“I just know,” Snow White waved her hand in the air.
“Look,” Loki said. “I think we started off on the wrong foot here. Let’s start all over again like nothing ever happened,” he stretched out is hand for her to shake. “Hi. I’m Loki Blackstar—”
“—and I’m here to kick your ass!” Snow White interrupted.
“Really, how do you know all this about me?” he was impressed. Never had someone treated him with just with just plain honesty.
“You’re too easy to read, Loki,” she walked away. “You just think you’re not.”
“Wait,” he said, and she turned around. He walked to her and held her by the shoulder. “Listen. I will take care of you,” he managed to say, the words heavy on his heart. “I’ve never said that to anyone, and I have no idea why I feel this way, but I promise you that I will.”
Snow White’s eyes glittered, although she knew that it was him who needed her to protect him in the Dreamworld, not the other way around.
“Forever?” she asked sheepishly.
“Hell no,” he brushed her nose with his hand. “Until this dream is over.”
“I’m fine with that,” she smiled, satisfied. “Now, follow me before you get stuck in this dream… forever,” she said and walked toward what looked like an 18th century school.
“Did you see that awesome look she gave you?” Loki talked to himself behind her back, following her to the school’s main entrance. “Eat eggs, Prince Charming. She likes me better,” Loki was about to jump in the air and click his heels together like a happy harlequin, but refrained from the embarrassment of her catching him.
“Hurry up,” Snow White said.
The front iron-door of the school burst open. A horde of young boys and girls stormed out. One of them walked right through Loki as if he were invisible.
“So no one can see me in the Dreamory, right?” Loki asked.
“I’m the only one who can see you because it’s my dream,” Snow White said, looking for someone in the crowd. “But don’t push your luck. The longer you stay in a dream, the more your presence could manifest itself, and people will be able see you, talk to you, and unfortunately kill you.”
“What do you mean by my presence manifesting itself?”
“If you get involved in something that can’t be avoided, you will become visible and will have to deal with the consequences of messing with the Dreamworld. That’s why you shouldn’t stay too long in people’s dreams.”
“Get involved in something like what?”
“Like screaming too loud, or making too much noise, anything that will attract attention to you. We’re like ghosts to them in the Dreamworld. Sometimes ghosts do something and get exposed.”
“That’s interesting,” Loki rubbed his chin. He still had a lot to learn about the Dreamworld.
“Look!” she pointed at a young boy with long, curly, black hair; a handsome and strong nineteen year old. “It’s my father,” she said with a panting voice. “Angel Night von Sorrow.”
“So this dream is before you were even born?”
“Yes. Come on,” she followed Angel as he walked into an alley after saying goodbye to his friends. A black raven tailed him into the ally, fluttering above his head. “If the things around you change shapes and forms a lot, don’t panic,” Snow White explained. “I am trying to show you about ten years in a few minutes of dreamtime,” she hurried into the alley after Angel.
“How can you dream of something you haven’t experienced?” Loki asked.
“Think of it as time traveling. The Dreamworld is complicated, and it’d be better if you don’t analyze everything,” Snow White said, stopping cautiously as Angel slowed down in the alley.
Angel was standing alone in front of piles of garbage. He was watching a big rat, looking for food. In a flash, Angel caught the rat with his bare hands and sunk his fangs into it. He inhaled its blood into his veins as the yellowish autumn leaves fluttered in a gust of wind, circling around him.
“So your daddy king was a vampire?” Loki said. “How come he will wage a war against vampires later?”
“Nobody knew he was a vampire then,” Snow White said. “You see that wind around him. It’s protecting him, covering up his secrets.”
“What secrets?”
“It’s the 18th century,” Snow White explained, “Vampires weren’t as strong as they are today. They were outcasts, and they were hunted and slaughtered all over Europe. Historians call this time ‘the Vampire Craze.’”
“I know about that,” Loki remembered his talk with Axel in the Bedtime Stoories library.