure no one could corner me like they’d done before. Silene sat across from me, which was fine, because I liked her company. Valac was a few seats away, and I knew he was eyeing me every five minutes. I’d been very clear that I wasn’t interested, so I had no idea what his problem was. Maybe he was the kind of guy who got easily obsessed. Poor him. He’d have to get over it. I was eating my vegetable soup in peace when Domina and Scarlett decided to strut over and push Silene away. Silene rolled her eyes, and instead of sticking around, made the better choice to find another seat. Domina had a satisfied smirk on her lips as she watched her leave. She turned to me.

  “You were quite impressive back there. Research, studies… You’ve already published books and given speeches… You should be teaching at the Academy, not attending as a student.”

  I stared at the redhead for a few long seconds. My gut told me she didn’t mean a word. I realized it didn’t matter how beautiful she was, with her long fiery hair, blue eyes, and seraph wings, when she was so mean and bitter. She wanted to provoke me, like she’d done in class.

  “I had a lot of time on my hands,” I said vaguely.

  Scarlett leaned over the table. She munched on her red lower lip for a moment, then grinned.

  “You do think you’re better than us. I can see it in your eyes.”

  I sighed. This was getting old. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Come on! Say it. Own it, okay? That’s what’s infuriating about you. You insist on playing the humility game.”

  “It’s not a game. Look, you’re projecting things on me. That doesn’t make them real.”

  “Are you saying it’s all in our heads?” Scarlett faked offense.

  “Is the fact that you kissed Davien all in my head, too?” Domina asked. She sounded dead serious now.

  “What?”

  “Don’t try to deny it. You’ve already insulted my intelligence enough by lying about how your dear auntie ended up trapped in another parallel dimension.”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “Fair enough. But do you know what my business is? You kissing my boyfriend!”

  I was taken aback. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

  “You kissed Davien?” Valac’s voice came from behind me.

  I craned my neck to look at him. He moved like a cat, because I hadn’t heard him. He was staring down at me, his hands in the pockets of his uniform pants. It was as if he was waiting for me to explain myself.

  “I didn’t initiate it,” I said. I grabbed my tray, getting ready to get out of there. “He’s a bloody incubus, so he didn’t care one bit about my consent. I’m sorry, Domina, I didn’t know he was your boyfriend. But even if I knew, there wasn’t much I could do. I don’t know what you heard, but everything happened against my will.” I stood up.

  Domina huffed. “Bullshit! Scarlett saw you! Tell her, Scarlett.”

  The brunette vampire shrugged. “Well, you and Davien were all over each other, eating each other’s faces. Good thing Seth showed up, otherwise you would’ve fucked right in the middle of the hallway.”

  I shot Scarlett an incredulous look. “That’s not what happened.”

  “Are you saying I’m lying? Or that I’m stupid, or blind? Oh wait! Vampires don’t need glasses.”

  “No, I’m saying you interpreted it all wrong.”

  “Enlighten us,” Domina said. Her blue eyes were still throwing daggers at me. “Tell us how it really happened.”

  I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath. As I released it, I steeled myself for what was to come.

  “I already told you, even if I shouldn’t have.” I tried to keep my voice calm and even. “I don’t owe you an explanation. If Davien is your boyfriend, then maybe you’re not doing a great job at keeping him on a leash. You might also want to have a talk with him about consent. Now, if you’ll excuse me, drama for lunch tends to give me a stomachache, and I’m trying to look after my health.” I squeezed out and headed toward the NDC table.

  “We’re not done here!”

  I heard Domina spread her two sets of wings and take flight. She landed in front of me, cutting my way. The ivory white feathers lining the edges of her wings had turned to sharp blades. She sneered at me.

  “Stay away from him.”

  Where was he anyway? I looked over my shoulder at the VDC table. Davien was absent, but Seth winked at me when our gazes met. I ignored him.

  “Got it, Domina. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “See, I think I do. You’re not who you pretend to be. You’re arrogant, selfish, and you think you can have anything you want just because you can dream and cross dimensions and we can’t.”

  “I’m not the only dream traveler at the Academy.” My voice dropped a notch. I hoped Domina would get the hint that if she continued like this, it wouldn’t end well.

  “I don’t see Hayley making a show of herself in literally every fucking class!” She took a step toward me. I stood my ground. “Listen to me, bitch. I’m telling you this once. I’m not going to repeat myself. Stay away from Davien Krause. He’s mine.”

  “Sure, Domina.” I pushed past her. I felt something sharp and cold scrape my arm. I stopped to look at the ripped sleeve of my uniform blazer. The weaponized feathers of her wings had cut the material and scratched my skin, leaving three thin, bloody lines in their wake. I dragged in a breath, trying to keep my temper under control. “That wasn’t necessary.”

  “That’s just the beginning. Next time, it’ll be your throat.”

  We stared
each other down. I was painfully tempted to throw my food right at her face, but that would’ve been low of me. Also, pathetic. She was a freaking angel of the highest order of Heaven, and I was only human. She had powers my mind could barely wrap around. If it ever came to defending myself, the most I could do was punch her in the face. That should feel good.

  “Yoli, come sit with us.” Hayley saved the day. She grabbed my arm and guided me away from Domina. The look of triumph on the seraph’s face said she believed she’d just won this battle. Whatever. I didn’t consider it a battle. I thought it was stupid. And I was pretty sure Davien was no one’s boyfriend. “You can eat at the NDC table from now on,” Hayley snapped me out of my thoughts.

  “Thanks. I appreciate it. I don’t know what’s wrong with these people.”

  We sat down, and Jace Merlin, the NDC mage with curly black hair and dazzling hazel eyes, took it upon himself to explain to me how the world worked.

  “It’s not them, it’s you.”

  “For real?!” I pushed my unfinished soup away, and stabbed a fork into my second course, which was a simple salad. To some extent, I hadn’t lied to Domina and Scarlett. I was looking after my health.

  “Yep, for real. You gotta take it down a notch. Most supernaturals are intimidated by you as it is. How can they compete with you and prove themselves when you’ve already saved the world once?”

  “Mila was supposed to…”

  “But it wasn’t Mila. It was you. So, do yourself a favor and don’t teach Mrs. Crane’s class next time. Keep your mouth shut and keep your head down. Mrs. Maat asks you something in Geography? Pretend you don’t know the answer. And stop saying Gilgamesh fucking Akkad was a hybrid.”

  “He was…” I could feel my tension rising. This was so unfair!

  “That’s not the point. Do you want to survive this year? Then play stupid and survive. Or Domina will cut your throat in your sleep. I don’t doubt her insanity.”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Okay, Domina hates me because Davien is her boyfriend.”

  “He’s not her boyfriend,” Hayley said.

  “Yeah. She wishes!” Jace snickered.

  “Whatever. I don’t care. Mrs. Morgan hates me because she’s Unseelie and doesn’t want Gilgamesh’s name tarnished. But what about Mrs. Maat? What’s her deal?”

  “Oh, you don’t know?” Jace threw his head back and laughed. “You’re so, so naïve, Yolanda. Professor Maat has a daughter, Cleo. Sphinxes are pretty rare, you know. She’s got her eyes on Seth for her daughter. She wants them to get engaged. Of course, Seth being Seth, is not interested, especially now that he’s been invited and is attending Grim Reaper Academy. He thinks he’s too good for Cleo, who hasn’t even received an invitation. I don’t think Professor Maat will give up, though. If you stand in her daughter’s way, she will make your life hell.”

  “Jesus! Don’t these people have better things to do?”

  Jace grabbed my fork and helped himself to a fat strip of chicken from my salad. Seeing how I wasn’t going to eat it anyway, I didn’t mind.

  “Don’t you have better things to do?” He asked conspiratorially. “You hate drama? Don’t feed it, then.”

  “You’re right.” I straightened my back. “I do have better things to do.”

  And just like that, Jace Merlin reminded me that I was here for a purpose, and that purpose was more important than my classes, my professors, and my classmates. I couldn’t believe I’d lost myself this way. I’d thought I had everything under control, but then this world came crashing down on me, and the next thing I knew, I was struggling to stay afloat. And for what? I wasn’t here to swim at all. I wasn’t here to study Geography, History, or Introduction to Dream Traveling. There was a chance I might learn something new in Rhetoric and Psychology, but that was about it. Okay, and maybe Anatomy of Souls. Either way, I wasn’t here to become a Grim Reaper. I didn’t even particularly want the job. I was here to finish what Mila had started, succeed where she had failed.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  That night, I had dinner in my room and went to bed early. I drew the curtains and made sure not a sliver of light from the night lamps in the inner courtyard penetrated the darkness in my dorm-room. It hadn’t been easy to achieve, since the space wasn’t exactly divided. I had to cover the tiny lights coming from the fridge and the fire alarm with stickers. The room was cozy and spacious, but the fact that the kitchen was open, and so were the living space with the sofa and coffee table and the supposed bedroom with its four-poster bed and desk, made it hard to achieve the level of darkness and silence that I needed to dream travel. Normally, these conditions weren’t necessary, but I was going to attempt a higher dream jump. Reaching the parallel universes that were close to my timeline was easy. What was excruciatingly hard was to reach a dimension that was completely removed from Earth, both in terms of time and space rules, what it looked like, and who – or what – lived there. I’d tried countless times, and it seemed that without a map, it was impossible. But the only person who had a map didn’t want to give it to me. So, I was on my own. And it was frustrating!

  “Gilgamesh found it,” I muttered to myself as I prepared my bed. “Aunt Katia found it. What’s holding me back?”

  Because there had to be something that was holding me back, something that was missing. Many said I was the most talented and experienced dream jumper of my time. If they believed that, why couldn’t I? Because I kept failing. Yes, I’d mapped the entire network of parallel dimensions connected to Earth for Mila when I wasn’t yet a teenager, and it was easy for me to travel anywhere I wanted, as long as I did it within that network. Every time I tried to jump farther, I failed. On the one hand, I was disappointed in Aunt Katia because she didn’t think I was ready to use her map, but on the other hand, that wasn’t it. The real disappointment was with myself. Every time I tried and failed, I was only proving that she was right. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have it in me. She’d jumped to the universe of the Great Old Ones many times and came back. Not even Gilgamesh had been capable of such a feat. He’d only jumped once, found himself in this amazing place pretty much by mistake, took what he needed, and when he tried again after many years, he never returned. What went wrong… It was anyone’s guess. But I didn’t want to guess, I wanted answers. I wanted to see this place with my own eyes, pick the flower that had kept me alive for so long with my own hand, and find out what had happened to Gilgamesh. No one knew, and no one cared. It wasn’t fair. They all talked about how he’d revolutionized the field of reaping, but completely ignored that his greatest work had been in the field of dream traveling. I’d found mentions of a diary in some old studies, but no solid proof that such a book had ever existed. The way I pictured Gilgamesh, I doubted he was the kind of guy who kept a diary. If he had, and if it were ever found, the discovery would be monumental. For now, it was a myth I liked to daydream about sometimes, when I was so frustrated with my lack of results that I made scenarios about how the diary of Gilgamesh would show up as if by magic – the Deus Ex Machina to my insurmountable obstacle.

  I lied down in bed and pulled the duvet all the way up to my chin. When I traveled, my body temperature dropped drastically. The cold would only make things more difficult. My spirit would become aware of my shivering body and feel compelled to return before it was time. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Minutes passed. When my heartbeat slowed down, I directed my attention to my toes, and imagined every single one of them relax until I couldn’t feel it anymore. As I continued with my soles, heels, ankles, and every tiny part of my body, I relaxed each muscle into sheer… nothingness. The technique took time, but it was efficient. The whole idea was to put my body into sleep paralysis without actually falling asleep. Those who practiced out-of-body experiences called it “body asleep, mind awake.” Voluntary dream jumping was slightly different from an OBE, since an OBE meant traveling through the same dimension, but in etheric form.

/>   It must have taken me half an hour to put my physical body to sleep while keeping my consciousness awake. I checked in with the mass that was my body one last time, and when I couldn’t feel anything, I allowed my mind to drift off. I pictured the network of parallel universes, and willed myself to go beyond it, way beyond it, where space and time were different – if they even existed at all, – and life and death didn’t exist as concepts, let alone realities. I focused on everything that I knew about this foreign dimension from Mila and Aunt Katia, and from the few fictional stories Professor H.P. Lovecraft had written. He taught Literature at Grim Reaper Academy, but the class was optional and held on Fridays. I would soon have to talk to him, but first, I had to try this. I had to try it again and again, until I succeeded.

  My eyes moved fast underneath my closed lids. I fell into a deep dream but kept my awareness. I was lucid, which meant that I could interact with what was around me. I saw snow-covered mountains far ahead, and a stream of freezing cold water running fast a few feet away from me. I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with the fresh mountain air.

  This isn’t it.

  How did I know? Because it looked too familiar. Besides, it seemed to be in the middle of the day, and the sun shone brightly over tall peaks, green forests, and sharp rocks. The colors were incredibly vivid, which was normal. The physical human eye couldn’t see the real colors of the world. It had limitations when it came to the amount of light it could process. But the astral eye… Metaphorically speaking, because when I was dreaming, traveling outside of my body and my universe, I didn’t actually have eyes, limbs, and a mouth, but I could materialize them if I wanted to. The astral eye, as I was saying, had no such limitations. I could see in front of me, to my right, my left, and behind me – all at the same time. I could see colors, nuances, and shades that were impossible to describe or compare to what was known in my home dimension. All my senses were heightened. No. I was my senses.