Aspen and the Dream Walkers (12 page)

“Milky? Is that the beast’s name?”

“She’s not a beast, she’s the most beautiful
horse in the world, aren’t you, Milky?”

The horse flapped long, sooty eyelashes at
him, seeming to understand his words as she snorted loudly. Her
muscles twitched and she struck the ground with her hoof.

Dylan climbed into the saddle and reached
down for Aspen. She hesitated before raising her arms, holding her
breath as he swung her up as easily, then shifted and tucked her
into place right in front of him.

He wrapped his forearm around her waist and
drew her back against his chest. The heat of his body warmed her
back as he kept her from wobbling out of the seat. It felt good to
touch him, and her body trembled with pleasure. A current seemed to
be flowing between their bodies, and she loved being held by him.
As the horse trotted along, she grabbed hold of Dylan’s thigh to
steady herself. His low laugh tickled the sensitive skin of her
ear, and she relaxed in his arms.

Aspen saw Ruby and her clan up ahead, and
turned to make sure that Ginny and Sandy had kept up with them. The
two girls had bright cheeks but didn’t complain as they moved at a
brisk pace on foot. Ruby had slowed her horse down to a walk, and
she eyed Aspen openly as she leaned against Dylan’s chest.

“Where are we off to?” Aspen asked Dylan.

“We’re out hunting nightmares.”

“Really? Where do you find them?”

“Chancellors make nightmares that we can
actually see. We’ll see lions, bugs, monsters, and witches, for
example. The Chancellors gather around an area during Lavendula and
chant for the nightmares to appear.”

“What do they chant?”

“It’s a call to their maker. They get their
energy from the lavender pigments in the sky that their maker
channels through to them. They also get energy if the nightmare
succeeds in making a child scared or from our powers when we die.
That’s why they attack us.”

Aspen cringed. “That sounds gross.”

Dylan paused before changing the subject.
“There are castles in different areas of our world. Each castle has
a lord and a certain amount of Chancellors.”

“Where is the nearest castle to us?” she
asked.

“We have one only fourteen waypoints
away.”

“Waypoint? What’s a waypoint?”

Dylan chuckled and answered patiently.
“Chancellors use waypoints as entry and exit points in order to
travel. They are openings in the ground that allow them to reach
their destination quicker. The openings are always guarded, so if
they reach their next waypoint, they are generally safe from us. We
can’t go after them, and we have to journey to the next waypoint in
order to get to them.”

Aspen swayed back and forth in the saddle as
the horse’s hooves clopped over the stony ground. She kept silent
for a moment and then asked another question. “Why don’t they just
stay underground and travel that way instead of above ground?”

“Their waypoints don’t meet up,” Dylan
explained. “They can go down one but when they come out, they need
to travel above ground to get to the next one.”

“That’s kinda stupid.” She shook her head,
distracted by the way her body hummed with electricity wherever it
touched him. His vest was made from leather and was smooth against
her skin, but the current between them was the most wonderful
feeling ever, and she wiggled closer in his grip.

“Yes, it’s stupid,” he continued. “We try to
monitor the waypoints to stop them from reaching them, but there
are far too many waypoints for us to know them all. They can also
go a lot farther than we do using the tunnels. They use magic to
propel themselves forward once they get inside.”

“Awesome!”

“You wouldn’t say that if you were chasing
them. It’s so frustrating trying to follow them.”

Aspen frowned. “What do we do if we find
Chancellors and nightmares?”

“They will deflect your blows by means of a
force field. They’ll do whatever it takes to save the nightmare. We
normally split in two. One half will attack the Chancellors, and
the other half tries to attack the nightmare. Our dream catchers
help us to deflect the worst hits from them and they help us to
heal, so don’t lose yours,” he warned.

“Wow.” Aspen shivered. “This is making me
nervous.”

The sky darkened as they spoke and Dylan
tensed behind her. The trees around them seemed to look more
ominous as the air cooled down.

“Don’t worry, I’m right here for you,” he
whispered.

The horses reacted first. The three white
steeds lifted their forelegs and whinnied in surprise. Aspen
shrieked and held on to the saddle horn for dear life.

Something rustled in the bushes up ahead, and
suddenly a huge beast hurled itself at the group.

The horses danced backward and Dylan
struggled to control Milky. Aspen looked over his shoulder and
cried out again as a one-eyed monster snarled in front of them. The
creature’s head was connected to its muscled chest with no sign of
a neck, and its single yellow eye glared balefully at them over
gaping jaws dripping with an unpleasant ooze. It was at least twice
the size and height of any of them, and Aspen shrank back at the
sight of it.

The creature loomed over them, striking out
at the clan members with sharp claws. Ray clenched his fists and
shot balls of fire at it. The fireballs were small and bright, but
they struck the beast with deadly accuracy. The monster retreated
and rolled its massive body on the ground to put out the flames,
roaring in pain as the smell of singed flesh filled the air.

Without warning, Chancellors streamed into
the clearing. Wearing their black outfits, they scuttled into view
in great numbers and raced toward the Dream Walkers.

Sandy and Ginny threw bolts of electricity at
them, and the Fire Walkers aimed balls of fire in their direction.
Caden and Troy soaked the Chancellors with water, which was the
perfect conductor for the electric blasts Sandy and Ginny had
created, and gave them more power.

Nothing worked. The Chancellors must have
been protected by a spell or an invisible force field, for they
seemed unaffected by whatever was hurled at them.

Cole was thrown off his feet by two
Chancellors, and Troy was restrained by three of them. A large
Chancellor with inky eyes slammed a fist against Troy’s face,
causing his nose to bleed. All around, Chancellors restrained Dream
Walkers and savagely beat them.

“Stay on the horse and call the elders if we
lose,” Dylan shouted to Aspen as he slid off the back of the
stallion. She looked around in horror.

Smoke roiled above them, and screams and
shouts filled the air as the battle waged on. The beast roared in
fury.

“Kill the monster!” Dylan cried, and the
Dream Walkers renewed their efforts to attack it.

A few Chancellors circled the great beast,
facing outward, and pointed their hands toward the ground. Aspen
gasped as a strong current flowed up from the earth, surrounding
the Chancellors and the beast in a large transparent dome. Shocking
pink and purple electric streaks arced around the inside of the
dome.

At home, Miriam owned a Tesla coil lamp with
violet streaks that arced around an invisible shell. Aspen had been
fascinated by the lamp, but couldn’t come near it as the
electricity would arc toward her even though she didn’t touch the
glass.

The dome acted in the exact same manner.
Violet and neon pink bolts of electricity inside its shell strained
toward her, and a warm current surged through her body. Aspen
stared at her hands. Electricity sparked from her fingers, and the
tiny hairs on her forearms rose up from her skin.

“Kill the monster and the Chancellors will
disappear,” Dylan shouted again.

The Dream Walkers focused their energy on the
monster, but all their flames and energy blasts were deflected by
the dome.

Ginny cried out as she was struck in the
stomach by a vicious Chancellor, and this galvanized Aspen into
action. Her eyes blazed and she dug her feet into the stirrups so
she stood tall in the saddle.

“Don’t you dare touch my friends!” she
shouted, and aimed her palms at the Chancellor who’d just hit
Ginny.

A bolt of lightning flared from her hands.
Hot, raw power shot from her fingertips and raced toward him. He
disappeared in a boom of light and smoke, and a chasm opened up in
the ground where he’d stood. The noise from the blast was
deafening, and everyone stopped fighting for a moment, stunned and
gaping at Aspen.

Dylan reacted first. “The monster, kill the
monster!” he shouted.

Aspen turned in the saddle to face the
monster and hurled as much energy as she could at the beast. The
dome creaked and groaned, and tiny cracks appeared along its
surface. Arcs of violet electricity surged through the cracks and
shattered the shell as it tried to fuse with the bolts flung from
her hands.

The entire dome erupted and the explosion was
so powerful that everyone was thrown back against the surrounding
trees. The monster and Chancellors disintegrated into a pile of
ash, and within seconds, only Dream Walkers remained.

Aspen was drained. She sagged into the saddle
and stared dumbly at the crater that was revealed as the smoke
slowly cleared. The feeling of weakness was overwhelming.

Suddenly the horse seemed very tall.

Oh darn, she thought as her eyes closed and
her body went limp. I should’ve done this on the ground, not on the
back of a horse. This is going to hurt.

Ruby Red

A loud sound woke Aspen up with a start. Slapping the
Mickey Mouse ears on her alarm clock, she lowered the quilt and
opened her eyes. The small hand mirror on her table jumped as she
grabbed it to examine her face.

“Hmm, no damage that I can see,” she mused.
After wiggling her toes, she then tested her fingers, stretching
them open and closed a few times. Satisfied that all was well, she
hopped out of bed.

Pulling out a sweater, a pair of jeans, and
underwear in the darkened room, she tiptoed to the bathroom. Miriam
had already come and gone, leaving towels strewn all over the
floor. After Aspen cleaned up, she got dressed, put on her watch
and ring, and caught the bus to school.

Sandy and Ginny waited for her in the
courtyard.

“Hey!” Ginny called. Her hair was wrapped in
a bun, held in place with a leather hair slide and stick. She
raised her hand to high-five Aspen.

“Way to go.” Sandy laughed and slapped her
hand as well.

“What happened? Everything went blank. Did
you guys get home safely?”

“Well, duh. We’re here, aren’t we?” Ginny
smiled smugly. Her dream catcher peeped out through the pink
V-necked shirt she wore, and her metallic bangles tinkled as she
moved.

“No, you know what I mean.”

“Yes, everyone is okay. You’re the new
superstar back home,” Sandy said excitedly.

“I am?”

“Yes, you’re all that anyone talks about
now.”

“No way. Really?”

Ginny nodded her head and laughed while
shifting her backpack over her shoulder.

“Did Dylan manage to make it out?” Aspen
asked, and Sandy raised her eyebrow.

“Yes, he did. But you can find out for
yourself in class today.”

Sighing, Aspen looped her arms through theirs
and headed for the school building. “Right, let’s get the day
started.”

• • •

The first class of the morning was English, but Dylan
was noticeably absent. She sat down at her desk and looked up in
surprise as Ray and Ruby were escorted into the classroom. Mr.
Wright cleared his throat loudly to get the students’
attention.

“Class, we’ve got new students.” He held on
to Ruby’s shoulder as he spoke. “This is Ruby Firestone and her
brother, Ray. They’re exchange students from Tuscaloosa High School
in Alabama, and they’ll be with us for the next semester. Please
make them feel welcome.”

The male students were completely captivated
as they stared in amazement at Ruby’s beauty. And she did look
spectacular. Her sweater and short skirt were completely white, and
her hair was pinned high on her head in a swinging ponytail. The
red tresses dipped and swayed as she moved. White Roman sandals
with straps wound up her calves and fastened at the knees.

Ray stood next to her with his arms folded
across his wide chest. He searched the class and as soon as his
eyes found Aspen’s, he grinned broadly. Striding over to her, he
left his sister alone at the front of the room.

“Can I join you, darlin’?” A small dimple
appeared in his cheek as he hovered over her.

Aspen nodded and he took the desk next to
her. His clothing had been freshly laundered and he smelled like
fabric softener. Tiny flecks of gold sparkled in his eyes as he
studied her.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered.

“Ruby wanted to see how Dylan was doing, and
I wanted to spend some time with Lanta’s new hero.” He gave her a
lazy grin.

Looking up, Aspen saw his sister watching
their interaction and she lowered her head. “Does Ruby mind that
you’re sitting with me?”

“Absolutely not. How could she mind when I’m
with the prettiest girl in the school?” He smiled wickedly.

Heat flared in her cheeks. “Thank you, but I
think your sister has officially earned that title right now.” She
glanced at the smitten faces of the boys around her. Arguments had
already broken out over where Ruby should sit.

“Darlin’, you’re breathtaking. Don’t sell
yourself short.” Ray’s gaze wandered over her body with an
appreciative gleam.

Aspen couldn’t help but smile at him. The
Southern charm that he turned on was so sweet and engaging. She
decided to relax and enjoy his flirting.

By the time the lunch bell rang, her stomach
ached from laughter. Ray followed her around wherever she went. He
carried her backpack to each class, and dusted off the seat for her
before she sat down. Even though she’d looked out for Dylan, he
didn’t come to any of his usual classes, and she jerked in surprise
when his deep voice called her name in the corridor.