Nightmare’s Edge (21 page)
Solomon looked down at his clothes. “After all I’ve been through, I had to change clothes. I found these in a drawer, and they fit.”
“But this is a dream world,” Nathan said, keeping Solomon within the light of his candle. “Any clothes you find here aren’t real.”
“They’re real enough. They fit, and they cover me.” He pulled Nathan into a three-person hug. “Son! It’s so good to see you again. Why are you both acting — ” His eyebrows shot up, and he pulled back. “Oh! Did Mictar tell you I was dead?”
Nathan cleared his throat. “Not dead . . . uh . . . Dad. We’re just not sure if you’re real or an image in your own dream.”
Solomon locked wrists with Nathan. “Does that feel like an image? Can a dream embrace you like I just did?”
“Well,” Nathan said. “Yeah, I think it can — in the dream world, that is.” He raised the candle again, but his father showed no signs of fading.
Daryl pushed the two apart. “Look. It’s time to use a little logic. Someone’s dreaming up this place.” She pointed at Solomon. “If it’s not you, then who is it?”
He looked at her and blinked rapidly. “I’m not dreaming. I know I’m in a dream world. I figured that out when I fought Mictar, but I’m fully awake.”
Nathan’s mother held up her candle. “He’s starting to fade.”
“Indeed,” Amber said. “He is losing hold of his dream.”
Trembling, Nathan trained his gaze on his father, looking at him directly through the flame. Every detail stayed clear — his noble brow, his firm chin, his sparkling eyes. “Are you sure? I don’t see any fading.”
Daryl held up her candle. “He’s a ghost, Nathan. Better get a grip. We all see it.”
Solomon pulled Nathan close. “Do you remember what I told you about having a minority opinion?”
“Yeah.” Nathan let his head rest on his father’s shoulder. His embrace felt good. “Strength doesn’t lie in numbers. Strength lies in standing up for the truth, even if you’re alone in your opinion.”
“Nathan,” his mother called. “Come back to us! You’re fading, too!”
Dizzy now, Nathan looked at her. Her outline blurred, and her voice sounded distant. “No, Mom. You’re the one who’s fading. You’d better look through your candle.”
“Time for drastic action,” Daryl said. She reared back and slapped Nathan’s father in the face. “Wake up, Mr. Shepherd!” she shouted. “You’re dreaming, and your family needs you!”
Solomon jerked away. Staggering, he braced his hand against a wall. The bedroom darkened. The wall disappeared. He fell to the floor, touching his wounded cheek. “I thought I had found you,” he murmured. “I really thought I had found you.”
Nathan knelt at his father’s side and scowled at Daryl. “Why did you hit him? He was just — ”
“Can it, Nathan.” Still looking like a ghost, Daryl opened the window a notch wider and let in the cool breeze. She joined them on the floor and patted Solomon’s other cheek. “Mr. Shepherd, wake up. You’re almost there.”
The room darkened further. Three candles burned steadily while Nathan’s flickered in the breeze. He pushed a hand under his father’s shoulder. “Dad, get up. We have to find Kelly and save the worlds.”
As he lifted, the weight evaporated. His father’s body crumbled and vanished.
Gasping for breath, Nathan leaped to his feet and backed away from Daryl. “What happened to him?”
She snatched the candle from him. “I’m so stupid! I lit this one while in the dream world.” She blew it out and touched her flame to the wick. After sparking for a second, the new flame grew high and bright. “Now take this,” she said, sliding the candle into Nathan’s hand. “Look at it until you can see us better.”
Nathan gave his head a hard shake and stared at the flame, watching the others as they gathered into a cluster. Their number split to six for a moment before congealing back to three.
“The guiding light must originate where truth is born,” Amber said. “Concentrating on the false light in this world surely made it worse for Nathan. It is no wonder he lost his bearings.”
Daryl nudged the bag on the floor with her foot. “My bad. But what do we do now? Where’s the real Solomon Shepherd?”
The newly lit candle shone in Amber’s eyes. “I have no experience with dreams that come from the dream world itself, but I assume he is close by.”
“If the dream is gone,” Nathan’s mother said, “he must be awake.”
Daryl pointed at her. “Right, but he still wouldn’t know we’re here. He probably thought it was all a dream.”
“Solomon! Can you hear me? It’s Francesca!”
“Mr. Shepherd!” Daryl shouted. “This is Daryl. You don’t know me, but that’s okay. When you do, you’ll like me.”
Stumbling toward them on wobbly legs, Nathan pointed at his mother’s violin, still in her grip. “Call him with that. If this place is anything like it was where I first found you, your music will travel farther than our voices will.”
“Good idea.” She raised the violin and played a rousing rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The strings sang out as clear as any bell, though in the emptiness, nothing echoed at all.
After several seconds, she stopped. Nathan held his breath, straining his ears. Now that his vision had cleared, his hearing also seemed more acute.
“Not a sound,” Daryl said. “But if you’re right about voices, maybe he’s trying to answer, and we can’t hear him.”
“I have an idea.” Amber turned toward the spider tree, letting her candle illuminate the branches. She angled her head directly toward its trunk and sang a high note. A lovely echo replied and drifted into the darkness.
She then pointed her body toward the barrier leading to Sarah’s Womb and sang out again. No sound rebounded from the dark wall. “I will sing in all directions,” she said, shifting a few degrees to her right. “If anyone hears the slightest echo, stop me. That will indicate a true physical presence, perhaps Solomon Shepherd.”
“Or another spider tree,” Nathan said, “but it’ll be worth the effort if we eventually find him.”
Amber slowly pivoted, repeating her note every few degrees. Nathan stepped away a few paces, hoping to hear something besides her voice. His mother walked in the opposite direction until only her candle gave any indication she was there.
Daryl cupped her hands around her ears, turning in sync with Amber.
After a few seconds, Daryl spoke up. “Wait! I heard something.”
Amber stopped and pointed. “That way?”
“I think so. It was really soft, though, so I’m not sure.”
Holding her candle high, Amber strode forward, singing out once more. After a minute or so, she stopped, turned a few degrees, and sang a short note. They waited. A few seconds later, a weak echo sounded.
“I heard it again!” Daryl said.
Amber pointed. “That way!” She ran straight ahead, her dress flying as her heels kicked the hem. The other three hustled behind her. The dream world’s air rushed past, but the candle flames they held before their eyes stayed steady.
Soon, Amber stopped and sang out. This time the echo sounded loud and clear. She glided forward, extending her candle. “Solomon?” she called. “Are you here?”
“Honey?” Nathan’s mother hurried ahead, then slowed. “Can you hear me?”
Nathan caught up and walked at her side. With both candles raised high, the darkness seemed to fly away.
A low, creaking noise sounded from above. Nathan jerked his mother backwards. A big claw swiped by, barely missing them.
Heaving a sigh, Nathan looked at his mother. Her chin quivered, and every line in her face turned downward.
Daryl stamped her foot. “Cursed spider trees!” She stalked toward it, lifting her candle close to the lowest branches. “This’ll teach you to pretend to be a human!” She stepped back, still holding her flame high.
“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.
“Spider’s got a fly. A big one.”
Nathan edged closer, watching the creaking branches for any sign of attack. As he joined his light with Daryl’s, a web-covered shape appeared in the branches. The spider tree had caught a victim, a human one.
Nathan dropped the bag and pushed his candle into Daryl’s hand. “Hold this!” With a flying leap, he vaulted to the first limb and scrambled out to the branch that held the webbed captive. As it sagged under their combined weight, Nathan reached for the closest extremity. A claw stabbed at him, driving a sharp finger into his side. He batted it away, but the motion sent him sliding down the branch. Summoning all his strength, he lunged forward. Grabbing the captive in his arms, he dropped through two sets of thin branches, landing feet first and rolling to the ground with his load.
He jumped up and dragged the web-covered mass to a safe distance. His mother, Daryl, and Amber rushed to his side, holding their candles close. He found a mouth — a man’s mouth — the only part of the body exposed to the air. Using both hands, he ripped the hole wider. The strings were sticky and tough, but Nathan tore through them like a maniac.
“Shades of Frodo,” Daryl whispered. “He’s been Shelobbed.”
After just a few seconds, Nathan had cleared the stuff from the man’s face. Although he appeared gaunt and pale, his familiar jaw and cheekbones revealed his identity.
“It’s Dad!” Nathan shouted.
His mother cleared away a few loose strings from her husband’s mouth. “Solomon, can you hear us?”
He blinked, then opened his eyes wide. He pursed his lips to speak, but only a rasping whisper came forth. “Francesca?”
“Yes! Yes!” She ripped away a chunk of webbing from the top of his head. “Hurry, everyone!” she said, laughing. “It’s him!
It’s Solomon!”
While the others stripped away the cocoon, Amber set her candle close to Solomon’s eyes. “Have you kept your focus on the living world, dear Solomon?”
“I had no light to guide me . . .” His voice still carried a sandpaper grittiness. “But Scarlet gave me . . . gave me a song. Whenever I felt like I was losing touch, I sang it.”
Amber brushed dark bangs from his brow. “How did you become a victim of the spider tree?”
As Nathan pulled a sticky strip from his arms, Solomon winced. “While searching for a way out of this place, I walked into a cemetery. A girl, a blind girl, called for help from the branches of this tree. Half her body was already covered with the web. I climbed up to free her, but while I was working, the tree caught me. Of course, I couldn’t jump down until she was free, but by the time I pulled the last binding strands from her, the tree had already bound me so tightly, I couldn’t free myself. Then, a strange wind pulled the girl into a cyclonic swirl and dragged her away.”
“Was her name Felicity?” Nathan asked.
“Yes.” His eyes shifted toward him. “How did you know?”
“We’ve met.” Nathan smiled at his mother and tore a long strip from his father’s thigh.
His mother simply glowed. Her smile, her eyes, even her skin seemed to radiate their own light. “Cerulean’s taking care of Felicity, my love. Don’t worry.”
“But if we’re in a dream world, aren’t you just part of another dream?” Solomon coughed and spat out a thread. “I have walked through many dreams, some better than others, but I must say this is the best one of all.”
Amber pushed the candle closer, cupping her hand under neath to catch the dripping wax. “Solomon, look through the flame. Sing Scarlet’s song. Soon, you will know the truth.”
Solomon blinked again. As his rapid breaths disturbed the flame, he crossed his eyes to concentrate.
“Dad,” Nathan said, sliding a hand under his father’s back, “it might help if you sit up.”
After rising to a sitting position, Solomon kept his focus on the candle and began humming, following the tune of “Be Thou My Vision.”
“Nathan. Daryl.” Francesca Shepherd picked up her violin.
“You two finish. I’m going to play for my husband.”
Now that his upper body was free, he stretched out his arms, cleared his throat, and sang in a raspy bass, still watching the flame.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my mind.
Lead me through darkness when these eyes are blind.
Thou my bright candle, and thou my true light.
Guide me to morning and through the dark night.
Francesca lengthened the final note, letting it slowly fade. Solomon blinked again and looked at her, his eyes now glistening with tears. He reached for her hand. She took it. Then, he pulled her into his lap, laughing as he wrapped her up in his strong embrace. “Francesca, my darling! It’s you! It’s really you!”
After a tender kiss, he looked up at Nathan with a grin. “You rascal! Did you drag your mother all the way to this dream world to find me?”
“Did you think I’d ever stop looking for you?” Nathan slid his bloody hand into his father’s palm. “I’d do anything to get my father back.”
Solomon stared at Nathan’s wounds, then curled his fingers and kissed the back of his hand. “Son, I am the proudest father in any world. You are a true blessing to me.”
Daryl sniffed. “You three stop it, or I’m going to bawl for sure.”
“We’ll stop,” Solomon said, pushing Francesca to the side. “We have too much work to do.”
Nathan pulled his father to his feet. His hand smarted, but it felt good to watch the real Solomon Shepherd rise to his full stature.
“So,” Solomon said, brushing strings from his khakis. “I’ll give you a quick update on what I know, and then you can tell me what you’ve learned.”
Nathan couldn’t stop smiling, even though his cheeks ached. “Sounds perfect.”
“But we should try to find our way out of here while we talk.” Solomon nodded at the glowing supplicant. “Amber, it’s good to see you again.”
She curtsied. “It is my pleasure. The days have been long since our previous encounter.”
“Can you get us out of this dream world?” Solomon asked.
“I can, but we have another soul we must find here. Kelly of Earth Red is lost somewhere within this realm.”
“Oh, yes. Tony’s daughter. What happened?”
Nathan piped up. “We were in a dream here in Earth Yellow, and she got sucked into a cyclone thing with Felicity. We haven’t seen her since, except in a dream.”
“Interesting. It seems that this Felicity, blind though she is, has a habit of getting folks into trouble.”