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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Climbing around the fan's jammed blades, I dropped down onto the hardwood floor behind Kayle. Hardwood? The rest of the hospital was covered in pale green, sterile tiles.
Kayle's small body twisted and morphed beside me, then shot up and she was human again. She bent down to the ground, where Beth and I sat and gave us each a scratch behind the ears. Her large fingers behind my tiny ears, snuggling into my fur, felt strange. I shook my head and took a step back, wrinkling my nose at her. She laughed at my expression.
I closed my eyes and imagined myself human again. At the same time, I felt my body shift uncomfortably, then return to normal. I was me.
"That was different," I said as I took in the rest of the room. A plush bed in the corner, a large desk facing the door, a couch and empty fireplace wedged in the corner. Everything was made of dark wood or red wool. It was someone's quarters. "Whose room is this?"
"Dr. Farrah's," Beth said.
I looked at Kayle, who nodded.
"We broke into Billy's mom's bedroom after we just slipped him?" I asked.
Beth and Kayle exchanged a glance.
"I would have asked you, but the Orange Guard was pretty fierce," Kayle said, scratching her neck and looking at Beth for support.
Beth walked over to Dr. Farrah's desk and tapped on its polished surface. "There might be answers here."
"It can't be a coincidence." Kayle took a step around the desk and opened a drawer. She started rifling through its contents. "We've all been targeted by this Greyman hiding behind Dr. Farrah. She must be involved. Somehow."
Beth joined Kayle in her search, pulling a book off of one of the shelves and leafing through its pages. "It makes sense, Rain. They're using her image to lure and capture Dreamwalkers and Dreamcallers, probably trying to take out the Knights. We can't let them. But we can't stop them unless we know what's going on. We have to find out what's happening and who's really behind it. We're not saying the doctor's behind it, or even involved, but we have to find out. We have to at least check."
"It does makes sense," I said. "But what if that's why they're doing it? Sending us on a wild hunt, turning us against our allies, all while they weaken our forces and we miss the bigger truth behind the Second Big Sleep."
"That's what Beth said."
"Really?" I turned to my sister.
She nodded. "But Kayle made a good point."
"Which was?" I asked.
Beth shut the book she was scanning and replaced it on the shelf. "I already said. There might be answers here."
***
Hours later, we'd looked through every drawer, paged through every book, checked under every piece of furniture, and returned everything to exactly where it had come from.
