by Gareth Otton
“He’s past the worst of it. He’d be dead for sure had Joseph not merged with him, but it was touch and go for a while. Now he’s out of surgery, Joseph is doing his thing and he should be good as new soon… Hopefully.”
“That’s good,” Stella said. Spotting something, she nodded for him to turn around. “I think we can assume that’s the direction we want to go.”
Tad turned to look at the glass-doored entrance for the large building, behind which two men in suits were approaching who looked to be in their middle forties, though it was hard to tell because both were prematurely grey. They walked with the self-important strides of men with enough power to think a lot of themselves, but not so much as to warrant that opinion.
“They’re probably FBI,” Stella muttered. “I knew we’d run into something like this. You’re a walking trouble magnet, Holcroft. No matter where you go, disaster follows.”
Tad felt that was unfair, but now wasn’t the time to point it out. He was on thin ice already after making a fuss at the last crime scene by arguing with Tony. They had returned to Jacob’s house to show Stella the damage and get her opinion. Tad had spent the night thinking on the attack and something stood out in his mind that reminded him of the dreamwalker killings Jacob told him about. However, he couldn’t put his finger on what it was and wanted Stella’s help as she was better at spotting clues than he was.
Tony needled Tad about how he wouldn’t have to bother Stella if he got a new ghost as a replacement for Miriam. That sparked another argument about how Tad didn’t want new ghosts, especially not for their talents. The argument escalated as all arguments with Tony did, and it led to Tad embarrassing himself in front of the local police when it looked like he was arguing with himself.
He’d dragged Tony back to the UK and returned to a frustrated Stella who had found no clues and wanted to go back to work. Tad convinced her to check out one of the three crime scenes he knew about instead, hence why they were now being approached by two angry men in matching grey suits.
“What the hell are you doing here?” one asked before the door finished opening. He was red faced and poked his finger at them like it was a gun ready to go off.
“We wanted to offer our expertise with a Dream related murder,” Stella answered.
“Expertise?” scoffed the loudmouth, taking another step closer and poking that finger again, this time close to actually touching Stella.
A low rumble filled the air, deep, resonant, and utterly terrifying. Had Tad not heard it last night, he’d be tempted to grab Stella and dreamwalk away. Instead, he smirked as the men’s eyes widened and the colour drained from their faces. Somehow, when they spotted the tiny, growling creature, their fear didn’t diminish in the slightest. They reached for their guns, which had the unintended side effect of taking the threatening finger out of Stella’s face.
Growler quieted his growl from a truly terrifying rolling thunder to the merely frightening growl of an angry grizzly bear.
“I get why you called him that now,” Stella said, not shaken in the least and nudging Tad with her elbow to pull his attention from the agent’s holstered guns. “It’s attention grabbing.”
“Right,” Tad agreed. “I was bloody terrified when I first heard it.”
“What the fuck is that thing?” questioned the man with the bad attitude.
“He’s a puppy,” Tad said.
“Puppy. What kind of puppy makes a noise like that?”
“A dreamwalking one,” Stella answered. “Look, can you remove your hands from your guns? He won't stop until you do. Besides, you’re drawing attention.”
Sure enough, a good number of students had camera phones out and were filming.
Norman’s going to just love this, Tad thought, but that was a problem for another time.
“Growler, come over here boy,” he called. Amazingly, the growling ceased instantly and the puppy trotted over. Tad was starting to wonder about these dogs. He didn’t think it was normal for puppies to be this obedient, even if the woman said their mother barely needed training. For now, he was glad the dog obeyed.
“You too, Freckles. Come here,” Stella called to the other puppy who shook himself free of the college student stroking him and trotted over, tail wagging as though all was good with the world.
“Good boy,” Stella said, earning a more vigorous tail wag before she turned back to the two men. “I’m assuming you’re FBI?” She didn’t wait for their nods before continuing. “I can’t imagine that whatever footage those guys have on their cameras is showing you in a great light, so how about we head inside as though we’re all friends and head off a PR nightmare. Or do you two want to be known as the agents who shot two puppies in front of a hundred students before being turned into paste by a furious dreamwalker? It’s up to you.”
Like his gun was suddenly poison, the loudmouth snapped his hand back, eyeing Tad nervously before turning his attention back to the puppies. The silent man had a more subdued reaction as he smiled and slowly pulled his hand free, making a show of not being intimidated.
“You’re right, Miss Martin,” he said. “Maybe this is an incident best discussed away from prying eyes. Follow us.”
Casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world, he stepped back to the door and held it open for first his colleague, then Tad and Stella. The only time his mask of politeness cracked was when the puppies followed them through, both glancing in his direction as if to say they were watching him. Then he stepped through the door, letting it swing closed behind him.
“Come on, this way,” he said. “They can still see us here.”
He didn’t wait for a response, just walked across the reception, presented a keycard at a digital lock, then led them down the corridor beyond. He didn’t hold the door this time.
They walked far enough down the hallway to ensure they couldn’t be overheard, then the quieter of the two FBI agents turned to face them.
“Right, let’s start this over. I’m special agent Astur and this is special agent Holmes.”
“Holmes? As in Sherlock?” Tad asked.
“As in mind your own business,” snapped the angrier man. “You can just—”
“Alright Harry, that’s enough,” the second agent interrupted.
“Another one,” Stella muttered and Tad grinned as he remembered the other Harry in Stella’s life who was also an angry arsehole.
“What was that?” agent Holmes asked, on the verge of a meltdown. Again his partner was there to keep him from losing his temper.
“What are you doing here?” agent Astur asked. “I don’t buy what you sold us earlier. If you really wanted to help, then you would have contacted us through the proper channels. So what’s your game?”
“No game,” Stella said. “We just want to look at the crime scene. Admittedly, it’s not an official interest yet.”
Agent Astur smirked. “Oh, I see. You’re not supposed to be here. Strange, I thought you were the head of your organisation, who is it who tells you what you can and can’t do?”
“No one,” Stella said. “I just didn’t want to jump through hoops for what’s probably nothing.”
“What do you think is probably nothing?” Astur asked.
Tad glanced at Stella, not sure how much she wanted him to say. Seeing her expression, he decided it was best to let her do the talking.
“I take it you know Tad was attacked last night.”
“Hard not to know that,” agent Holmes snapped. “It’s only been playing on repeat on every news show on the planet. I bet he can’t even take a dump without someone making it world news.”
Agent Astur rolled his eyes at his partner’s behaviour and Stella continued talking like the man hadn’t interrupted.
“Something about the attack reminded Tad of these murders. We were coming to see if we could figure out what it was. If we found out we would inform the correct authorities.”
Holmes snorted. “I bet. What makes you think last
night had anything to do with these murders? I’d hardly call what happened to you an ambush killing, and—”
“For fuck’s sake, Harry, will you shut the hell up?” Astur snapped, smacking his partner on the arm with the back of a hand. He was too late though and Stella jumped on his slip up.
“Ambush killing?” she asked. “Tad was certainly ambushed last night, I don’t see what’s different about it.”
Astur glared at his partner who looked away with a pained expression, then Astur sighed and shook his head. “These were different. The killers have been setting traps for their victims, letting them walk into the net themselves. Whatever happened to you last night was different. I don’t know what you think you saw that—”
“Hey, where are they going?”
Tad followed agent Holmes’ agitated gaze to see Growler and Freckles sniffing around at the other end of the corridor. They were both fascinated with what looked liked charred paint marks on the floor.
“Get those dogs away from—”
Holmes’ words cut off as Growler stepped over the black mark and suddenly it burst to life.
Bright light, white and brilliant, burst from the floor where the black marks had been. It happened so suddenly that Growler yelped, and scurried forward while Freckles hopped back in the other direction. It left the two puppies on either side of the glowing line, neither of whom were happy with what was happening. Freckles glanced back to Tad and Stella and whined, while Growler lived up to his name and started growling at the glowing paint.
This wasn’t the unnatural and terrifying growl of before, though. This was the adorable rumbling of a puppy who was showing his displeasure.
The light startled all four humans to stillness, but in response to Freckles whining Stella pushed past a startled agent Holmes and went to investigate. Tad followed as the FBI agents continued to gawp.
“Wait, you’re not supposed to go near there,” Holmes shouted, but Tad ignored them, his attention on the glowing lines.
“Liquid sunlight,” he whispered, his words catching Stella’s attention as she scooped up Freckles.
“That’s what you meant?” she asked. “It was exactly like this?”
“Not exactly,” Tad explained. “Their designs were smaller and more intricate, but the effect was the same. What do you think it is?”
“How should I know? You’re the one who should know about this, I just deal with the mess when you’re done. Though, now I look at it…” Her words trailed off as she stepped closer to the glowing line, studying it with a frown.
“Hey, that’s an active crime scene,” Holmes snarled as he rushed up behind them. “You can’t go—”
His words cut off abruptly as he made the stupid mistake of grabbing Stella’s wrist to drag her away. Stella wasn’t a fan of being grabbed like that and the moment his fingers closed around her wrist she flinched, pulling her arm away violently enough to break the agent’s hold and pull him off balance. The agent was jerked off his feet and sent scrambling across the glowing line like he’d been thrown, scuffing the paint as he passed.
The moment his foot broke the line, the light died.
Suddenly Growler’s growl wasn’t nearly so mild or friendly, startling Holmes so much he went tumbling. He grunted as he landed, then rolled to a stop against the wall. He grunted again as Growler collided with him paws first, leaning atop him like a wrestler getting the pin.
Everything froze as they processed what happened. Stella stared at her wrist with surprise, no doubt wondering how she’d thrown a man so much larger than herself so easily. Tad was fascinated with how Growler’s growl became Dream assisted the moment Holmes broke the line, and agent Astur stood behind them all blinking to clear his vision and figure out just what happened.
“Someone get this stupid dog off me before I break its neck,” Holmes snapped, and Tad decided he really disliked this guy.
“Growler buddy, come over here,” Tad said.
For a moment Growler ignored him, then the growling stopped and the puppy hopped down from the agent’s chest and padded over to Tad, though he never took his eyes off the downed agent like he couldn’t trust him.
Smart dog, Tad thought as he marvelled at the intelligence of these unusual puppies.
Holmes scrambled to his feet, face red with embarrassment and pointing an accusing finger at Tad.
“This is your doing,” he snapped. “The dog, the light, destroying evidence, that’s all on you.”
“Destroying evidence?” Tad questioned.
“Look at this mess,” Holmes gestured at the floor where the once crisp, albeit charred, lines had been drawn. Tad followed his gesture and saw that they were now scuffed quite badly.
“It’s a containment circle,” Stella said almost to herself as she studied the markings on the floor.
“A what now?”
“A containment circle, or ward, or whatever it is they call it in silly supernatural shows. You know where they’re always drawing circles to keep bad things in, like demons and that. Well, that’s what this is?”
“They’re demon worshipers?” Astur asked from behind them, but Stella just rolled her eyes.
“No. What I mean is that this is a mark like a spell. It keeps things out… or in… at least it does in the shows. But you see where it disappears into the wall there, I bet on the other side of that door it continues to form a complete circle.”
Tad spotted the quick look the two agents shared and knew Stella just hit the nail on the head.
“And there are lines within the circle, right? Like a web?” Stella asked excitedly, turning to face Astur and waiting for an answer.
“There might be,” he answered. “Why?”
“Those people who attacked Tad last night had similar designs painted on their skin, they glowed just like this one.”
Neither of the two agents knew Stella like Tad did, so they missed the grimace of distaste that passed over her face as she said that. It was the same grimace he saw when she tried to lie or tell a half truth. He knew what she said was true. His attackers did have those designs, which meant she was holding something back.
“So the two incidents are related,” Astur said, reluctantly arriving at the right conclusion.
“Who cares? You still have no right to barge in here, assault an FBI agent and contaminate a crime scene with—”
“Tad,” Stella said, ignoring Holmes who was working himself up again. “My lunch break has to be over by now and we really should get going.” She offered Tad her hand.
“Hang on a second,” Astur said, recognising what she meant and stepping forward to reach for Tad like he might hold him back. “We’re not done talki—”
He was a touch too slow.
The moment Stella’s fingers touched Tad’s, he changed the channel, leaving the agents and Growler behind. Tad wasn’t worried about the dog though, he’d proved himself more than capable of following Tad when he wanted to. Sure enough, when the world shifted from the dark hallway to the brighter, more open space of Stella’s office, Tad only had to wait a second before there was a familiar pop and the puppy materialised right behind him.
“That’s going to get us in so much trouble,” Tad said into the silence after they arrived. “Sorry about that. I know, I’m a trouble magnet and you can’t—”
“What?” Stella asked, blinking a couple of times as if only now realising that Tad was talking.
“I said I’m sorry for dragging you into this. You were right, I should have left it alone. The Prime Minister will go insane when he finds out about this.”
“Prime Minister?” Stella asked like Tad was speaking gibberish. “Mad?”
“Yeah, after we ignored him and looked into the killings anyw—”
“Tad, do you really not realise what that was?” she asked excitedly, talking over him.
“What what was?”
“That design on the floor, the same designs your attacker wore. You must have figured it out, right?�
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Feeling thick, Tad shook his head. “Figured what out? That they’re related? Of course I figured that out—”
“Tad,” Stella interrupted again, sounding frustrated. “That painting on the floor was like one of those containment circles in witchy shows, right? And the FBI guys are saying these people have been using them to trap dreamwalkers. You getting this yet?” When Tad still didn’t twig, Stella shook her head in amazement. “Tony was right, you really are missing Miriam.”
“Hey, that’s not fair.”
Stella held up her hand in apology and spoke quickly. “You’re right, sorry. I just can’t believe you’re not seeing this. Think about it. That was a circle with a web inside that is used to trap dreamwalkers, or block dreamwalkers from their power, or—”
“Wait, block us from our power.”
“Yeah, think of Growler. He was growling like a normal puppy until that idiot tried to grab me. Then the second he breaks the line the light goes out and Growler can pull over Dream again.”
“Oh yeah,” Tad said as he thought back over the memory. “And the light only went on after Growler crossed the line, almost like he activated the trap or something.”
“Exactly. So if I said to you that there is a design of a large circle containing a web that is used to block or capture dreams, what would you think I was talking about? Think of feathers, string, and Native Americans.”
“Feathers, string and… Wait. You can’t be serious?” Tad asked as understanding finally dawned. “You mean dreamcatchers. Those silly hippy things that are supposed to keep bad dreams away.”
“Well, what do you think?” she asked, more excited than he remembered her being in quite some time. “Think about it. You told me earlier that your attackers were using Dream like powers, even escaped into Dream, but you were sure they weren’t dreamwalkers. Well, if it’s the same people who have been killing dreamwalkers, which is looking likely, then they’ve been leaving massive dreamcatchers all over the place. What if dreamcatchers aren’t just lucky charms to sell to tourists? What if they’re real and can actually interact with Dream? What if they can block a dreamwalker from his powers? It would explain so much about these murders.”