No one is here.
She pulls the phone out from her pocket and dials Chrys.
After a couple rings, Chrys answers in a sleepy voice, “Ron?”
“Chrys,” Ron says, talking low despite no one being around. “Carl skipped town.”
Chrys breathes out, static in Ron’s ear. “He’s been in my dreams.”
“He must still be close by then, maybe in the forest. I doubt it can reach very far.”
“It can reach extremely far, actually. He could be anywhere.”
“That’s not good.”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter. How is… Giselle?”
“Do you know what happened Chrys?”
Silence.
“Iris is dead,” Ron says.
“I know,” Chrys says in a small voice.
“The sheriff said it’s death by natural causes, saying she died from a heart attack.”
“Ah…”
“Look, I don’t wanna sound accusing or anything, but it kinda seems like you and Hunter—”
“Yes.”
Ron’s shoulders slump. She suspected it was true, but really hoped it wasn’t. “So you did do it?”
“It was an accident,” Chrys says, her voice breaking. “I would never—”
“I know.”
The two of them are silent for a while. It’s difficult for Ron to hear Chrys like that. Chrys is usually a rock, unreadable. But Chrys is also extremely fragile. People who hide their emotions usually are. Ron wishes she could have been there for her after the accident. She wishes she could be there with her now.
“When do you think you’ll be done?” Ron asks.
“I’ll do the task today.”
“Do you think you’ll finish it today?”
Chrys sighs again, loud static. “It’s something that can be done in a couple minutes, but whether I’ll actually be able to get through it or not…”
Ron nods. “Get through it. I wanna get outta here asap.”
Chrys chuckles. “As you wish.”
“I’m serious. Carl is god-knows-where. Giselle is talking about leaving soon too and I feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome.”
“Yeah, me too.” She pauses for a moment. “How about this? You and I leave tomorrow afternoon, 24 hours from now.”
“Are you sure? What if you don’t finish the task?”
“Hunter told me about the task. He’s tried to do it too before. He says it’s the kind of thing that you have to do the first time, or else you’ll never be able to do it. So, the way I see it, if I can’t do it then I might as well leave anyway, because I’ll never succeed at it. Am I making any sense? I feel like I’m spouting nonsense.”
“You’re fine. I got it. Regardless of how things turn out, I’ll be waiting for you.” Ron pulls the phone away from her ear to check the time. “I’ll be at the town entrance tomorrow at 1:13. You better be here too.”
“Of course. It’s a promise.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Ron closes the phone and holds it at her side as she looks out at the forest across from here.
Twenty-four hours left in Bluewater.
Chapter 36
I wake up, heart pounding.
I’m alive.
I look around the cabin. It’s still empty. I look at my watch. Only fifteen minutes or so passed since I fell asleep.
Groggy, I climb down the ladder.
I touch my pocket, feeling that the phone is still in there. The board game is still on the rug. We really should clean that up. I doubt we’ll ever get the chance to finish it.
Walking around it, I leave the cabin and walk around the field. A lot of kids are out there, playing something. None of them even notice me, or if they do, they don’t care.
I wonder why I didn’t die. I’m kind of glad I didn’t but it doesn’t make any sense. How exactly does that gift work? It can make things that happen in a dream real, but not everything, it seems. Otherwise, I should have at least woken up with a metal band fastened to my head and a cord in my skull. But, I didn’t.
Maybe he has to specify what he wants to come true. The entries I read so far from Madeline Taylor only talked about dream manipulation but not about making dreams a reality. Maybe she talks about that later on.
I enter the Main House and go into the computer room.
Thank goodness it’s empty. I sit down at one and go back to the Madeline Taylor website.
I do a search for making dreams come true and it spits out hundreds of results. I open the first one and start reading, but I find myself reading the same sentence over and over, and the words on the screen blur together.
And then, I suddenly wake up to my phone ringing. My face had been on the keyboard. When did I fall asleep?
I rub my temple with one hand and pull out the phone with the other. It’s Ron.
I talk to her, barely aware of what I’m saying, hoping I’m making sense to her. All I really remember is promising to leave with her in twenty-four hours.
And the task. I have to get it done today, no more pushing it off.
Maybe now, while my brain is foggy, I’ll be able to get through it and barely even notice what’s going on. I can’t concentrate on reading anyway.
I shut down the computer. Where would Shikoba be right now? They’re still serving brunch now so, he could be eating. Or he could be in here somewhere.
Since I’m already in the Main House, I decide to check around here first.
I leave the computer room and look in the infirmary. Someone is sleeping in one of the beds there but it looks like a kid. I close the door and then look in the classrooms by the computer room. Empty.
I knock on Li’s office door and the little lounge next to it but no answer.
Could he be upstairs?
I walk up the spiral staircase and go to the door with his and June’s names on it. I knock a couple times.
After a bit, Shikoba opens the door. He has his
