The Dream Sanctum: Beyond The End (11 page)

“I am. I tried a number of things just to be sure. No, our powers are
completely useless here, yet Elvia remains. There is no doubt about it now. Elvia
is a real person… and we will have to confront this issue directly very soon,
whether we like it or not.”

K
win didn’t look at all
surprised to see Kai and Lindsay on her doorstep twenty minutes early. She let
them in wordlessly and locked the door behind them as they entered. Kai noticed
on their way in that Kawamari’s truck wasn’t in the driveway, and he was
thankful for it. At the moment he wasn’t sure who he could trust with the
information they had just obtained, and with as close as Kawamari was to
Alastor, there was a chance he was in on it as well.

“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” Kwin asked them as they sat
down on the plushy sofas in the front room. They both shook their heads, and
Kwin took a seat across from them.

Kai noticed that she looked greatly troubled, and he wondered how she was
holding together. To her, Alastor was more than just a good friend – he was the
one person who had been there for her when her family and other friends were
not. It was Alastor who had known her secret, Alastor who had helped her
through her troubled times as she lay in the hospital, refusing to come out of
her coma because she was too frightened and angry to return to the world that
hurt her so much. Learning that Alastor had such a deep secret, one that he was
lying to defend, would no doubt be a blow to her confidence in him.

“This is a dilemma,” Kwin said finally, breaking the silence. “I have to
admit I did not expect that this would be the outcome.”

“What were you expecting?” Lindsay asked.

“I don’t know. Anything but this,” Kwin replied.

“So now that we know, what do we do?” Kai inquired, attempting to get
straight to the point. “Do we talk to him about it, or do we wait for him to
come to us? He’ll have to eventually.”

“I think we should wait for him. We don’t need Alastor and Elvia against
us now that we’re trying to explore something new. Without our powers we’d be
really stuck,” Lindsay offered.

“Despite the fact that we don’t know what his reaction would be, I’m
inclined to agree,” Kwin replied. “This is troubling information, but I still
believe he is a reasonable person. He will be able to see right through our
feigned innocence eventually, but perhaps he will take that as our attempt to
be respectful.”

Kai nodded in agreement, then attempted a smile.

“You know, if we’re to look on the positive side of things, this is
better for us. Those two are pretty good fighters, better than we are, and
they’ve still got their swords. If we face any danger, we’ll be fine.”

“I certainly hope so,” Kwin murmured. “Something still feels very wrong
about that place.”

“Can you be more specific?” Kai asked, trying to ignore the tension he
felt at her words, but Kwin simply shook her head.

“No. I get a strange feeling just looking at it. Everything from the
rocks and trees to the distant mountains makes me feel as though we should turn
back, and do so quickly.”

“You’re not just saying that to scare me this time, are you?” Lindsay
asked, but Kwin’s grim expression was all the confirmation she needed. “Well,
all we need to do is be careful. We’ll stick together, and if we meet any
trouble, we’ll head back to the ship and get out of there.”

“I hope it’s that simple. I don’t think Carpenter included any rafts we
can use to get to the shore,” Kai said.

“Because he, like us, undoubtedly thought that we could simply use our
powers to travel from the ship to shore and back,” Kwin sighed. “I was
confident about our trip before, but now that we face this unknown without any
powers at all, I am suddenly…”

She trailed off, but Kai understood.
Frightened
.
Her expression said what her words could not. It was rare that she was so
uncertain. Kwin was incredibly intelligent, and her powers made her nearly
unstoppable, but without them she was just a ten-year-old girl.

“All right. How about we take the ship along the coast and look for a
safe place to get off?” Kai suggested. “We’ll find a clear beach somewhere so
we can get away quickly if necessary. Besides, we’ve got you with us. You’re
smart enough to make up for all our lost powers.”

Kwin relented, smiling a little before standing up.

“Perhaps we are overreacting. Now that we have lost our powers, we are
using the very imagination that gave us strength to make us worry about dangers
that may not even exist. For all we know, we will find nothing of any
importance.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Lindsay responded happily. “We can be prepared for
anything without worrying all the time!”

Kwin nodded, then looked to the kitchen.

“Well, there’s no sense in making you leave. I’m ready to tackle another
recipe, and this time it will end with better results. Would you like to stay?”

The others nodded. Kai remembered the results of her last cooking attempt
and hoped they turned out better this time – he hadn’t eaten anything before
rushing to Kwin’s house, and he suspected that Lindsay hadn’t either.

After a day spent trying to tire themselves out for the coming night and
a batch of cookies that turned out much better than the first, the three
friends said their goodbyes and headed for bed early. Kwin in particular was
anxious to get back to the ship to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with, and
Kai and Lindsay didn’t want her going there alone.

The sky was dark when Kai arrived, but the ship’s lights were already on.
Kwin stood on the control deck, staring out over the sea toward their
destination. The coast and land beyond appeared nothing more than a black
shadow that blocked out the distant stars, but Kai knew that it wouldn’t be
long before sunrise. Deciding to relax instead of strain his vision, he sat
down on one of the benches the lit glass panels.

Alastor appeared not long after, and Elvia was at his side almost
instantly. He looked around in confusion for a moment before glancing up at
Kwin.

“Are we not flying, then?” he asked, while Elvia once again moved to
watch the shore.

“As it happens, our imaginative powers are gone here. We cannot fly,”
Kwin replied simply, keeping her focus on the ship’s controls. Kai wondered what
Alastor would say to that, but he only seemed puzzled. After a few moments, a
look of realization crossed his face.

“Well that does cause some problems!” he exclaimed, disappointed. “This
is really going to limit what we can do. All the same, we should press on
anyway.”

“Agreed. Now that you’re here, we’ll try to find a location that is easy
to navigate, and one that will let us escape quickly if we need to.”

“Escape? From what?”

Kwin sighed, looking out at the shore as though she would rather do
anything but set foot on it.

“I don’t know. But I have a strange feeling about this place. The writers
of the journal described it as being somewhat familiar. It seems the same way
to me as well, but yet…”

Alastor stepped over and put a hand on her shoulder. He, by contrast,
looked pleased at the prospect of exploring, and didn’t seem at all bothered by
Kwin’s words or their own lack of powers.

“It’ll be fine. We defeated the Nightmares, so I think we can handle a
spooky island. Though let’s wait until it gets a bit brighter before jumping
in.”

Lindsay looked troubled as well, and Kai knew that she always took Kwin’s
words to heart, and for her to see Kwin in such a nervous state was probably
making it worse for her.

“It’s going to be okay, you know,” Kai told her, standing by her side.
“Alastor is right. I’m sure we can deal with anything that’s in there.”

“It’s not that,” Lindsay said, looking down at the water that lapped
quietly against the side of the ship.

“Then what?”

“Well, without our power… we’re not going to be able to dry ourselves off
if we get wet!” she sighed, then smacked Kai’s shoulder as he burst into
laughter.

An hour later the morning sun cast its powerful light across the land and
sea. Kwin directed ship slowly, watching the coast so intently that more than
once Alastor had to take the wheel to avoid an obstacle in their path.

“You know, Kwin mentioned that this seemed familiar, and now I’m feeling
it too,” Alastor said thoughtfully, his hand on his chin. “I can’t place it. I
think I’d get a better idea if I were on land… oh if I could fly right now.”

“Maybe we’ll see more once we pass these cliffs,” Kai replied warily. “It
would be nice if we could give our sails some more wind.”

“Maybe we can get Lindsay to climb one of the masts and blow on the sails
for us,” Alastor suggested, but glanced away innocently when Lindsay glared at
him.

The turn around the cliffs seemed to take hours. Kai stood at the very
front of the ship, trying to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond.

As they finally passed the rocks obstructing their view, they came across
a pleasant sight. Beyond the cliffs was a calm stretch of shore that stretched
for miles and miles into the distance, a smooth coast with white, sandy
beaches… and a very familiar-looking building next to a long dock that
stretched out into the deep water.

“Hey… is that what I think it is?” Lindsay asked, squinting at it. Beside
her Alastor stood on one of the benches to get a better look, looking as
puzzled as she was.

“Yep, I’m almost sure of it. That’s Carpenter’s garage.”

As they approached, any doubts they might have had were extinguished. It
was an exact replica of Carpenter’s hut and dock that they had departed from
just days before.

The sails retracted, then Kwin jogged down to meet them, clearly shocked.

“That’s really weird… did we make it back?” Lindsay asked, puzzled.

“Maybe we didn’t actually get turned upside down, but got turned back
around instead?” Kai suggested, but Kwin shook her head.

“No. This is not where we started. This is all wrong. Look there, you can
see the towers of the Golden Capital in the distance, but… it’s not the same.
What it is for sure I don’t know, but this familiarity causes me to like it
even less.”

“I don’t see any people,” Alastor said, still standing on his bench.
“Maybe there’s no one here.”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Kai stated, then looked back
at Kwin. “Can you move us next to the dock so we can get off?”

Kwin nodded reluctantly and walked back up to the control panel. The ship
moved slowly until it sat parallel to the dock, giving them a secure place to
disembark.

“As nice as that ship is, it’s nice to be back on land, even if this
particular place is weirding me out like mad,” Alastor chuckled.

“The sooner we explore, the sooner we’ll see what we have to worry about,
if there is anything at all,” Kai said, trying to be encouraging. As each
moment passed, Kwin looked more and more nervous, and he knew that she wouldn’t
be showing that much emotion unless there was a very good reason for it.

“Right. Onward then!” Alastor agreed cheerfully, nudging Elvia forward.
“You’re best with a sword, you go first.”

Elvia rolled her eyes but stepped forward wordlessly, leading them off
the deck and across the beach. The waves were calm and a light breeze drifted
across the shore, but this calming weather seemed to have no effect on their
nerves.

Their first stop was Carpenter’s hut. It was completely empty and there
was no sign of any of his tools, or even a sign that any work had been done
recently. The counters were coated with dust, and the door handle was rusted to
the point where it couldn’t even be turned.

“Well, this definitely isn’t our Sanctum,” Alastor mused. “This looks
like it’s been abandoned for quite some time. Maybe we’ll see different results
in the city.”

“Wouldn’t this be so weird though?” Lindsay asked, looking scared and
excited at the same time. “To have a whole place that looks exactly like the
Dream Sanctum we know, but completely abandoned. Or there could even be other
people here! How creepy would that be?”

“Don’t remind me,” Kwin muttered testily. “I would prefer it be
abandoned.”

They walked through the small clumps of trees and found a path that led
toward the main road which would take them directly up to the gate of the
Golden Capital. Kai was almost amused; he felt like a new dreamer again,
thinking back to when he hadn’t yet learned to fly.

As they walked on, thunder rolled in the distance, and Kai could see dark
clouds on the horizon making their way inland. The breeze, which had minutes
before seemed comfortable, was now cold and swept across the road, making them
all shiver.

Every step closer to the city gates reaffirmed that this was definitely
not their world. The gates and walls were run-down and damaged, and it looked
as though the city had recently suffered a fire. Tattered flags hung from the
distant, black towers, and dead leaves swept across the streets, which looked
mostly empty. A few small fires burned in metal pits in the alleyways and in
front of boarded-up buildings. The large fountain that stood in the city center
was chipped and dry, holding only dead weeds and leaves.