Grey Haven (Book 1: The Dreamer Chronicles)

We spent the rest of the morning combing through Carrie’s books. By lunch, I was ready to burn all of them. I threw the book I was reading onto the floor and eyed Carrie and Tommy. Tommy had his head in his hand and his face was bored, while Carrie was feverishly writing notes.

“Find anything?” I asked them.

“No,” Tommy said.

“A lot,” Carrie said.

“You know who Bastian is?” I asked eagerly.

“Oh, no,” Carrie said. “But the Tibetan monks were masters at lucid dreaming. Their records are crazy interesting.”

“I’m crazy interested in something more modern,” I said.

“Like lunch?” Tommy asked, perking up.

“I swear, you only ever have two things on your mind,” Carrie said to him, shutting her book. “Food and hearing yourself talk.”

“It’s one more thing than you have,” Tommy said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Carrie asked.

“Vince is downstairs,” I interrupted. “Let’s get a sandwich.”

“Fine by me,” Tommy said.

Vince ran Sully’s shop when Sully was gone. He was a student at the local university. Tattoos covered his arms and back, and he had a shaved head. He was a musician, and his word of choice was cool. I had never seen him upset about anything.

When we walked into the shop, he turned and smiled. “Sully said you’d be in,” he said. “Said you wouldn’t mind helping me with the lunch rush.”

There was a line out the front door. People were waiting patiently as Vince danced from one side of the counter to the other, but he could use the help. It was the least we could do for Sully letting us stay. “Sure,” I said.

“Cool,” Vince said.

“Just tell me what to do,” I said.

Vince ordered us around the shop in his mellow voice, sending us scurrying to complete different tasks. An hour and a half later, the crowd finally died down. People still came in and out of the shop, but it was at a much more manageable level. Vince finally held out three sandwiches to us with a smile. “Thanks,” he said.

“Anytime,” I said.

I followed Carrie and Tommy to the table near the window. Tommy opened his sandwich with a groan, happy to have his meal at last. When had finished eating, Sully returned. He checked in with Vince, then sat down next to me. “How was lunch?” he asked with a mischievous grin.

“Busy,” I said.

“Didn’t mind helping out?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said.

“I appreciate it,” he said.

“Did you talk to your friend at the DMV?” Carrie asked.

“Not yet,” Sully confessed. “It was my next stop.”

“Can I come?” I asked.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Sully to get the truth. It was the idea that the attack he had faced was tied to my world. I wanted to be there in case anything happened. The way things had been going lately, I was certain something was bound to go wrong.

Sully shrugged at the question. “If you want…I have to stop and deliver some food on the way though,” he said.

“It’s not a problem,” I said.

Sully leaned back and called to Vince. “You have that order ready yet?”

“Just about,” Vince said. “Two minutes.”

I exchanged a look with Carrie and Tommy. In the look, I had a question. I wanted to know if they would be okay with staying. “We’re going to start looking for the guy we’re after,” Carrie answered. “There are a couple of hotels near here that we can bike to.”

Tommy looked relieved she didn’t plan on more reading. I didn’t share his relief. They would be tracking the hideout of a shade that would kill them without remorse or hesitation. It wasn’t easy to let them walk into that without having their backs. Carrie and Tommy were capable, though. They were great fighters, particularly when they were working together.

“Just be careful,” I said.

“You too,” Carrie said, eyeing Sully.

Sully’s delivery was to an office building on the edge of downtown. The business was celebrating a month of good sales and the people were friendly with Sully, proof he had delivered to them before. He knew their names and was charming as he chatted with them. I wondered as I watched him talk how he managed to keep up with his business on top of his regular life. Grey Haven took multitasking to a new level, but Sully’s balancing act made the multitasking look ridiculously easy. It impressed me more than his courage in the fight he had faced. I wasn’t sure I’d manage the same balancing act. I barely felt like I was keeping my head above the water now, and my responsibilities had dropped a whole school’s worth.

The DMV was tucked between a laundromat and a restaurant. It had fluorescent lights and a carpet that had most likely served time in hell. A counter was to the left of the glass door, and people were packed behind the line on the miserable carpet, looking bored and irritated. Sully eyed the girl that was behind the counter with a spark of recognition. The girl was cute, with stylish hair and a round face.

“That’s your friend?” I asked Sully.

“Uh, yeah,” Sully admitted.

“By friend do you mean ex?” I asked.

“Jealous?” Sully asked.

“Curious,” I said.

“We dated for a couple of months. We weren’t good for each other. She’s a better friend,” Sully said.

“I bet,” I said.

Sully’s expression twisted into a sly smile, but he didn’t say anything else. We waited in silence for the line to dwindle down. Finally, we made it to the counter. “Sully!” the girl said with a wide smile. “How are ya?”

“I’m good,” Sully said. “How are you?”

“Good,” the girl said. She glanced at me. Her smile didn’t waver, but I sensed her sizing me up. “What can I help you with?”

“I need a favor,” Sully said.

The girl’s smile turned sultry. Sully put his hand in mine. It seemed like a casual gesture, but I knew it was to keep me from saying something sassy to the girl. “Can you look up a license plate for me?” he asked.

The girl eyed her coworkers and leaned forward. Her voice turned into a whisper. “I could get into a lot of trouble,” she said.

“I’ll owe you,” Sully said. “Please? I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

The girl sighed in exasperation. “If it was anybody else…” she said. “What’s the plate?”

Sully told her, and she turned to her computer. She waited a minute for the computer to load, then asked, “What did you want to know?”

“A name, or where’s he staying,” Sully said.

“You’re not in trouble with this guy, are you?” she pressed.

“No, he forgot his laptop in my shop. I got his license plate, but no name. I want to return it to him,” Sully said.

He didn’t even flinch at the lie. It came out perfect. I would have believed him had he told it to me.

“Looks as if it’s registered to a man named Max Henderson,” she said. She pulled a notepad closer to her body and wrote on it. She tore the paper off and handed it to Sully. “This is his address.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Sully said. “Thanks.”

The girl smiled. “Always.”

Sully returned her smile and stuck the note into his pocket. He tugged on my hand to get me walking, and we left the office. Outside, he pulled the note out of his pocket and let me look at it. “Do you want to go now?” he asked, eager to face the man who had tried to kill him.

I wasn’t certain what he had planned, but his expression suggested he wasn’t going to invite the man to coffee. I thought about it. I was no less eager, but I knew the danger was worse than a man with a knife. We couldn’t take any risks. It was the only way to stay alive.

“No. Let’s wait until tonight. It’s the smarter move. Besides, Carrie and Tommy will want to help.”

Sully sighed. “You’re right.”

“What are you thinking about doing if we confront him?” I asked suspiciously.

“I have a couple of things in mind,” Sully said.

“We need to find out why he attacked you,” I pointed out. “If someone sent him…”

“Who would send him?” Sully scoffed.

“That’s the point,” I said, backtracking. “We don’t know why he was there. We should probably find out why he attacked you, right?”

“I’m not going to hurt him,” Sully said.

“Good,” I said.

“Much,” Sully added.

When we got back to Sully’s shop, Carrie and Tommy were gone. A quick check of the room upstairs was proof that they were still out hunting for the shade. I turned to Sully to ask him if he had more errands to run. He interrupted the thought with a kiss. I was startled by his passion, but I leaned into eagerly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, threading my fingers through his hair, and his hands grabbed my hips. He walked me backwards, toward the bed Carrie had pushed against the wall. When we reached it, I stumbled back and hit the bed harder than either of us had intended. He fell on top of me, though the bed absorbed most of the fall. We laughed at our combined clumsiness, then he shifted his hands to my body again. I pressed my lips against his, hungry for something outside of the chaos and worry, hungry for him.

An hour later, Carrie and Tommy came back. We heard their footsteps on the stairs and Tommy complaining. I pushed up from where I had been lying on Sully’s chest with wide eyes. We rolled off the bed and scrambled to put our clothes back on. I was pulling my socks on and Sully was pulling his shirt over his head when the door opened.

Carrie and Tommy froze at the door and took in the scene.

“Gross,” Tommy decided.

“I guess I won’t be sleeping there,” Carrie agreed.

Sully and I shared a smile, then I eyed my friends carefully for injuries or proof of a fight. “Did you find anything?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Carrie said. “But we can cross two hotels off our list.”

“That’s something, I suppose,” I said.

“Yep,” Carrie said.

“Did you guys find anything?” Tommy asked skeptically, eyes darting back over to the bed.

“We got the name and address of the guy who attacked Sully. You guys up for checking it out tonight?” I asked.

Carrie and Tommy nodded.

Sully pulled his shoes on and let out an awkward cough. “Vince has class. I should…” Sully gestured vaguely to the shop below and made his way to the door. He left with a goodbye wave and a blush on his cheeks.

Carrie had an eyebrow arched and arms crossed. Tommy shook his head at me, but he didn’t look nearly as accusatory.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m glad you have your priorities straight,” Carrie said.

“Me too,” I said, sighing happily.

Carrie rolled her eyes and went to her collection of books. Tommy and I stared at the books then at each other.

“I’m going to go on a walk,” I said meaningfully.

Carrie didn’t reply. She was already lost in the words on the page. Tommy followed me out of the room. He paused on the landing outside the door, taking in the chilly air with a shiver, then he followed me down the stairs, looking pensive. He caught up with me in the gravel lot. I walked slowly down the broken street and past the church in search of a destination that didn’t involve books or studying.

“So, you and Sully are getting pretty serious, huh?” Tommy asked.

“I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Just having fun?” Tommy asked.

“I like him,” I said. “Beyond that, I don’t really know what we are.”

“I guess that’s honest,” Tommy said.

“Why do you ask?” I asked.

“Because you’re my friend, dumbass,” Tommy said.

“Oh…right,” I said.

I smiled and nudged him gently with my shoulder. He chuckled at my push, returning it, and we walked down the street. He started cracking truly terrible puns to make me laugh, and the rest of my tension bled away.

His company kept me from worrying about the past twenty-four hours in a way that I normally would have had I been alone. He kept me focused on the present. In a way it was simpler than it had been with Sully, less full of tension and unsaid things. As we walked, I realized, despite my worry, I was glad that Carrie and Tommy had bulldozed their way into my plan. They made the circumstances feel easier and far friendlier. It was the first time in my life I didn’t feel alone when trying to survive. It was equal parts amazing and terrifying.

Tommy and I circled the downtown several times, talking less the more we walked, comfortable in our familiar silence, and slowly made our way back to the apartment. When it was officially dark, we heard Sully’s feet on the stairs. Carrie, Tommy, and I were already waiting. I opened the door before Sully could knock.

“Ready?” I asked Sully.

He nodded once. The look of expectant violence had returned to his face, and it said a lot about me that it only made me like him more. He wasn’t afraid, and his lack of fear told me he would be okay no matter how tonight turned out.

We followed him to his truck and climbed into the cab. Carrie stared out the window, a frown on her face. She was grim and ready for a fight. Tommy was calm, but even he wasn’t his normal lighthearted self. He didn’t speak and kept his eyes on the road ahead. Sully gripped the steering wheel hard, his body full of the tension that permeated the air. I didn’t share their tension. I was calmest like this, in the middle of the action. I didn’t fear what was coming as much as I did the aftermath.

It took us twenty minutes to get to the address we had been given. I was surprised when we pulled into an area of old homes and manicured lawns. It was an area I associated with retirees and bankers, not muggers and potential killers. The roads grew increasingly narrow as Sully made turn after turn, searching for the right address.

Finally, he pulled his truck along the curb and cut the engine. He pointed to a house up the street from us. “There.”

“I don’t see the car,” Carrie said.

“House has a garage,” Tommy pointed out.

“Want to go see if he’s home?” I asked.

Carrie and Tommy nodded grimly, while Sully’s eyes flashed with quiet anger. Before we could get out of the truck, the front door of the house opened. We paused instinctively, waiting. A man stepped onto the porch. He wasn’t the man who had attacked Sully. He was a stranger, but oddly familiar to me. He was average in every way possible. Average height, average face, even average haircut, but there was a feeling to him that suggested I’d be able to place him in the middle of a crowd.

He carefully closed the door behind him and gazed up at the stars. He seemed pleased with himself as he admired the canvas of the sky. He tucked his hands into his pockets and made his way down the porch, whistling a happy tune. There was nothing strange about him, but my body shook with anger. It was a feeling I associated with the shade from the creek. I didn’t know how I recognized him, but I knew it was him all the same.

“That’s him,” I said to Tommy and Carrie.

“That’s not the guy who attacked me,” Sully pointed out.

Tommy and Carrie knew what I meant, though. “Are you sure?” Carrie asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“But how do you know?” Tommy asked. “He could be anybody.”

“I’m certain,” I said in a firm voice.

“Then that means…”

It meant that the shade had sent the man to kill Sully. The traitor had told him about our relationship.

Carrie’s voice trailed away as she opened the truck door, determined to catch the shade before it got away. Tommy and I hurried after her. Sully didn’t understand what was going on, but he followed us. Carrie ran at the man, her feet silent on the road. She didn’t have a weapon, but she didn’t need one. The man saw Carrie, Tommy, then me. He smiled when our eyes connected. In the smile, I saw the dark glimmer of the shade. It was a subtle shift of light in the darkest part of his eyes. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end with the look.

“Hello, Julie,” he said.

Carrie and Tommy skidded to a stop as he spoke and fanned out around him. He didn’t try to get away. He stood on the yard of the house as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Sully stared at the man, and then at me, not understanding what was going on.

“Bastian is it?” I asked back.

The man’s smile was pleased. “It’s only fair you know my name, I suppose. We’ll be seeing each other again, I think. Next time, no tricks will save you from me.” The man’s expression changed abruptly. It went from cold and calculating to freaked out. His voice changed as well, and he started begging for his life. “Please, no! Please, don’t kill…” His panicked voice cut off, his eyes closed, and he toppled forward onto the grass.

I scrambled over to the man, knowing before I turned him over that he was dead. Bastian had killed him. I knew it was because we had seen him in this world and outed his host, making the man useless to him. It meant that the shade no longer had a body in our world, but that was far from reassuring. He was still free to wander the dreamworld. He was free to cultivate another host and continue whatever he had planned. It had put him back weeks or months, but not forever.

I swore as I looked at the dead man’s face, then I meticulously dug through his pockets. There was a wallet, as well as a key fob. The key was for a rental car. His wallet held a driver’s license – the host’s name was Clarence Kent – a couple of credit cards, and an electronic card for a hotel. The hotel was one of the nicer ones in town. It was one of the last ones on Carrie’s list.

“Jesus! Julie, you should see this,” Carrie said, voice raspy and tremulous.

Carrie, too curious for her own good, had opened the door to the house, to search out the man who had attacked Sully. She hovered at the threshold, face an unhealthy shade of green. Tommy was retching, dry heaving and shaking. Sully’s hands shook as he stepped close to Carrie and looked inside.

I stuck Clarence Kent’s wallet into my pocket and joined them. The feeling that I was about to witness something bad urged me not to look, to trust it was bad and leave it be. I knew I had to look.

The interior of the house would have been as mild as the exterior of the house if not for the blood that coated the living room. It was as if an overly excited modernist painter had decided to paint the living room with red. Had it not been for the smell of the blood, sharp and bitter, it would have been easy to pretend. The smell got into my nose and my mouth, and instantly set my stomach to churning.

A body was in the middle of the living room, though pieces of it had been scattered around. The man’s guts were plastered on the walls, floors, and ceiling. I thought I saw his eyes on top of the television. The face wasn’t even vaguely like the man who had attacked Sully, but I knew it was him.

We had walked in on the shade punishing the man for his failure to kill Sully. There were no footprints, nothing to suggest that a person had even committed a crime. It was almost as if something supernatural had done the killing. I didn’t want to think how that was possible, how Bastian managed it. I felt bile rise in my throat at the sight, but my brain urged me to be logical, to keep things closed away in their boxes until we were safe.

“Did you touch the door?” I asked Carrie.

“Yeah,” Carrie said.

“Wipe it down and close the door again,” I said. “Then we need to get the hell out of here. It won’t take the neighbors long to get curious about the guy on the lawn.”

Carrie returned to the door and used her shirt to wipe away her fingerprints. When she was done, I urged the others off the porch and back to Sully’s truck. Sully was in shock and not responding to my touches outside of staying where I put him. I pushed him into the truck next to Tommy and got in on the driver’s side. I pulled away from the curb and drove down the street slowly despite my adrenaline, fear, and shock. Carrie kept turning around to make sure we weren’t followed.

When we reached the interstate, Sully finally spoke. “What the hell was that?” he said, voice trembling.

“That man was the killer we were tracking. He sent that man after you this morning. He must have seen us together, or was told by someone at Grey Haven after we were seen together… I made him angry. It’s why he wanted you dead. He killed the man for not killing you,” I said.

“Then what? The murderer dies from a brain hemorrhage?” Sully asked skeptically.

“I guess,” I lied.

“I know you said the man you were tracking was a murderer, but that was…that was…” He hunted for the proper way to explain the gruesome scene we had walked in on; he grasped for words that could never do it justice.

“Sickening,” Tommy replied.

“Yeah,” Sully said. “But he’s dead now…That’s good, right?”

Carrie, Tommy, and I carefully avoided looking at each other. We knew that his death didn’t mean it was over. It meant we had to look somewhere else for a resolution.

“We still have to find out who was helping him at Grey Haven,” I said. “Someone was. Someone told him about us.”

“Right…” Sully agreed absently.

“Where are we going?” Carrie asked.

“To the man’s hotel,” I said.

“We’re going to search a dead man’s hotel room?” Sully asked.

“Or we could just wait for the murderer’s accomplice at Grey Haven to try to kill you again,” I said.

Sully made a face and sat up straighter, coming back to himself. “Right,” he agreed.

The hotel was surrounded by a large parking lot. It had a pool near the edge of the road, but it was closed for the fall. The building was tall and mostly made of glass windows. It stood out among the fast food restaurants and lonely businesses that dotted the road. I ignored the entrance and drove Sully’s truck to the back of the building, near a row of trees that obscured our truck from the road.

Everyone filed out of the truck in that same semi-shocked state, still processing. The only thing that kept me moving was the fact that we finally had a lead. Forward motion kept me sane. I used the card key to unlock the back entrance and ushered them through. Inside the building, I turned the key card over in my hand. It didn’t have the room number on the card. I stopped on the stairs and searched his wallet for a clue that would help.

“What’s wrong?” Carrie asked.

“I need his room number,” I said.

“Look for a receipt,” Sully said. “Maybe he had his food delivered. Sometimes they put hotel rooms on the receipts for the drivers.”

I checked the wallet again. I pulled out his cards and IDs. As I did, a slip of paper fell out and hit the floor. It was small and waded up, as if the man had stuck it behind his card with a purchase. I picked it up and showed it to Sully. To me, it looked like a bunch of numbers, but Sully pointed at the bottom of the receipt, to a number under the credit card information. “Room 506.”

I took the stairs two at a time, trusting the others to keep up with me. The stairs came out to a hall with red carpet stripped with gold. The doors were a dark wood and the lights above us were low and warm. I went to the second door on the right of the hall – room 506. I put the key in the slot, a part of me wondering if Sully had gotten it wrong.

The light on the card reader turned green. I used my elbow to press the door handle down and walked inside. As soon as I stepped inside, I felt aggressive movement on the opposite side of the door. It was the only warning I had. I ducked under the knife that slashed at my head and kicked out. The figure danced out of the way of the kick and darted forward. That’s when I caught eyes with my assailant. I swore. It was Chris. He looked as irritated to see me as I was him.

“Really?” I demanded incredulously.

Sully tried to move past me, to help with the fight, but I grabbed his arm. Chris smirked at Sully, his confidence turning to arrogance in a heartbeat. His assessed Carrie and Tommy next. I sensed Chris trying to figure out what we were doing at the hotel. He was obviously aware that the room belonged to the shade. He was curious if he had caught us in the act of betrayal. I knew that Carrie, Tommy, and Sully were the only reason Chris didn’t threaten the truth from me with a knife to the neck.

“What are you doing here?” Chris finally asked.

“We were in the neighborhood,” I said.

Chris’ eyes lingered on Sully, the pieces coming together for him at Sully’s clear ignorance of shades. “So, you left Grey Haven to start your own little investigation,” Chris said. “Congratulations. I have some advice for you.”

“Oh, goody! Advice from the jackass! My fave!” I retorted.

“Stop, before you get someone hurt. Someone like him,” Chris said, pointing at Sully.

Sully’s eyes narrowed defensively. “Do you know this guy?” Sully asked me.

“He’s a bounty hunter asshole who has been put in charge of investigating Grey Haven’s murderer problem,” I said.

“He has a strange way of investigating,” Sully said, eyeing Chris’ knife.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” I said.

“You need to get out of here before the owner of this room comes back,” Chris said.

“He won’t be coming back,” I said.

For the first time, I had his undivided attention. “What do you mean?” he growled at us.

“Guy up and had an aneurism,” Tommy replied.

“You confronted him?” Chris asked. His blue eyes flashed with dark anger.

“Not intentionally. We were tracking a man who attacked Sully this morning and the other man, Bastian, was there cleaning up loose ends,” I said.

“Idiots,” Chris hissed. He started pacing in front of us. “Dumb kids wandering into my…Do you have any idea what you’ve done? No, of course not. How could you? You wouldn’t even know how to get up in the morning if wasn’t for people like Harry. Damn you. Now I have to start at the beginning.”

“Maybe you should have been a little quicker finding your murderer,” I said. “Seems like you’re two steps behind and a day too late. Why is that, I wonder? Bastian got you bewildered?”

Chris glared with such anger and hatred that my body flexed with a flight or fight response. My first inclination was to fight. I felt Carrie and Tommy preparing as well. But I wasn’t worried. Chris was skilled, but there was no way he wanted a fight in the middle of hotel. It would cause more problems for him. Deciding against the fight, he brushed past us, his anger forcing us out of his way. He strode down the hall, tucking his knife back into its sheath as he walked without losing stride. We watched him until he reached the stairs.

“I don’t like that guy,” Sully said when he was gone.

“I think that’s normal,” I said.

“Do you think he found anything?” Carrie asked.

“He probably did, but I doubt he thinks it’s important now that the guy is dead,” I said.

“We should look anyways,” Carrie said.

“Let’s hurry,” I said.

The room was like every hotel room I had ever seen – generic and depressing. It had a large comforter on a queen bed, a television in the corner, and a desk and dresser against the wall. The bathroom was next to the door. It was where Chris had been hiding. I searched the bed as the others combed through the bathroom, dresser, and tiny closet for anything useful. The room was clean, cleaner than it should have been. It didn’t look as if the man had unpacked or laid in the bed once. The room was nothing more than a shallow attempt to look normal. Realizing this, I finally stopped searching the bed for something that wasn’t there. I fixed the covers and turned to the others.

“Anything?” I asked.

“No,” Tommy said.

“Something,” Carrie said.

“What is it?” I asked, moving to her.

Sully and Tommy gathered on her other side as she held up a piece of paper. It was a bill of sale and had been tucked under the television. “General anesthesia,” Carrie said. “A lot of it.”

“Why would he need anesthesia?” I asked.

“I think the important question is why he needs so much of it,” Tommy said.

“And where he’s keeping it,” I said.

I took the bill from Carrie and flipped it over. There was an address for a delivery on the back. It was for downtown, on the same road Sully and Tommy had tracked Chris to when they had followed him.

“What are the odds of that?” I asked them, pointing at the address.

“So, Chris probably knows about the anesthesia?” Carrie asked.

“He found the man somehow…Maybe it was through this building,” I said.

“Does that mean we don’t have to worry about it?” Tommy asked hopefully.

I stuck the bill in my pocket without answering his question. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I would find out. “We need to get out of here,” I said.

“Can we take the elevator down?” Tommy asked.

“No,” I said.

Tommy groaned. “Why not?”

“Cameras,” I said. “Come on.”

“But…stairs…” Tommy complained.

As I turned away, the vision of the man who had been torn apart appeared in front of my eyes. It was a memory more startling than a thousand nightmares. It was terrifying because it was real. There was no pretending as if it had only happened through someone’s imagination. The shade had killed a man in this world. The violence could not be erased with a new dream. It made me feel exposed, weak, and I knew sleeping would be an issue even with the pills that were given to dreamers to knock a person out for a full eight hours of dreamless sleep. It would protect me from the shade in the dreamworld tonight, but they were an illusion of safety. Clearly this world was just as dangerous. I knew that even as I took comfort in the fact that I had packed the pills.

With the death of the shade’s host, we had lost the shade. If we wanted to stop him, we would have to go shade hunting in the dreamworld. Finding a way inside that wasn’t dangerous was the tricky part. I wasn’t sure it could be done. Bastian could walk through dreams; stepping foot in the dreamworld was asking for trouble. But danger or not, I had a duty. I had to see the fight to the end.

It was a problem for a different day, for when we knew more and could fight. It was a problem we would face soon enough.