Page 68 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

I nod, looking up at him from where I’m sitting cross-legged on that same cushion, now decked out in some very funky bracelets and anklets.

“So these are like electrodes?” I ask.

“That’s a good analogy,” Chase says. “We’ll be able to monitor you, and the cuffs assist in pulling you out if anything goes wrong.”

“Wrong how?” Tia asks from where she’s sitting at the edge of the room, her back to the wall.

“Getting lost between realms,” Chase replies, then turns to face me. “Losing your sense of self, encountering entities too powerful for your current skill level.” He shrugs, as if all that is just another day in the office.

I glance at Tia, whose eyes are as wide as mine.

Whistler points a finger at her, then at me. “You two need to understand that there is no one more qualified to teach Cora about dreamwalking. Why this man is the⁠—”

“Whistler.” The name snaps out, and Whistler immediately goes quiet, his body stiffening as if he’d almost revealed to a toddler that Santa doesn’t exist.

“Cora will do great,” Chase says, while I exchange a what the fuck look with Tia.

“Trust me,” Chase says, his voice now soft. “She’s safe. You’re safe,” he says, turning to meet my eyes. “You’re not even going to fully enter the Nightmare Realm. Tonight, we’re practicing the transition state—that space between waking and sleeping where you can begin to exert conscious control.”

“Wasn’t I already doing that? I mean, I made the conscious decision to trust you when the freaky lava things were chasing us.”

“True,” he says. “But you were reacting to the environment, not manipulating it.”

“But you couldn’t manipulate it either, right? Not completely.”

He frowns, and I cringe, feeling like I’ve just kicked him in the nuts.

“The closer I am to King Adric’s castle, the less control I can gather.”

“Oh. Why?”

He shrugs, not meeting my eyes. “Let’s just call it my Kryptonite. That man. That place.”

I frown, trying to puzzle that out.

“Cora.” My head snaps up. “You’re here to learn how to survive in that realm. Let’s focus on that. Not my rather inconvenient weaknesses.”

I cringe. “Sorry.”

“I assure you, my ego is still healthy. But this needs to be about you.”

I nod. He’s right. This needs to be All About Cora if I want to survive.

And I really, really want to survive. “Sorry,” I say again. “Please impart all the knowledge.”

His lips twitch. “First of all, trust your instincts. And don’t overthink. Remember that you’ve done it before. Let yourself relax, but don’t let go of awareness. You want to feel yourself drifting toward sleep while keeping a part of your mind alert and observant.”

Said out loud, it sounds impossible. But he’s right—I have done this before. I know I have. Which means I can do it again. Now, I stretch out on the floor, my head on the pillow. Tia takes my hand, and I close my eyes as I try to let go of the waking world.

“Good,” Chase’s soft voice comes from all around me, almost like an embrace. “Imagine roots growing from your body into the earth. These roots are your anchor to this realm, to this reality. To Tia. To me. No matter how deep you go, these roots will always call you home.”

I picture thick, strong roots extending from my spine down through the floor, twining with Chase’s roots, then descending through the building’s foundation, deep into the earth below. The visualization feels surprisingly natural, like something I’ve done before without realizing it.

“Excellent.” Chase’s voice grows softer, more distant. “Now, let yourself sink deeper, but slowly. Imagine you’re descending through layers of consciousness like floors in a building. Each level down, you have more control over the environment around you.”

A strange weightlessness begins to overtake me. It’s like floating in warm water, but with a sense of infinite space in all directions. And even with my eyes closed, I can sense a soft glow—silver and gold undulating like ocean waves all around me.

“Where am I?” I whisper, not sure if I’m even speaking aloud.