The Big Sleep (Duology)

Chapter Seventeen - My Little Helpers

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me from the Speaker's office and toward the city gate, ignoring the waves and cheers from the green-clad dreamers milling in the shining streets. My thoughts were only of Dr. Farrah's office, of Kayle and Billy trapped, manipulated, driven mad. I pumped my legs as hard as I could, pushing. Why was the gate so far? It would take me forever to find Dr. Farrah's office without a Dreamcaller.

"Rain!" a boy called after me.

No time. I kept running.

"Rain, wait!"

My muscles seized and my legs stopped moving. As I strained against the invisible forcefield holding me, the ground slipped from under my feet. Instead of falling on my face, I slid backwards, away from the gate and back into the city. I tried to yell in protest, but the force that held me also held my jaw shut. The stadium rose before me once again and the invisible force released me.

I turned, prepared to rage at my father, but Jacob stood in the stadium's open mouth, apparently engrossed in the dirt he was grinding with his toe. "Sorry," he said, avoiding my eyes by staring at his feet. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Jacob, I have to go. Kayle and Billy are trapped—"

"I know. I was listening." He blushed. "I can help."

I shook my head. "That's very sweet, but—"

"Don't patronize me. You're the one who needs my help, not the other way around," he said. Little Jacob put his hands on his hips and glared up at me, as if issuing a challenge.

I bit my lip. He made a good point. Jacob was a Dreamcaller. He was stronger than me. If I didn't need my father's protecting, Jacob certainly didn't need mine. "Fine. You can come," I said, hoping I wouldn't regret it.

He smiled, letting his hands fall from his hips. "Thanks."

"Can I come, too?" Far behind Jacob, deep in the shadows of the stadium's mouth, Beth stood, watching us.

"Who are you?" Jacob asked.

"Beth," she said, walking over to join us. "I'm Rain's sister."

"Are you special like her?"

"Even more."

Jacob smiled. "Like me."

I stepped between them. "Great," I said. "Fine. You can both come. Can we go now?"

Jacob nodded, then grabbed my hand and reached around me to grab Beth's. He waited for a moment, then gestured at our empty hands. Beth took mine and the three of us stood in a circle, connected by our arms.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"Close your eyes," Jacob said.

I closed my eyes. My knees shook as the ground shot out from under me so quickly that it nearly threw me off balance. Not again. A pulsing rhythm pounded at my feet, shooting up through my legs as we flew over the land. If the wind hadn't been slapping me in the face, forcing me to keep my eyes shut tight, I may have been tempted to peek, to see the dreams and nightmares streaming past. With a smack, we stopped, tumbling into one another and onto pavement.

"I hate that," I moaned as I opened my eyes to stand and help the others up.

We were in the middle of the downtown marketplace, surrounded by hundreds of shoppers, pushing their way around us.

"Crap," I said, shooting to my feet. "Get up."

The others stood just as quickly, but the townspeople continued to cast hard glares our way.

"This way," I said, hurrying in the direction of Dr. Farrah's building.

"Wait," Jacob said, stepping in front of me.

"Jacob," I tried to push him out of the way, "the Greymen will see us."

He shook his head. "Not if you don't let them."

I pushed him again, but he wouldn't budge. These damn kids and their superpowers.

"I can't really stop them," I said.

"You can," he said. "Like this." Jacob set off at a run, weaving between the shoppers, leaping circles around the square. He stopped at a tailor's stall, grabbing the end of a spool of bright blue ribbon, then set off again, trailing the ribbon behind him. He whooped loudly, finally stopping at Beth's side, handing her the ribbon. She giggled.

"They can't see you if you're brave and happy," he said, gesturing at the townspeople. They weren't looking at us now.

"Amazing," Beth said, twirling the ribbon. She ripped a length of the ribbon off, then tied it around her forehead, tucking it behind her ears.

"Can we focus?" I said, glaring at each of my extremely young, extremely powerful companions in turn. "We have to save Kayle."

"And Billy," Jacob said. "We should get him first, if we can. He knows the real Dr. Farrah's office inside and out."

I shook my head. "We'll get Kayle first. She's a better scout."

"You're just saying that because she's your friend."

"Oh, sure, and you just hate Billy, right?"

"No, he's my friend, but he really does know Dr. Farrah's office."

"And Kayle really is a better scout."

"Stop it!" Beth stepped between us, holding up two lengths of ribbon, one in each hand. She shook the ribbons, waving them in our faces. "Happy and brave, remember?" She gestured behind us. Several of the townspeople were looking our way.

Jacob laughed, taking one of the pieces of ribbon and tying it around his wrist. "Happy and brave."

Beth shook the ribbon at me again. "Happy and brave," I said, tying it in a neat bow around my neck. "And ridiculous."

"That's better," Beth said. "Now, as to who to rescue first—"

"Kayle," I said.

Beth held up a hand. "I agree that we should stay together in there, which means that the rescues will probably be one-at-a-time. Billy does have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Dr. Farrah's offices and Kayle is an amazing scout. If one of them were with us now, perhaps we'd know where to start. Billy could tell us which of Dr. Farrah's rooms would accommodate a shapeshifter and lead us straight to Kayle. Or Kayle could sneak in and do her recon thing, telling us exactly where Billy is being held.

"But as it stands," she continued. "We don't know where either of them actually is. So, whoever we find first is who we should rescue first."

Jacob laughed again. "Well, I suppose that makes sense."

I nodded. "Fine. Then how do we find them?"

Dr. Farrah's office loomed over the marketplace, a towering skyscraper with floors of complex mazes hiding unknown dangers. It could take years to find Kayle and Billy.

"It will be easiest to find the projection of Dr. Farrah," Beth said.

I grinned. "And I can convince her to tell us what we need to know."  

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