Footsteps echo outside. She pushes the leather briefcase back to its spot under the Interpreter’s desk and runs to her seat. Once there, she remembers the paper in her hand. She folds it as small as she can and shoves it inside her jacket pocket.
The door opens. Apollina walks in. Following behind her is Benja. Aris wants to weep at what she sees. Her normally exuberant friend looks . . . hollow. Like a man whose mind is wandering alone in the desert.
“Benja?” Her voice quavers.
“Benja, this is your friend, Aris. She’s here to pick you up,” says Apollina in a slow, deliberate way.
He looks at her. His eyes are unfocused. “Hi, Aris.”
“Does he”—she swallows down a sob—“Does he not remember me?”
“He’s a bit groggy right now. He’ll be fine after resting. Remember what I said.”
Aris nods. She forces out a smile. “Hey, Benja. We’re going to go to my house, okay? I’ll take care of you until you feel better.”
“Thank you. My head really hurts,” he says.
Tears threaten to fall, but Aris pushes them deep inside like a secret.
Aris sighs when Benja is finally on her bed. The Interpreter sent them back on their drone so she did not have to brave the subway with a half-conscious man. As Apollina had instructed, she used short and precise words. Please sit. Please lie down. Please drink this. Benja followed them all.
She looks at her sleeping friend and wonders what he dreams about now. Without the past haunting him, will he be a different Benja? She recalls their first conversation. She told him she believes a person stays who they are throughout all cycles. He did not agree. She hopes for his sake that she is right.
She closes the door to her room. The couch will be her bed. She cannot bear to sleep next to him. Not tonight.
“Lucy, reach Thane,” she says. It’s Saturday so he should be at home.
Thane’s image appears in the middle of her living room.
“Ask me why I just came back from the Interpreter Center,” she says. Her voice sounds cold and distant, as if belonging to a stranger.
Thane looks away. She knows he understands her meaning. She is glad he’s not trying to deny her accusation. That would further lower her opinion of him.
Anger rises in her like bubbles in a lava pool.
“The report you wrote on Benja painted him as if he were mentally ill. You said he had lost touch with reality and needed medical attention.”
Thane looks at her, his eyes wide. “How do you know about that?”
“You said you believe his dreams drove him to live in an alternate reality and that this delusion will drive him to harm others,” she says.
“He was a danger to others and himself. I did believe medical attention would help him,” Thane says.
“Is that what you tell yourself so you feel less like a monster and more like a hero?”
“Is that what you think? Whatever I do is for the good of our society. It’s this belief that allows me to do this. Not whether you or anyone else sees me as a hero or a monster.”
“I confided in you as a friend. I trusted you!”
“I have to protect our way of life.”
“You lied about your involvement with the Interpreter Center!”
Thane flinches.
“I should have never trusted you. Had I known you were an informant for the Interpreter Center . . .”
“You forget Benja is not an innocent in this. He had a prior record from breaking and entering not that long ago. And he just went back to terrorize the same couple because of what, his dreams? Is your love for him blinding you to his faults?” Thane says, his voice trembling with emotion. “It could have been worse. The Dreamcatcher only erases his dreams. They could have put him away for the rest of this cycle.”
Aris thinks about Benja being locked up somewhere far away. Fear replaces anger.
Thane’s voice becomes gentler. “Aris. I care about you. Believe me, I’d rather you see me as something much more than a friend. But I won’t stop doing the right thing. I can’t. Benja was dangerous. It couldn’t continue. This is for the greater good. It’s for his own good. You’ll see.”
Her rage returns. She looks at him as if she does not know him. “A friend is not what I even see you as at this point. I’ll never trust you again. Consider this my resignation.”
She ends the reach and collapses on the couch. She is exhausted from the top of her scalp to her toenails.
Why did she tell him about Benja? Thane would not have known had she not said anything. Benja entrusted her to save his dreams, and she failed. She feels nauseated. She trusted the wrong person, and so did he.
The ramshackle cottage appears as if it is collapsing from within. Walls and pillars stand crooked like drunks. Holes in the roof leak rain and snow. Floorboards creak with every step. The tiny house is barely standing, yet Metis feels safe here. On a day like today, he is grateful for the security it offers.
“They used the Dreamcatcher on Benja,” he says. Guilt weighs heavy in the pit of his stomach.
The Crone’s face twists in anger.
“That makes two,” she says. “They’re after Dreamers.”
“It’s my fault,” he whispers.
How could he be so stupid? He knew about Benja and the possible threat he posed to the group. Metis had let him stay longer than he should because of his connection to Aris. If anything were to happen to the rest of the Dreamers, what would he do? It would be on him.
“You’re blaming yourself,” the Crone says. “You shouldn’t.”
“Why not? I’m the guardian of Absinthe. I recruited the Dreamers. I’m supposed to be their protector. And now two people’s dreams have been wiped.”
Metis cannot bring himself to tell the Crone about the Absinthe he gave Benja to trade for Aris’s memories. He is too ashamed. He hopes
