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Instead of answering, I take us to the yummy-looking canyon and quickly introduce her to Asha.
“This is another way you can help us,” I tell my twin as I examine the thousands of dream constructs she’s already manifested. “How about I bring people here, and you explain what’s what to them?”
She grins mischievously. “I could even pretend to be you to make it quicker.”
“Suit yourself,” I say and return to the tower of sleepers.
After a second of deliberation, I decide to dreamwalk in Ariel next.
I find her dreaming about chopping off vampire heads with her gate sword. I watch for a second, worried that without my supervision, she’ll succumb to the temptation to drink vampire blood.
Nope. She ignores the blood completely. This must be about violence, which, though a little disturbing, is still healthier than the addictive alternative.
Revealing my presence to her, I deliver her to my sister for explanations.
The next person I recruit is Vickie, the siren from the New York Council.
“What about Felix?” Ariel asks when she sees me show up with the siren. “I think he’d want to help.”
“I didn’t see him sleeping,” I say.
Ariel chuckles. “He had his girlfriend over. I bet there’s a pillow fight going on right this moment.”
“You can put your friend into REM sleep from here,” Asha says. “Remember what I taught you?”
“He’s on another world,” I say. “There’s no way I—”
“You can,” Asha says. “Use your emotions.”
My emotions are still in such turmoil I don’t know which one I should utilize. Settling on fear, I close my eyes and picture Felix in every detail, from his unibrow to his thin, lanky frame.
“Here goes,” I mutter and will Felix into REM sleep.
“What the hell?” Felix’s voice is panicked. “Where am I?”
I open my eyes and grin at him. “I drew you into the dream world with my mighty powers.”
He looks at our surroundings, then at some of the fantastical constructs Asha created, then at her face. “Either I’m crazy, or this is a dream.”
“Or both,” Ariel says with a grin.
Felix suddenly blushes like a maiden. “What happened to my body in the real world?”
“It’s asleep,” I reply.
Even his ears redden now. “Any chance you can jolt me awake so I can explain this to my date? Afterward, you can bring me right back.”
I nod toward Asha. “My sister will help you. She’ll also explain what we’re doing and help you recreate your robot suit.”
Without waiting for anyone to object, I return to the tower of sleepers and dreamwalk in another member of the New York Council. Then another—until I get them all in the chocolate canyon, practicing their powers.
From there, I start pulling in people more indiscriminately, even going as far as asking some of my patients to help out.
On a hunch, I leap into the dreams of Napoleon, the lutin who’s my Gomorran underworld connection. He helped us during the Icelus investigation.
As often happens in his dreams, instead of looking like the little red devil that’s his awake form, he’s in the guise of a short man wearing a bicorne. And like the last time I was in his dreams, he’s walking on a beach on an island called Elba.
“You’re in luck,” I say without preamble. “You get to help with a battle that might put the best of Earth military history to shame.”
Battles are a fetish of his, so much so he forced me to recreate them in his dreams as a form of payment.
Napoleon’s deep-set gray-blue eyes gleam with avarice, and I take him to our scrumptious place of gathering.
He whistles when he spots all the people already here.
“Is this all of your army?” he asks with his signature French accent.
“Only the start of it,” I say. “More is coming.” Hopefully.
“Who’s the foe?” he asks.
“My sister will explain,” I say and introduce them.
“Wait, this is Napoleon?” Ariel asks when she overhears the introduction. “Isn’t he supposed to be smaller and redder?”
Felix—who has on his robot suit—lifts his face plate. “More importantly, why has Mr. Nain Rouge made himself look like the Napoleon?”
“I am the Napoleon,” the lutin says. “Now tell me about the opposing army. Hâte.”
I leave Asha to explain everything, and go on to recruit whoever I can.
When I get back, Maxwell and Kojo are still off recruiting, so I work on my own army of dream constructs, starting with versions of some of the people already here, including Felix and Ariel. Next, I manifest Valerian, hoping the entire time the real one is okay. Itzel is constructed next; with her being a gnome, I couldn’t push her into REM sleep.
After this, I create dream versions of our Necronia travel companions, both the ones who are currently Overtaken—like Kit, Colton, Nina, and Chester—and the departed, a.k.a. Fabian, Edith, and Stanislav.
That team joins the conversation with Dream Felix and Dream Ariel, and I work on the copies of my patients and celebrities, starting with Joygasm Troglodyte, Dracula, Robin Hood, Frankenstein, Zorro, and Tarzan. I continue until every comic book hero and god I know is present, ending with Zeus.
