Beyond (The Beyond Trilogy)

I walked through the fog with Hannah leading me, her iron grip on my wrist hurt. The fog slowly changed into a scene like the last dream except we were surrounded by Nazi soldiers. I raised an eyebrow at her but she just smiled.

“I like this era. My Mum used to tell me stories about World War II,” she said. The Nazis were oblivious to the fact one teenager and one small girl had walked into their meeting. They were all focused on the man at the font of the meeting who I knew as Hitler. He wasn’t as frightening as I thought he would be but looked passionate about what he was talking about. I couldn’t understand it as his German was fast and he used hand gestures a lot. They all seemed to look straight through us as if we were ghosts.

“Well who are we meeting here?” I asked. I looked around. A Nazi Party meeting was hardly a place to leave someone to wait. All I saw were Hitler’s supporters. Then amongst the crowd I saw a small boy about her age. He was nimble and had orangey hair. He was dressed in a Hitler Youth uniform. I rolled my eyes a little bit as Hannah looked at me grinning.

She signalled the boy over to the corner. “So what’s this all about?” I asked the two of them. The boy kept staring at me then nodded to Hannah and the space around him shimmered slightly. In a few seconds standing before me was a guy about my age. His hair wasn’t ginger but a chestnut brown. His arms were long and lanky but had some muscle on them. He was easily taller than me. His green eyes focused on me. I blushed but kept my cool.

“This is my brother. He’s like me. He can enter people’s dreams and create new ones,” Hannah said.

“Yes, well, I’m not nearly as talented as Hannah but it does help if you have an imagination,” he said. His face was serious, not showing any emotion at all. “Emma do you mind if I talk to you alone?”

“I prefer Harley thank you, and yes I think a chat alone about what this concerns would be good,” I said shooting a look at the young girl. She pouted and ran off into the edges of the dream where the fog starts. The dream swirled and the fog engulfed both of us until we emerged on a cliff front on the brink of being swallowed by the sea, he signalled for me to follow him into the cave.

“You know we never thought it possible someone was actually going to come and help us. We thought we were all doomed, destined to have these tattoos on us and be controlled all our lives,” he called back to me. The cave echoed. I ignored the praise. I didn’t know how long it would take to get to our final destination and help them.  I walked precariously on the edge of the cliff. The waves crashed below, slowly breaking down the cliff.

“Well I don’t know what I’m going to do really. It is ages to Melbourne you know and we haven’t even really left the Metropolitan area,” I said nervously, biting my lip.

“Well we all believe in you. Well at least the ones that aren’t controlled in our dreams. I guess I’m special like that; I’m free to walk in others dreams and create my own. But when I wake up it’s like I can’t think or control my actions,” he sighed. He sat down on the cold stone beside a pool of water and began throwing stones into it.

“You never did tell me your name,” I said sitting beside him. His eyes flickered to my face then back to the pool.

“My name is Evan,” he whispered. I smiled. It suited him.

“Well I’ve never actually talked to someone like me about what happened,” I said slowly, dropping hints of wanting to talk.

“When they fell it was torture. No one knew what was going on, the sky just rained fire, constantly, for an hour then stopped. I was in our old house with Hannah when it happened,” Evan stated. He stood up and walked deeper into the caves. The light from holes higher above illuminated the cave walls making it easier to see. “About a month after it happened that’s when he came into control”

“Do you know who he is or where he came from?” I asked.

“No one does. All anyone knows is that he’s very smart. He invented the tattoos and the special armour his soldiers wear,” he said. His eyes rested on me.

It was a head scratcher alright. How had one man come out of the rubble of a city destroyed and begun to take over the whole country with his technology. I would have to find out the facts at later dates, what mattered now was getting there in one piece.