The Children of Hypnos

[Vol. 3] Chapter 28: The Deep Cells

Emery had expected many things from the deep cells, but none were what she got.

It looked like a garden. They stepped from the elevator onto a stone walkway shrouded by brilliant flowers and wide green leaves. Trees of all types arced overhead, obscuring the ceiling, though somehow enough light filtered in from above to cast the room in twilight. Vine curtains and carpets of moss hid the true size of the room. If Emery hadn't known better, she'd have said they were in a jungle.

Except there were no sounds. No wind, no calling birds, no rush of rivers or waterfalls, not even the drone of insects.

Marcia placed her hand against the nearest tree trunk. It vanished in a burst of Dream-cloud. The floor where it had stood was white tile, as was the ceiling above. A round spotlight shone down where it had been.

"Why would you dreamform a forest down here?" Veronica asked as they moved forward down the path. She kept her voice low, but Emery wasn't sure there was a point; though the room was filled with the presence of the Dream, none of it was moving the way a dreamhunter would. Just like the lack of sound, there was a complete lack of movement, too, even the smallest twitches or breaths.

"Someone got funny with the decoration, maybe?" Isaiah offered.

"A confusion tactic," Marcia said. She touched every plant she passed, destroying it, revealing the true room beneath. "Or the plants do something else. Put a hallucinogen in the air. Create illusions. Snare trespassers. Wait!"

Marcia hissed the last word, barely more than air. They all froze. Marcia pointed just ahead of Emery. Visible through a net of vines was a sliver of gray. It took Emery a second to realize it was a sleeve. Someone was standing just ahead of them.

Marcia crept forward. The Dream did not move, but as Emery focused in on the area, she was able to separate from the greenery the sleeve and the arm inside it and the rest of the body attached. There was a person there, but they were standing unnaturally still, more than even a dreamhunter or -killer could accomplish.

Marcia swung her arm out wide and destroyed the nearby trees, vines, and leafy undergrowth. Left behind was a man in a long-sleeved shirt and pants, standing with his arms at his sides. He was gray from head to toe, easily mistaken for a statue, except he was not made out of stone; his skin, hair, clothing, everything had kept its texture. He scowled at thin air.

"Is he...alive?" Wes inched closer to the unmoving man, circling around him. "Was this done by dreamforming?"

"I can't think of another way to do it," Marcia said, "but I don't know what this is." She touched her fingertips to the man's shoulder and stood there for a moment. "Hm. The gray color is its own dreamform. I don't think it has anything to do with him being paralyzed like this. The paralyzation is a dreamform, too. I can lift it, but I don't know why he's down here. I'd rather try it on someone we know."

"What if lifting the dreamform harms them?" Samuel Howard asked."If it were me, I'd rather try that on someone I don't care about and make sure they don't get hurt first."

"And I'd rather none of you got butchered by a random dreamkiller." Marcia looked around the area. "Spread out, keep tabs on each other through the Dream. You all know what Moxie Vault looks like, don't you?"

They nodded.

"My mom looks like me," Emery said. "And my dad looks like Edgar."

"Go in pairs," Marcia said. "Veronica, come with me. Don't get too far from anyone else, and if you find someone, yell. I'm guessing it'll be safer than trying to dreamform in here."

The three pairs set off in different directions. Without Marcia to clear the way, Emery and Wes had to push through trailing creepers and fat bouquets of tropical flowers. Wes looked as tired as Emery felt, but adrenaline pumped their arms and legs, kept their lungs full of air.