Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 26 - Taniel

Taniel awoke with a start from another dream. Another dream of Olive, and he just watched helplessly from the sidelines. Something had to change.

He splashed some water on his face, willing his pulse to slow. If Hamza had any inkling on how to help, then Taniel had to try. What if he was a Weaver? If that was the case, then he could change this dream. He could change everything. It didn't occur to Taniel that he might fail, mostly because it wasn't an option to fail.

After getting dressed, Taniel made his way around the cabin with a single focus. Finding Hamza. Despite the cold, he hadn't bothered to throw on shoes. If anything, the cold ground spurred him faster.

Taniel found the old man sitting with his hands wrist deep in a pool of water back in the main room. All the curtains were pulled tight, allowing Hamza's infinite number of candles to illuminate the room.

"Hamza."

No answer.

"Hamza." Taniel walked around to face him. The old man's eyes were glazed over. Definitely lost in scrying then. But after everything Hamza had put them through in the past days, Taniel was determined to move forward with his plan.

Taniel ripped open the curtains, impatience ruling him. Sun flooded the room.

The excess light was enough to blind Hamza in his scrying state. He pulled his hands out of the pool of water and rubbed his eyes, blinking furiously. It took a few moment for him to gain his composure and dry his hands off.

Taniel waited in front of him, arms crossed.

"Well?" Hamza asked.

Taniel had to give him credit, the man was never nonplussed.

"I want to learn to dream walk."

"We don't even know if you can do that," Hamza said slowly, as if speaking to a child.

"We won't know unless we try."

Hamza looked at him thoughtfully. "What is this really about?"

Taniel told him about the dream he had been having since his days in St. Andra's. When he was finished, his voice caught. "I need to be able to change the dream. I don't want to be the one that hurts her."

"I'm sure saving an innocent would also be on your list of priorities."

Taniel had to hold back his retort. "Of course."

"Then it would be foolish not to try." Hamza stood to move his scrying bowl to the kitchen. Upon returning, he closed all the blinds again.

"What is that for?"

"How tired are you, Taniel?"

"Exhausted after the drills you've been having us go through the past week."

"Good. We are going to go through the basics of lucid dreaming, and hopefully," Hamza enunciated the word, "you can practice this morning. The idea is to recognize that you are dreaming—this can usually be done by recognizing things out of place. Have you noticed places, colors, anything showing up consistently in your dreams?"

Taniel thought back. In the dreams of him throwing the knife, of Rowan being attacked by the Officials, of his finding her at Adams and Garner. Or even the dream Olive goes Missing. Besides for the darkness permeating all of them and the people closest to him getting hurt, there was no common thread he could see. But his mind was needled with the thought that there was something he was missing.

He shook his head.

"Ah," Hamza said, sighing with disappointment. "Well, stay aware of it in your next few dreams. Perhaps something will come up. And when you recognize the signs, you must reality check. For instance, say the sign is a knife, any time you see a knife does not mean you are dreaming. You must check yourself."