For the second time in thirty years, the entire world has fallen asleep...
Thirty years after the Greymen caused the decimation of her people, high school drop out Rain Collins spends her days learning to pickpocket and hold her booze. Yet she long...
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In a heartbeat, Jacob, Kayle, and Beth were in the air beside us, shooting through the clouds in a tight group.
"Rain! Stop!" Beth shouted.
I kicked my condor to go faster. But my poor bird was already straining itself with me and Billy on its back, flying as fast as it could. There was no way the thing could outpace their tireless, Dreamcaller-enhanced speed.
"You stop!" I shouted back.
Beth furrowed her eyebrows in the whipping wind, her hair dancing in a wild halo around her face. "Fine!" she yelled.
Our pursuers slowed, letting us take the lead. But I knew the Greymen had tricks and I did not let my condor slow its breakneck pace. After a few seconds, they shrunk to a dot in the distance, then disappeared from view altogether. They really had stopped chasing us.
I pulled back on the feathers at the base of my condor's neck, just hard enough to let it know I wanted to stop. It arched its wings in a great swoop behind us, catching the wind in the wide folds there. We swooped suddenly up, then down, then in a spiraling circle toward the ground.
"What's going on?" Billy asked, the wind whipping at his words.
"It's them," I said over my shoulder.
"No," he said, reaching around me and pulling my hands from the condor's neck. He kicked hard and we shot up and forward, back in full flight. "Rain, keep going."
I tried to fight him off, but he was stronger than I expected. "We can't leave them," I said, struggling against his arms.
"Listen to me," he said. He was holding me so close that his lips brushed my neck as he spoke. I shivered as his breath sent goosebumps up my spine. "If it isn't them, we could die or get captured again. The doctor could be trying to lure us back into the trap. If she succeeds, the Greymen could use us to lure our families, our friends, everyone.
"But," he continued, still holding me tight. "If it is them, then they are somewhere behind us and safe, heading to the Green City. Or they might even have sped up and over us in the clouds, going past so fast that they'll be waiting for us in the city when we get there. Either way, we shouldn't go back. We should keep going."
I frowned, turning in his arms to look up at the clouds above.
He loosened his hold around my waist and placed a hand on my chin, guiding me to look into his eyes. "You're very good at rescuing people, Rain. They'll be fine."
My instincts told me to laugh, to brush off the compliment and get back to worrying. But there was a sincerity in Billy's deep brown eyes that I couldn't ignore. I nodded. He further loosened his arms so that he was no longer holding me in place, but he kept them around my waist, so that he was still holding me.
"They'll be fine," I said, relaxing into Billy's chest as he stroked my hair with gentle fingers. I closed my eyes let the wind lull me into a dreamless sleep.
***
The others were waiting outside the front gate to the Green City when we landed. I dismounted and approached Kayle, Jacob, Beth and...
"Billy?" I said, approaching the group.
Orange-haired and freckle-faced, Billy stood in front of me. I turned back to my condor. Orange-haired and freckle-faced, Billy sat there.
"What's happening?" I said, backing away from the group.
"Don't ask me," said both Billys at once.
Beth frowned at one Billy, then the other. "There's a simple solution to this," she said, gesturing at the gate to the Green City. "Both of you, march."
The Billy on the condor dismounted and joined the other Billy to walk the short path into the Green City and through its gates. During the first Big Sleep, Dreamcallers had rigged it so that Greymen and their nightmares could not pass through it without experiencing a painful and obvious death.
Both Billys walked through.
"Ha!" said the Billy from the condor, pumping a fist in the air. He grinned wide and danced a small jig before his clothes burst into flame. Screaming, he ran back through the gate, trying to escape the flames.
I frowned. What a shame. He didn't seem like a nightmare on the back of the condor.
The other Billy ran after him, shooting fireballs after his doppleganger. "Get out, you nightmare beast!" he shouted, laughing. "I am Billy, Dreamwalker of the Green City! Knight of the Night! You dare impersonate me?"
The fake Billy ran, flaming, into the world of dreams, and the real Billy stopped his pursuit.
"You're not going to kill it?" Kayle asked, staring after the glowing dot darting in the distance.
Billy shook his head. "No point. It's just a projection. They can make more whenever they want." He turned to me. "You alright? Did it do anything to you?"
I grinned. "Like what?"
He stammered, then looked away. "No, I meant... Did it—?" He sighed. "Nevermind."
Together, the five of us crossed the threshold into the city and sped toward The Speaker's house.
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