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The tips of his ears darken. “Remind me not to join you when you do. Sounds scary.”
“Deal.” I scratch the top of his furry head until his ears turn purple. “Now I’m going to attempt the whole ‘double consciousness’ thing.”
“I’ll watch.” Flying up a few feet, he stares down at me intently—an act that makes him look borderline freakish, thanks to his tea-saucer-sized eyes.
I exit my body, becoming a dream ghost, and create an exact duplicate of that body. So far, so good. Next, I attempt to return to both bodies at the same time. I end up in only one—the original. The second body just stands there like a mannequin.
I exit my body again, give the two Baileys fiery hair, and will myself to enter both.
Nope. Still end up in just one.
Pom zooms down and pokes the second body with a toe. “Maybe you need to turn this into one of those dream characters you like to have sex with?”
“Pom!” I give him a menacing glare. “How many times do I have to tell you that’s private?”
He turns beet red. “You didn’t ask me not to spy on you every time. I assumed it was okay.”
Great. First, I’d forgotten to make myself invisible when dreamwalking in humans, and now it turns out I’d also forgotten to ask Pom for privacy during my R & R. Must be the sleep deprivation.
“Let me try your idea,” I say and replace the body in front of us with a dream character of me, something I’ve never tried before.
“Hello,” the new me says sensually. “How can I be of service?”
Pom looks between me and my creation. “Do they all want to have sex?”
I shrug. “They’re just like any person you meet in a dream.”
“What we dream characters say and do is driven by the dreamer’s subconscious,” my other self says. “That’s how I know she’s often wondered about this.” Leaping at me, she plants a wet kiss on my lips.
“Hey!” I push her away. “Not in front of Pom.”
She smirks. “I’ll stop if you admit it.”
“Fine. Guilty as charged. I have thought about it. You. Doing things with myself. But I’ve never done it because it seems a bit narcissistic.”
She strikes a centerfold pose. “Anyone you have sex with in this dream world is essentially me. I may pretend to be them, but we both know it’s really you, or a part of you, pulling the strings.”
This is not going as I’d anticipated. “Just stay still,” I command her.
She freezes in a comical pose. I focus to see if my consciousness is in both of us.
Nope.
I float out of my body and attempt to land back in both bodies.
Another fail.
I dismiss the second me. “Looks like I’m not powerful enough to pull off the double consciousness.”
“Or you might be too sleep deprived to use your power properly,” Pom suggests helpfully, flitting over to sit on my shoulder. “It’s like I told you. It’s been more than four months since—”
“You’re like a nagging husband.” I grab his furry body and hold him in front of my face. “I can’t raise enough money for Mom’s bills if I waste time sleeping. Now I also need to solve this case ASAP.”
His lavender eyes are unblinking. “So you’re not avoiding sleep because you’re afraid of bad dreams?”
Ugh. Who died and made Pom my therapist? “Remember that privacy thing we talked about a minute ago?”
His shoulders slump.
“Yeah, you guessed it.” I set him down. “Can I please get some for the next few minutes?”
“If you insist,” he says glumly.
“I insist. And you must promise not to spy. I mean it.”
“I pinky swear.” He extends a three-fingered paw.
Since every digit is the same, I guess the rightmost to be the pinky and solemnly shake it to seal the deal. “Now scram.”
He performs the slowest Cheshire Cat disappearance ever.
When I’m sure he’s gone, I change my surroundings to my favorite bedroom in the palace and let my mind drift to Valerian. Even if his looks were to impress me, they were impressive. Visualizing him is easy; I guess his mouthwateringly hot face is burned into my imagination.
Without further ado, I make a dream version of Valerian appear in front of me, dressed in the same suit as in the real world.
“Hi, gorgeous,” Dream Valerian drawls. “Miss me already?”
“Shut up.” I try to keep my voice steady. “You know what I want.”
He grins wickedly, and unbuttoning the top button of his shirt, he comes toward me. Even though I’m in the dream world and he’s a simulation of what was likely an illusion, my body’s response feels quite realistic—down to every detail.
This will be fun.
Even if the real Valerian doesn’t look this way, I owe him for inspiring this dream design.
Moving with predatory grace, Dream Valerian closes the distance between us and kisses me. His sensual lips are as soft as I imagined. I melt in his arms, feeling his—
