Lucid (30 page)

“This is true,” Sophia mused, eyeing Iven with respect. “And it would not be unlike Phobio to pull such trickery.”

“I think what I saw was real,” I blurted out. “Thanks to this whole experience, I know the difference between real and fake dreams, and I'm pretty sure the next time we see Salik he'll be missing an eye.”

“And we still need to save the humans from Leona's resort,” Mitch added. “I
-
I think we need to stop Leona before she becomes too powerful and takes more humans.” He took a few shaky breaths before looking at all of us.

I knew Mitch felt the same way I did. Neither of us wanted to return to Leona's fortress. We escaped the arena once, but that was with help. I wasn't sure we could pull it off twice
.

“What do you think, Devon?” To my surprise, Hope poked her head up from her covers to speak to me. Her purple eyes were wide, like she was anxious to take in my response
.

“Um
.
” Naturally, my voice no longer worked when I needed to sound all heroic. “I guess we have to handle Leona before she can lead the Nightmares to Woodinville
.
” I cleared my throat and tried to find my voice as I looked at everyone. “I mean, Kyle, Mitch, and I came back to this world in order to save the humans at Leona's resort. But I know now that it's all connected; Leona's helping Nightmares grow stronger so that they can oppress the Dreamers more. Aille was right when she said that we needed to work for balance, and stopping Salik from reaching Leona will balance out the scales a bit.”

I looked around nervously to see how eve
ryone would react to my speech. I'd never been in a position to convince a group of people to take a certain course of action, especially when their decision could mean life or death for thousands of people. I sat back down on my mattress, feeling more winded than I did after dreaming about Phobio
.

“Devon is right,” Sophia finally said, peering at me from over the Fantasm book. “As much as we need to find the Vagary's talisman, we must prevent another Nightmare attack. We are running out of places to hide our entire tribe.”

I gaped at the old man who gave me a shadow of a wink. He was so adamant about finding the Vagary talisman, but now he agreed that stopping Salik was the best plan of action? Part of me wondered if this was because I, the one who was supposedly connected to the Vagary talisman, spoke up. As if on cue, I felt a little of my light appear in my hands. It warmed my skin just enough, as though it were reassuring me that I was doing the right thing. I had no doubt that I'd have to be the one who figured out how to work the talisman — if we found it — but apparently it could wait a little longer until I was ready to come along
.

“Salik is moving from the Fantasm camp, right?” Mitch pointed out. “Couldn't we intercept him in the wood
s on our way to the mountains?”

“It is plausible
.
” Elis scratched his chin and looked to Mitch with interest. “And if we find a way to spread ourselves thin but still be able to communicate in the woods, we'll have more of a chance to catch him
.”

“Of course!” Iven slapped his forehead and ran to his workbench. He rummaged through one of his overstuffed drawers and pulled out a series of wires,
cords
, and one large, mesh net that looked too big to fit in the tiny compartment.

“Please tell me that's not your interpretation of a phone
.
” Kyle raised an eyebrow at the tangle of material.

“They're traps!” Iven said proudly. “Remember when we were planning on capturing one of the Nightmare scouts that patrol the other side of the river? Well, I had these made before you two
—
” h
e pointed to Viv and Elis
, “
—s
tarted arguing and scrapped the idea. They're designed to only capture Nightmares and blend in perfe
ctly with the forest at night.”

“Iven, you
are a genius
,
” Elis murmured, examining the mesh net. “We could spread these all through the width of the main pathway on this side of the river!”

“Oh, so you're going with Devon's plan now?” Viv asked, smirking slightly. “Finally realizing that there are some battles even you can't handle?”

“You know I'd never turn down a good hunt.” Elis smirked as he helped Iven untangle the traps
.

“Then do we all agree that finding Salik before he gets to Leona is our next plan of action
?
” Sophia asked. We all exchanged glances and I felt my heart skip a beat as I saw everyone else nodding and smiling at me. Maybe I was hero material, after all
.

“You keep saying ‘we' like you're coming with us
,
” Viv pointed out to Sophia, folding her arms
.

“My dear, we're talking about the fate of our world
,
” Sophia said slowly, as if he were explaining something very simple. “You nearly botched a simple trip to Fantasm. This rebellion group needs a little guidance, don't you think?”

“Well, I'm coming too!” Hope was now standing with her hands on her hips
.

“You can help us trap the Nightmare in the woods,” Elis said
. “We'll take it from there.”

“Sure,” Hope said, but her smirk said
, “
T
ry and stop me from continuing.”

“Well.
” Kyle turned to me and Mitch. “What do you think? Wanna have one more adventure in this place?”

“I don't think we have a choice,” I said, remembering that this was my idea anyway
.

“And I definitely don't think it'll be only one more adventure
,
” Mitch added
.

“No, definitely not
,
” Kyle agreed. He turned to me and grinned. “But we're not going back home without being heroes, at we?”

I took a deep breath, looking at everyone in the room. This group of misfit Dreamers took us in and taught us their ways. They even protected us as much as we protected them. I knew neither of our groups could do what we wanted on our own. In order to save the humans at Leona's resort, we needed to help the Dreamers defeat the Nightmares and restore balance to their world. And in order to do that, I needed to find the Vagary's talisman and figure out how to use it. Just like the ancient human philosophers and Dreamers were inspired by each other, the Dreamers in this room inspired me to be braver and to use my powers without fear. I'd done more in the past two nights than I had in my entire life, and even though I was technically dreaming, I'd never felt more alive
.

“No we can't,” I agreed. “We got a Nightmare to hunt.”

“Good night, Mom!” Andy shouted before slamming his door.

He waited for a few seconds before allowing the tears to stream down his face. Though his parents were doing their best to move on, Andy could not let go of his sister. He thought about her during summer camp, grimacing each day Devon Alexander didn't return to work.

“It's his fault!” He punched his pillow before slamming his face into the soft material. Andy was afraid to sleep, because even then he did not forget Melissa and Devon's promise to bring her back.

“Yes, it is his fault.” A voice chilled Andy to the bones.

He tried getting up, but Andy soon realized h
e was already standing. He was in a dark room that he didn't recognize as his own. The air seemed strangely cold.

He'd done it! He finally knew how to Lucid dream. Now he could bring his sister back to the waking world.

“First, you want to seek revenge, don't you?” The voice filled Andy like poison
.

Andy was used to fighting his own ill thoughts, but this new voice made his blood turn to ice. Still, he could use this voice to take him to Melissa.

“I'll make my own decisions, thanks
,
” Andy replied, coolly, despite the voice giving him chills. He shuddered again as he heard a cold laughter fill the room.

“Very well, human, you have my blessing,” t
he voice said like a teacher surveying his favorite student.
“But never forget who gave you the chance to save your sister. You will thank Phobio, not
Devon!”

Andy blacked out and slipped back into consciousness after a few moments. He wondered if he'd only experienced Lucid dreaming for a few moments
.

Still, that's progress, he thought before standing up. After rubbing his eyes for a few moments, Andy realized he was far from his bedroom
.

He stood in a grassy courtyard filled with many strange statues. A large fountain bubbled in the center, and he had to walk a far way around it to reach the elaborate door behind it. Slightly fearful, Andy hesitated before the door. Would it show him his sister or something worse? Before he could react, the door opened on its own. A woman with golden hair and matching eyes smiled at him.

“Welcome, Andy.” She almost purred
.

“Who are you?” Andy hesitated on the threshold of the palace. He saw a busy lobby behind him, not unlike a crowded hotel
.

“I will train you to be a hero.” The woman chuckled. “You want to save Melissa, yes? Let me show you who is responsible for her exile.” She extended her clawed hand to Andy
.

Andy frowned, remembering what the voice had told him. Phobio said he'd help him find his sister, and here he was in the presence of a woman who knew Melissa's name. No one else had helped him get this far.

“I think I already know.” Andy growled
, before clasping hands with the woman
.

He heard two voices laugh before he entered the hotel
.

L. E. Fred
is a young adult with a head full of stories.
Lucid
is her first completed work, though she has many more on the way. She currently lives in New Orleans at her messy writing desk with her red-furred dog.

Prologue: Abra

Here on Earth, they called us Descenders because of the way the lights from our spaceships lit up the night when we descended on the planet at the brink of its extinction. We were their saviors, coming to rescue them from the bleakness their world had become. It was a time on Earth when the sun didn
'
t shine, the oceans were lifeless, and most animals were extinct. A small human population survived by scratching out a meager existence from the remnants of what once was.

"What about the girl?" Astrid asked when I
'
d been silent too long. I stared at her a moment, noting the sadness in my sister
'
s face. She was pregnant again, this time with her fourth child. Her first three had all died by the time they were three years old.

We left Planet Danu and came to Earth as part of an experiment to breed with the human race. We learned to mask our alien traits in order to blend in with the population. We took human mates. We bore half human children. And in all our years of pretending to be one of them, we became a little human ourselves.

"The girl will be born to human parents after the birth of your fifth son. She will be a hybrid." The look of confusion on Astrid
'
s face was understandable. How could a human child be a hybrid? To us, to Descenders, a hybrid was the product of a Descender-human union.

"My fifth son?" My sister looked distraught. Too many of our children had died, and we hadn
'
t signed up for such losses. We were mating with humans in order to improve their race while sustaining our own. But there was something wrong between the genes of Descenders and humans, and I had buried five of my own children alongside my sister
'
s three. It wasn
'
t supposed to be a hostile takeover, but where is the peace in burying your own children? It was a cost neither of us was willing to bear any longer. We might have given in to despair if not for the promise of the girl with the purple eyes. She would be the solution.

The girl appeared to me in a dream. She floated into my thoughts as if I
'
d conjured her, an answer to what I
'
d been so desperately seeking. She would be the one — a new branch on the evolutionary tree.

"She will be the first of her kind," I said aloud, "the first human to exhibit traits rivaling our own. Our children are not going to die anymore, Sister."

Some children inexplicably survived the inter-breeding, but only a select few. Our government, the Reformation Republic, wanted to continue no matter the cost. The general population believed the deaths were attributed to a plague, some microbial illness infecting the planet randomly. The government claimed to have no cure. But I discovered their lie, and then I stole it. I pulled the vial from my pocket. The clear, viscous liquid swirled in a case encrypted with the information we needed to save our children.

"So it
'
s true then, they had the cure all along?" Astrid asked.

It was true. The knowledge of such a betrayal was the end of our allegiance to the Reformation. We spent some time inscribing the cure on all of the jewelry we had in our possession, symbols that would mean nothing to anyone else, but everything to us.

We began to form our plan. The Reformation required all children to join an Energy Crusade by the time they were eighteen. Such Crusades could last a lifetime and others, the more dangerous ones, could be much shorter. The higher the level of danger, the higher the energy payout, and energy was the only accepted currency on Earth. Astrid would become even more valuable to the Reformation. She would train Elite Crusaders, building an army under the very noses of those who had deceived us. With her help, I had faked my own death, leaving behind a husband who had no idea I was carrying our twins — the last children I would bear. As far as my government was concerned, I no longer existed. I would go underground and unite those who resisted the rule of the Descenders, biding my time until the girl came to us.

"How will I find her?" my sister asked, knowing we would soon have to part.

"You
'
ll find her, Astrid. Find her parents. A son will be born to them first, in the season of the leaves, after the birth of the son you are carrying now. The girl will come during the second season of the sun following his birth."

"Is there another piece to this puzzle?" Astrid persisted. She knew, she could tell there was something else.

"She has another half," I admitted, unable to keep anything from my sister. I could see the girl would have a male by her side, her equal.

"Her brother?" Astrid asked.

"No." I shook my head. "Someone she loves and not like a brother. Without him, she will not become the girl we need. They are the future of this planet. Of our planet," I added, for I considered Earth my home. I thought for a moment, trying to see into the future. "He is a hybrid, and not by chance." He
'
d be bred as a hybrid, I felt certain of it. She would be the first of her kind, and he, one of the first of his to survive.

Together, they would breed the first of a new race. "My sons will be hybrids. One of them will complete her destiny." Astrid was quite sure of herself. She patted her swollen belly.

"My son will be a hybrid too. He will be raised to love this girl." I locked eyes with my sister. I could feel her inside my head, trying to see my visions firsthand.

I touched my forehead to hers and could see real tears in her eyes. It was time for us to part.

I hugged my sister tightly and kissed her tears away.

I wouldn
'
t see her again for sixteen years.