1 | The Terrible Dreamer

Chapter 9

VEAR

I collapse into the chair and claw at the scar on my face. The Map Room is covered in my shadows, silent and stinks of mildew. My anger won't subside. How could I let this old wound best me in a fight? And against a dreamwalker, no less. Pathetic. My father would have starved me for days for such a disgrace. My upbringing is proof of this. 

As a child, I was skin and bones, lacking any muscle that my father so willingly pointed out on a daily basis. His tortuous methods were always invisible to the eye, so no one could question him. No one could see the cruel truth.

Those hidden scars run deeper than any physical wound, and yet...

Kato appears from the shadows, his fox tail wagging furiously behind him. He's just as angry as me, if not more, because he let a dreamwalk best him and failed at his mission. I don't hold it against him. That woman was more prepared than I anticipated. Most of the time, dreamwalkers conjure their contraptions on the spot, but this one planned ahead. This one has been to Akane more than once. She's good at escaping, even by a thread.

I should have killed her the second I spotted her, but I couldn't, or rather chose not to in that moment. My mind was in a frenzy. What if I harmed the butterfly? What if I accidently cut it in two? Maybe this time it would die or dissolve back into the planet. Had the dreamwalker already devoured it? Or maybe she was hired to retrieve it. My hesitation got the better of me. It broke its way out of Urlish, killed her even. What could a blade possibly do to it? Nothing.

Regardless, the paper butterfly is gone and that woman stole it.

Kato quietly approaches and kneels before me. His head hangs low, blonde hair shaggy and ears down with remorse. I hesitate to touch him. My anger is so palpable that I've afraid of hurting him. Another trait I can thank my father for.

"I failed you," Kato says.

I clench the chair arms. "You didn't fail, Kato. You did exactly as I ordered."

He is my protector; he watches my back and fights when need be. That raven attacked first, knowing full well that Kato is a shifter. Our journey into the Treschine Forest was merely a mission to retrieve the butterfly. He did his duty. I'm the one who failed at fulfilling mine.

When he lifts his head, his eyes are blazing with determination. "Regardless, my duty as your Overseer of the Faceless is to kill all dreamwalkers on sight. Next time, I won't hesitate to sink my claws into her."

Laughter slips past my anger. The idea that we could possibly find her on a vast unknown planet is absurd. She's gone, forever living among the stars of this universe. If only I knew what planet she lives on, then at least it would give me some idea, but even I know that's a fool's dream. "We will never find her," I admit.

Slowly and broad, Kato grins, his sharp canines gleam from what little light I let seep inside. So haunting and dangerous, though he can't control the shadows, he was truly born from them. "That's where you're wrong. I have a present for you." He holds out his fist, revealing delicate threads before my very eyes. "Hair of the dreamwalker."

Hope blooms in the form of brown strands. I gently take the hair from my dependable friend and inhale the scent. Flowers and dirt and a hint of spicy sweetness. Magic beyond reason and that impossible imagination of dust the paper butterfly carries along its wings. Yes, it's the dreamwalker's scent, and with these pieces of hair I'll be able to locate her. The toys she left behind are useless, all trinkets created by Akane's magic are, but a piece of hair—that's personal.