At the bottom ran a long list of names. I scanned them and stopped on one.
Nigel P. Green, Director.
I read it again. And then again. How had I missed this?
I looked up. “You’re the foster home director?”
“One and the same.”
“Then it was you who stole my godson’s dreamsoul. And all the other children as well. It was the perfect arrangement. You found kids who were emotionally compromised, who had vivid imaginations, and you put them under your spell. You could work in either world and pick them however you chose, wearing whatever form you wanted.” My words sounded calm. Inside I felt sickened.
“You are correct, though I did not act alone.” He pointed to a figure hiding in the mist. It walked forward. The dark cowl hid parts of its skeletal face, but I knew who it was—or rather—who she was.
The Dreamthief.
She wore the form of Charon, though I was fairly certain I knew who hid under that disguise. I’d seen her in my vision—the woman who’d carried me to be sacrificed as a baby—the woman I believed to be the elven princess.
The card crumpled in my clenched fist. “You did this? My godson? The other children? You sacrificed their lives for what? To summon a god who could destroy both our planets?” I couldn’t contain my anger much longer.
“You are incorrect on both assumptions. Theht will not destroy our world but recreate it. The goblins will be free once again. It was never my intention to harm the children. They would have been quite safe in their dreamstate had I not unintentionally opened a portal to an alternate realm. Those beings, the Regaymor, were never part of my plan. They are the ones who transported your godson’s dreamsoul into that tower. They are the ones who are killing those children. They took over what I started. Something intended to be wonderful has turned into a disaster. That is why I am pleading with you to help me. You are our last hope in saving those children. Use the pure magic. Break down the wall. Only then will your godson be free.”
I wasn’t buying the innocent act. “Let me get this straight. You posed as a human, became a foster home director, and then captured children’s minds in order to summon Theht. But then by accident you unleashed the Regaymor. And now you want me to fix it?”
“You are correct for the most part, though should you fail to rescue the children soon, the Regaymor will succeed in summoning Theht. Her power will become theirs. I cannot imagine the extremity of the consequences.”
An image of a battlefield littered with bodies came to mind. “I can.”
“Then you must act quickly.” He’d attempted an even tone, but I heard the desperation in his voice.
If Mr. Green thought it was okay to capture children’s dreamsouls, I couldn’t trust him. He was depraved on all kinds of levels. But if I didn’t storm Mog’s Keep soon, our entire planet would be destroyed. No pressure.
“I’ll break that wall down under one condition,” I told him. “Leave the children alone. Never mess with their dreams again. I don’t know what kind of world you live in, but in mine, messing with kids’ heads is wrong on all sorts of levels. If you do, I will come after you. And you will regret it.”
Wind gusted around us as I waited for his answer. “I give you my word.”
My warning had not been an idle threat. I would use every ounce of my power to bring him down if he ever looked at a child again.
I turned to the wall. It rose before me like an ancient pyramid. I felt the magic coursing inside, fueling a spell so complicated I knew I would never break through without the pure magic.
I removed the sachet from my pocket. Delicate fabric tied with a white string sat on my palm. As I untied the knot, I felt as though I were disturbing something sacred. The fabric fell away to reveal a lump of white sand.
It didn’t blow away in the wind as I would have imagined. Instead, it rested on my hand. And waited. I stared up at the wall.
Luckily for me, I’ve had experience breaking down barriers.
The goblin army stirred behind me. I wondered if they would wait for me to rescue my godson before storming the tower. I ignored them as best as I could as I focused on the wall. Shimmery white threads of magic spiraled through the reflective surface, leaving ripples in their wake like waves on a pond. I focused on the magic pulses, and then I poured my energy into the pure magic.
Enter.
A few grains of sand floated off my palm and drifted to the wall. As soon as they touched the surface, a deafening boom filled the air. The ripples vibrated as if I’d hit the wall with a sledgehammer, though the wall remained standing.
My heart rate quickened. I had to bring this wall down. I attempted the spell again.
Enter.
A flurry of sand whipped into the air, taking with it all the pure magic. I feared the wind would blow it away, but the sand flowed with its own current. It struck the wall.
The sound of a crumbling mountain came from the wall. A fracture cracked its mirrored surface, and then a dozen more.
The clamor deafened me. My knees hit the ground. I clapped my hands over my ears. The goblin army backed away as fragments of stone fell to the ground. Huge chunks of the wall rained down around us. They hit the snow with massive thumps, sending flurries of snowflakes into the air.
A bluish haze rose from the crumbling barricade. It swirled as if with a conscious mind. I ducked as a rock fell inches from my head. The mist flowed into the sky. I watched it disappear behind the low-lying clouds.
Mr. Green fell back. He glanced
