I barely had a chance to admire my surroundings before Alice tugged my consciousness along her explorations, her emotions of wonder and delight so palpable they seemed part of the fruity air itself. She explored the fields of taffy and marshmallow sprouts before plopping beside a clump of gumdrop bushes covered with chocolate fruit growing along the bank of the pink river. She began sampling the different flora, each treat dancing with every tasty bite.
I’d never entered a dream so vivid and magical. Even if Blaze had cheated by using every flower from the Ebony Market, I doubted any nightmare could have beaten this. I was tempted to just lie in the grass and enjoy the sweets caressing my taste buds until the dream ended, and attempt Trinity’s suggestion on another dream. But if there was any dream worth exploring, it was this one.
I concentrated on trying to sever my connection to Alice. Nothing happened. Under her consciousness, I had no control of my body and limited control of my mind, and the candy she ate—currently a chocolate-covered raspberry—was extremely distracting.
I tugged and tugged, but I seemed to be connected to Alice’s consciousness with unbreakable chains. Even summoning my magic proved impossible, as if my power’s flow was blocked by an invisible dam.
As Alice gorged on more chocolate, gumdrops, sweet cream, and licorice grass, I yanked, pulled, and heaved. Still nothing. Aggravating. With each sweet Alice devoured, I sensed the dream’s approaching conclusion. Soon it would be too late.
Just as I was about to give up, an idea tantalized my thoughts. I stopped struggling and slowed my breath. In the calm stillness I explored within myself, searching until I found my magical spark of power. The warm magic stirred at my concentration. I hooked my thoughts on this thread and tugged as hard as I could.
I stumbled into the lemonade river with an icy splash. Sticky liquid washed over me, filling my lungs and burning my eyes. I struggled to the surface, burst through, and clambered to shore, spitting out mouthfuls of lemonade. Coughing, I glanced behind me and froze.
Alice sat on the bank in a lace-trimmed nightgown, her lap bursting with sweets that she seemed content to keep eating with chocolate-stained fingers. She didn’t even glance at me, entirely unaware of my near-death experience only a few yards away.
I warily watched her as I rung out my lilac hair, which clung together in sticky, syrupy strands. At any moment I expected her to notice me, but she never looked over, not even when I tentatively called her name. Though it was clear she was entirely unaware of me, my gaze still lingered on her until I’d ducked into the lollipop forest. Once safely hidden within the rainbow-swirled trees, I explored the rest of the dream.
I felt as if I were dreaming myself. The freedom was exhilarating, the extraordinary details imaginative and painstakingly creative. It was hard to believe such a wondrous place had been created with only some details and thread. I tried to piece together which flowers Angel had used and the stitches she’d connected them with, but the dream was practically seamless. Occasionally, a few tiny gaps added a surreal quality to the dream, but otherwise it was flawless, probably even up to Darius’s scrutiny.
I kept my eyes peeled for any flickering sign of Alice’s emotions so I could try to capture them like Trinity had suggested, but much like the weaving threads that constructed the dream, they had become an intricate part of it, and were thus impossible to find.
The path opened into a vast clearing. Growing from the dappled lawn was a grove of peppermint-stick trees laden with candy apples dangling from the striped boughs like glistening ornaments. Trinity had been correct—I’d been able to break away from the Mortal and explore their dream independently. Would her other theory that I could remove objects from the dream also prove to be true?
I reached to pluck a sprinkle-coated apple, but before my fingers even grazed the tantalizing fruit, the dream surrounding me suddenly vanished as it drew to its conclusion. I felt the familiar yank and found myself once again perched in my dream-watching tree beside Stardust.
I blinked in the bright morning light as I readjusted to the ordinary surroundings of the non-dream world. Stardust immediately smothered me with a fluffy hug. “Where were you? Are you hurt?”
I barely heard her, my attention elsewhere. “The dream!”
Alice’s dream still glistened invitingly above her as she hovered outside the bakery, making eyes at Mason. It wasn’t too late. I snatched an empty jar and summoned my magic. It enveloped the dream in a cloud of lilac dust, and with a surprisingly gentle and effortless tug, I pulled the entire thing towards me and enclosed it in the jar.
For a moment I sat there, slightly dazed, before I raised the captured dream to eye level. It was heavy and pulsed with golden light, and when I peered inside, I caught glimpses of the land of candy I’d just explored.
My excitement swelled. “I did it!” I waved the jar in front of Stardust’s unamused expression. “I’ve finally captured a complete dream, and what a dream it was, a world made entirely from candy…”
Stardust wrinkled her nose as she looked me up and down. “Is that why you’re covered in it and smell so sweet?”
I felt my hair, clumpy with lemonade, and glanced down at my dress, now stained pink; most of the glitter on my arms and legs had been washed away. I tentatively licked my sticky, strawberry-flavored fingers. “I fell into the river inside the dream. Why is the real me covered in lemonade?”
Stardust’s eyes widened. “Is that where you disappeared, you were actually inside the dream? At first you were in your usual trance, but then you suddenly vanished…”
The implications were mind-blowing. “The real me must have
