Night Terrors (7 page)

‘You know more about the mares than anyone else,’ she says tiredly.

‘No, I don’t mean the unicorns, although I was told they came from there as well. Don’t real nightmares that people experience all spring from the Badlands?’

‘And what is all this,’ she asks, shoulders slumped, ‘if not a nightmare?’

I stare at her. She seems to have completely given up. ‘Esme…’

‘You are not helping, Zoe. Just go. I want to be alone.’

I search her face. The desire for solitude is something I can empathise with. I don’t want to leave her in this state but I don’t think I’m going to help by sticking around. She starts picking things up again, holding up a shard from what looks like a snow globe and sighing to herself. I reach over and touch her arm as gently as I can. For a moment her eyes meet mine in shared pain, then she pulls away.

‘Please.’ Her voice is strained. ‘Just go.’

I nod and do as she asks.

I feel like I’m out of options. Everyone is consumed with the Department’s arrival but I can’t help feeling that there are other things we should be worrying about. I bite my lip. If it is something to do with the Badlands that’s causing all these problems, then it’s clear where I ought to go. I just really, really don’t want to.

Chapter Five

There’s no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.

Alfred Hitchcock

I’ve never had cause to come to this part of town before. I’ve seen it from the roof of the Department headquarters but I’ve never been this close. Despite the sunny skies and warm air, looking at the dark grubby mist of the Badlands turns my insides to ice.

They stretch along the northern side of the Dreamlands and, at this level, are generally obscured by banks of pretty flowers. Even from this distance, though, looking towards them makes my eyeballs prickle. I guess it’s like looking directly at the sun: you know you shouldn’t do it but sometimes you still try. The trouble is that I don’t know the Badlands well enough to tell whether there’s anything different about them.

Licking my lips nervously, I push ahead. I’ve ruined enough flowers in the last twenty-four hours so this time I pick my way carefully through them to avoid crushing them. They have a sweet heady smell but it’s not pleasant. It reminds me of visiting the morgue to identify my father’s body. All I could smell there was strong disinfectant – and it was obvious what the reason for that was. I wonder if these flowers are here to hide the reek from the Badlands. When I get past the colourful border, I know I’m right. There’s a sulphurous reek which turns my stomach.

I halt in my tracks. The dark cloud reaches high into the sky, towering over me like a vaporous wall. It’s got to be twenty feet high. As far as I can tell, the entire northern side of the Dreamlands, which I estimate to be a couple of miles long, is bordered by it. I think of the black cloud monster I came across in the dream jungle. It would certainly be a match for this place.

Taking a deep breath, I edge forward. Tendrils of black smoke uncurl from the mist and stretch out towards me. I swallow hard and lift my hand, letting a tendril curl round my index finger. It snakes itself across my skin with little more than a faint tickle. When it starts to wrap round my wrist, however, I shake it off and pull back. I should be making myself wake up by now. But then, maybe I should enter the Badlands and see what’s going on. I feel distinctly underprepared for such a venture, however.

I’m startled out of my reverie by the distant ringing of a bell. Flummoxed, I spin round then I realise it’s my own phone ringing, back in the real world. The sound makes up my mind and I force myself to disapparate. I wake up on my sofa with a crick in my neck and my back in agony.

I push myself up, my limbs stiff and awkward, and pick up the receiver. ‘Hello?’ I say cautiously.

‘It’s me.’

I roll my eyes. ‘Of course, Dante,’ I say. ‘Because if anyone is going to sneak up and surprise me, it’s going to be you.’

‘I’m telephoning, not playing hide and seek.’ He pauses. ‘Were you asleep?’

I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. ‘Yes.’

‘In the Dreamlands?’ I don’t answer. ‘I don’t suppose telling you that you shouldn’t go there is going to make much of a difference.’ His tone is surprisingly mild.

‘No.’ I’m emphatic. ‘It’s not. Has anyone found Ashley?’

His voice tightens. ‘No. I fell asleep for a while on the plane and tried tracking her but I couldn’t sleep for long enough to get more than the vaguest impression of her.’

‘Maybe she’s just being more sensible than me and keeping well away,’ I suggest.

‘Maybe,’ he agrees, although we both know that neither of us believe it.

A steel hand grips my heart and squeezes. Everything is going to shit. Silence stretches out between us.

‘I’m sorry,’ Dante says suddenly. ‘I had no right to get so angry earlier about the dream.’

I tilt my head from side to side, attempting to work out the pain in my neck but it doesn’t help. Dante’s abrupt apology surprises me and I soften. ‘I didn’t go looking for Adam,’ I say quietly. ‘He came to my house. And,’ I add unnecessarily, ‘it was after the panic attack. Not before. I wasn’t trying to end up inside his head.’

‘I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions,’ he admits gruffly. ‘I was … jealous.’

I almost drop the phone. An unexpected frisson of happiness zips through me, despite the dire situation.

‘Jealous?’ I squeak.

‘You’re my dreamweaver.’ He says it matter-of-factly. I should be irritated but, for whatever reason, I’m not. ‘What were you and Bron doing anyway?’

‘He was showing me the rumour mill. I think he was trying to make me feel better about everyone gossiping about me.’

‘You can’t blame them. Things started getting really freaky once you showed up.’

‘They wander around a dream town and can see inside people’s heads when they sleep. How is that not already freaky?’

‘I take your point,’ he answers drily. There’s a brief pause. ‘So there’s nothing going on between you and Adam?’

‘No.’

‘And Bron?’

‘He’s a friend.’

‘Good.’

I take a deep breath. ‘Are you jealous of Bron too?’

‘Not if he’s just a friend.’

‘He is.’

Dante’s voice drops. ‘Am I just a friend?’

It feels like there’s a lot riding on my answer. I search for the right words. ‘I like you,’ I say finally, feeling like I’m back in high school and admitting I have a crush. ‘You’re the only person who knows who I really am in both the Dreamlands and the real world.’

‘So I know you better than anyone else?’ he asks with a note of satisfaction.

‘You do,’ I answer simply. It’s the truth. ‘You’re bloody annoying sometimes, though. Where did you go? I waited for you in the forest and you never showed up.’

He sighs. ‘I’m sorry. I disapparated out. Once I’d had a chance to calm down, I thought better of it. When I went back in and realised you were in the Dreamlands, then saw the Department…’

I nod. ‘Yeah. All hell broke loose. You used to work for the Mayor, Dante. What is the Department really?’

He sighs. ‘The Mayor set the Department up years ago. He tried to keep it under his thumb for a while but for some people a taste of power only encourages them to want more.’

‘There was a coup against him?’

‘Not exactly. He agreed to share information and to work with the Department when necessary on the understanding that it left our zone alone.’

‘But it’s in charge everywhere else?’ I ask with a shudder, thinking of the barely restrained violence from the man who confronted me.

‘Yes.’

‘What does it want?’

His voice is quiet. ‘More power. And with the Mayor’s death, all bets are off. When the Department didn’t show up immediately, I thought it might leave us in peace. No such luck.’ I hear him exhale. ‘Zoe, it’s going to know by now that there’s a dreamweaver and if they have Ashley, it won’t take them long to figure out it’s not her. You can’t go wandering around the Dreamlands. Not any more. I know you might want to play the hero and give yourself up to ensure her safety but Dean Salib risked his life to keep your identity secret for a reason. Whether you like it or not, you’re too important to risk.’

‘But I can’t do anything! All I can do is the same as you and walk through people’s dreams.’

‘That’s not true. You can change things.’

I try to convey my desperation. ‘I could. A few times.’ I shake my head. ‘But something’s wrong now. I can feel it.’ I explain to him about everything I’ve experienced, including Lilith’s comment about the Badlands.

‘Shit,’ he mutters, although he doesn’t sound particularly surprised.

‘I remember Bron saying something ages ago,’ I say, sitting down heavily, forgetting to take care with my back and wincing in pain. ‘That the Badlands began to encroach into the town and there was a lot of trouble.’

Dante laughs without humour. ‘That was long before Bron’s time.’

‘Do you remember it?’ I prod.

‘No. I don’t think even the oldest Travellers were around when all that occurred.’

I push my hair out of my eyes. ‘I tried to speak to Esme about it but she was really upset. The Department destroyed the daberhashery and she wasn’t in the mood to listen.’

‘She’s lost a lot recently,’ he points out.

I bite my lip. Yeah, she has. ‘The Department is one thing,’ I say. ‘But affecting the dreams of people all over the country…’

‘You don’t have any proof of that.’

I shake my head. I can feel it in my bones. ‘Trust me. Something’s not right. Could the Department be doing it?’

His answer is a long time coming. ‘I don’t think so. The Badlands is a law unto itself. What humans do is probably of no more consequence than a fly is to us.’

‘Well,’ I say, ‘maybe we can be the fly in the ointment that does more damage than expected. Have you fallen asleep yet and seen what things are like in the zone there?’ I’m assuming that his call means he’s already landed in the States.

‘No.’ He curses. ‘Damn jetlag is causing havoc. Besides, it’s morning here.’

‘Take your time. I have the unhappy feeling that the Department isn’t going anywhere any time soon.’

He grunts in agreement. ‘You need to avoid the meeting tonight. Now I’m in a different country, I can’t apparate in that zone any longer. And you should stay away too.’

‘I can’t.’ I tell him about the man who accosted me.

He sucks in an angry breath. ‘Goddamnit, Zoe. I can’t afford for you to get hurt.’

I? Or did he mean we? I swallow. ‘I told you. Whatever grip I had on dreamweaving is slipping away and what I can do is next to useless.’

‘Then,’ Dante says in a grim tone, ‘you need to practise and get better.’

‘And the Badlands?’

‘There might be records somewhere about what happened last time that will help.’

I grind my teeth. ‘Let me guess. In the crappy building that’s currently being overrun by the Department.’

‘That’s the one.’ He sighs. ‘There’s nothing we can do right now. It just means you have even more incentive to learn what you can do. You have to promise me you won’t do anything stupid like plunging into the Badlands on your own.’

I don’t immediately respond. If he hadn’t telephoned when he had, I may very well have done just that.

‘Zoe,’ Dante warns.

‘Okay,’ I say finally. ‘I promise.’

‘One thing at a time.’

I nod. ‘Yes. You’re right.’

There’s the sound of a muffled knock. ‘I have to go,’ Dante says. ‘My contact is here.’

‘Oh. Okay.’ I’m strangely reluctant to let him go. ‘Call me later if you get anything.’

‘I will.’ There’s a long pause. ‘It would be better if you were here in person to meet him. I suppose it’s just as well I only booked one hotel room.’

I blink rapidly. Er…

Dante chuckles softly. ‘Take care, Zoe. Don’t do anything stupid.’

‘Only if you do the same,’ I warn.

‘Of course.’ He hangs up.

I stay where I am for some time, looking at the phone and feeling bereft.

***

Needing to release some of my pent-up energy – as well as ensure I’m tired enough to sleep tonight – I pull on my leggings and trainers and head out for a jog. I have to take it slowly to avoid making the pain in my back worse, but it’s good to be out in the fresh air. I missed this when I was stuck indoors for months on end, so there’s no way a little dream-induced backache is going to stop me now.

I raise a hand to Mr Reynolds as I exit my cul-de-sac. He waves back bemusedly. He still seems confused that I can make it out of the house. For a short while, the Chairman trots alongside me. By the time I reach the busy main road, however, he’s given up in favour of rolling around in a patch of dust on someone’s driveway.

It’s a lot cooler here in the real world than it is in the Dreamlands; the sky is an overcast grey rather than filled with brilliant golden sunshine. There’s something more pleasant about the outdoors here, however. I’m not sure whether it’s because it is more real or whether it just
feels
more real. Either way, as my lungs expand and I trot round the familiar streets of my childhood, I feel my spirit lightening. It might only be temporary but I definitely need it.

I still keep one eye trained on the road, looking for cars which might be out of place. The Mayor tracked me down to this part of the world so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the remainder of the Department will do the same. But no one who passes me seems intent on anything other than their own lives, from the harassed mum with screaming kids in the back seat to the haggard-looking businessman who’s already late for his meeting and is speeding down the street. The normalcy of it all is incredibly satisfying.

Unwilling to go too far in case my back seizes up, I veer left to make a large loop and end up back where I started. When I go down Antler Avenue, I’m taken aback by the large number of cars parked at the side of the road. Either someone’s having a huge house party – which is unlikely at this time on a Thursday – or something else is going on. The only thing I can think of in this part of the town is the doctor’s surgery but that has a substantial car park so there’s no reason for vehicles to be parked on the street. Curious, I head towards them.