Nightmare

Fifteen.

And Ben knew.

Dorna/Violet hadn’t come to the house to warn Kendi and Ben about Cole. She had come to plant the bracelet, must have thrown it into the room when she broke the window. Kendi had said Diane Giday was the fourteenth victim. Mom was to be number fifteen.

Icy fear splashed down Ben’s back followed by a small surge of relief-Mom was light years away at Dream Station. She was safe. Then he remembered that Cole or Jeren or whatever his name was killed people in the Dream.

Where Mom and Kendi were right now.

Ben rushed back to the guest room and slapped Kendi hard in the face. He had to bring Kendi out of the Dream, tell him so he could warn Mom. But Kendi didn’t move. Ben slapped him again, then pinched him, then got a glass of cold water from the bathroom and splashed him with it. No reaction. Ben cursed. An experienced Silent would have noticed the sensations even in the Dream and come out to find out what was wrong. But Kendi was new to the Dream, could reach it only by teaching himself to ignore his body completely.

Ben sprinted for the front door, intending to dash over to the neighbors to use their phone. He stopped just short of the foyer. His heart lurched.

'Just leave it, Ben, okay?' Dorna said in the doorway. 'Don’t make it worse.'

'What are you doing here?' Ben demanded. His voice shook. 'Did you jam up the phone?'

Dorna nodded, and now that Ben was looking for it, he could see a resemblance to Jeren. They had the same cat-green eyes, the same sharp facial features.

'I visit here a lot,' she said. 'Mother Ara trusts me and didn’t always guard her passwords. The right access, and the phones go right down. Please, Ben-just forget it, okay?'

'Forget what?' Ben stalled.

'Forget trying to call the Guardians. That’s what you’re trying to do, isn’t it? Cole’s going to kill Mother Ara, and I’m sorry-in more ways than you know.'

More fear clotted in Ben’s throat and he fought to remain calm. 'Where is he? Where’s Cole?'

'His body is in his room, but his mind is in the Dream,' Dorna said. 'And that means he’s everywhere.'

'Why my mom?'

'Because he loves her,' Dorna replied simply. 'But he knows she doesn’t love him back. The proof is that she hasn’t worn the bracelet Jeren had me deliver.'

'She doesn’t even know who it came from,' Ben blurted out. Why was he arguing with her? He had to warn Mom somehow, get help for her.

'There’s the proof. If she loved him, she would know.' Dorna spread her hands in supplication. 'Please, Ben. Just leave it. If your mom’s not already dead, she will be in a few minutes. I know it’s going to be miserable for you, but we can’t change that. If you call the Guardians and tell them about my brother, that would make me miserable. Why should we both suffer?'

The woman was diseased. Every instinct Ben had told him she was poison, that he had to get away from her. He tensed to lunge past her when she spoke again.

'Aren’t you forgetting something?' she said. Ben froze. Her voice was different-lower, older, and cracked like an old coffee cup. Dorna’s posture had changed, too. She stood more stiffly, as if her joints hurt. 'If you leave the house, you’re leaving your little sweetie all by himself. Who knows what might happen to him?'

'You won’t hurt him,' Ben said with more conviction than he felt. 'He’s your friend.'

'Not my friend.' With surprising speed she dodged past him and ran toward the guest room. Ben spun to follow, heart pounding, stomach tight. He charged into the guest room to find Dorna standing a few meters away from Kendi, who was still standing in deep meditation, spear propped under one knee. He looked peaceful, vulnerable.

'Dear, dear, dear,' Dorna said in her old woman’s voice. 'What a little pisser. Cute, though, in a gawky, spring chicken sort of way. And you were right, Benny-boy. I wouldn’t kill him. But Rudy might. Do you want to take that chance?'

Ben stood in the doorway, torn. Cole was probably attacking his mother this very moment, bringing the Dream to horrible life around her and tearing her to pieces. But if he left to get help, Kendi would be left alone with a lunatic bent on some kind of revenge. If he could find a way to remove Dorna from the picture, everything would be all right. But Dorna had proven twice that she was a better fighter than he was despite the weights he lifted. He needed a weapon and glanced desperately around the room without seeing anything.

'That’s right Ben,' old-voice Dorna taunted. 'What are you going to do? Hit me? Try to kill me? Actually make a decision? Poor Benny-boy can’t make up his mind to save his life. Does he love Kendi or not? Should he save his mother or his boyfriend? Should he attack the old lady or run for help? Poor Benny-boy, always waiting, never acting. Poor, poor Benny-boy.'

Ben lunged for her. Laughing, she danced out of the way. Ben threw a punch, but she blocked it and landed a fist in his stomach. Ben backed away, gasping. Dorna’s hand went to her belt and came up with a large knife. The blade vibrated with a sound like a dog growling. Dorna swung it, and it sheered through a bedpost like paper.

'Who the hell do you think you are, boy?' she snarled in a deep, masculine voice. 'You think you can get the best of me? I’ll kick the shit out of you.' She lunged and the knife roared. Ben leaped backward, almost knocking Kendi over. 'Poetic, isn’t it? Dorna’s brother is killing your mother in the Dream and I’m killing you here in the solid world. Mother and son dying at the same time. Let’s end it here.'

She drew back the snarling knife. Ben reached back and snatched the spear from under Kendi’s knee. Kendi collapsed to the floor. Ben yanked the rubber tip off the spear and flung it with all his strength at Dorna. It stuck with a meaty thunk and she screamed. The knife clattered to the floor.

Blessing every weight he had lifted, Ben grabbed up Kendi in a firefigher’s carry and ran out of the room without looking back. He made it out the front door and into the darkness beyond. The walkways were deserted at this time of night. Kendi was a limp, heavy weight across his shoulders. Ben hesitated. Dorna had said that Cole was at this moment in the Dream with Mom. By the time he got to a phone, called the Guardians, explained the situation, and got them to act, Mom-and possibly Kendi-would be long dead.

Ben hurried across the walkway to the next talltree over and found a staircase that led downward. Kendi bounced and flopped on his back like warm rag doll. Ben could feel him breathing. The steps clattered under his heavy feet, and the darkness amid the talltree leaves and branches was all-enveloping. Ben could hardly see where he was going, but he didn’t need to. This was his neighborhood, and he knew every stair, every plank, every leaf and branch. After a moment he came to an alcove where the staircase made a turn to follow the trunk of the talltree. Ben eased Kendi off his shoulders and set him carefully on the boards. Working quickly, he pushed Kendi’s inert body against the talltree trunk where the shadows were the thickest.

His body is in his room, but his mind is in the Dream.

'You’ll be safe here until you wake up,' Ben whispered to him. 'Please be safe.'

Then he took off for the monastery at a dead run.

This time it was the Outback. Ara agreed it was easier for her and Kendi to meet and talk there since Kendi had to use his private desert as a transition from one Silent’s turf to the next unless he wanted to suffer nausea and vomiting. Ara had promised to start working with him on more instantaneous movement, but that would have to come later.

'All right,' Ara said. 'Two of Jeren’s previous owners confirmed strange murders and finger mutilations going on while they owned him. More nails in his legal coffin once the Guardians catch him. Are you sure Ben called them?'

'No, Mother,' Kendi said testily. 'But he said he would. It’s just the same as the last four times you asked.'

'Sorry,' Ara sighed, sinking down onto a boulder. 'I’m a mom, I worry.'

The Outback sky was clear and perfectly blue. Rock and scrubby plant life stretched in all directions, bringing the smell of vegetation baking in hot, dry air. Ara was uncomfortably warm but she had to admit that Kendi had created a unique and realistic turf. Overhead circled a falcon. She screamed once and Kendi smiled up at her.

'What is that like?' Ara asked. 'I’ve been lax in my teacher duties by not talking to you about it, but so much has been happening.'