House of Dolls 3

by Harmon Cooper

  “A dream walker,” Roman said. “I’ve heard those are rare.”

  “We are, but so are you. Not just anyone can animate inanimate objects.”

  “This power was just given to me.” Roman looked down at his hands. “I’m not unique, I’m not like you. I wasn’t born with it.”

  “Yet it is what came to pass when they gave you a power. It’s interesting, you know. Hundreds of years ago, at least from some of the older books on exemplars, there was a race of white-haired people, all of whom had this power. Did Ava ever tell you about this?”

  “You don’t even know Ava,” Roman told her.

  “She was on your mind when we last met, and I picked up that she was your teacher. Now she’s something more?” Abby cocked her head to the left, looking at Roman curiously for a moment.

  “You can’t read my mind in a dream.”

  “I am your mind,” she said firmly. “And in this state, I can move into any chamber or sub-chamber of memory I want, at the same time as I am talking to you. Time does not exist in the same way in this space as it does out there, meaning I can do all of these things at once.”

  “Fine,” Roman said, figuring it wasn’t worth arguing with her about something he didn’t know anything about. “Why have you come here?”

  “That would be because of Nadine.”

  “If Nadine has something to say to me, she can say it to me in our shared world,” Roman told her. He could see her tree-trunk arms pulsing as more roots took shape, a little strain appearing on Abby’s neck as she maintained control over the dreamscape.

  “She already tried to message you, and you ignored her. She knew you wouldn’t listen to her, and she thought a visit from me could help. How flattering, right? Roman, what you are planning to do is foolish, but you already know that.”

  “It’s the only way,” Roman said.

  “You and I both know that is not the case.”

  “Can you just go into anyone’s dream?” Roman asked, taking a step closer to her.

  “Not anyone’s,” said Abby, “only people I have met, whose psyches I have seeded.”

  “So that’s what you were doing to my brain back at the café, aside from leafing through my thoughts.”

  “I put the seed in every person’s subconscious that I meet,” Abby informed him. “You never know when it will come in handy. I won’t be able to stay much longer,” she said, looking up, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. “But I just wanted to give you this message: if you go through with this, it will complicate things to a degree that Nadine doesn’t think you quite understand. But with that said, she also owes you, and she will do everything in her power to dig you out of the hole you have dug for yourself.”

  “Is that it?” he asked.

  “Beautiful meadow,” Abby said as her form started to dissolve. “Kind of reminds me of the place you got married.”

  Roman awoke with a gasp. Celia the doll’s head was nuzzled in the crook of his arm, Roman having to blink a few times to realize where he was. The sun was setting now, a dark cloud moving in from the West, but his focus was on what Abby had said as she departed.

  Of course.

  Of course the meadow from his reoccurring dream was the same place he’d wed Celia.

  How he hadn’t made that connection before…

  “Were you dreaming?” Celia asked.

  “I was.” Roman stayed in his current position for just a little longer before finally pushing himself up, well aware that now was the time to prepare. It had been nice for Nadine to send Abby to warn him, but there really was no turning back from what Roman planned to do next.

  He fired off a mental message to a teleportation service as he got to his feet, wiping bits of grass away. With a wave of his hand, Casper came alive too, not happy that she’d been stuck in his pocket.

  “I wish I could have explored the park while you two were cuddling. That’s what you were doing, right?”

  “Roman was dreaming,” Celia said.

  “I guess someone has to do it,” said Casper, kicking the back of her heel against Roman’s chest.

  The teleporter appeared, his form demarcated by a pillar of silver light that quickly fizzled out into smoke. He greeted Roman, nodded at Celia and Coma, and together the four of them teleported to Roman’s safehouse. The man was gone in another flash of silver, leaving a puff of smoke behind.

  Roman took off the jacket he’d been wearing and placed it over a chair.

  Nadine had arranged for some clothing to be here for Roman, one piece in particular catching his eye. It was a simple number, a black trench coat hanging over a black turtleneck. It would do; the darkness would hopefully allow him to blend in some.

  Unfortunately, Roman’s hair was white, which was more noticeable than he would like. He thought about getting a black mask, but he was already running a little late.

  “We need to hurry,” he told Coma, making his final decision as he slipped into the turtleneck and the trench coat. He fired off a message to Catherine and then to Emelia, letting her know where to meet him.

  They had already agreed on a diner not too far from his home, and he knew there was a clothing shop across the street from the joint. Since dressing as an exemplar was eternally in vogue, it would be fairly easy for him to find something to cover his hair with.

  Coma joined him, a smile on her face. “I’m ready.”

  “I really don’t want you to leave us here,” Celia said, coming to Roman again.

  And he almost gave in to her, almost, but in the end, he knew it would be better for him to be able to focus his power into Coma and use a good bit of it for himself.

  “He’s going to leave us here whether we like it or not,” said Casper, who now stood on the chair. “And we may never see him again.”

  “We will see him again,” Celia told the tiny doll. “This will not be the last time I see you.” Celia came into Roman’s arms and lifted onto the tips of her toes to kiss him.

  Roman wasn’t normally so forthright in front of the others, but it seemed like the moment was appropriate, so he let it happen, even if Casper was slowly applauding.

  “Goodbye,” he said to Casper as he pulled away from Celia, the tiny doll’s power leaving her body. “Please go get in a comfortable position,” he told Celia, his hands now on her shoulders.

  He let go and she sat onto the bed, her head bowed slightly, a sad look on her face.

  “I promise to come back.” And with that, Celia’s life left her body, her shoulders slouching and her form nearly falling forward. Roman placed Casper in her lap and then called for another teleporter.

  One mental message later and a different teleporter appeared, this one a female who had seemingly lifted from a hole in the ground. Once she greeted Roman and Coma, he felt a sinking sensation as they dropped, almost as if he were sliding down a long slide, only to come out right in front of the diner.

  Catherine was already there, wearing a black bodysuit, the petite wind user looking sexier than Roman had ever seen her look before.

  “What?” she asked as the teleporter disappeared.

  “Nothing.”

  “I thought it would be appropriate,” she said, turning a little and showing him her sides.

  “It is definitely appropriate. That’s why I’m wearing this,” he said.

  “A trench coat? Does it have armor or something?”

  “Armor isn’t going to help me.” Roman turned to Coma. “Wait here with Catherine while I run across the street to get a mask.”

  “Should I have a mask too?” Catherine asked.

  “Actually, that’s a good idea. We should all have some type of mask. Emelia should be here in the next five minutes or so, so I’ll grab a mask for her as well. Coma, please wait here.”

  Coma simply nodded as Roman and Catherine ran across the street. Roman could tell that Catherine wanted to joke around a little bit in the clothing shop, evident in the way she brought a gown to her body and asked how
it looked on her.

  But Roman’s tone quickly changed her tune, the young exemplar registering the seriousness on his face.

  “Not now,” he told her firmly as he found the masks.

  Roman chose a black one that completely covered his face aside from his eyes and mouth, while Catherine went for one that allowed her to stuff her white hair into the top, which made her head but just a little bigger than it normally was. She also grabbed a similar mask for Emelia, which would allow her to hide her hair too.

  It struck Roman as odd in that moment that the three of them all had some form of white hair, Roman’s completely white, Emelia’s gray, and Catherine’s white with a red braid on the side.

  They almost resembled an exemplar team.

  Almost.

  Once Roman paid for the masks, they crossed back over to the diner, where they found Emelia waiting with Coma. The empath also wore all black, and practical shoes for once, no high heels or anything that could hinder her in any way.

  “I didn’t bring a mask,” Emelia said, quickly skimming off the top of their minds, “but I did bring a telepath band for you, Roman.”

  “A telepath band?” Roman had heard of these things, bracelets from the East that prevented telepaths from reading a person’s mind.

  “I’m going to guess that at least on the Centralian side, anyone watching this place is scanning the area for your thoughts. I may be wrong, but I would put good money on the fact that they are anticipating you may do something.”

  “They never said anything to me…”

  “Of course they didn’t say anything to you,” she said. “Put the telepath band on, and just let it do its thing.”

  “Why would a telepath have a telepath band?” Catherine asked.

  “A fair question,” said Emelia. “These bands also prevent me from using my power if I wear one. So sometimes I wear it to sleep; other times I wear it when I’m going out with my girlfriends, so I don’t pick up on anyone’s thoughts. I figured it would come in useful. Highly illegal, of course, but most fun things are.”

  “Thank you,” Roman said as he slipped the bracelet on, pressing the green button on the side that activated it.

  “Are we ready to get a better view?” Catherine asked after she handed Emelia her mask.

  “It has been a while since I’ve flown,” Emelia said. She took a moment to remove the packaging from her mask. After tossing the packaging in a bin, she slipped the mask over her head, tucking her hair in the back. “Ready.”

  As soon as she said it, a wind whipped down from the north, lifting them a few feet into the air.

  It wasn’t the first time Roman had flown; there were several businesses in Centralia that specialized in allowing non-exemplars to fly in a supervised environment with exemplars. Celia had been interested in these, and he had participated in a few sessions with her, the most memorable one being a trip over a national park in the southwest of the country.

  He knew enough about flying to not fight it, to let it happen, and Coma seemed to intuit this as well, her arms loosely at her sides as the four of them rose higher into the air. “I’ve begun scanning the area,” Emelia said, “so I’m going to be focused on that.”

  “Good,” Roman said as they locked fingers, Emelia now with her eyes closed as they made their way up. He caught his reflection in some of the windows of the apartments they were passing, an entirely odd visual.

  If they didn’t look like an exemplar team before, they really looked like one now, all clad in black, masks on, Coma at the rear with her dark-blue dress beating in the wind.

  Roman could see his building in the distance, his brain kicking into overdrive as he went over the plan he had already semi-formulated.

  It was the swiftest, most sudden way for him to act, and it would be risky, yet it would have inevitable results if they orchestrated it just right.

  “Where should we land?” Catherine asked.

  “There.” Roman pointed at a building not directly across from his, but one building down. It wasn’t as tall as his place, which didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that they could see his apartment, and that Catherine could produce enough wind to make it happen.

  They landed, Roman immediately dismantling an exhaust fan on the top of the building, guiding the metal over to Coma and forming blades along her arms.

  This was it.

  Chapter Thirty-Five: Reunion

  Kevin Blackbook appeared with his crew in Roman’s apartment.

  Everything was calm, eerily quiet, Kevin’s finger flitting against the bottom of his zero ring as his heart thrummed in his chest.

  James Tew the telepath was with him, as were Obsidian and Turquoise, Scarlett standing behind the mall ready to teleport everyone away at a moment’s notice.

  “She’s downstairs, one floor below,” James said, all the color draining from his face. “We need to go.”

  Turquoise’s ears perked up. “She knew we were coming.”

  And it was at that point that the walls and windows gave way, a giant gust of wind slamming into the glass as it broke, whipping up all the shards into the air as more wind blasted into Roman’s apartment, the ceiling collapsing, a hunk of concrete slamming into the back of Scarlett’s head.

  Anything not bolted down was thrown to the far wall, the terrifying shriek whipping past Kevin’s ears as he was lifted into the air, more brick giving way, Kevin all but forgetting about his ring as more debris twisted around him.

  “Turquoise!” he managed to shout as the floor gave way, the ceiling above completely gone now, the night sky visible through the detritus.

  A bubble opened up in the center of the room, tossing everything it touched to the side and revealing a woman with a hood over her head.

  The building started to crumble, the sounds of muffled cries drowned out by the falling structure.

  “Turquoise!” Kevin shouted again, reaching out in the direction of where he’d last seen the cat girl.

  His plea was drowned out by the wind, his face berated by debris as the floors collapsed. Kevin traveled downward, a sudden force coming in from the left and shifting the building, the ground coming up fast.

  Kevin felt the impact, but not as badly as the floors beneath him, enough dust in the air now to make it impossible to see more than one foot in front of him.

  It was a miracle that he was still alive, and Kevin was overcome with joy when he saw a clawed hand latch on to his leg, Turquoise pulling herself into his arms.

  Kevin still had usage of his legs.

  That much he knew, and even if there was rubble all around him, some of it cutting into his arms, tearing at his exemplar uniform, Kevin knew he still had some fight left in him. So he got to his feet, helping Turquoise up, his hands coming to her cheeks.

  “Can you sense Obsidian?”

  Turquoise’s ears flitted back for a moment, her eyes twitching as she tried to focus in on the sounds all around her.

  The dust was starting to settle, and before Kevin could say anything else, Turquoise slipped away, dropping into an attack position, her eyes tracking something black moving in their direction.

  “Stop,” Kevin said, no confidence in his voice. He tried again. “Stop!” he shouted at the dark figure, his finger on his ring.

  “Kevin?” the figure asked.

  “Who’s Kevin?” a woman asked, her form appearing next to the male figure.

  Kevin gulped. “Roman?”

  He could barely get his former coworker’s name out of his mouth before Turquoise took off, the gravel immediately forming a hand that wrapped around her throat, holding the cat girl at bay.

  “Let her down,” Kevin growled.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Roman approached Kevin, the man’s face covered by a mask but his eyes orange as ever.

  “I came to kill her.”

  “Margo?”

  “Let me down!” Turquoise said, still struggling with the structure Roman had created to cont
ain her.

  Kevin nodded. “Yes. She attacked me, killed some people I know.”

  “You need to go,” Roman told Kevin, “now.”

  “Is it true? Do you really have a power?” Kevin asked. “Is it true?”

  Roman nodded. “I’m going to let her down; tell her not to attack me.”

  “Turquoise, he’s good, for now,” Kevin said as Roman lowered the structure to the ground, the cat girl massaging her neck. “Find Obsidian, James, and Scarlett too.”

  Turquoise nodded and disappeared into a cloud of dust.

  “Exemplars will be here soon, and I don’t think she’s dead,” Roman said. “We are wasting time right now; she will kill both of us.”

  “When did you get a power?” Kevin asked as Roman hesitated for a moment, looking back over his shoulder at the woman who had joined him. The woman wore a black outfit, and the way the dust was moving away from her led Kevin to believe she had some sort of wind power.

  “That doesn’t matter now,” Roman finally said. “Get your people, and get out of here. I will finish this. Exemplars are coming.”

  “But I want to help,” Kevin protested.

  “Margo will kill you in a heartbeat,” Roman hissed. “No, she will take away your heartbeat.”

  “I can help…”

  “No, you can’t. Goodbye, Kevin.”

  Roman nodded to the woman behind him. She brought her hand up and wind started circling around them, kicking up even more dust and obscuring Roman’s form.

  “I found her.” Turquoise appeared with Obsidian in her arms. “Where did he go?”

  “That doesn’t matter now,” Kevin said.

  “We have to find Scarlett if we want to get out of here.”

  “Do you think you can find her?” Kevin asked, coughing now, the dust making his throat itchy. “Exemplars are coming, it’ll be any minute now.”

  “I…” Turquoise carefully handed Obsidian to Kevin. “Watch her, I’ll find Scarlett.”

  “I’ve sent mental messages to James, but he isn’t responding.”