“I won’t read it. I will just point out the page. Show it to me.”
Loki handed her the notebook, wondering what his mother knew about the notebook. She flipped through it as if she had read it many times before. She stopped where the missing pages had once been and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “There are missing pages and they say exactly how to enter a controlled dream. There are also other pages that are missing, too.”
“How do you know that?” Loki said.
“I just know, and I will tell you how to enter Snow White’s dream, under one condition.”
“And what would that be?” Loki asked worriedly.
“That when you enter her dream, you investigate her story and why she wants you to help her—“
“But, mom—“
Babushka shushed him. “That or I won’t help you.”
Loki said nothing, staring at Axel and Fable.
“What it will be, son?” Babushka said. “Make up your mind because I’ll be leaving soon.”
“And I can still kill her if I decide I need to, whatever her story is?” Loki said.
“You can do what you want. It’s your life. You only need to gather the right information to make your decision,” Babushka said.
“Why would you want me to do that? Don’t you care if I find my way back home?”
“I care for you to be happy. Home is where the heart is,” Babushka said. “So I need to hear you say that you’ll investigate her story first. And remember that good people keep their promises.”
“Yes, I will,” Loki said, lowering his eyes. “Now how can I enter her controlled dream and defeat her if need be?”
“If a vampire controls her dream, there’s actually no easy way to enter it,” Babushka said. “But you could enter something we call a Dreamory. It’s still her dream but it’s also a memory. It’s a very sophisticated medium in the Dreamworld, but it will do the job—whether you want to kill her or investigate her story. To enter a Dreamory, you need two things.”
“I’m listening,” Loki’s eyes glittered.
“The first thing is called an Incubator.”
“What’s that?” Axel said.
“An Incubator is a word and date, that when whispered in the dreamer’s ear while they are in the Dream Temple, triggers a certain memory so the dream takes place around the time and the ‘word’ of the memory.”
“That’s awesome,” Loki said. “What is that word?”
“It’s not a fixed word,” Babushka said. “It differs from Dreamworld to Dreamworld. I think this is where Axel’s knowledge comes in handy.”
“Me? How so?” he said with a mouthful.
“You have to find a word and date from your research that would transfer Snow White’s dream into that memory. It could be many words—most words describe places. You will have to search hard for it.”
“Can you explain this a bit more?” he asked.
“It has to be a word like her place of birth, the real name of her father or the queen, anything that you can get from the books in the Bedtime Stoories library.”
“Oh. That makes sense, but what if I don’t get the word right?” Axel wondered. “Will she still control the dream?”
“If you manage to get the second thing, she won’t be able to control the dream, but there will be no guarantees where her dream will take Loki, or how dangerous it will be. So finding the right word will be your job, Axel.”
“I can do that,” he said.
“And what’s the second thing?” Fable asked.
“That’s the best part, I have to say,” Babushka smiled. “You’ll have to go on a little adventure to obtain a liquid that when dropped into her eyes stops her from controlling her dreams…or any dreamer that has that power for that matter.”
“There’s such a thing?” Loki said.
“Indeed. Remember how part of the ritual was to place two Obol coins on Snow White’s eyes so she couldn’t connect the dream and the real world? It’s almost the same, only the liquid fills her eyes in a way that she will not be able, no matter what, to control her dreams or play games with you. It blocks any powers she’s obtained in the waking world from controlling the Dreamworld.”
“Where is that liquid?” Loki’s eyes widened. “Does it have a name?”
“It does, and it’s a very rare and rather sensitive liquid,” Babushka said. “It’s called Baby Tears.”
“Really?” Fable raised an eyebrow. “You’re not trying to say that it’s actually real baby tears.”
“In fact, it is,” Babushka said unapologetically. Loki remembered she was a ghost, and that in her job she must have made many baby’s cry.
“Where can we get Baby Tears, mom?” Loki asked eagerly, remembering that Lucy had offered him a drink called Baby Tears when they were back in the Deadly Ever After party. He wondered if it was real baby tears. “I mean are they easy to obtain in Sorrow, or are we going to end up having to scare babies in their cradles?”
“I think I know where you can get Baby Tears in Sorrow,” Babushka said. “It’s not going to be an easy ride, though.”
17
The Boogeyman