The Dream Catcher's Daughter (22 page)

***

His arms fell, and his legs and back gave
out. Jason and Gelen tumbled to the floor. She wriggled out from underneath him
and looked at his face. His breathing was slow, labored She pumped his chest
with her palms.

“Jason! What is wrong?”

But Jason wasn’t there. His body and soul
may have been there, in the castle, but his mind flew back a couple years. He
was sitting at the desk in his room. To his right was Tara Engel. They were
staring at a computer screen filled with letters, words, and sentences. Just
beyond the computer, through the window, Jason could see the apple tree in his
backyard.

Jason smiled at Tara. “Would you like to
read it?”

“I always read,” said Tara. “Why don’t
you?”

“Well, it’s not my story. I’ll read the
next story we write.”

“Sure you want to write more? With me?”

Jason leaned in and pecked Tara on the
neck. A shiver rippled up her back. Tara sat up straight, cleared her throat,
and began:

“Once upon a time, a knight didn’t want to
be a knight. On the outside, he looked like a knight, talked like a knight. He
dueled swords with King Arthur, and he could scare even the bogeyman with his
ruthlessness. But the knight hated this. He only wanted to be kind, to care for
all...On the inside, he wasn’t truly a knight.”

By this time, nearly all of Jason’s body
was full of liquid stone. Queen Gelen cried as she pumped his chest.

“...eventually, they started living
together. Years later they had kids, and when the kids asked why their father
wrote poetry and their mother wielded the sword, the knight and maiden would
smile and say:

“‘To love yourself, ‘tis the
most…important…’” Tara mumbled the last words into Jason’s mouth as their lips
locked.

Gelen’s lips pressed against his. And the
electrical shock snapped him back to the castle, away from that warm summer day
in his room. The same day Tara would take off her shirt. The same day Tara and
Jason would go out on a date to celebrate their first picture book. There just
so happened to be a parade in town that same day.

“Say it!” shouted Queen Gelen. “I heard
you say it! Say it louder!”

Jason jerked up into a sitting position,
the word ripping from his throat like a lion’s roar: “
FORTH!
”

And as the liquid stone drained, Jason’s
limbs shook. He wrapped his arms around himself, and the shaking intensified.
Gelen draped a blanket over Jason’s shoulders, smoothing a hand down his back.

“What’s wrong, Jason? What happened?”

“You mean you don’t know?”

The voice made Jason freeze. There, in the
doorway, clutching E in one hand, stood Shemillah. She smiled. “Now, time to
add another to my collection.”

Her hand—the one wrapped about E’s
throat—began to glow.
E
struggled, kicking her legs
as Shemillah’s flesh turned green. Shemillah grew taller, and a slit formed on
her stomach. When Shemillah had grown three times her size, her stomach split
open, revealing a set of glimmering white teeth. Shemillah lifted E high into
the air and the large mouth on Shemillah’s stomach opened wide, a long red tongue
rolling out. E scream was cut off as the mouth clamped around her and gulped
her down. The large tongue licked Shemillah’s stomach as though it were a pair
of lips. The mouth disappeared, and the Dream Caller shrank to her original
size.

She burped, patting her stomach. “Ah, hit
the spot! And now I’ve only the queen and Jason McKinney to swallow.”

Gelen grunted. “Talking as if we are
invisible. How rude!” She stood, flinging her right hand out. In a flash of
light, an umbrella-shaped sword appeared in her hand.

Shemillah clucked her tongue. “You think
that’s going to stop me? It’ll hardly make a worthy toothpick.”

“How did you find this place? Furthermore,
how did you cross between realms? It is not possible. Not without...”

“A member of the royal court? Trust me, I
know. I had one working for me. Then, when she was useless, I swallowed her.
She’s much more useful in my stomach than outside. Like you.”

Shemillah stepped forward, and pointed a
finger at Jason. “I’m going to love having you inside me. You may not know it,
but you’re much more valuable than you think. You just don’t know what to do
with yourself. But that’s all right. I’ll make good use of you.”

The Queen thrust forward and impaled
Shemillah through the gut. The Dream Caller jerked, her eyes widening as her
flesh turned green. The slit in her stomach started growing into what would
become that terrible second mouth. Gelen shoved hard, pushing the sword farther
into Shemillah. They both tumbled out into the hallway. Jason ran after them,
unsure of what to do. Shemillah was nearly double in size, and appeared to have
sprouted four more arms—two to each side—that were grappling with the Queen.

Gelen looked at Jason. “Do whatever you
have to do! Just run!”

The giant mouth snapped open beneath Gelen.
But Jason had already started running. He’d passed the castle gate when
Shemillah roared in victory. In hunger.

Shemillah had been busy on the way to the
castle: Hordes of demonic nightmares swarmed the streets. The beasts charged Jason
with their horns, screaming words in reverse. But Jason was quick and, most
importantly, desperate. He headed for the road, and when it bucked beneath him,
Jason took his cue to leap for a nearby alley. The road soared into the sky,
catapulting several of the misshapen nightmares through the air.

Jason stuck to the buildings, avoiding
wide-open areas, where the nightmares gathered in great numbers. His path to
the train station could have been longer, but as he neared the station, he
encountered fewer and fewer nightmares. None were wandering near the station,
though Jason did spot a pile of them at the foot of the stairs. He didn’t stop
to see if they were dead. The conductor was waiting on the platform, leaning
against the train, puffing on another cigarette. He smiled at Jason.

“Back already? Mighty quick trip.”

“Shemillah...has the queen. And her
guards. She’s coming after me.”

He took a drag on his cigarette, blowing a
ring of smoke up into the air. He contemplated the smoke as it changed from white
to black to green to blue to white again, and repeated. He took another drag
before dumping the cigarette and crushing it with his heel. “I’ve already
detached one of the engine cars. Take it back to Caindom.”

“What’re you going to do?”

He cracked his knuckles and popped his
neck. “I’ve got a little business with a certain stowaway. I can’t even count
the number of times that chick’s jumped a free ride on my train. She owes me.”
He looked out to the city, and pointed. “I think I see her coming.”

Walking toward them, normal-looking again,
Shemillah waved at Jason and the conductor.

“Go,” said the conductor. “And remember:
Help’s never too far away.” He turned and walked over to the top of the stairs.
Jason wheeled around, running for the train, when the conductor called out,
“And don’t scratch the paint!”

Jason ran to the detached engine and
jumped in. He’d watched the conductor drive the train, so how hard could it be?
He grabbed the lever and gave it a pull. The train jetted off, nearly throwing
Jason out of his seat. The countryside of Dreamrealm shot by in a blur of
marmalade colors and crystalline lights. As the bright, undulating colors of
Dreamrealm faded, everything started squeezing down into a tunnel shape. Jason
eased up on the lever, hoping that would slow this beastly engine. He let up
fully on the lever. Thanks to momentum, the train trudged on, but grew slower
and slower. A light broke up ahead, and as though it were meant to be, the
train came to a full stop at the subway. Jason stepped off and breathed deeply
of the moldy smell that hung in the air. He felt glad this terrifying place was
still here.

He walked until he reached the rift and
passed through. The portal spat him out in the alley next to his house, exactly
where he’d left several days before. He glanced around. The sun was still up,
about halfway through its horizon-bound journey. He walked toward the mouth of
the alley and glanced about. He didn’t see any paladins, though this didn’t
mean anything. The invisibility spell was a common spell for enforcers
patrolling in broad daylight. Darlene loved it.

Jason’s chest clenched.

He hoped Darlene was all right. Besides
Len and Trevor, Darlene was all he had left. His father and mother were gone.
The realization reduced Jason to his knees. He covered his mouth, muffling the
sobs. He pulled himself back into the alley.

Eventually, he hauled himself up, rubbing
his eyes with his wrist. When the tears dried, Jason decided his next move. It
was risky, and going off a hunch he’d pieced together over the next few
minutes. He thought of the message his father had left him:
Anyone who
interferes will be dealt with swiftly and without mercy.
He remembered the
conversation well. It had been one of the last shared between them. He bit back
another fit of sobbing.

Then he remembered what Sirin had said:
I’d
love to meet her in a dark bedroom.
And he remembered the paladin’s
conversation. Sirin hadn’t been the last person to enter the prison block. He
hadn’t been in there all day. Also, Sirin’s eyes were brown, not green.

Jason edged in the direction of his house.
He went around the back way, just in case paladins were patrolling. If they
were? Well, he’d run like hell. But hadn’t they already found what they were
looking for? They couldn’t burn the McKinney house—that’d look suspicious. At
least, until Shemillah rose to complete and utter power. He had a feeling that
wouldn’t happen until Jason was in her grasp. She’d said he was important. And
he wondered, then, what he had to do with the original nightmare’s end, and
what the nightmare’s end was.

His house came into sight. From the
backyard, he couldn’t see anything, and he didn’t hear the telltale rattle of
the paladins’ chainmail. Despite the power of their invisibility charms, they
weren’t the Guardian; they couldn’t cloak sounds they or their armor made.
Jason jogged through the backyard to the back door, which was unlocked. This
concerned him, but not all too surprising. His father often left the doors
unlocked, usually on accident. And why would the paladins care whether or not
others entered? If they’d done their job, as Jason suspected, not a trace of
magic would be found here. At least, magic the paladins would easily recognize.
That’s what Jason hoped for.

He moved through the kitchen and into the
hallway. He noticed the second door, the door his father always locked, ajar.
It was his mother’s room, where they’d found the cloak and wand. He turned and
ascended the staircase. The sun had lowered in the sky, shooting amber rays
through his bedroom window, across Jason’s desk and bed. He took in how bare
his room looked. He hadn’t noticed it much during the past week, but now it
seemed impossible to miss. He looked to his desk. One thing missing was his old
computer. It had stopped working after Jason smashed it against the floor. Next
was the second chair; he’d taken it out back and demolished it with a hammer.
The only thing that stopped him from destroying his bed was his father. What
was stopping Jason now?

The memory.

Tara was sitting on the bed, her
Ozzy
Osbourne shirt and black lace bra in a pile on the
floor near her feet. She didn’t cover her chest at all. Only smiled at Jason.
Told him to come here. They kissed, Jason’s fingers skimming Tara’s sides and
curling against her hips. Then they crept up her shoulder and trailed her arms.
Jason and Tara fell onto the bed, kissing. A few moments later Tara sat them
both up. She grinned at Jason, her face burning red.

“Do you love me?” she said.

“Yes, I love you.”

“No matter what?”

Jason nodded, lifting one of her hands to
his lips. Then Tara grabbed one of Jason’s hands and slowly led it toward her
crotch. His heart pounded in his chest. His breathing had nearly stopped. Only
a few inches away, Tara halted, and glanced up at him.

“Then can we wait? Make it special?”

Jason was ready to go. But he truly did
love Tara, so he agreed. Instead they made out for a few more minutes before
Tara replaced her shirt. They went on a date, to a parade in town.

Jason shook his head. His bed was empty. No
bra or shirt on the floor.

“Forth,” he whispered.

Jason plopped down on the bed. And he felt
something brush against his leg. There, between his feet, lay a tiny dream
catcher. Jason grinned as he lifted it to his face. The dream catcher was
decorated with feathers and red, white, and green thread. Several beads hung
off strands of leather tied to the bottom. Jason wondered where it came from,
and brushed it with his fingers. The dream catcher hummed, and light erupted
from its center. Jason tossed it away and shielded his eyes. The light burned
and there was an earsplitting crack. The light faded, and tentatively, Jason
peeked around his arms, and then dropped them altogether. He rose to his feet,
still staring. The girl standing in the doorway looked at him and smiled.

“
Yo
, Jiggy. What
happened? How’d I get here?” said Darlene.