Nightmare

dark skin on his own. Confused, he switched hands one more time so he ended up a little farther away.

'Sitting on the rail will get you more work detail,' he said.

Kendi shrugged. 'If someone comes, I’ll jump down.' He paused. 'Have you ever thought of leaving Bellerophon?'

'Sometimes, yeah. You?'

'All the time. I need to find my family.'

Ben snorted. 'You can have mine.'

'Don’t you like your mom? She’s pretty cool, even if she hands out work detail sometimes.'

'I like my mom. It’s everyone else I can’t stand.'

'What do you mean?'

And Ben found himself telling Kendi about the problems he had with his extended family. It was the most talking Ben had done all evening, perhaps in his entire life. Kendi listened without interrupting.

'Sounds like our families need to trade places,' Kendi said when he had finished, and Ben smiled. Kendi stared at him, still perched on the rail.

'What?' Ben asked. A strange feeling fluttered around his stomach.

'I-no, it’s nothing.' Kendi looked away.

'You what?' Ben persisted lightly, though he felt something heavier in the air. 'What is it?'

'Uh oh.' He jumped off the rail and the moment was broken. 'Someone’s coming.'

Ben turned. A figure was making its way toward them.

'Hey, Dorna,' Kendi said when the figure got closer. 'What’s up?'

'Just wondering where you two have gotten off too,' Dorna said. Although the night was warm, she wore a short cloak with the hood pulled over her dark hair. 'The party’s still going strong back there. A bunch of us are talking about going to see the fireworks.'

'We’re just talking,' Kendi said. 'How’ve you been?'

'A little weird, actually.' Dorna sat down on a bench near a potted blueflower bush. Ben abruptly wished she would go away and leave him alone with Kendi. 'I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.'

'How come?' Kendi asked.

Go away, Ben thought.

'Nightmares.' The word came out almost dreamily. 'I have nightmares about people dying in the Dream.'

'The Dream stalker?' Kendi said.

Dorna shrugged. 'Maybe. Do you think it’s a premonition?'

'The Silent don’t get premonitions,' Ben put in. 'That’s not the way Silence works.'

'I know that,' Dorna said. 'But don’t you believe that people can have dreams that come true whether they’re Silent or not?'

Ben shrugged.

'Who dies?' Kendi asked.

'I don’t know. I can never see her face. I just wake up scared it’s going to be me.' She gave a little laugh. 'Isn’t that stupid? The last murder was a year ago. The Dream stalker is probably long gone.'

'It’s not stupid,' Kendi said. 'Maybe you should talk to a Parent about it.'

'Maybe.' Dorna gave herself a little shake. 'Well, I’m going home. Maybe just telling you about the nightmares will make them go away.'

And to Ben’s relief, she got up and left, vanishing into the gloom. Kendi stared after her.

'What’s the matter?' Ben asked.

'I’ve known Dorna for a year now,' Kendi said pensively, 'and something always bothers me about her, but I can never figure out quite what it is.'

'She talks funny,' Ben said.

Kendi turned. 'What?'

'She talks funny,' Ben repeated.

'You know, Kite said the same thing, but neither of us could describe it better than that.'

Ben shrugged, not wanting to talk about Dorna. 'She uses different words.'

Kendi stared at him. 'Say that again?'

'She uses different words.'

'That’s it!' Kendi grabbed Ben’s shoulders and danced him around. 'Ben, that’s it! Her words change. All life, but I’m dense.'

'Okay, okay,' Ben laughed, almost losing his balance. 'It’s not that big a deal.'

Kendi dropped his hands. 'Right. Sorry. It’s just that it’s been bugging me since I met her, but I couldn’t figure it out. I wonder why she does it-or even if she knows she does it.'

'Dunno. Maybe it just depends on what mood she’s in.' Ben scratched his nose in consternation. His shoulders tingled from the heat of Kendi’s touch. 'What was all that about nightmares and the Dream stalker?'

'No idea.' Kendi cracked his knuckles. 'I hope we never need to find out.'

'We should probably get back to the party,' Ben said reluctantly. 'After all, you’re a guest of honor.'

'Yeah.' Kendi paused. 'Hey, you want to get together some time this week?'

Ben’s heart pounded. 'And do what?'

'I don’t know. Hang around. You can show me your weights.'

There was a note in Kendi’s voice that Ben couldn’t read. Was Kendi offering friendship? Or more than that? And which one did Ben want? His heart was beating so fast, he was sure his shirt was shaking. Kendi looked at him, waiting for an answer.

'Sure,' Ben said casually. 'Whatever.'

Far overhead, a firework burst into a bright orange flower.

Kendi looked around his cave in satisfaction. Everything was in place. The dry, sandy floor and smooth walls were exactly as he expected them to be, and the fire burned low below the smoke hole. He felt happy here, safe and secure. Father Ched-Hisak would not be visiting him this time-after several practice sessions, Kendi had received permission to enter the Dream unsupervised whenever he wished. Ara, in fact, had encouraged him to do so.

'Practice,' she had said, 'is the only way to perfect what you learn.'

Kendi made his way up the spiral to the mouth of the tunnel. The Outback, hot and dry, lay before him. The wind carried countless thousands of whispers, and each voice was a Silent operating somewhere in the Dream. Kendi closed his eyes and listened. After a moment, he was able to sort some of the voices out. He recognized several people-students and teachers both-from the Festival party three days ago. If he concentrated harder, he could narrow his focus to a single voice and follow it through the Dream to find whoever it was.

Father Ched-Hisak had been impressed with the speed at which Kendi had picked up this ability. Most Silent, he said, went through months, even years, of practice before they could sense and track particular people in the Dream.

Unfortunately, no matter how long or hard he listened, he never heard his mother.

Another familiar voice caught his ear. It sounded like Dorna. She must be practicing as well. On a whim, Kendi decided to go find out what she was up to. He concentrated, listening for the direction her voice came from, then opened his eyes and trotted off.

The Outback sun lay down a hard, heavy heat that baked Kendi’s naked skin. Spiny plants tried to slash his feet, but here in the Dream, Kendi’s soles were protected by a thick slab of callus and they did no harm to him. Overhead screamed a falcon, and Kendi gave it a little wave. His mind, it seemed, ran to creating animals. This was another sign of Kendi’s power. No Silent could create people in the Dream-controlling a Dream person was more than even the most potent subconscious mind could deal with-and only a few Silent could handle animals. The falcon, however, always appeared overhead without even conscious effort on Kendi’s behalf.

Kendi followed the whispery sound of Dorna’s voice and wondered how long it would take him to learn teleportation. Distance, Ara said, ultimately meant nothing in the Dream. Carving the Dream up into different territories was merely for the convenience-and privacy-of the individual Silent. Every Silent mind in the Dream overlapped with every other mind. Most Silent’s subconscious, however, couldn’t handle that much input all at once and they therefore created artificial barriers of illusory space to separate themselves from everyone else. Once