Lucid (11 page)

Day 7

Night

I was glad when Andy's mom finally picked him up. Though he didn't bring up saving Melissa again, we spent the rest of his visit playing video games in tense silence. I'd occasionally glance in his direction and saw that his face was constantly set in a firm expression. He was doing some serious thinking, but I didn't ask him about it.

“See you tomorrow,” I called out to Andy. My mom was making me go back to camp the next day. My bite marks healed up a lot, and my bruises only hurt a bit now. I was grateful last night's events didn't give me more injuries.

“Oh, Tiff asked if I could come over,” I hastily told my mom before she retreated to her study
.

“Well, when were you going to tell me that?” My mom sounded a little agitated
.

“I forgot with Andy coming over and all…”

“I think you've had e
nough excitement for one day
.
” S
he looked at me sternly. “You seem to be doing better, but I thin
k you need a little more rest.”

“I feel fine!”

“I'm not going back out today.” My mom folded her arms.

“I'll take him
.
” Kyle pounded down the stairs. My mom and I both stared at him. Kyle
never volunteered to drive even when my mom offered him the car. I sometimes forgot he actually had a license
.

“Are you sure, Kyle?” My mom looked from him to me as if we were plotting something
.

“Yeah, uh, Chris and them are going to see a new movie tonight, but they can't pick me up beforehand
.
” Kyle seemed to be doing some quick thinking — a pretty hard task for him. “So, can I use the car after I drop Devon off?”

My mom studied him for a bit. Honestly, I think she was more surprised he wanted to drive a car, especially if that meant doing me a favor
.

“Well, I guess so
.
” M
y mom tossed him her keys. “Just don't stay out past midnight.”

“We won't.” Kyle smiled. “Get dressed for your girlfriend
,
” h
e muttered to me as we ascended the stairs.

“Whatever
.
” I tried to sound nonchalant, but I couldn't help smiling. I was still relieved Tiff was okay and that we had time to prepare for Leona's attack. I threw on some jeans and sneakers and waited for Kyle to come out of his room. He returned fully dressed.

“You're actually seeing a movie tonight?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Pfft, no
.
” Kyle rolled his eyes. “I'm gonna help you with Tiff.” He led the way downstairs.

“You are?” I asked him after saying goodbye to my mother. I followed him to the car
.

“Yep,” Kyle sat in the driver
'
s seat and fiddled with the headlights. It had been awhile since he'd driven a car anywhere. “Because you're obviously too wimpy to come up with a good plan, and I don't want that hotshot Mitch being in charge.” He said it so matter-of-factly as if he already had a plan formulating.

“What are you thinking?” I asked him suspiciously. Kyle took his time answering, changing the radio station to metal, lowering the windows, and cranking up the volume
.

“Oh, you'll see
.
” H
e grinned wickedly as he drove to Tiff's
.

****

Thankfully, Tiff's mom was out with some of her friends, and her dad was in his art studio working on some strange clay model. He didn't care that Kyle came to hang out.

“
Impart some of you
r post-teen wisdom on the young ones,” Tiff's dad called vaguely as we ascended to Tiff's room.

“Your dad rocks,” Kyle noted as Tiff opened her computer room door
.

“I guess
.
” Tiff was still suspicious as to why Kyle tagged along. She knew Kyle and I tried avoiding each other as much as possible
.

“So
—
” Tiff sat down on her favorite computer chair
, “
—w
hat happened last night?”

I explained how I ended up in the middle of the fortress, that I met Gruff, another crony, and how scary Leona looked. As I told my story, Tiff started turning on her laptop.

“Don't!” Kyle closed the screen shut before it booted up
.

“
Okay
, first you decide to hang out at my house and now you're messing up my stuff!” Tiff said indignantly. “What's going on?”

“Leona's been tracking you through your laptop,” I explained, secretly thankful Kyle had quick reflexes. “She has an entire system of monitors in her room. I saw it last night.”

“So did I,” Kyle chimed in. He explained his part of the story — how he met Mitch, about the ball of light that led them to me, and how he saved me from certain death. He also added how he thought Mitch was a pompous jerk and how he tried stealing my sword.

“He wasn't stealing it,” I protested half-heartedly. “He just… liked using it.”

“Yeah, well, he can make his own.” Kyle shrugged
.

“You seriously can make things in your dream?” Tiff seemed mostly interested in Kyle's abilities. She took the fact that Leona was monitoring her a little too smoothly. I expected her to freak out even if it was just a little bit
.

“Yeah,” Kyle responded. “It's not hard. Even though that place is scary, it's still a dream. Which is why you don't have to worry about Leona taking you.”

“She wants to take me?” Tiff showed fear for the first time. “I thought she was just tracking me. Why does she want to take me?”

“Because you know too much
—
” I explained
, “
—
a
nd she's pretty angry that we b
usted up her nice hotel suite.”

Tiff sat in silence for a few moments. Kyle inched closer to her, but I silently warned him to stop. Finally, Tiff spoke up.

“This might be to our advantage
,
” s
he said. I stared at her blankly
.

“How could Leona kidnapping you be to our advantage?” I finally asked
.

“She can lead us to the inner workings of Leona's fortress,” Kyle explained, folding his arms. “She can play in her coliseum for a chance for freedom. Then we can rescue her while bringing the place down.”

So this was Kyle's strategic plan. It sounded completely insane. How did Kyle expect us to follow Tiff into the coliseum and save her in time while destroying the place? I was ready to protect Tiff from Serpentine, Gruff, and Leona if they tried taking her tonight, but this plan seemed even crazier. Kyle seriously wanted Tiff to be taken? I looked at Tiff. Surely she would protest such a dangerous gamble on her life. I was shocked to find her smiling.

“Wow, Kyle, I d
idn't know you had it in you,” s
he finally said. “That sounds like the best shot we have.”

“What?” I let out a frustrated sigh
. There were so many flaws in this plan. Why didn't they see them? “First off, how do we know you will decide to play in the coliseum?”

“Oh, come on, Devon!” Tiff rolled her eyes. “Have you ever seen me eager for work? Awake or asleep, I refuse to be a cocktail wai
tress for some sick resort!”

“
Okay
.
” I still wasn't sold. “And how are we going to get into the fortress? Kyle, you saw Gruff. There's no way we'll be able to sneak past him
—”

“Unless you have a diversion
.
” Kyle stopped my flow of pessimistic remarks. “Which I am happy to provide.”

“What?” I shook my head. “No, Kyle, that's suicide. It's way too dangerous.”

“That place is more like a dream to me!” Kyle protested. “For you and Mitch, it seems real
-
life. I guess because you two haven't been lucid dreaming for long. But I do it every night. Gruff is just some random goat guy I have to get past. No biggie
,
” h
e drawled in his laid
-
back way. I realized that despite Kyle's inactivity, he was a really dependable guy. My admiration for my brother hit a speed bump as I thought of another problem.

“Those Nightmare things,” I said. “They scare me more than the others. How are we going to get past them?”

“I can create whatever I want in my dream world
,
” Kyle exp
lained. “You leave that to me.”

And so we set to work on our plan to evade Leona and save Tiff. Most of it was risky, dangerous, and completely crazy, but Kyle clearly
had thought long and hard about his decisions. Tiff seemed to mostly agree with Kyle's plan, modifying it a bit here and there to sound more reasonable. I sat in silence as the two worked. First, I thought I'd never see the day where Tiff and Kyle worked on the same project. Second, I was too afraid to mention that the plan could go wrong during any step
.

If it did, none of us were waking up the next day.

II

Dream World

The Anticipated Plan

Kyle and I left Tiff's house around 10
:00 p.m.
, but we continued planning well into the night. We told Mitch about the plan in great detail before the night's events. He, like me, thought it was extremely dangerous, but he
, unlike me
, thought it was our best shot. It wasn't until three in the morning
, when our minds and bodies were all exhausted, that we retired to our beds. I climbed into my bed, careful to hold onto my bat. I knew the sword would be our most important tool, probably our only shot of ensuring that we would all escape the fortress
.

****

I ended up at the spaceship port, where the land was dark and barren. My bat instantly turned into a sword and glowed faintly in the darkness. Just like we planned, Mitch appeared a few seconds later. Since Kyle had to actually dream himself into this world, we didn't know where he would end up
.

Mitch and I walked in silence to the beautiful entrance of the deadly fortress. We refrained from approaching the garden and stayed away from the dimly lit souls' path. There was no sense in making ourselves known before Kyle came to play his part
.

“What if he can't get in?” Mitch broke the silence with a nervous whisper. “What if Leona's keeping him out?”

“He… he'll get in
.
” It was more of a hope than a statement. Luckily Kyle appeared next to us a few moments later
.

“Sorry,” h
e explained. “Hot girl in my original dream. There was a bikini contest and everything
—
”

“
Um
, can we get back to saving Tiff?” I interrupted him. I started creeping toward the fortress.

“Wait!” Kyle pulled me back. “Don't forget your disguises.” He conjured up two tribal outfits like the ones the Nightmares had. “When you put these on, yo
u'll look like the Nightmares.”

“How do you know?” Mitch asked skeptically, examining his furry loincloth
.

“Because I made them
—
” Kyle sounded annoyed, “
—
d
uh? Just put them on.”

Reluctantly, Mitch and I pulled the primitive garments over our own clothes. Nothing happened for a few moments. Suddenly, I felt taller, my teeth felt awkward in my mouth, my head felt heavier, and my hands were grey.

“Whoa!” Mitch said in a darker, gravelly voice. He examined himself; his now red eyes aligh
t with excitement. “It worked!”

“Of course it worked.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “Now let's see if Tiff is with the incoming wave of souls.” He created a black, steel wall that blended into the shadows of our surroundings. It was just off the path where the souls would walk. I hoped we
had beat
en the ship to this place and that Serpentine hadn't already led the souls to the fortress. One small mistake could throw off the entire operation.

As we waited, the tiny ball of light appeared at my shoulder. Mitch noticed it, and reached out to it. It avoided his touch but moved back to my shoulder after he dropped his arm
.

“Guess we don't need it yet.” I looked at the light and shrugged. Mitch frowned at it for a moment before turning his attention to the barren path. A few long minutes later, we saw the soul procession
.

I knew Leona planned on capturing Tiff. We talked about her being one of the souls since it was a crucial part of our plan, but nothing prepared me for actually seeing her in the line
.

Her once electric blue eyes were dull as they stared blankly ahead. She slumped along with the other souls, not even looking around at the darkness. Tiff had numerous questions about this place; now that she was here, she wasn't really seeing it. I knew the souls were slaves, shadows of their actual selves, but I didn't realize the horror of it until I saw someone I cared about turn into one of them
.

Serpentine led the procession. I was happy to see her chest heavily bandaged, but she didn't look weaker. In fact, she looked angrier which made her appear even more dangerous
.

She stared at our hidden location for a few moments before moving on. Her ice eyes glinted eerily in the darkness. I caught my breath in my oddly formed mouth, even though she probably wouldn't attack us like this. Thankfully, the procession passed by smoothly enough. We could continue with our plan
.

Mitch, Kyle, and I wandered through the darkness just outside of the lit path. We needed to be close enough to see the souls without being spotted by Serpentine. We knew she had keen vision, so we ended up walking blindly in the dark. Mitch and I blended into the darkness quite nicely. Kyle, on the other hand, had a faint glow about him that he couldn't shake.

“Make it go away!” I hissed, surprised that my words actually
sounded like a real hiss
.

“I can't!” Kyle complained. “You and Mitch have it, too, when you're not monsters!”

“That's how the others must spot us
,
” Mitch commented. I walked on in silence
.

Now we had another reason to stand out during our operation. I felt that any second, Serpentine would reappear in front of me and take revenge for her wounds.

I looked down at the leather scabbard Kyle made for my sword. How did it make fire one time and make lightning the next? The weapon had so much power; I didn't see how anyone would know how to wield it. Mitch seemed to use it just fine, though
.

As w
e stumbled along I suddenly saw something happen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two blue pinpricks of light. They looked like the sketch of the Dreamers, like the ones I saw before. This time when I turned to see it, the lights remained. I knew it was a pair of eyes looking out at us, because they blinked once
.

“Hey, do you see them?” I called to Mitch and Kyle
.

“What?” As soon as they looked, the lights disappeared. I strained my eyes to find them again, but they were gone
.

“Nev
er mind
.
” I only felt a little disappointed, though. I had a feeling I'd meet the owner of the eyes soon
.