“I think we’re picking a direction at random,” Falin said, and then pointed left. It looked as good—or, real y, as creepy—a direction as any.
The powder-fine sand shifted under our feet as we walked. We had to stop at one point as a troupe of clowns with bright hair and fake noses chased a woman across our path, leaving behind the sound of squeaking shoes in their wake. Then we passed a man in a dentist’s chair which appeared to spring right out of the sand. A teenage girl stood butt naked in front of her locker as groups of teenagers stood around her, laughing. A smal boy huddled under his blanket, clutching a stuffed tortoise as something with gleaming claws and slimy scales crawled out from under his bed.
“They aren’t real y here, are they?” I asked as I watched
“They aren’t real y here, are they?” I asked as I watched wal s attached to nothing close in on a cowering man. Both he and the wal s vanished as the wal s fel over him.
“Yes and no. They are real human psyches dreaming. But physical y? No,” Falin said, keeping a hand at the smal of my back. I wasn’t sure if the contact was for my benefit or his. What would his nightmare be? I probably didn’t want to know.
“No chance we’re just dreaming at this point, huh?” I asked as an airplane dove toward the sand, disappearing on impact.
“The same dream? You, me, and the dog?”
Okay, he had a point.
The shadows around us had been pressing closer. I thought it was probably my imagination—after al , I stil wasn’t convinced there even were shadows—but between one step and the next, the shadows surged forward. A solid wal of darkness sprang up around us on al sides. There is an old saying about an abyss and the abyss staring back.
This darkness stared back.
I swal owed, clutching PC tighter. Falin unsheathed his daggers. The blades gleamed, as if reflecting light I couldn’t find. I fought my enormous skirt, trying to reach my own dagger, but with PC clutched in one arm, reaching the top of my boot was no easy matter. My heart hadn’t exactly been at a calm and steady pace before, but now it crashed so loudly I could hear nothing else. I wished I wasn’t able to see either.
There were shapes in the darkness. The mind tends to try to shield itself from what it can’t handle, so it accepted only pieces. Dozens of claws here, three-inch-long fangs there, some patches of molted fur, a large pus-fil ed abscess, scales. The nightmares pressed closer. This is where I pinch myself and wake up, right? Except I couldn’t seem to make my body move. My mouth hung open, but I’d long since run out of air from screaming.
The darkness loomed closer. Then the nightmares The darkness loomed closer. Then the nightmares poured over me. I lost sight of Falin as dozens of rough hands grabbed at my skin and tangled in my hair, my gown.
I huddled around PC. He whined, a loud, high-pitched cry of panic.
I lost the ground to darkness. Lost any sense of up or down. There was just darkness and creatures. I felt like I was flying, or sliding, or maybe the nightmare realm moved around me. I didn’t know. Al I knew was that the nightmares had found me. And the nightmares were taking me.
Chapter 35
Agrowl, low and rumbling, cut through the skittering and gibbering of the nightmares. I’d long since given up on reaching my dagger, or fighting the dozens of hands grabbing me, and now I simply clung to PC, trying to keep him from being ripped from my grasp. As the threatening growl sounded again, PC gave another whine of pure terror. His heartbeat fluttered against my palm, his trembling threatening to shake him apart. I wished I could comfort him, but I felt exactly the same way.
The growl sounded a third time, and then I heard a loud, meaty thunk.
The nightmares’ chittering rose in pitch before fal ing completely silent. Then, as quickly as the nightmares had descended, they recoiled, releasing me and drawing back.
Sand crunched under my boots again, and I col apsed to my knees.
My breath escaped me in fast, shal ow huffs—too fast. I was close to hyperventilating. I forced myself to take a deeper breath and hold it as I glanced around. I was alone in the darkness. Al alone. No shadows. No nightmares.
And no Falin.
I swal owed and took another deep breath. PC’s front paws were locked around my arm, his claws digging into my biceps. I already had several bright pink scratches from them, but as far as I could tel from my quick assessment, that was the only injury I’d sustained in the ordeal, despite the nightmares’ horrific appearances. My dress wasn’t even torn.
The darkness surged again. I tried to jump to my feet, but The darkness surged again. I tried to jump to my feet, but my legs buckled and I landed on my ass in the sand. But the darkness didn’t touch me. It churned several yards away from me and then drew back like a curtain, revealing Falin.
I climbed to my feet, forcing my shaking legs to cross the uneven sand. I stumbled more than once, and he met me halfway.