I nod. He reaches down to help me to my feet.
Bron’s white face emerges from the trees. ‘Zoe! What happened? Are you hurt?’
Dante moves away, folding his arms. Bron grabs my shoulders and gazes into my face, smoothing away my damp hair.
‘I’m fine,’ I manage.
He exhales in relief, then envelops me in a hug. ‘I’m so sorry we weren’t here. The Mayor’s guards got in the way. I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe we’ve won.’
There’s a gaping chasm in the pit of my stomach. All I can think of is what the Mayor told me about the Department. He was right: this is far from over.
Bron cups my face then leans down and brushes his lips against mine. ‘You did it, Zoe. You really did it.’
I meet his twinkling blue eyes but I still can’t speak properly. I shake my head and step away, realising that Dante has vanished.
‘Well,’ says Esme, as she emerges. ‘This is rather unexpected.’ She gazes at the Mayor and back to me. ‘I didn’t think you had it in you.’ Despite her calm words, I can see that her earlier desperation hasn’t dissipated. There’s a question in her eyes; she wants to know why she is still here when all the sleepers have gone. But she’s awake here. I don’t think my trick with them will work with her.
Ashley steps out from behind her, looking around as she takes in the situation. She lifts up her chin. ‘You used me,’ she says, her voice hard and clear. ‘You lied about me. You manipulated me. You could have gotten me killed. Not to mention everyone else.’
‘Ashley,’ Bron begins.
‘Shut up.’ Ashley regards me coldly. ‘Don’t ever come near me again.’
I look from her to Bron to Esme to the Mayor. Then I look upwards and wish myself awake.
***
If I’d been expecting a reprieve back in the real world, I’m sadly disappointed. I open my eyes to see Rawlins’ strained features gazing down at me. When she sees I’m no longer sleeping, she sighs in unmistakable relief. ‘You had us worried there for a moment,’ she says. ‘I didn’t think you were going to wake up.’
I sit up, ignoring the shooting pain in my shoulder. ‘Adam!’ I gasp. ‘Adam McDonald! He’s–’
‘We know who he is. We found him trussed and bound in your garden. He’s telling an interesting tale of a man who abducted him and demanded to know your whereabouts. We’re looking for him now.’
When they find him, he’ll be dead, just like Miller and Salib. I swallow. It only takes three corpses before the murderer is categorised as a serial killer. I wonder whether they’ll think that of me.
Rawlins folds her arms. ‘I think it’s about time you told us the truth, Zoe.’
***
Dawn is breaking by the time I step into the outside world. I suck in a breath and shove my hands in my pockets. I declined the offer of a lift home; I need the fresh air. My shoulder is still almost unbearably painful but at least the skin’s not broken and there’s no blood, unlike in the Dreamlands. I’m not dead yet.
I did as Rawlins asked and told her the truth. A version of it, anyway: that the Mayor – or Malpeter as I called him – had been threatening me; that I suspected he’d done something to kill both Dean Salib and Thomas Miller. I’d been so terrified that Malpeter was going to come after me, I confessed to murder. My well-documented agoraphobia helped with that. The only place I thought I could be safe was inside a cell.
The Mayor’s body was discovered in his shiny car, parked outside my mother’s house and surrounded by papers relating to all three of us, adding credence to my tale. Rawlins was obviously dying to question me again about the dreaming and she was still suspicious of me, but as Brown – now reinstated as my solicitor in Dante’s absence – stated firmly, there was no longer any reason to hold me. It was a tall tale but I don’t think Rawlins believes I’m a murderer, although she’s knows there’s more going on than I told her.
I walk slowly up the hill. I should be pleased with how everything’s panned out but I can’t shake the feeling of dread. And I feel responsible for the Mayor’s death. Guilt gnaws away at me; maybe I’m just as bad as he was.
‘Penny for them?’ a voice drawls behind me.
I turn to Dante. Although his body language is relaxed, his eyes are hooded. ‘I’m sure you can imagine,’ I mutter.
‘You didn’t kill him.’
I don’t respond. Instead I meet his eyes and ask, ‘Did you know there are other towns? In the Dreamlands?’
For a moment he lets his guard down. ‘You didn’t?’
I sigh. ‘No. I thought the Department worked for the Mayor. I didn’t realise it was the other way around.’
‘And here was me thinking you had a grand plan to get rid of them altogether,’ he says mildly. ‘I suppose we’ll just have to come up with something.’