Page 49

I had been lucid dreaming for most of my life. Unintentionally as a child, not knowing what it meant. As I grew older, I purposely sought it out, learning everything there was to learn about lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis and dream meanings.

There are multiple ways to enter a lucid dream: either by becoming aware while dreaming or directly from the waking state. The first method came easiest to me. If you train yourself to spend all day looking for little clues – hands, clocks, the color of the sky – you start doing so in your dreams, too, teaching yourself to notice when you’re dreaming. The second method – going from being awake straight to lucid dreaming through a process of focused meditation – was one art I never mastered. I tried, but my thoughts always kept drifting, and I never stayed present long enough to consciously experience falling asleep.

Never before had I experienced being yanked out of the waking world into the subconscious realm.

Disoriented, I blinked as the gray, empty room shimmered into vision. I slowly turned to take in the room – and a shock ran through me at the sight of her.

Seren stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes unblinking as usual – her gray hoodie pulled so far over her face, it was as if she tried to disappear into it.

“What is this place?” I rubbed my cold arms. “And… why? I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore.” I cringed at how brittle my voice sounded – a plea more than an accusation. As if I needed her forgiveness while she had yelled at me.

“I didn’t.” Her jaw clenched, and she glanced around the room in turn. “And… I’m not sure where we are.” A pause – she was really not wasting words today. It only stretched the silence further into discomfort. “Did you not dream this up?”

“I wouldn’t dream up something so… bland.” My dreams might be crazy, chaotic, vivid, but never like this.

“Maybe this was me, then.” She sighed, now looking as uncomfortable as I felt. “That makes sense. Since you were awake, I pulled you straight from the waking world into my… subconscious, I suppose.”

“Wow.” The dry sarcasm slipped from my lips before I could stop myself. “Not very creative, are you?”

Her lips pressed together. “Would you mind changing the scenery?”

“Eh, sure.” I frowned, surprised she wasn’t yelling at me – and even more so, why I was going along with it instead of telling her to leave me alone and stop messing with my head like this. “Where would you like to go?”

Seren’s brain visibly short-circuited, as if the simple question was too much for someone who had only ever dealt with practicalities all her life. “Sorry, what?”

I spread my arms helplessly. “I can try to change the scenery by imagining a different scenario, but I need to know what you want.”

She gave me nothing but a blank stare.

I sighed. “Alright, I’ll come up with something. Just give me a moment.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated.

When I opened them, the gray room had vanished. In its place stood a cramped casino hall, every surface drenched in a neon glow. Slot machines blinked in violent reds and radioactive greens, their screens cycling through fruit symbols and pixelated jackpots with a frantic sort of cheerfulness that grated on the senses.

Seren frowned at the machines. “A casino?”

I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable under her prying gaze. “I mean, I didn’t know where you wanted to go, so I figured I’d pick something that feels familiar to you.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to figure out whether I was purposely messing with her. Then she sighed. “Can you please make it anything but this?”

I threw up my arms. “What is it now? You ask me to set the scene, and yet—”

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “You’re right, but I got murdered in front of such a casino.” Her face twisted into a grimace. “So those memories aren’t so pleasant.”

For a moment, I just stared at her while she eyed the machines suspiciously. Now I felt stupid for not thinking of that.

“A beach, then?” I suggested.

She thought about it for a moment. “A beach sounds good, I guess.”

I closed my eyes again, and as I opened them, the buzzing casino had changed into a scenic beach – the water an exotic shade of turquoise, palm trees whistling in the wind, seagulls peacefully squeaking in the distance.

Seren let her breath escape. “Much better.”

Her pained expression remained. “Can we, ehm, go for a walk here? Or would the world dissolve before our eyes?”

I studied her until she averted her eyes. “You’ve never been much of a dreamer, have you?”