I swung around.
Olivia’s multi-colored face came into view, her hands wide below her waist, her mouth open.
The symbols reflected off Bo without revealing his expression.
“I have to find Fandora.”
I know I said the words. I felt my mouth form them, felt my lungs expel the breath necessary to create them, but I didn’t hear my own voice.
Instead, I heard the voices of many people at the same time, speaking my words.
Olivia latched onto my arm. Her steps matched mine as I followed the pulsing orange light of the ship’s heart lines.
Bo scrambled out of the way. “River. That’s a wa—”
I brushed the screen of blue characters aside as if they were beaded curtains, and stepped into a white room of mirrors.
Olivia held up a hand to shield her eyes with a startled cry.
Someone pounded on the wall behind us. Probably Bo.
I strode toward the center. Olivia’s fingers fell away from my arm. “Fandora?” I asked in that strange, multi-person voice.
The orange light in the center of the room picked up her head. Light fell from her dark eyes like a racing waterfall of fog. “Who are you?”
“River. I am here to make sure you do not fall.”
Her eyes grew larger, the waterfall of fog falling faster. “You came back?”
“I never left you.”
“I tried, master. I fought. I was wrong to take a captain.”
“You were not wrong to take a captain, Fandora.” Pride and love swarmed like a storm inside my chest. It pushed me to reach out with my flaming hand and touch the side of the ship’s face. “He failed you.”
“If I could take it back, I would. I would do anything for you.”
I met her black gaze, catching the falling fog in my hand, watching it leach into my skin. “If you decide to give him a second chance, that is up to you.”
She was silent for a moment.
“Rivah,” Olivia said, touching my shoulder. “Wha’ language are you speakin’?”
“Are you giving me another chance?” Fandora whispered.
An overwhelming need to nurture, comfort, and care for this small, wondrous little boat filled me. So courageous. So magnificent. This vessel was beyond amazing. How could I, of all people, think to harm her or do anything other than give her exactly what she needed? Love and support.
And life’s energy.
I gathered her to me, tucking her head to my chest.
Her arms of light wrapped around me, hesitant at first.
“Do not ever forget the mission, my little Fandora.”
She raised her face to mine. The light pulsating from her radiated, filling the room, reflecting off the mirrors. The orange brightened into white.
Olivia shielded her eyes with her hand.
Fandora stepped back. “I will not forget, Father.”
I took Olivia’s arm. “Good. Now go, and continue. Do not let your captain run you into death. You are too important, wee one.”
A shy smile graced her bright lips as the room gained more light.
Panicked cries erupted from Olivia.
With a sigh, I walked through the wall of mirrors, my dreamer in hand.
Bo’s reflective soul met me on the other side of the wall.
“We need to find Bess,” I said.
His fist slammed into my face.
BO AND OLIVIA’S solid faces replaced the world of glowing symbols. “Ow!” I fingered my jaw. “What was that for?”
“Wha’ was tha’ in there, Rivah?” Olivia jabbed her finger in the air, pointing behind me.
“That?” I glanced where she pointed. “That was Fandora.”
“I know tha’, drongo.”
“Are you calling me names? At least pick ones I know what you’re saying.”
“Qui’ larkin’ abou’. This is serious. You were speakin’ a different language in there. You wanna tell me what you said?”
“I was just telling her to be strong, to keep fighting.”
“In wha’ language?”
“It had to be Dreamlandish.”
She shook her head. “Dreamlandish uses bits of all the languages of Earth. You were clickin’.”
Bo narrowed his gaze and took a step toward me.
“There’s a clicking language on Earth.” I winced, noting the disbelief in my own words.
“The sounds you’re makin’ were unlike anythin’ I’d ever ‘eard before. You were usin’ different voices. At the same time.”
“I don’t know.”
“And you were glowing,” Bo said.
“Like you were on the dreamplane.” Olivia flung her hands in the air. “Only this time, brightah. Biggah. I don’ know. Then you stuck your hand into the motoh, as if it weren’ even there.”
“And then,” Bo said, “you walked through a wall.”
I rubbed a gritty eye. “I don’t know, guys. I just I don’t know.”
“Wha’s goin’ on with you?” Olivia searched my eyes, her lip curled. “I don’ know if you’re safe.”
“I don’t know if I was ever that.” I turned to Cable. “Where are the ne—”
I found them, Father.
I pressed my fingertips into my eyebrows. A pounding beat built inside my head, thousands of voices, visions, memories, information. My ears thrummed, blocking out all sounds as the pressure built behind my eardrums.
Bo clamped onto my shoulder. His breath hit my ear in a staccato beat lacking volume.
Father?
I closed my eyes, so dry and so hot they had to be on fire. Heat tickled the space between my shoulder and collarbone, skittering along my chest. “What did you find, little one?” I asked.
No. My lips asked. Five distinct voices rose with my own. As soon as I noticed them, I had names for each of them. The high, nasally one belonged to Gredari, the low, deep one to Egdrik. The one that sounded like rocks grinding together was Yleoun. The fourth was my current voice, of course, but the fifth?
My original voice. How could I have forgotten that?
Because my name was River. I didn’t know any of those people.
But surely I did. I was one of the oldest creatures alive in this fold of the universe, this “Dreamland.” It was my duty to protect the people we saved from our doomed and twisted galaxy.
Galaxy?
Yes. Galaxy. What was wrong with me that I couldn’t recall something so simple as my origin?
I didn’t have an origin. Not like that.
Didn’t have an . . .
A blanket of comfort and understanding settled around me, taking the pressure away from my ear. I know what is going on.
You do? I asked, fully aware of where I ended and he began.
Your name is River, yes? It’s what they call you?
I nodded.
It is my name as well, but in our language it is Llethwagana.
The clicks Olivia had heard before made sense.
Indeed. We didn’t have your tongue, your soft lips. You are my newest evolution.
I swallowed. There’s so much I don’t understand.
There is much I don’t as well, his low voice said with a rumble that calmed the nerves at the base of my neck. But we will learn them. For now, I will do what I can to guide you. I sometimes forget the newer versions of myself need time to get used to all of the memories, not simply the ones you’ve experienced since you awakened.
Olivia’s mouth moved, but I still couldn’t hear her.
That’s my fault. I apologize. Your body hears different frequencies. Try this.
My ears popped. Pain shot through me. I cried out, clamping my hands over my ears as I fell into a crouch.
Bo supported me with one arm as his words vibrated from his chest.
“Rivah?” Olivia’s voice was faint and distant.
I raised my head. “Olivia?”
She frowned and took a step closer to me, her hand outstretched. “Wha’s wrong?”
<
br /> “Long story. Are we—”
The boat rocked violently.
I stumbled into Bo.
Olivia looked at the stairwell, as she kept her feet about her.
“What in the blazes is going on now?” Bo demanded. “Cable, with me. River, stay here until you’re better.” He paused at the base of the stairwell. “But get better quick. We’re in trouble.”
Father?
“Yes, Fandora?”
Olivia’s eyebrows rose. “When di’ you become her fathah?”
I let out a long sigh and shook my head. It didn’t make any kind of sense, but every fiber in my body understood what my mind could not. This ship, this tiny, special ship was mine. She was important, like all her sisters.
And there were many. I’d given them to the seas, gifted others to the travelers. Still others resided in what they called the Burbs.
I searched my memories, releasing a puff of breath in wonder. Things had changed since I’d first settled this land, created this particular fold in the universe.
Not me. Him. Him.
Why was I awake so early?
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for that question. “Fandora, please appear and speak. What is it?”
She extricated herself from the white plaster, her body short and thick, her breasts low and large. Her white skin shone in stark comparison to her short, bright red hair. She blinked her black eyes. “I have found the nets, Father.”
“You don’t need to call me that.”
She frowned. “If that is your wish, Llethwagana.”
“For simplicity’s sake, call me River.”
She curled her lip. “If that is your wish.”
“It is. Where are the nets?”
She gestured to the wall behind her.
“We’re no’ goin’ back in tha’ room, are we?”
Fandora extracted the nets from the wall. They hung in the air beside her, seeming so much smaller now. “Take them away from here, River-saun. Do not allow them to taint me again.”
“I will protect you as I always have.”
“I believe you.” She turned and slipped back into the wall.
Olivia met my gaze. She tipped her head to the side, crossing her arms over her chest.
I grabbed the nets, taking a step toward the stairwell. I stopped as an acidic smell singed my nostrils.
“Rivah, your hand.”
I pulled my head back in surprise. My flesh smoked where the nets touched me.
Olivia snatched them away, her mouth agape. “What’s happening with you?”
“I don’t know.”
He knew, though. Dread weighed heavy in my chest.
I swallowed. Do I want to know?
You will. Later.
Olivia grabbed my wrist. “Does it hur’?”
I shook my head. The skin was already growing back, crawling over the burned, pink flesh.
She looked up at me, then shoved me out of the way. “You’re very weird t’day, mate.”
We stepped through the doorway at the top of the stair. Sunlight blinded us. The storm from earlier was gone, as well as the high wall of waves.
A clawed tentacle snapped through the air directly in front of my face.
I stumbled back, grabbing onto the wall before I fell down the stairwell.
The tentacle belonged to a male squid warrior. “Give me the nets, dream killer.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you kidding me? Get Candi.”
“I do not take orders from one so small as you.”
I clenched my hands into fists, a burning, rolling, twisting rage unfurling from deep inside, built on the fires of frustration and compromise. I released my fists with a roar.
A pulse of orange light rolled away from me in every direction, bowling over everyone it touched.
“Candi!” I yelled, the four other voices joining my own.
I blinked and breathed. I’d let him out again. I concentrated on keeping him calm, of maintaining my sense of self. I couldn’t allow him to take over. Not again. Not with Candi, of all the people in our world. Not with her.
Her tentacles preceded her over the wall to my right. She held onto the top rail of the deck two stories above my head with one tentacle and then dropped down beside Olivia.
The dreamer scurried away from the warrior.
“I hear you wanted to see me.” Candi’s large turquoise eyes took in my appearance. “You’ve changed.”
“A lot’s happened. I have something you want.”
Her eyelids blinked sideways as she raised her chin, the sunlight shining on her fluorescent pink hair. “What do you want in return?”
“I want you to destroy them.”
She slithered a few meters away, her tentacles flowing on top of one another to do so. “I thought your dream killers wanted to use them for good.”
“I never said that, Candi. I said they thought they were doing good.”
“Why are you giving it to me now?”
I closed my eyes, taking in a breath before opening them again. “Because the dreams I was protecting have been destroyed.”
She raised her chin, her ruby-scaled gills fluttering with her breaths. “That is why we’re here. We discovered another object. Bess.”
I nodded.
Her gaze fell to Olivia and the nets. “I will do as you wish.” She bared her razor sharp teeth. “You do not wish to barter for the lives of your precious dream killers?”
“You will leave them alone.”
She flexed her webbed hands. “I don’t think so, River.”
“Candilandra Valsandora!” Five voices called out to her through my throat.
She jerked, staring at me in surprise.
“You will leave the dream killers to me.”
She didn’t respond for a long moment.
I swallowed and spoke with my own voice. “Do I make myself clear?”
She nodded once, then held out a hand.
I gestured for Olivia to give the dream nets to the guardian.
“She’s not dead yet,” Candi said, her voice quivering slightly. “Your dreamer, Bess. She’s still hanging on.”
“Thank you.”
Olivia retreated back to my side as soon as she’d relinquished the nets.
“You will not go after the dream killers, Candi. Nor will any of your followers. I will handle them. I will gather the nets and I will provide them to you.”
She raised her chin, her eyelids zipping sideways as she met my gaze. “If that is your command.”
“It is.”
She swallowed, her gills shifting with the movement. She raised her voice to the sky, releasing a bellowing screech that made my ears almost bleed. She slid toward the railing, the nets in hand. “Work quickly, dream walker. The sea is dying.”
I watched the last tip of her tendrils sink over the side of the boat. Nets that killed dreams and their dreamers. The Sea of Dreams dying. Someone destroying dreamplanes and stranding dreamers in the graveyard.
I knew why I’d been awakened early.
But did I want to stop it?
I’D ANSWER THAT question another time. I needed to get to Bess.
You can’t, the other me said.
Yes, I can, actually. Why don’t you sift through my head again and see how and why?
Olivia set her hand on my arm. “Wha’ are ya plannin’ ta do?”
“Go to Earth. Find Bess.”
Bo glanced at the deck above me. “Well, you’re not going alone.”
“I don’t know what it’ll do to you.” Someone rummaged around inside my mind. It annoyed me and made me curious as to what he’d discover, but I couldn’t allow that to distract me.
I’m not someone else, River. I am you and one day, you’ll understand that.
For now, you are someone else.
Even when my memories are so familiar to you?
Your memories. I focused on Bo. “You two should stay here. Where’s Kelsi?”
Bo gest
ured with his chin to the back of the riverboat.
Kelsi’s graceful bow peeked around the paddles of the red wheel.
“Right, well, you go there. Make sure everyone’s okay.”
“I’m not letting you go out there alone,” Bo said.
“You really can’t stop me.”
Bo’s jaw twitched. He grabbed me in a one-armed hug, then disappeared.
I frowned, feeling the trail of Place he left behind. I didn’t remember showing him how to use that.
Olivia stood arrow straight, her hand on her dagger hilt. “I’m goin’ with you.”
“We have no idea what that will do to you.”
“I’m from there.”
“Exactly. Your body’s there. I don’t even know if I can take you.”
She ran her tongue along her molar. “Then call Dustman Finn. You said he was the one you’d ask anyway. Call ‘im. Ask him ta take ya to Bess.”
I reached deep inside me where I kept everyone’s Who, touching the dustman’s.
A whisper of breath filled the air beside me with a shot of cool. A man in dark clothes with bright patches stood on the deck between me and Olivia.
“I don’ believe we’ve had the pleasure,” he said in an Irish accent. He narrowed his eyes at Olivia. “Should I know ya?”
I shook my head. “This is one of the lost dreamers. Has anyone talked to you about them?”
“Bloke named Rulak. One o’ them travelers. You belong to him?”
“Kind of. I need to find Bess.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Repeat tha’? Who? Never ‘eard of ‘er.”
“I’m aware. She’s mine.”
The other me found something. Warmth spread through my chest, permeating my gut with understanding. “I can find her on my own, but Olivia wants to come with—”
“Oh, no.” He held up his hands and took two steps back. “We’ve already lost one of you kids today. We’re no’ loosin’ another.”
Olivia advanced on him. “Who did you lose?”
The paddles of the wheel rolled dangerously close to his shoulder. He took a half-step forward. “Who the bloody blazes are you?”
“Who—” she demanded, advancing with each word, “—did you lose?”
“A boy by the name of Kyle.”
Olivia sent me a wild look. “I ‘ave to find ‘im.” She grabbed the dustman’s wrist. “Take me where you last saw ‘im.”
Dream Killers - Complete Season 1 (The Dream Killers Book 3) Page 30