A Midnight Mind

Chapter 18: When Pillows Float

Ethan didn't get much sleep after that. As soon as the sun was up, he turned on his cell phone and thumbed through the contacts list, wondering who to call first. He decided on Violet.

There was no answer. He tried again. Nothing.

So he texted her:

we need to talk. I know you have questions. I can answer them. well, some of them anyway. call me.

He thumbed back from Violet McLastname to the contacts list again and called Ms. Stafford next.

"Hello, Murdock?" she said, sounding concerned. At least she was awake. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, something's wrong!" Ethan said. "Did you talk to Neil?"

"What about? I spoke with him yesterday before his patrol."

Ethan supposed "spoke" meant telepathically, but he didn't know what the patrol was all about.

"Did something happen?" Stafford asked quickly. "Is he hurt?"

"No," said Ethan. "I mean, I don't think so. Look, the dream man was at the party last night."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "The what man?" said Stafford.

Ethan frowned. "The dream man. You know? From Neil's poster?"

"What poster? Murdock, what are you talking about?"

How does she not know? Ethan wondered. "The dream man, dammit! The one who's been killing people. The ro--" He paused before saying rogue projection. He thought back to what Neil said last night, about how Stafford wouldn't know there had been attacks from a dream man at all. But how could she just forget? Just because she wasn't there for the attack...

He scratched his head. I need to talk to Neil, figure this stuff out. He has the answers.

"Murdock?" said Stafford. "Ethan, are you there?"

"Sorry, I--" said Ethan. "I just... had a bad dream. A nightmare, and, uh. I was wondering if my dreams can hurt me. Like, in the Worldmind."

Stafford hummed in suspicion. "...No," she said at last. "Dreams are subconscious, and projecting into the Worldmind is a conscious action. If you're asleep and dreaming, and not in the Worldmind, your dreams cannot hurt you."

Ethan was making up the bad dream--he slept dreamlessly when he slept last night--but now he was curious. "What if I am in the Worldmind? Neil said that latent psychics always think their psychic activity is a dream."

"That's true. Latents--that is, psychics who don't know they're psychic or how to consciously project--sometimes sleep-project, which is like sleepwalking, except projecting into the Worldmind rather than walking in the real world. But you can't dream and project at the same time, so your dreams cannot manifest. Other people's dreams, hower..."

Now Ethan was very curious. "What about other people's dreams?"

"Look, you needn't worry about such things, Murdock."

"Uh, it's kind of too late." Ethan found he was gripping his cell phone too tightly, but was unable to relax.

"Until you are able to project into the Worldmind on your own, which won't be for months, you have nothing to fear."

"But--"

"Now what was that about Neil and a poster?"

Ethan paused, unable to provide a quick answer. "Er," he said. "It was... part of my dream. Neil had a poster with a creepy guy on it, who... came to life? Look, I just woke up, and I was groggy and I was freaking out a bit. It's all this Worldmind stuff--I'm worried about all the things I don't know." That part, at least, was true.