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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Dr. Farrah pushed her glasses up her nose with one hand, the other firmly grasping Kayle by the collar of her black shirt. Kayle struggled, pulling away from the doctor, but she was stronger.
"Tell me what you're doing here," Dr. Farrah demanded. Kayle's face twisted and her nose began to shrink. "None of that," Dr. Farrah said, yanking on Kayle's collar.
As the doctor tugged, Kayle's face returned to normal. Mostly normal. Her eyes were wide, her skin pale, her lips shaking. Dr. Farrah pulled Kayle by the collar and crossed the room to stand over her journals, heaped on the floor. She poked at one with her foot, then sighed.
"I do wish you had only raided my bookshelves," she said, producing her pipe from her pocket and fitting the mouthpiece between her lips. She pulled on it without lighting it, then put it back in her pocket as she exhaled a plume of smoke. "As it is, you've discovered something much more dangerous."
Kayle's whole body was quivering. She turned her head awkwardly so she could stare at Dr. Farrah with bulging eyes.
Dr. Farrah furrowed her brow at Kayle and pulled hard on her collar. "Calm down, Miss Kayle." Kayle shook harder. "Calm down."
"Let her go," I said. "She's terrified. The Greyman or Greymen at your offices held her and tortured her, just like they've done to every dreamer they can find. She's scared of you." I took a step toward the doctor, holding out my hand. "Please let her go."
Dr. Farrah released Kayle's collar, letting her stumble across the room and into my waiting arms where she heaved with sobs. I did my best to console her without letting on how scared I was myself. I'd never seen Kayle so shaken. When I thought back to my time in the nightmare Dr. Farrah's cells, I understood how she felt.
"It's not the Cowbird. You're fine," I said, stroking her back. She stopped shaking, her sobs quieting.
"I'm sorry for scaring you," the doctor said. She bent down and picked up several of her journals, tossing them into the unlit fireplace. "No one's ever seen these before. Did you read them?"
"Yes," I said.
"Then you must understand my worry. The source of this Big Sleep, the Greymen's motivations, it's all here." She tapped a notebook with her index finger before tossing it onto the new heap in her fireplace. "I hadn't planned for anyone to see them yet. I wanted to have it all in order first, then present it to the others."
"Why?" Beth took a step toward the doctor, bent down, and picked up one of the notebooks. When the doctor flinched, Beth tossed it into the fireplace. Dr. Farrah smiled at her.
"The implications of my discoveries will be difficult for people to deal with," the doctor said, crawling into the fireplace. She started picking up the journals from the pile and replacing them in their hidden cubby as Beth tossed the remainders over. "I don't know how much you read or how much you understood of what you read, but my research has uncovered... well, a lot. First of all, the Greymen's intent is not to kill.
