AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stop flailing and give her my full attention.
“If you go into my dream and make me recall whatever Leal locked away, I will kill you when I wake up,” she says evenly.
Whew. I was worried she’d demand something impossible. Relieved, I bob my head. “Got it. That really got through, I swear. For good measure, I’ll stay out of your dreams, period.”
She lowers me to my feet, and I sink into the chair, knees shaking.
“You may want to enter my dreams,” she says as if nothing has happened. “It’s worth taking a look at the other windows. They might contain clues as to who the killer is.”
I lay my palm over Pom’s black fur to calm my racing heartbeat. “Do you know which window is which? I wouldn’t want to accidentally—”
“I know the one to avoid.”
Pom’s fur goes from black to light orange.
“How would I even—”
“Leal would fly into the windows from time to time,” she says. “I remember seeing dreams when he’d do it, but I would forget them when I woke up.”
Interesting. I’m learning something about dreamwalker craft after all. “He’d just fly into them?”
“That’s what it looked like to me, but it might be more involved than that. He said he risked losing his power for the day each time. A few times it even happened, and we’d have to resume our dream collaboration the next day.”
Oh, puck. That could be seriously problematic. “In my current position, losing my power for a day would be tantamount to suicide. You were there for that vote. You know that.”
She shrugs. “Perhaps consider the black windows your last resort?”
I nod slowly. She’s right; I don’t have to try some crazy, unproven technique. Yet. “Let’s see if I can find the killer without them. Speaking of, I should probably start soon.”
She stands up. “I’ll get Kit for you.”
“Thanks.” I give her what I hope is a warm smile. “And if you could go to sleep afterward, so I have the option to check out those windows, I’d appreciate it.”
“Remember what I said about my own black window.” She glances at the spot on the ceiling where she’d pinned me, then at the table I would’ve crashed into if she’d dropped me.
I gulp. “Don’t worry. I remember.”
“Great.”
She leaves, and I resume pacing.
When Kit doesn’t immediately return, I decide to go into the dream world to see if some of the sleepers I haven’t cleared are ready for me.
I ignore Felix and the still-sleeping werewolf and locate one of the Councilors from the list of those who voted to kill me. According to the papers Kit brought, this guy was having cocktails with a few other Council members. Since I’ve already seen the room, I go into his dream to check if he was really there.
He was indeed. In one fell swoop, I clear him and everyone else sharing cocktails.
When I wake up, it’s to the sight of a large male orangutan eating a banana.
“Kit?” I say to the ape. “Please tell me that’s you.”
The orangutan morphs into Kit and tosses the half-eaten banana into the trash. “I wanted to see if it would taste better when I’m in that form.” She grimaces. “It didn’t.”
She leads me to the bedroom of an older guy. I wait an hour for him to reach REM sleep before swiftly ascertaining he’s not the murderer. I clear the next Councilor the same way, and the next five as well.
With each not guilty verdict, I grow more and more worried. What will the Council do when I tell them I couldn’t figure out who the murderer is?
Nothing good.
“What time is it?” I ask Kit. “How many people are left?”
She looks at her watch. “It’s eight in the morning. Vickie, the siren, is our last suspect.”
The last suspect. What will I do if she’s not guilty? I guess that will be the time to risk either my sanity with the werewolf or my power for the day with Nina.
Vickie is in REM sleep when we arrive, as expected. REM periods become more prolonged toward morning. I touch the siren’s forehead and end up in the dream world. Most of the Councilors are gone from the tower of sleepers, but Nina, my possible plan B, is still sleeping. So is the werewolf, who’s plan C, where c stands for crazy.
I check the siren. She really had been playing the piano, as she told Kain.
I exit the dream world, and Kit and I leave the siren’s apartment—only to bump straight into Kain.
“Update,” he demands.
Kit keeps moving. “I’ll be in my room, getting my beauty sleep.”
“Can you give me five minutes?” I ask Kain.
He grudgingly agrees. I turn away from him and use Pom to go back into the dream world.
Pom greets me, and I tell him what happened on the way to the tower of sleepers.
