The Sandman's Daughter

Sixteen

Cassie took an automatic step back, pulling Sam with her before she even knew what she was doing. She didn't know what the thing standing in front of them was, but it wasn't human. The predatory gleam dancing in his eyes as he inhaled slowly, breathing in the girls' fear as he licked his lips, told her that. She didn't know what he was or where he came from, but one thing was certain, this was the creature behind the nightmares. The one who had stolen all the souls.

"Who are you?" Cassie asked, her voice barely coming out more than a hoarse squawk. The moisture fled her mouth at the sight of him and her fingers shook as she tried to swallow. The fear was excruciating and it was all she could do to keep from running away. But she wouldn't let herself move. The people around her needed her strength. They needed her help. "What do you want?"

"I want everything," he said simply, his cool voice flowing everywhere. It was all-encompassing and it was all Cassie could do to keep from drowning in it. "Isn't that what everyone wants?"

Cassie winced as Sam's fingers dug harder into her arm. She pulled them off and took a small step, putting herself slightly in front of her best friend. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded as she locked eyes with the man.

His dark eyes danced as he watched the girl. "Why do you care so much, little Cassandra? Who are you to be their self-imposed protector?" He looked away, his eyes scanning the cells around him. His face lit up as he watched a boy tear his hair out, tuft by tuft. Blood dotted the exposed scalp as the boy bayed with the pain even as he eagerly went back for more. "Why waste your energies in this foolish manner?"

She took a breath and squared her shoulders. "Someone has to stand between you and them," she told him, her voice sounding calmer than she felt.

"Why?" he asked, moving to another cell, his eyes drinking in every second of the misery contained inside as his fingers stroked the glass. "I am a pioneer, a harbinger of sorts. I'm here to show what we can do if we only allow ourselves to do it."

His words sent a shiver down her spine. "What are you talking about? What purpose does any of this have?"

He whirled around, his eyes narrowed as he glared at her. "Don't you get it, little Betweener? I'm forced to live within the walls of human dreams. I am more powerful than they will ever be, yet I am at their mercy, forced to flee to a new refuge every time the humans wake. Well, no more. I submit to no one."

"Cass," Sam whispered in her ear. "We can't fight something like that." She drew away, slipping farther down the hall until she was in front of Riley's cell. Tears slipped out as her face creased with pain. She slid down the glass, despair coating her as her eyes never left the boy dancing with madness in front of her.

Dread tightened her stomach as she watched her best friend's face. Sam had given up. The fear and grief were too much for her. What was she supposed to do now? She turned back to the nightmare in front of her. "Who are you?" she asked again, stressing the words as she silently begged him to answer. Maybe if she knew who they were dealing with, maybe she could find a way to stop this.

"You may call me the Taker, Cassandra," the man said, dropping into an elegant bow. His lips twisted up in mockery as his eyes held only contempt. "This is who I am now. I take what I deserve. These humans, they flit about not even realizing the precise gift they have, while we stay in the shadowed parts of the subconscious, waiting for our next release."

"What gift is that?"

"Life," he cried with repressed anguish. "They are real. They live, while we are only smoke and mirrors. But I have found a way. A way through these stupid teenagers. They still believe enough to allow me in, but not enough to fight back like the younger of their kind are inclined to do. They are malleable in my hands. I take their souls and create myself from their sorrow. Once I am bursting with enough of their life, it will be me who walks the real world and them hiding in the darkened corners of sleeping minds."