Unsettling images turned in his mind — an empty château, dusty photographs, yellow pills — making little sense.
But wasn’t there something he had to remember about dreams? Wasn’t there someone he was supposed to meet?
He made his mind focus and saw the image of a girl. He remembered her name was Petra. Then he remembered the map she’d drawn, and Tower Bridge, and the wartime world of the boy who would one day be his grandfather …
Eddie!
The chaos of the dream fell away, and David saw that he was there, standing on the bridge, looking up at the twin Gothic towers as the last rays of a winter sun painted them a weak yellow. He was dressed once again in the school uniform and felt the chill air of a long-past December seep into him. A motorcar rumbled past, all black wheel arches and round lamps. There were barrage balloons tethered above the city, soldiers in the streets and sandbag stacks on either shore of the Thames. A small plane thrummed low across the sky. It was a Spitfire.
For a moment David spun slowly on the spot, taking in the scene. He’d done it! He’d left his body back in the present, asleep in a jet plane somewhere over Europe, irrelevant. It was his mind that mattered now. And his mind was precisely where it needed to be.
“I’m here!” he cried out loud, shaking his fists at the sky and laughing. Pedestrians on the bridge tried to ignore him, but from behind there came an accented voice.
“Do you always keep a girl waiting?”
David turned to see Petra, dressed exactly as she’d been at Paddington station.
“You’re late,” she said, showing him a 1940s wristwatch whose hands showed it to be five past five. “But maybe I’ll forgive you.”
David was so pleased with himself that he jumped at Petra and gave her a hug. He’d forgotten he wasn’t yet used to the dreamwalking state, and in his excitement his dreamself began to blend into Petra’s, so their ghosts overlapped in parts. It felt very intimate and dizzying.
“Calm down, will you!” said Petra, pushing him away. “Combining like that can be dangerous. Let’s save it for Adam — if we meet him.”
“I’m sorry!” said David. “I’m just happy to have got here, and happy to, er … see you.”
“Oh?” said Petra, flicking the hair from her eyes.
“Well … I mean …”
“Let’s not waste time.” Petra grabbed David’s hand and pulled him along. “Come. We must join the others.”
David allowed himself to be led along the darkening bridge. The streetlamps that would normally have lit this scene in his own time, and which would certainly have been in use in the 1940s, weren’t switched on, and it was only spotting the sandbags again that reminded him why.
Petra came to a halt at the base of the nearest tower and pointed at the stone wall. A door was suddenly there, a dreamwalker’s door.
“But I’ve only just got here,” said David. “Where are we going now?”
“Things have changed since we last spoke,” said Petra.
“But … but that was only a little while ago. Just before I boarded the plane. Can things change that fast?”
“You forget that you are now in the business of time-travel,” Petra replied. “For me it’s several hours since you left Unsleep House. Misty has detected Adam’s presence in London several times, though each time he moved before she could pinpoint him. It’s clear he’s been busy. But then, so have I. David, I think I have found Kat.”
“Really?” he said. “You’ve spoken to her?”
“No, I thought you should be there when I did that. Come, Dishita is close by. But get ready to talk fast — she won’t be happy to see you, I think.”
Petra opened the door and stepped through. David followed her.
On the other side, he found himself in a very dark place, but the jagged silhouettes around him were clearly ruined buildings, black against the deep twilight of the sky. And the atmosphere was horrible. The air was filled with the acrid tang of recent fires and the destruction of things that aren’t supposed to burn.
“Where’s this?”
“I’m not surprised you don’t recognize it,” said Petra. “This is Eddie’s street. His house used to stand just over there.”
David peered through the gloom at the twisted shapes and rubble heaps. It was unrecognizable. Then he saw something move at street level — two figures emerging from the dark.
“Someone’s coming,” he hissed.
“Relax,” said Petra. “It’s just the others.”
“Petra!” came the stern voice of Dishita, in full I’m-in-charge mode. “Where have you been? I told you to stay close. And who’s that … ?”
Dishita became clearer as she approached, her eyes catching light from somewhere as they grew wide. It was obvious that Petra had told her absolutely nothing about what had happened on the runway.
“David? But … how can you be here? They sent you home … Petra! What have you done?”
“David deserves to be here for the end of this.” Petra put her hands on her hips, ready for the argument. “I just made sure he would be, that’s all.”
“And what does that mean, ‘made sure’?” demanded Dishita. “David, explain yourself.”
David told Dishita about the note Petra had given him, and the yellow pills.
“Somnium pills!” Dishita gasped, turning to Petra. “You gave him somnium pills? More than one?”
“It was the only way. It’s nothing — he can take it.”
“But it’s years since we used those. They’re not safe. And if David took two, then …”
“He took three, actually,” said Petra.
“Three!”
“Er … Should I be worried about this?” said David.
“No, no,” Petra waved his concern away. “Dishita is being unimaginative, that’s all. Before the sleep machines were invented, the science guys came up with pills to do the same job. You’ll be fine, David, just asleep for a very long time. And we’ll need that time if you are going to help us find Eddie.”
“I have to report this to the Map Room,” Dishita said, shaking her head. “Misty, you’d better tell Roman that David’s here.”
The other figure in the dark stepped up alongside Dishita and pulled back the hood of a black evening cloak. Streams of golden-white hair fell down to her shoulders, and a complexion free of any blemish shone out. Even the faintest scrap of light was reflected back from the perfect face of Misty.
“I already have. David, your presence is not part of the mission plan. Roman is very angry. He wants you to end your dreamwalk immediately. Is there anything you’d like to say to him?”
David shrugged. “I suppose they’ll wake me up now. So all this was for nothing.”
Petra gave a gleeful laugh. “David, they can’t wake you up, not with those pills. You’re in a sort of mini-coma. There’s nothing Roman can do about it.”
“A coma!” David stared at her.
“Hey, don’t forget you promised to trust me,” Petra replied. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
David couldn’t argue with that. He ought to be grateful to her, especially if Roman couldn’t touch him. And surely his body was still okay, or his mind wouldn’t feel so clear. He turned back to Misty, enjoying the feeling that Roman was powerless.
“Tell Roman that I’m going to do what he should be doing. I’m going to find Eddie and make him safe. Tell him he doesn’t need to worry about any more mistakes — I’ve learned a lot, the hard way. And tell him to lighten up — he’s had his dreamwalking time, now I’m going to have mine. Oh, and tell him I want an apology when I succeed.”
“Roman didn’t like that,” said Misty. “Here’s his reply.” And she put on a perfect imitation of Roman’s voice. “You have a big mouth, boy. But I’m not going to punish you. I don’t need to. Because if you mess up again and ruin this mission, if you let Adam reach Sir Edmund first, by God, you will have done the job for me. You will have written yourself out of history. The
rest of us will be left leading very different lives but you, boy, you will be nothing. No, less than nothing. Even your father will never have been born. Would you like to take a moment to reflect on that?”
David felt his confidence drain away. He said nothing.
“Silence?” went on the voice of Roman. “Yes. Silence suits you better. Now keep your head down and do exactly what Dishita tells you! Dishita, stick to the mission brief, but do not let David Utherwise out of your sight.”
Misty paused for a moment and then continued in her own enchanting voice. “David, the professor told me to tell you he’s monitoring this from his office. Would you like to speak to him?”
David shook his head. He suddenly didn’t want to hear anything more from Unsleep House. After what Roman had said, he was just desperate to find Eddie.
“Thank you, Misty,” said Dishita. “Okay, David, you heard Roman, no more games now. This is my team, and thanks to you I don’t have Théo. You’ll just have to stand in for him the best you can, but remember that the professor is not running this anymore: Roman is. We can’t waste time looking for Eddie; it’s hopeless. Our target is Adam. Now —”
“David knows how to find Eddie,” Petra interrupted. “Roman wouldn’t listen, but Dishita, you must. This is your command. David, tell her.”
David quickly explained about the photo and his memory of Kat’s name being spoken by Eddie at their last meeting. Dishita listened in silence.
“And Petra said something about finding Kat,” David finished.
“I think I know where she is, yes,” said Petra. “As a servant, Kat lived in the same house as Eddie, so obviously she was also made homeless by the fire. But she must have had somewhere else to go. I spent the last hours before this dreamwalk trying to trace Kat in the Archive, because if David’s right, then Eddie could well be staying with her.”
“Could well be?” said Dishita, clearly unconvinced. “And even so, we still don’t know where that is.”
“True,” said Petra, “but I have managed to track down Kat’s aunt.”
“Go on,” said Dishita, her voice betraying a first hint of interest.
“Kat’s aunt is a cook in a house just two streets away from here. Kat can’t stay there, I’ve checked, but her aunt has managed to get her some temporary work in the house. There’s not much in the Archive, but at this time of day I think Kat should still be there. Dishita, we must forget about Roman and his crazy orders and go and see Kat. And we don’t need Misty anymore — with David, our team is complete.”
“Are you sure, Petra? You know I like to be helpful.”
“You will make every man who sees you stare right at us,” said Petra. “And every woman too. Those science guys are really dumb. They know nothing about dreamwalking.”
“Misty, have you relayed any of this about Kat to the Map Room?” Dishita asked.
“Not yet. Would you like me to do it now?”
“No,” said Dishita. “No, tell them nothing. Not until we’re sure.”
“I will have to tell them if they ask.”
“Then give them no reason to. If they want to know what we’re doing, tell them we are in position near Eddie’s house.”
“I really don’t think I can lie, Dishita.”
“It’s not a lie; we’re only going a few streets away. Now cover yourself up. Okay, I’m going to give this lead one chance. Petra, show us the way. But David?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to leave the job of talking to Kat to you.”
David crouched in darkness beneath the front steps of a grand town house and squinted through the little basement window. The glass was misted by condensation, but as it formed drips and ran, he could glimpse what was going on inside through the clear channels left behind. The kitchen beyond was bathed in warm light from lamps and a roaring stove. The heat of the room radiated through the glass, and above, gravy-rich steam rolled out through a ventilator and into the cold night.
“What can you see?” Dishita’s voice was so low it was barely audible.
“A woman, the cook I suppose she’d be, and another woman. But I can’t see Kat.”
“Let me look,” said Petra, and she pressed herself forward to the window, her head right beside David’s.
“Yes, that is Kat’s aunt. The other woman I don’t know, maybe …” She stopped talking as a third figure entered the kitchen, carrying a basket of laundry.
“It’s her!” said David. “Kat!” But he must have spoken too loudly because the two women looked over at the window.
“Bloody kids at the bins again,” said the cook. “Chuck a bottle at ’em, Alice.”
The woman called Alice stalked to the window. She rubbed the condensation away in one brutal swipe of her hand and pressed her nose up to the glass. David sensed sudden movement behind him. He glanced back and saw that the other dreamwalkers had gone, making themselves disappear into the brickwork. He hadn’t been fast enough. The woman at the window was looking straight at him, though in the gloom it wasn’t clear how much she could really see.
“Clear off out of it!” she shouted.
David kept very still, but he knew this wouldn’t be enough. He couldn’t risk another blunder, not now, so when the idea came into his head to frighten the woman with his ghostliness, he knew it was a temptation he had to resist. He remembered the first rule of dreamwalking; he’d been seen, so now he had to make sure he wasn’t noticed.
“All right,” he said loudly. “I’m off.” And he scampered up the steps. He waited in the street above, crouching to keep out of sight and feeling foolish. After a moment the mean, pinched face vanished from the window, and David crept back down.
“Quick thinking, David,” breathed Dishita, reemerging. “If only you moved as fast.”
“I’m doing my best,” David whispered back. “But the girl we saw before — with the basket — she’s definitely the one I’ve seen at Eddie’s house. That was Kat.”
“She’s gone again,” said Petra, peering into the kitchen once more. “Let’s all go in and find her.”
Dishita waved her finger to silently indicate no. Petra’s eyes flashed defiance back at her, and she was about to speak, but Dishita spoke first.
“David must do this alone. It’s going to be a shock for Kat to see a stranger in the house, but at least David’s a Londoner. Even so, he’s going to have to work hard to persuade her, so everything must be as normal as possible. I don’t know how many Indians are in London in 1940, Petra, but there certainly aren’t many Germans.”
“It’s okay, I can do it,” David whispered, “but I would like someone with me, just in case. Can I take Misty?”
Petra’s reaction was so loud that David expected the angry face to return to the window.
“David, no! She’s just a useless machine!”
“Are you sure?” Even Dishita, who was the only dreamwalker David had seen treat the computer with any respect, seemed surprised. “Misty’s useful at times, but she was never designed for an active mission role. I don’t see how she can help you.”
“All the same, I think she’ll be useful now,” said David. “Misty, will you come with me, please? But keep yourself covered up and out of sight unless I call you, okay?”
“Okay, David,” said Misty from inside her hood, and there seemed to be another quality to her voice now: a hint of satisfaction. A light flashed briefly from inside the hood as if from a too-perfect smile. “I have always said I like to help.”
David could tell that Petra was beside herself with silent rage. He just hoped he’d made the right decision. He walked to the wide door under the steps — a tradesman’s entrance, presumably — and pressed himself hard against it. He knew the others were watching, and he thought back to the moment in Paddington station when Petra had shown him how to walk through walls, and how he’d later done it himself accidentally. He felt his dreamself bump against the solid barrier of physical matter. It resisted him. But then he focused
his mind on the one, wondrous fact at the heart of dreamwalking: He wasn’t physically present at all.
In a single fluid motion, he slipped through the wall.
He found himself in a dark corridor on the inside of the house. In a moment Misty was standing there too, waiting for his lead, her hood still down. David guessed that with such a companion he would have to take all the initiative himself. He held up his hand for her to wait.
To the right was a half-opened door with the kitchen on the other side. Peeking through the gap at the hinges, David could see the cook and the woman called Alice, still talking about thieving tramps at the bins.
There was no sign of Kat anywhere, and David prayed she hadn’t gone upstairs. He really didn’t want to have to search the entire house for her. There were two more doors farther down the corridor, so he decided to check these first. He slipped past the kitchen and hurried along.
The first door was closed. David glanced nervously back to the kitchen before forcing his spectral head right through the wooden barrier, ignoring the unpleasant sensation this produced. The room was dark and appeared empty, but he heard a faint thump from beyond the wall to his left. Someone was in the next room. He jerked his head back into the corridor and slipped farther along. When he came to the next door, he held up his hand for Misty to stop, then peered inside.
The room was clearly a laundry. There were baskets of linen standing about and sheets drying on lines that crisscrossed between the walls. The atmosphere was thick, with a strong smell of rough soap. There were wide ventilators in the upper walls, though little fresh air seemed to pass through them. One small, fizzing lightbulb was all that lit the room. In the center of the far wall, her back to the door and her arms in hot soapy water up to the elbows, stood a girl, rubbing hard at something in a sink.
It was Kat.
Leaving Misty in the corridor, David stepped into the doorway but hung back a little so that the sheets and the shadows would obscure his features. There was nothing for it — he’d just have to speak.
“Please don’t be frightened. I’m a friend.”
Kat spun around with a splash of bubbles and water. She stared at David in shock, frantically pushing her hair back from her eyes with her dry upper arms.
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