THE SANDMAN ☞ TRAVIS STOLL

SIX

HE'S IN HER DREAMS AGAIN.

The cold, cruel, cunning man that has haunted her for the past twenty years of her life. The thing whose laughter she can hear in the back of her mind, whose shadows linger in the corners of her vision when she has been awake for too long, whose deadly power she has inherited.

"Valerie."

She stiffens, paralyzed by his shadows. "Father. What an honor." She says through gritted teeth, sarcasm dripping from every word.

Morpheus smiles, lips spreading to show gleaming white teeth. "Such an attitude. Have you always been this combative?" He shakes his head in disbelief. "I distinctly remember you being much more obedient."

"Maybe if you hadn't killed my sister, I'd be more willing to do what you want."

He laughs at that, a full-blown cackle that has him throwing his head back. "You're still mad about that? Humans are so strange with their grudges and morals. I killed my brother when I was a child, and he killed me the week after that. Siblings come and go."

The rage that flares up inside of Valerie is white-hot. It burns in her chest, in her throat, in her stomach. It blazes through her body like a lightning strike, like her bones and veins are lighting up with electricity. It threatens to bubble out of her from every pore of her body.

"You took my sister from me. She was a child." She's trembling with hatred, shaking within the confines of his shadows. "So I will ask you again—what the hell do you want?"

His breath fans over her face, rotten and pungent, as he laughs at her again. "Just a reminder, dear daughter, that I am still here. I am still watching, I am still waiting. I have not forgotten your choice to disobey me, and I will come calling again. Maybe for another one of your sisters."

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Valerie Greenwood wakes up on the floor of her cabin, sheets tangled around her legs. Her bronze-brown hair is plastered to her sweaty forehead, and there is a lump on her temple. She must have hit her head on the nightstand when she fell, because the bump is throbbing with every beat of her heart.

The door to Cabin 21 opens and a shadowy figure is bursting in, and she screams, throat already raw with overuse. She scrambles back until her spine hits the nightstand, and she claws under her pillow for a dagger, which she brandishes outward.

"Get out!" She shrieks, head pounding. "Get the hell out of my room!"

She's still attempting to shake the dream from her mind, to differentiate nightmare from reality. The shadows blur together in the darkness of the cabin, making every piece of furniture look menacing.

The shadowy figure grabs her by the biceps, and the hands against her bare skin make her scream again.

"Val, you were having a bad dream. You're okay." Alyssa's voice is soft and kind and tired, and the hands on Valerie's arms loosen their grip, no longer holding but resting. "Come on, V. Breathe with me."

It takes a Herculean effort for Valerie to stop shaking. It's not often that a nightmare rattles her to the extent that this one has, although her father tends to have that effect. Every time he's appeared in her dreams, she doesn't sleep for three days after, just to avoid him.

Alyssa smiles when Valerie finally looks at her. "Hey there, Sandman. Thought I lost you for a minute. You were screaming in your sleep."

A weak groan escapes Valerie as she allows Alyssa to help her back into bed. "I woke everyone up, didn't I?"