Page 66 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

“A breach incident?” Tia asks.

Mr. Griffin slides his hands into his pockets, then talks more to the table than to us. “She got too close to something she was hunting in the Nightmare Realm. Sometimes the monsters find ways to follow you home.” He looks up, meeting my eyes. “Which is why training is essential. The better you understand the rules of the Nightmare Realm, the better your chances of survival.”

A chill runs through me. This isn’t theoretical anymore. I’m here to learn how to not get dead.

“The training space is downstairs,” Mr. Griffin continues, heading across the room toward a locked door that I’d always assumed was for storage.

We follow him down a steep stone staircase that seems much older than the building above.

“Um, aren’t we too close to the river for a basement?” Tia asks.

“The space is charmed,” Mr. Griffin says, turning to smile at her. “Its magical reinforcements are as vital as the stone walls themselves. Ah! And here we are,” he adds as we reach the circular room that appears to be carved from stone. No windows, but the walls are lined with mirrors, and candles provide the only light, their infinite reflections adding to the sensation that this place is held together by magic.

Beside me, Tia turns in a circle, her arms out like a little girl. “It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie.”

“And yet it’s all real,” Chase says.

I look to Chase. “This is where we’ll go into the Nightmare Realm?”

“That’s right,” he says, nodding to the various items set out on a table. Most look like ancient museum pieces that might have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci for a steampunk movie. “The artifacts will help you enter the realm and let us monitor you.”

It’s only then that I realize Whistler has joined us and is setting up what looks like a xylophone but is probably something that has nothing to do with music.

“So do you need this stuff?” Tia asks Chase. “I mean, do you have to come to this room to go to the dream realms?”

“No,” he says. Then he takes a step forward and completely disappears. Beside me, Tia gasps, the sound still lingering when he reappears. “No,” he repeats. “I don’t need the room or the equipment. For that matter, neither does Cora.” He turns to me. “You do it all the time. Now, you’ll learn to be intentional.”

He’s right. I’ve been crossing into the Nightmare Realm pretty much every time I sleep. I just don’t have a clue how I managed it. And I’m pretty sure my body’s not disappearing from my bed.

“It’s not,” Chase says when I say as much. “It’s easiest to think of what’s been traveling so far as your soul. But you do have the capacity to move bodily through the realms.”

“Oh.” The idea’s both terrifying and exciting. “Like you just did? Or will I need that?” I nod toward the equipment.

“That’s for support only. It aids in accuracy, in communication. It’s a tool, not a requirement.” He looks between me and Tia. “Understand?”

We both say yes, even though I’m certain we’re both lying. I know I am. But I trust Chase. I figure it’ll make sense to me eventually.

I catch his eye, still nervous. Still wrapping my head around all of this. “The bottom line is that I won’t disappear like you did, right?”

“Correct,” he says. “I am of the dreamscape. You are of this realm. For now, at least, your form will stay here.”

I nod, thinking of my mother, killed in another realm—her body dead and cold in this world.

As if reading my mind, Chase takes my hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You already know how to do this. Now, you’ll learn to do it with intention.”

I nod. He’s right. And though I’m nervous, I’m also strangely eager. And when Chase points to a cushion on the floor, I go and settle onto it. “Thank you,” I whisper.

“For what?”

I shrug, not entirely sure. “For taking care of me, I guess.”

His hand cups my cheek. “I will always take care of you,” he says, his voice all business, but that sizzling touch saying so much more.

Our eyes meet and hold—at least until I can’t take it, and I break the connection to start studying my shoes.

A moment passes, and when I look back up, he’s standing tall and straight, as if his body is held together by need and desire.

Honestly, I’m right there with him.