Lucid (29 page)

****

I woke up in darkness, which only freaked me out even more. Without realizing I was even doing it, I started shouting and trying to summon my ball of light. Blue light flickered in my hand a couple of times, but it did nothing to calm me down
.

“Devon!” Mitch was the first to respond. He instinctively grabbed my shoulder and drew Reverie with his other hand. He looked around wildly.

“What's wrong?” Elis had also jumped up
.

Viv ran to the door, both her knives drawn, while Elis turned on lamps. Hope poked her head out from under her quilt, torn between springing into battle and hiding herself deeper in her bed. Iven untangled himself from his blanket, hastily jamming his glasses on to see what was wrong. Sophia remained in his bed, his eyes studying me
.

“Now you see how Nightmares act
.
” Sophia shook his head as if pitying me, his amber eyes glowing with the strange, Dreamer light. Elis and Viv realized that there was no real threat in the room and lowered their weapons
.

I was harder to convince, and much to my dismay I started hyperventilating. Mitch dropped Reverie and looked at me warily, like he was unsure if I'd explode or start screaming again
.

“You had another dream about the real world?” h
e asked
.

“No
.
” I miraculously found my breath and looked to Sophia for answers. The old man shrugged in response.

“I didn't want to scare you, but it has been known to happen,” h
e said, pulling the history of Fantasm from under his blanket. “Nightmares are closely linked to human darkness, and what is darker than when one falls asleep?”

“That's some light bedtime reading,” Mitch muttered, making me feel a little better
.

“I told you I had to do some research in Fantasm,” Sophia explained. “How else was I going to answer everyone's questions? There is an entire section on humans and their relationships to Dreamers and Nightmares alike.”

“It is larger than I expected
.
” Viv raised an eyebrow as she peered over Sophia's shoulder.

“Too large
,
” Elis scoffed, looking at me with disgust. “Now this one is seeing things. What? Did you have a friendly conversation with your Nightmare friends?”

“Elis,” Viv warned, shooting him a dark look. “If Devon is seeing what the Nightmares are planning, then it will give us more of a chance to prepare.”

“Not likely
.
” I found the strength to talk. I swallowed as I noticed all of the Dreamers and Mitch looking at me
.

Even though reliving my dream freaked me out more than anything I'd experienced in Leona's arena and Fantasm combined, I knew I had to recount what I witnessed. If Phobio was planning on using Leona to find Woodinville, then we had to act quickly
.

Once I'd finished, the room fell into a thick silence
.

“Well, that settles it
.
” Elis was the first to speak up. He started for the door. “I will track down this Salik Nightmare and defeat him before he can m
ake deals with the evil Lucid.”

“Leona's fortress is huge, Elis,” Mitch spoke up, following Elis to the door. “I know you're strong, but even you couldn't handle all of her defenses at once. I'm also pretty sure the Nightmare army by Fantasm has sent out multiple scouts to track and find us. Plus, there will be thousands more Nightmares enjoying the resort.”

“He is right
.
” Viv nodded to Mitch. “I had to use all of my concealment power just to help the champions find their way out of Leona
's arena. It is too dangerous.”

“We must do something
.
” Elis all but shouted. “If we don't, the Nightmares will finally destroy us!”

“But why?” Iven said thoughtfully. He turned to Sophia. “
Aille said that many Nightmares knew that both Nightmares and Dreamers have crucial roles to play in our world. After sieging Fantasm, didn't the Nightmares allow some of us to escape into our woods? I thought they were content with keeping us scattered and hidden. What else c
ould they want?”

“Something we didn't have before the humans joined our ranks,” Sophia muttered, eyeing Mitch's sword. As if it knew it was being talked about, Reverie started glowing with a blue light similar to the one that followed me around
.

“Reverie has been missing since our first battle against the Nightmares,” Sophia explained, hugging the huge book to his chest like a security blanket. “I do not doubt that Phobio planted some tracking spell outside of the Lucid Well, just in case a champion returned to claim the sword. He was very fascinated by Reverie during and after the First War. Did you see his true form, Devon?”

“No,” I shivered, “But seeing his eyeball and pedestal were enough
...
”

“He is still weak,” Elis mused, walking back to the center of the room. “After all this time we could have taken him out?” He turned to Sophia sharply. “And we have sat back and done nothing about it?”

“A war leader does not need to be physically strong if his word is enough to rally thousands of troops!” Sophia snapped, now standing up. He approached Elis, standing up straight, and I realized they were about the same height. “Now do you see why it is foolish to take on the Nightmares with our small party
?
”

“Then we will rally our own troops!” Hope said fiercely, climbing out of bed and standing alongside Elis, who for once didn't argue with his sister
.

“Who would come to our aid?” Iven shook his head sadly. “We are just a group of young Dreamer outcasts hoping for a better, yet impossible, future. Plus, we are now casting our lots with humans and
—
”

He was interrupted by a loud, growling noise in the shadowy corner of the room. Everyone else drew weapons, but for once I was the calm one. I knew Kyle's snoring well enough
.

“Our not-so-secret weapon is still asleep
.
” Elis shook his head while Viv crossed the room
.

“Kyle, get
up!” She shook my brother awake
.

“
Hey, what the
—
” Kyle stopped as he noticed Viv was the one shaking him. “Oh, hey, need me to come to the rescue again?” He grinned as Viv pushed him away
.

“No
.
” She placed her hands on her hips and looked at him with disgust. “I just thought you might want to join in our conversation about how to face impending doom.”

“What?” Kyle rubbed his eyes and stood up straighter
.

Thankfully, Mitch took the time to explain my dream. I sighed gratefully, because I really didn't want to relive my experience with Phobio and Salik. Hearing it from another person, however, didn't make it seem less real. In fact, I better understood why Elis wanted to immediately track down Salik before he could bring about more devastation
.

“Whoa,” Kyle managed to say once Mitch finished
.

“Well put.” Elis rolled his eyes. “I see you will be a valuable asset to our mission
—
”

“You can't possibly still want to go to Leona's arena
?
” Viv asked incredulously. “Did you not hear what Mitch an
d I said? It is too dangerous!”

“Something must be done!” Elis shouted, rounding onto Viv. The two stared at each other with such loathing I half-expected them to draw weapons very soon
.

“Yes, something must be done
.
” Sophia stepped between them, sighing as if this were a common occurrence. “But it is not jumping into a battle that we will certainly lose. We need to find the other talisman to restore balance between us and the Nightmares.”

“The mythical talisman of the other tribe, that no one from Fantasm has ever seen?” Iven sounded skeptical, which surprised me. Out of all the Dreamers, he seemed like the one who'd be most willing to pursue a historical artifact
.

“Yes
.
” Sophia nodded. “The book does not say where the Vagary migrated, but I have a feeling that it is somewhere beyond the mountains.”

“But Phobio plans to find and destroy Woodinville!” Viv protested. “Going on a widespread quest for something we don't even know still exists isn't going to keep the Nightmares at bay. His minion, Salik, is on the move
as we speak!”

“Oh, but you said we cannot go to Leona's resort
.
” Elis folded his arms and mocked Viv. “I thought you said it was too dangerous. What? Changing your mind now that it's
your idea?”

“No!” Viv hissed, fingering her knives dangerously. “I said you should not go alone. Three of us have already infiltrated Leona's fortress
—”

“Four
,
” Kyle said from his bed. Viv ignored him.

“And we can probably do it again
.
” She finished, looking at all of them. “Sophia, I know it is important to find out more about the other talisman, but don't you think protecting Woodinville from the Nightmares is more important for the Dreamers?”

“Besides, how can we expect to quickly find a talisman that has been lost for so long?” Iven chimed in. “Who knows if the other talisman still exists?”

“It exists,” Sophia said with such confidence that we all looked at him questioningly
.

“Well, since you're so sure, where is it?” Viv asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man
.

“Haven't I taught you
anything about magic
?
” Sophia gave a frustrated sigh. To my surprise he pointed at me. “The boy is channeling its power!”

“What?” I felt my neck grow hot as everyone stared at me. Elis eyed me even more suspiciously than before, Viv's eyebrows disappeared beneath her headband, and Iven gasped.

“Of course!” He grabbed a very old book from his workbench and leafed through the pages. When he found the spot he wanted, he stabbed at a picture of a staff excitedly. “Both talismans were used by humans in the first war, weren't they?” He looked to Sophia for verification. It seemed all Iven needed to get excited about the talisman was the smallest shred of proof that it existed. The old man nodded solemnly
.

“Though we do not know much of the Vagary tribe and their talisman, we do know that two humans helped us fend off the Nightmares in our first war, before we balanced our powers
,
” Sophia explained, turning his brown eyes on me. “I am certain you are destined to wield the talisman, Devon Alexander.”

“What?” I repeated, feeling a bit stupid. “How come I summoned Reverie, then, if I'm meant to use another talisman?”

“You needed help,” Viv explained. “And we are the tribe that helps Lucids, remember? So when you called for help against Serpentine, our magic aided you. Mitch is destined to possess Reverie, so we gave our best talisman to help b
oth of you survive the attack.” She turned to Sophia and smirked. “I do remember some of your lessons, old man.”

“So you think we have to find this other talisman to defeat Phobio?” I asked
, before Sophia and Viv could start an argument
.

“I am fairly certain
.
” Sophia nodded. “The Nightmares have grown stronger with Leona's help, and I fear, as Phobio told you, that war is coming. We will need the other talisman, but first we must find the location of the other tribe's city, Vagary. And, like I said, I think searching the mountains is our best start
—
”

“But you said no one knows what happened to them,” Kyle spoke up. “And that anyone who crosses the mountains dies trying.”

“That's why I made you go to the ruins of Fantasm!” Sophia raised her arms in aggravation. He hefted the large book on his lap. “These are hidden records that contain more information. True, it is not a full collection, but it does contain excerpts from the ancient texts about the schism that ended Miragean and a map of the Mountains of Division. Once we cross the mountains, I am certain the Vagary's magic will lead us to their city.”

“
If their village is beyond the Mountains
,
” Viv muttered
.

“And what about the threat Phobio gave Devon?” Elis asked. “There is not enough time to take a perilous journey across the Mountains and return to stop Salik from destroying Woodinville!”

“What if Phobio showed Devon that dream to scare him?” Iven added. “The Nightmares create horrific scenes for humans. Surely it could be easy enough for Phobio to make a false vision to lure Devon back to Leona's resort.”