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She finally shifted her unnerving attention from me to her pocket and giggled. “Oh, so it is. It’s likely one of my potions.” She pulled out a vial of amber liquid and blinked at it, as if in surprise. “Itis. How delightful.” She held it up to better show me. “This is one of my brews.”
“Is it supposed to smoke like that?”
“Nope, which means I likely got the ingredients wrong. Oh well.” She giggled again as she repocketed the still-steaming bottle before her content smile crumpled into a frown. “Oh dear, with that distraction I’ve already forgotten your name.”
“We haven’t been introduced yet.”
The Nightmare merely blinked at me at this revelation. “We haven’t? Oh.” More blinking. I shifted beneath her scrutiny, trying to ignore Stardust’s mutters about this Nightmare’s particular box of crayons being several short.
Still, there was something innocent and endearing about her, especially with her open, almost eager look, making it impossible to deny her request for my name. “I’m Eden.”
Her entire manner brightened. “What a beautiful name. So whimsical, the perfect name for a best friend.”
Best friend? For a moment I merely gaped at her. Surely, she wouldn’t want to befriendme, especially if she knew the whispered rumors swirling about me or about my criminal past. I eyed her warily as she investigated another steaming pocket with a cheerful hum. Then again, perhaps she wouldn’t care. Although I resisted the idea of replacing my old friends, the thought of making a new one compelled me to offer her a tentative smile, my first in ages. She returned it.
“I’m Shade. It’s a pleasure to meet—oh dear.” Yet another pocket was now steaming. Frowning, she tugged out another bottle and examined it before giggling once more. “Another dud. I simply can’t get these brews right.”
“What sort of brews are you creating?”
Shade proudly showcased both bottles she’d excavated from her pockets. “New sensory details for Nightmares. I’m a Brewer. It’s a rather fine art that I haven’t quite mastered yet.” She laughed lightly again, seeming not to care about her lack of skill. “My fellow Nightmare Brewers claim I need to stop trying to make unusual senses, but I just can’t help myself, not when those senses are the ones that are in need of creation.”
“What kind of senses?” I asked, for I couldn’t imagine what new ones could possibly be created that hadn’t been already.
“Oh, you know...like a smell for suspicion or a taste for curiosity, that sort of thing. These are my experiments, but the fact that they’re steaming now means I messed up. Oh well.” And still humming, she returned them to the pockets of her cobra dress, a style that was undoubtedly meant to be creepy but which she somehow made seem charming.
“Do you like snakes?” I asked.
“Ithinkso.” Her eyes lit up as she surveyed my own style. “I love your style. A shadow, very mysterious. Perhaps I should change mine to something similar...or perhaps not. I like snakes...I think. In any case, my dress has a lot of pockets. I know I like those.”
Despite having convinced myself I’d forgotten how to smile, I found my lips twitching at this quirky Nightmare who seemed to radiate contentment. I’d never met a Nightmare quite like her, one who didn’t make me feel gloomy with their presence, except for...I forced myself to not think of him back at the ice cream parlor, a place my heart was still trying to tug me towards.
“Where were you going when I ran into you?” I asked.
She blinked up at me again, still smiling. “You ran into me?” She thought about it for a moment before her entire manner brightened. “Oh yes, that was quite splendid. A chance encounter. I was going to...wait, wherewasI going?” She pressed her thumb to her lips as she pondered the question. “Oh yes, I was going to the ice cream parlor to meet someone. Oh dear, I’m likely late again. I’m always late, yet he’s always so patient.” Her eyes widened further as an idea struck her. “Would you like to come? Please say that you will.”
Returning to Frozen Hearts would force me to seehimagain, and I wasn’t sure whether my heart could survive a second encounter.
“I already had ice cream,” I said.
Her shoulders slumped. “That’s too bad. Then we shall meet up another time. Won’t we?” At my nod, she squealed and seized me for a tight hug. “Excellent, then it’s decided. I can hardly wait. I don’t usually make set plans; instead I can be found wandering just about anywhere, mostly in the Nightmare Forest to gather ingredients for my potions. Come look for me there sometime. Won’t you?”
I nodded again. After a departing squeeze she skipped down the street, pausing occasionally to look around in a dazed sort of way, as if she’d forgotten where she was going. I stared after her, feeling lighter than I had since entering this gloomy world.
“Well, she was...interesting,” Stardust finally said.
“She was. I like her.”
Stardust considered for a moment. “I think I do, too. I didn’t know Nightmares could come like that, seeming so...detached from everything. It’s...”
“...refreshing.” The ghost of a smile that had been tugging on my lips since encountering Shade finally fully emerged. “She wants to be friends, Stardust.” Perhaps not everything in this world was as dark as it often felt.
Chapter 4
The following dawn, I returned from another failed dream-stealing expedition to find Mother perched on the edge of my bed, waiting for me. I froze in the doorway.
She looked at me expectantly. “Well?”
I braced myself for an unpleasant confrontation as I collapsed backwards onto the bed beside her. “I know you’re going to be disappointed, but once again I didn’t steal a dream.”
