Nightmare

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kendi swallowed. It took all his concentration to hold onto the Dream. His drug dose had to be almost completely gone by now, but he didn’t want to leave. He felt light-headed and flimsy, as if he might vanish at any moment.

"Jeren is Cole?" he said incredulously. "He’s Dorna’s brother?"

"He must have lied about his age," Mother Ara said. "Jeren said he was barely twenty, but Cole Keller is twenty-four. My god."

They were in Mother Ara’s pleasure garden again, and Kendi was glad of it. Betta Drew’s sitting room was a nasty place, and Betta herself, a slave owner to the core, had made Kendi’s skin crawl.

"All life-I just remembered," he said. "Jeren sometimes calls Dorna ‘Sis.’ We all thought he was joking with her by pretending to call her ‘Sister Dorna’ when she wasn’t actually a Sister yet."

And that one woman said Jeren was hung like a donkey, he thought, just like Jeren told me he was. I thought he was kidding.

"It was a joke, all right," Mother Ara muttered, and for a moment Kendi thought she was replying to his unspoken words. "He’s been playing with us from the beginning-pretending to learn meditation, then pretending that he had only just made it into the Dream. I-" Mother Ara paled and put a hand to her mouth.

"What’s the matter, Mother?" Kendi asked.

"Oh my god," Mother Ara said in a voice so choked Kendi could barely understand her. "The night after I freed the lot of you, I peeked in on you while you were sleeping to see how you were doing. Jeren was sleeping so soundly that I actually checked his breathing. Later I found out this was when Iris Temm was …being killed. He was killing her right in front of me, and I didn’t do a thing."

"You didn’t know," Kendi pointed out.

"I should have known," Mother Ara said softly. "I’m a Mother, almost a Mother Adept. I should have spotted the fact that he wasn’t asleep. I didn’t even look through his possessions. He must have had a dermospray on him. I should have known."

"You wanted to give us privacy," Kendi told her, shaken by her agitation. "You had no reason to think it was …one of us."

Mother Ara didn’t look convinced, but she said, "We have to move. Kendi, you leave the Dream and call Inspector Gray. I’m going to backtrack along Jeren’s owners and see if-oh, hell. This means I’m going to have to leave and come back, and it’ll be my third dose today. Well, there’s nothing for it."

Kendi found his hands were shaking and he was getting dizzy. "Look, I’ll get out and call the Guardians, then come back in and help you. We need to talk about this."

"You don’t have to-" Mother Ara paused. "Well, all right. Another person might make this easier, and you already know what’s going on. I’ll meet you back here in half an hour." And she vanished. Kendi shut his eyes. Another wave of dizziness washed over him, making it hard to concentrate. His body drifted like a feather on the wind.

If it be in my best interest, he thought, and in the best interest of all life everywhere, let me leave the Dream.

He opened his eyes on Mother Ara’s guest room, a small space with a simple bed and night stand. It was dark outside. The meditation spear was firmly under his knee, and he carefully came down off it as another wave of dizziness hit him. Mother Ara had warned him that letting his drugs wear off and yank him out of the Dream would leave him debilitated, possibly for days, but the dizziness was his only symptom. He must have just made it.

Ben poked his head into the room. "I thought I heard someone moving around in here. How did everything go?"

"I have to go back in again." Kendi reached for the dermospray that sat on the night stand with shaking hands. "Listen Ben-you need to call Inspector Gray, and quick. He needs to find Jeren."

"Jeren?" Ben said, surprised. He leaned against the doorjamb. "Why?"

Kendi sat on the bed and quickly explained. Ben’s expression went from puzzled to skeptical to amazed. Kendi abruptly wished that he could draw Ben down beside him, have Ben put an arm around Kendi’s shoulders. Ben looked comforting and solid after the slippery, shifting Dream, and Kendi wanted something to hold onto. Ben was also sensible and reliable, someone who could be counted on to do the right thing instead of taking stupid risks like Kendi.

"I never did like Jeren," Ben muttered. He was still leaning against the jamb. "I guess I’ll get the Guardians."

"Thanks, Ben. You’re great" Kendi pressed the dermospray against his arm, pressed the release, and reached for his spear.

Ben watched Kendi slip back into his trance and hated it. Once again he was waiting on the sidelines while someone else acted. Ben was always waiting, waiting for his Silence, waiting for his mother, and now waiting for his-waiting for Kendi. Sure, once in a while he got to do something interesting like call the Guardians, but it was always minor. Even when Dorna had shown up at the party, Ben had hung back while Kendi acted. He hated it. Maybe it was time to make some kind of change, take a risk, do something.

Like call the Guardians, he prompted himself.

Ben tapped the section of wall that became a vid-screen. "Eliza, call Inspector Linus Gray from the Guardians."

"Apology," said the computer. "The connection cannot be made."

Ben raised red eyebrows. "What? Eliza, try again."

"Apology. The connection cannot be made."

"Eliza, why not?"

"Unknown."

Puzzled, Ben left the guest room and trotted into Mom’s study. She had a separate phone account through the screen there. A square sheet of wood sat in place of one of the windows, the one Dorna-Violet, whoever-had broken two nights ago. Ben, reliable and solid as always, had cleared out the glass and boarded up the window himself. He tapped the wall and ordered it to call Inspector Gray.

"Apology," it said. "The connection cannot be made."

A bit of nervousness crept over Ben’s skin like mouse claws. Something was obviously wrong. Maybe it was just a local glitch and he should run to the neighbors. Except a cold feeling told him the glitch wasn’t a stuttering chip in the system. He was turning to leave the room when a glitter of metal caught his eye on the floor near Mom’s desk. Ben crossed the room to scoop it up.

It was a silver charm bracelet. Ben stared at it in the light of the overhead fixture. He had never seen it before. Granted, he didn’t make it habit of rooting through his mother’s belongings, but he was sure he’d remember something like this. Mom didn’t go for ostentation, and there was nothing unassuming about the bracelet. It clanked and jingled in his hand. The silver charms included a heart, a tiny rose, six little plaques that spelled out I–L-O-V-E-U, and a kitten, among others. A terrible feeling descended on Ben, magnifying his earlier nervousness. With shaky fingers he counted the charms.

Fifteen.

And Ben knew.

Dorna/Violet hadn’t come to the house to warn Kendi and Ben about Cole. She had come to plant the bracelet, must have thrown it into the room when she broke the window. Kendi had said Diane Giday was the fourteenth victim. Mom was to be number fifteen.

Icy fear splashed down Ben’s back followed by a small surge of relief-Mom was light years away at Dream Station. She was safe. Then he remembered that Cole or Jeren or whatever his name was killed people in the Dream.

Where Mom and Kendi were right now.

Ben rushed back to the guest room and slapped Kendi hard in the face. He had to bring Kendi out of the Dream, tell him so he could warn Mom. But Kendi didn’t move. Ben slapped him again, then pinched him, then got a glass of cold water from the bathroom and splashed him with it. No reaction. Ben cursed. An experienced Silent would have noticed the sensations even in the Dream and come out to find out what was wrong. But Kendi was new to the Dream, could reach it only by teaching himself to ignore his body completely.

Ben sprinted for the front door, intending to dash over to the neighbors to use their phone. He stopped just short of the foyer. His heart lurched.

"Just leave it, Ben, okay?" Dorna said in the doorway. "Don’t make it worse."

"What are you doing here?" Ben demanded. His voice shook. "Did you jam up the phone?"

Dorna nodded, and now that Ben was looking for it, he could see a resemblance to Jeren. They had the same cat-green eyes, the same sharp facial features.

"I visit here a lot," she said. "Mother Ara trusts me and didn’t always guard her passwords. The right access, and the phones go right down. Please, Ben-just forget it, okay?"

"Forget what?" Ben stalled.

"Forget trying to call the Guardians. That’s what you’re trying to do, isn’t it? Cole’s going to kill Mother Ara, and I’m sorry-in more ways than you know."

More fear clotted in Ben’s throat and he fought to remain calm. "Where is he? Where’s Cole?"

"His body is in his room, but his mind is in the Dream," Dorna said. "And that means he’s everywhere."

"Why my mom?"

"Because he loves her," Dorna replied simply. "But he knows she doesn’t love him back. The proof is that she hasn’t worn the bracelet Jeren had me deliver."

"She doesn’t even know who it came from," Ben blurted out. Why was he arguing with her? He had to warn Mom somehow, get help for her.

"There’s the proof. If she loved him, she would know." Dorna spread her hands in supplication. "Please, Ben. Just leave it. If your mom’s not already dead, she will be in a few minutes. I know it’s going to be miserable for you, but we can’t change that. If you call the Guardians and tell them about my brother, that would make me miserable. Why should we both suffer?"

The woman was diseased. Every instinct Ben had told him she was poison, that he had to get away from her. He tensed to lunge past her when she spoke again.

"Aren’t you forgetting something?" she said. Ben froze. Her voice was different-lower, older, and cracked like an old coffee cup. Dorna’s posture had changed, too. She stood more stiffly, as if her joints hurt. "If you leave the house, you’re leaving your little sweetie all by himself. Who knows what might happen to him?"

"You won’t hurt him," Ben said with more conviction than he felt. "He’s your friend."

"Not my friend." With surprising speed she dodged past him and ran toward the guest room. Ben spun to follow, heart pounding, stomach tight. He charged into the guest room to find Dorna standing a few meters away from Kendi, who was still standing in deep meditation, spear propped under one knee. He looked peaceful, vulnerable.

"Dear, dear, dear," Dorna said in her old woman’s voice. "What a little pisser. Cute, though, in a gawky, spring chicken sort of way. And you were right, Benny-boy. I wouldn’t kill him. But Rudy might. Do you want to take that chance?"

Ben stood in the doorway, torn. Cole was probably attacking his mother this very moment, bringing the Dream to horrible life around her and tearing her to pieces. But if he left to get help, Kendi would be left alone with a lunatic bent on some kind of revenge. If he could find a way to remove Dorna from the picture, everything would be all right. But Dorna had proven twice that she was a better fighter than he was despite the weights he lifted. He needed a weapon and glanced desperately around the room without seeing anything.

"That’s right Ben," old-voice Dorna taunted. "What are you going to do? Hit me? Try to kill me? Actually make a decision? Poor Benny-boy can’t make up his mind to save his life. Does he love Kendi or not? Should he save his mother or his boyfriend? Should he attack the old lady or run for help? Poor Benny-boy, always waiting, never acting. Poor, poor Benny-boy."

Ben lunged for her. Laughing, she danced out of the way. Ben threw a punch, but she blocked it and landed a fist in his stomach. Ben backed away, gasping. Dorna’s hand went to her belt and came up with a large knife. The blade vibrated with a sound like a dog growling. Dorna swung it, and it sheered through a bedpost like paper.

"Who the hell do you think you are, boy?" she snarled in a deep, masculine voice. "You think you can get the best of me? I’ll kick the shit out of you." She lunged and the knife roared. Ben leaped backward, almost knocking Kendi over. "Poetic, isn’t it? Dorna’s brother is killing your mother in the Dream and I’m killing you here in the solid world. Mother and son dying at the same time. Let’s end it here."

She drew back the snarling knife. Ben reached back and snatched the spear from under Kendi’s knee. Kendi collapsed to the floor. Ben yanked the rubber tip off the spear and flung it with all his strength at Dorna. It stuck with a meaty thunk and she screamed. The knife clattered to the floor.

Blessing every weight he had lifted, Ben grabbed up Kendi in a firefigher’s carry and ran out of the room without looking back. He made it out the front door and into the darkness beyond. The walkways were deserted at this time of night. Kendi was a limp, heavy weight across his shoulders. Ben hesitated. Dorna had said that Cole was at this moment in the Dream with Mom. By the time he got to a phone, called the Guardians, explained the situation, and got them to act, Mom-and possibly Kendi-would be long dead.

Ben hurried across the walkway to the next talltree over and found a staircase that led downward. Kendi bounced and flopped on his back like warm rag doll. Ben could feel him breathing. The steps clattered under his heavy feet, and the darkness amid the talltree leaves and branches was all-enveloping. Ben could hardly see where he was going, but he didn’t need to. This was his neighborhood, and he knew every stair, every plank, every leaf and branch. After a moment he came to an alcove where the staircase made a turn to follow the trunk of the talltree. Ben eased Kendi off his shoulders and set him carefully on the boards. Working quickly, he pushed Kendi’s inert body against the talltree trunk where the shadows were the thickest.

His body is in his room, but his mind is in the Dream.

"You’ll be safe here until you wake up," Ben whispered to him. "Please be safe."

Then he took off for the monastery at a dead run.

This time it was the Outback. Ara agreed it was easier for her and Kendi to meet and talk there since Kendi had to use his private desert as a transition from one Silent’s turf to the next unless he wanted to suffer nausea and vomiting. Ara had promised to start working with him on more instantaneous movement, but that would have to come later.

"All right," Ara said. "Two of Jeren’s previous owners confirmed strange murders and finger mutilations going on while they owned him. More nails in his legal coffin once the Guardians catch him. Are you sure Ben called them?"

"No, Mother," Kendi said testily. "But he said he would. It’s just the same as the last four times you asked."

"Sorry," Ara sighed, sinking down onto a boulder. "I’m a mom, I worry."

The Outback sky was clear and perfectly blue. Rock and scrubby plant life stretched in all directions, bringing the smell of vegetation baking in hot, dry air. Ara was uncomfortably warm but she had to admit that Kendi had created a unique and realistic turf. Overhead circled a falcon. She screamed once and Kendi smiled up at her.

"What is that like?" Ara asked. "I’ve been lax in my teacher duties by not talking to you about it, but so much has been happening."

"I’m not really aware of it until she touches me," Kendi said. "Then it’s like our memories merge and there’s two of me, but still only one." He paused. "Mother Ara, when can I start looking for my mom?"

Ara started. Kendi hadn’t mentioned his family in a long time and she had supposed he had stopped wondering if he would be able to find them.

"Once you reach Brother," Ara said, "you’ll be able to do field work in the solid world, if that’s what you want. You can start doing what I do-seek out Silent slaves and buy them for the Children-and see if you can track your family that way. But that won’t be for some years yet."

Kendi looked unblinkingly up into the sun. "Why can’t I look for her in the Dream? She’s Silent, and I’ve touched her a lot. I should be able to find her."

"You can certainly look," Mother Ara said, trying to think how best to let him down. "But Kendi-not all Silent are able to reach the Dream. Ben, for one. Your mother may or may not be able to enter here. And even if she does, there are millions of Silent all throughout the galaxy. Sure, touching her in the solid world makes it easier to look for her, but you don’t have any idea where or how to look."

"I’m good at tracking people," Kendi pointed out. His face was a mask of intensity, but his voice was hoarse. "And I’m good at sensing things in the Dream. Why can’t I sense her?"

"For all those reasons I just mentioned, Kendi," Ara said gently. "It isn’t your fault, you know."

"Yes it is," Kendi said. "I should have begged Mistress Blanc to buy Dad and Martina and Utang. I should have tried to find some way to escape and find them. I should have found a way to stop them from getting on the colony ship in the first place. I could have done a lot of things."

Ara kept her voice low, though her heart ached in sympathy for him. "None of those things would have helped. I think you know that, but you feel guilty that you’re free when your family isn’t."

"I’m going to find her-and the rest of them," Kendi insisted. "If that means I have to make Brother and then Father younger than anyone else ever did, I will. We were all supposed to be on Pelogosa building a new colony together. I didn’t want to go, but now I’d give everything to be there."

"Kendi, you can’t-"

The Dream rippled. Ara felt the splash move against her. Kendi jumped as if he’d stepped on a snake.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I’m not sure," Ara said. "What would-"

"Ara."

Fear stabbed through Ara’s chest. She and Kendi spun around and saw him. He stood only a few steps away, dressed all in black. A wide-brimmed hat hid his face. Ara felt the blood slip from her face. Her breath came short and fast. Kendi’s eyes were wide.

"Ara, my love," the man said. "Did you like the bracelet?"

It took every scrap of courage she had, but Ara did it. She stepped in front of her student. "Kendi, get out of here," she said. "He wants me, not you."

"I’m not going to leave you alone with him," Kendi insisted.

"The skinny Silent who saw me with my last girlfriend," the man said. "Kendi, is it? You heard her. Leave. You aren’t involved."

Kendi stepped around Ara to stand beside her. Ara mentally screamed at him to stay put, to do as he was told for once. She almost tried to shove him back, but was afraid a sudden move might send the dark man over the edge.

"Kendi, I’m ordering you to leave," she said through gritted teeth. Because I can’t leave until I know you’re safe.

"You can’t get us both, Jeren," Kendi said. "Give it up."

The black man backed up a step. "Who’s Jeren?"

Shut up, Kendi! Ara thought. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

"We know, Jeren." Kendi took a step toward him. "We know about you, we know about Dorna. We know about it all. So why don’t you just give yourself up? We don’t want to-to-" Kendi fell silent. Ara suspected he was going to say We don’t want to hurt you, but he couldn’t lie in the Dream.

"You don’t know anything," the dark man said hoarsely. "You can’t prove it’s-"

Movement flashed down from the sky. A brown blur whipped past the black man’s head and ripped off the man’s hat, revealing Jeren’s face. The scar around his left eye-

Did his mother do that to him?

— shone white against his skin.

Jeren made a choking sound and clapped his hands over his face. For a moment, Ara thought he was going to drop to his knees and start crying. She allowed herself a small sigh of relief. Once unmasked, Jeren’s power was gone. All Ara had to do now was get him to tell her where his body was so she could-

The world exploded. With a cracking boom the ground came to life. Giant stone fingers jabbed upward, trying to trap Ara in their grip. Kendi shouted and leaped sideways. Fear stabbed through Ara, but she didn’t even think. A sledgehammer appeared in her hands, and she swept it in an arc around her. Stone shattered in a dozen directions and Ara scrambled free. She glanced at Kendi, dreading what she might see. He was crouching a little ways away.

"Get out, Kendi!" she yelled at him, but he seemed too dazed to understand her.

"You bitch!" Jeren screamed. "I watched you in the Dream and fell in love with you. Now I have to kill you."

Ara didn’t bother responding. She raised her fist and a bolt of lightning flashed down from the clear blue sky. It smashed the ground only a few steps away from Jeren. The thunderclap made Ara’s ears ring and knocked Jeren backward. He somersaulted to his feet in an inhumanly smooth motion.

"You missed," he snarled. "You wanna fight, huh? Fine by me."

A howling wind tore across the Outback and slammed into Ara and Kendi, bowling both of them over. The air whooshed out of Ara’s lungs and she felt herself tumbling end over end. Then she slammed into something hard. Pain ran down her back and ribs. Dirt and sand stung her eyes, making it hard to see. For a moment she panicked. Then the hard-won control took over. This was the Dream, where she could dictate reality. Ara concentrated for a split-second, and a stone wall rumbled up out of the ground before her. The wind cut off. Ara cleared the grit from her eyes. Kendi lay next to her looking dazed.

"Kendi, get out," she hissed. "Kendi!"

But he didn’t respond. Ara grimaced. She and Jeren both had been tearing at his turf, ripping it apart and reshaping it. This all tore at Kendi’s very mind, and he didn’t have the experience to cope with it. It was the same effect that Jeren’s manipulation had had on his female victims. It didn’t bother Ara because this wasn’t her turf, but she couldn’t leave Kendi behind to face Jeren alone.

The earth shuddered and boomed. With a thunderous crack the stone wall broke and crumbled into rubble. Jeren stood on the other side, less than two meters away. Ara’s hand snapped out and a neuropistol appeared in her grip. She fired. The beam struck Jeren square in the chest.

He laughed. "You’re a woman," he snickered. "You can’t hurt me."

Ara swallowed. A battle in the Dream was a struggle between two minds fighting to control reality, and the stronger one would usually win. Jeren was obviously more powerful than Ara had thought-his mental image of an unhurt self was stronger than her image of the blast from a deadly weapon. But there were other ways to fight.

"A woman like your mother?" she said.

Jeren actually blanched. Ara gestured and the rubble vanished. Kendi slowly got to his feet. Trying to keep Jeren’s attention on her, she locked eyes with him and stepped forward.

"Your mother hurt you a lot," she said, and wished desperately she had had time to read some specifics from the file on Riann Keller. Best to stick with the basics. "She beat you and made fun of you, didn’t she? You and Dorna both. You hated her, but you also loved her, didn’t you, Jeren? That’s the way you feel toward all Silent women, isn’t that right?"

Jeren retreated a step. Ara didn’t even blink.

"You thought if you could make someone love you, everything would be all right. You wanted to give your mother’s friend Polly Garvin presents, but you were afraid, so you made your sister do it for you. And when Polly spurned you, you killed her. The same went for Minn Araq, didn’t it?"

"Shut up," Jeren said.

"Dorna wanted a souvenir," Ara continued. "Something to prove she’d been brave enough to do her brother’s bidding. So she took things-a finger, a bit of clothing, a piece of one of your presents. How does that make you feel, Jeren?"

"I said, shut up!"

"That was when you tried it on your own mother. She didn’t love you either, even after the presents. So you killed her, too. But then came the cruelest blow of all. Your mother had sold you and Dorna into slavery, and the slaver was already on his way. How did it feel to watch your sister carted away in electric shackles, Jeren?"

She had been hoping to break him down, but instead Jeren responded with nothing but invisible force. Ara flew backward several meters and plowed into the ground. She felt something snap, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. She tried to roll to her feet, but a wave of pain stopped her. Before she could react further, thick green vines sprouted from the ground and whipped around her body like snakes. A little ways away, Kendi lay similarly entangled. Jeren strode toward her, green eyes blazing.

"You’re going to die now," he said. "I’m going to crush you and listen while you scream."

"It won’t help," gasped Kendi, and Jeren spun to look at him. "Ben knows who you are. He’s already called the Guardians. They’re on their way to pick you up right now."

Jeren stared. Ara tried to summon up the concentration to leave the Dream, Kendi or no Kendi, but the pain that wracked her chest and back was too great. The vines continued to twist and writhe, sliding over her skin and making her cry out despite herself.

"Then," Jeren said, "I’ll have to kill you both fast so I can get the hell away."

He snapped his fingers and one of the vines tore Ara’s arm off. Ara screamed, and blood spurted from her shoulder. Another scream, a different one, pierced the air. A brown-and-blue thunderbolt smashed straight into Jeren’s back between his shoulder blades. He dropped flat, and Kendi’s falcon clawed for altitude with yet another cry. Kendi, who was obviously recovering from his daze, let out a whoop of glee-

— until Jeren leaped back to his feet with inhuman ease. In his hands he held a shotgun.

"No!" Ara cried.

The gun went off. The falcon tumbled to the ground in a mass of bloody feathers.

Ben plowed through the lobby of the dormitory, past the startled night clerk, and up the hallway toward Jeren’s room. It was two doors down from Kendi’s. His chest burned and his legs ached from the exertion of running so far at top speed, but he ignored the feeling. When he reached Jeren’s door, he twisted the knob and wasn’t at all surprised to find it locked. Ben shoved against the door, but it didn’t budge. He backed up and slammed into it as hard as he could. Pain throbbed in Ben’s shoulder. The door, made of thick talltree wood, didn’t budge. Heedless of further pain, Ben smashed into it again. Nothing. Panic sprouted and spread. Jeren was at this moment attacking his mother and Kendi. He had to get inside.

A door popped open further up the hall, and Willa poked her head into the hallway. She looked sleepy. "What’s going on?" she yawned.

Without stopping to explain, Ben shoved past her and into her room. She squeaked in protest as he bolted past her bed toward the door that lead out onto her balcony. Adrenaline singing in his veins, he yanked it open and shot out onto the shared balcony. He ran down to Jeren’s room. The lights were on, and through the clear panel of the door he could see Jeren lying on his bed. His hands were folded over his stomach and a slight smile twisted his lips. Ben tried the door, but it was also locked. With chilly fingers, he pulled his shirt over his head and wrapped it around one arm. Then he rammed into the door.

More pain pulsed at his shoulder. The door didn’t break, or even budge. He tried twice more with no effect. Jeren continued to smile.

Jeren raised the shotgun and pointed it straight at Kendi. Kendi swallowed and strained against the vines, but they were tough as steel. Ara’s face was gray, but she was somehow still conscious. Her torn arm lay a little ways away. Jeren finger tightened on the trigger, and Kendi wondered if it would hurt.

"Cole!"

Jeren jerked his head sideways. Kendi followed his gaze. Dorna stood a few meters away. Her face was pale and waxen beneath dark curls. The vines tightened around Kendi’s body and his ribs creaked.

"You can’t do it, Cole," she said. "It isn’t fair."

"Shut up," Jeren-Cole-snarled. "You do what I tell you."

"If you kill Ara now, I won’t be able to get her finger. She isn’t on Bellerophon, remember?" Dorna said. "I have an unbroken line all the way back to Mom and past her to Mrs. Garvin. You can’t kill her." Her voice dropped in pitch, became more intense. Kendi stared. "You can’t kill her, Cole. I won’t let you."

"I told you to shut the fuck up!" He swung the shotgun around and pointed it at her.

"If you try to kill her here, we won’t help you anymore," Dorna said flatly. "And we’ll stop you."

Cole laughed. "Who?"

The Dream rippled and a wave of nausea washed over Kendi. A moment later, a group of people stood behind Dorna. Kendi recognized the old woman Zelda and Buck in his blue coveralls. A short blond girl with downcast eyes and violets in her hair stood just behind the latter. A dozen others were there as well, both male and female. All of them were staring at Cole.

"We will," they said in one voice.

Ben looked frantically around the balcony. Willa stood in the doorway to her room, looking frightened. "Ben," she said. "What’s going on?"

Ben’s eye fell on one of the rope swings dangling from the branch above. He snatched it up and jumped onto the balcony rail. Clinging to it like a monkey, he kicked backward and sailed out over dark and empty space. A moment later he swung forward, heels pointed straight toward Jeren’s door. He hit the panel hard, but it still didn’t break. Jeren continued to smile.

Cole laughed. "Look at you," he sneered. "Just can’t keep it together, can you, Sis?" He pointed the shotgun back at Kendi. "He’ll be first. Then I junk Ara."

With an animal howl that chilled Kendi straight through, the multitude lunged forward. Cole spun, surprised, but only for an instant. The shotgun in his hands changed shape. Cole pointed the machine gun at the advancing horde and fired. The gun made a hoarse coughing sound, and blood poured from a thousand wounds. People fell like mown grass, their bodies vanishing the moment they touched the ground. Zelda dropped and vanished, as did Buck and Violet. In the end, only Dorna was left standing. Her cheek bled scarlet from a near miss and she looked dazed. Cole raised the gun.

Ben hit the door again. The shock traveled all the way up his body and seemed to fuse his spine. A thin crack appeared. He kicked back, swung over empty space and, ignoring the pain in heels and knees, hit the door yet again and again and again.

"You won’t," Dorna whispered.

"I will," Cole said, and fired. Dorna staggered backward, blood gushing from her chest and stomach. She made a low choking noise and dropped to her knees. Then she disappeared.

"You shit!" Kendi said, struggling against the vines. Ara didn’t move, but she must still be conscious if she was in the Dream. Or had she already died and was Cole keeping her image here?

"You’re dead, Kendi," Cole said with a too-wide grin. "Sorry. It was nice knowing you." He pointed the machine gun.

The door shattered. Falling shards made ribbons of Ben’s trousers and sliced his legs, but he scarcely noticed. He landed on his back, slid partway across the floor, and fetched up against Jeren’s bed. Heedless of the sharp polymer pieces all around him, Ben scrambled to his feet. Without thinking, he snatched up a paperweight from the desk and brought it down hard on Jeren Drew’s head.

Cole stiffened. He made a small sound in the back of his throat. Then he vanished. Kendi’s vines instantly disappeared, as did the ones binding Mother Ara. She lay ashen-faced on the ground, her arm lying a step away like a grotesque stick of firewood. Blood was pouring from her shoulder again. Kendi knelt beside her and patted her face.

"Mother Ara," he said. "Mother Ara. You have to leave the Dream. Can you do it?"

She opened her eyes, but they didn’t focus. Her mouth moved, but no sound emerged. She was dying, that was plain. The fact that she was still alive mystified Kendi. She had lost far more blood than any human could survive. Of course, this was the Dream, and if Mother Ara had decided she wasn’t dead yet, she wouldn’t be. But Cole’s attack had hurt her, and she was rapidly losing her hold on life. Instinct told Kendi that she needed something to hold onto, something that would help her heal the damage. Kendi looked at the severed arm for only a split-second before catching it up. It was heavier that he had expected, and bits of flesh hung from the tattered end. Kendi held the arm to its rightful place at Mother Ara’s shoulder.

"You can’t do it," Mother Ara croaked.

"I can," Kendi said to her. "My people are renowned for their healing."

Mother Ara made a choking sound that Kendi realized was a sort of laugh. "Tell Ben I love him."

Kendi looked down at her, uncertain what to do. If Mother Ara didn’t believe he could heal her, he wouldn’t be able to do it. He wasn’t skilled enough in the Dream yet to force his will upon her. He had to prove that he could heal her so that she would believe it and heal herself.

Except the only way to do that would be to heal her, Kendi thought. Tears sprang to his eyes. He had to find a way to make her believe. He had to-

A tiny meeping sound made him turn. The sound came from the falcon. He had forgotten about her. Kendi dashed over and picked her up. Her pain washed over him, merged with him. It staggered him for a moment, but then his health merged her wounds and overcame them. She was wounded, but he wanted her to be healthy. She would be healthy now. Kendi spun and held her out so Mother Ara could see.

"All life!" he cried, and flung the falcon skyward. She faltered a moment, the flapped strong, wide wings and ascended to the sky.

Mother Ara closed her eyes. Her body flickered like a hologram with a virus. Kendi dropped beside her again and held the arm in place. Tears ran down his face but he forced his voice to remain steady.

"I call upon the blood of my ancestors," he said. "Heal this woman who is my teacher and restore her to health!" Mother Ara was wounded, but he wanted her to be healed. She would be healed now.

Nothing happened. Mother Ara’s body flickered again, stabilized, faltered. A tear fell from Kendi’s eye and dropped through her to land on the sandy Outback soil. Then she vanished.

A low sound escaped Kendi’s throat, but before he could react further, the earth rippled and Mother Ara reappeared with a splash of Dream energy. Her face was pale, but her arm was firmly back in place. She sat up and looked down at herself as if surprised. Kendi stared.

"It worked," he said. "All life, it worked." With a wild whoop he flung his arms around her. Mother Ara winced.

"Careful," she said. "The arm, the arm."

Kendi released her. "Sorry. You’re all right then?"

"A little sore, but otherwise fine." Mother Ara flexed her arm in wonder. "Thank you, Kendi."

"You’re welcome, Mother," he said.

No further words were needed. Both gathered their concentration and vanished from the Dream.

Kendi opened his eyes onto darkness. Night insects chirped and a cool breeze washed over him. He wasn’t standing up-he was lying crumpled in a heap on a hard surface. Cautiously he sat up. What the hell? Where was his spear? How had he-?

Frantic footsteps barreled around the corner. Startled, Kendi leaped to his feet, then staggered dizzily under a sudden headache. Too many Dream drugs in one day. A strong, solid arm went around his shoulders and steadied him.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked. "Is Mom okay?"

"She’s all right," Kendi said muzzily. "Where the hell am I?"

"Let’s get home," Ben said. His arm still lay warm across Kendi’s shoulder, and Kendi found it comforting. "I’ll explain, and then you can tell your side. Are you sure you’re all right?" His voice thickened. "I was …I was worried."

Kendi looked at him. His eyes had adjusted well enough to see Ben’s face, but he couldn’t read his expression. "I’m fine, Ben. I’m fine with everything. I really, really am."

And then Ben was kissing him.