Death Sleep ~ Book Three

thirteen.

When Liza reached her home, her mind was working overtime. She had to talk to her father and Andrew. She burst into her home to find her father, Andrew, General Advan and her mother sitting in the living room waiting for her.

"What is it? What did you get?" asked her father.

"Pictures, but that's not all of it. I know what he's doing." Liza sat down and looked at the expectant faces around her.

"His aunt said something about when his mother died. She wasn't dead completely when she was found."

"That's what the report said," said the General.

"Well, she kept saying, 'He put something inside him.'"

"What does that mean?" her father asked.

"It means he put something inside Quinn to give him strength and some kind of connection," Andrew answered. "That's how he's doing this."

"What do you mean? How he's doing what?" Asked Liza's mother.

"When a dreamwalker dies, it's true that they have the ability to stick around. But, what Baxter's doing is far worse and shouldn't be possible. The dead are only able to influence through the smallest amount of persuasion in dreams. They don't have the power to overtake a person and make them do things against their will," Andrew paused. "Quinn kept saying he didn't know why he betrayed Liza. It was as if he had no control over what he was doing. Not to mention what he said was going on in his head since his father died. It's just not possible."

"And you can't dreamwalk the awake. Believe me, I've tried." Lance looked at his wife. "The waking mind is closed."

"So, Quinn might not be to blame?" Liza was suddenly hopeful.

Andrew shook his head. "I'm not certain he is."

"But what did he put in there?" Lance asked.

Andrew shrugged.

"A tether."

Everyone looked at Leslie.

"You both talk about putting a tether in your own mind. Can you put a tether in someone else's?"

Liza and her father looked at each other.

"I don't know. I've never tried to be tethered to someone else," Lance answered.

"I think this might be a theory worth testing," said the General.

Liza and her father looked at each other again. The best way to find out right then would be between the two of them. They could both fall asleep at will. Leaning back on the couch, both Liza and her father fell asleep immediately. Liza waited in her own mind for her father. In a moment, he was there. She watched him as he placed his hand over his navel and pulled it back, a purple line, resembling a sash was connected to his flat palm. Kneeling down, he placed his palm on the "floor" of Liza's mind. To their delight, it stuck. He looked at his daughter and nodded to her. Liza woke herself and listened.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes! It's faint, like a whisper, but I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

"Yes. I'm coming out now."

Lance sucked in air and opened his eyes.