Daydream (ONC 2024)

Chapter 17: The End of the Dream

The griffin left my side to lead the children with Violet, and I was suddenly very alone in the middle of the chaos. The watchers had their hands full with Faella's magic and Sven corralling them with his size and flames while Lexington and Ray pushed them back. The children swarmed the rest, and as Kearo had predicted, the watchers wouldn't strike at them. That left Xin clashing with Kearo wherever they landed, and in my solitude, it occurred to me that the reality generator was unguarded.

I slid a foot back to see if anyone would notice, and when no one did, I made my way across the tile toward the giant machine that had lost its guards. All I had to do was slip the utensils I'd swiped from Xin's table into the same unfortunate gap in its protection that Mei had, but thought of her had me stalling my advance. In all of the fighting, I'd forgotten about her.

The table stood, but cups of tea had toppled and spilled their contents onto cookies that melted to mush. I took cautious steps when I didn't see Mei in her seat, touching the very edge of the plastic table, and my heart lurched as emotion ran over me like a semi hitting my spine. Fear. Mei was still here, and I knelt to find her huddled under the table with so little space that her head touched the underside even with her face tucked in her knees.

Everyone around us was fighting so desperately, yet it had happened so quickly. I had wanted to talk to Mei, but she'd sent Xin to get rid of me before I'd gotten to say much. Seeing her terrified and quivering alone clenched my heart, and I knelt so I could get low enough for her to see my face.

"Mei." My voice had her stiffening, and she sank her head into her neck as she turned toward me. "No one is going to hurt you. I'm sorry things got scary."

"I don't want to go away." Tears poured down her face, and my fingers trembled where they held the table. "I want to stay here with Daddy. Why can't I stay here with everyone?"

I had no answer.

The only reason was because I had chosen to destroy the generator to restore the original world. Like Xin had said, it wasn't right or wrong, just a choice, and seeing this scared child who would die the moment I broke the machine sank rocks into the pit of my stomach.

With my fear of the watchers, I had never tried to find a way where this could work for everyone. Not really. Perhaps if Mei wasn't against us, I could open the eyes of the people, like I had with that sick woman, separating the masses from what plagued them within. Everyone here was fighting for a way to free the minds of those they loved, but what if we could do that without destroying everything? If I could wake the people, perhaps this world could be a new place for all of us, one better than what it was.

It could be a gift instead of a failing of love.

"Let's find a way forward together instead of fighting." I ducked my head under the table to extend a hand to Mei, and a blade immediately pressed to my throat. My heart stopped, and I moved only my eyes to find Xin standing with half his glaive a sliver from opening my throat.

If he was here though, that meant no one was stopping Kearo.

Brown hair flashed beyond Xin, and Kearo landed on top of the reality generator with a thunk that turned the heads of every watcher and dream in the room, along with Xin's. With my crowbar in his hand, Kearo knelt over the opening in the top of the machine, and my heart stuttered.

"Kearo, wait!" I yelled, standing to draw attention to myself, and Xin allowed me to push his blade away when he saw that I wasn't a danger. "We don't have to destroy it. We can find another way."

"Heidi," Kearo's shoulders sank with a frown that folded his expression into one of pain that I'd never seen him display. "I'm sorry."

Kearo wedged the crowbar deep into the gap in the machine's protective casing, and screeching metal drowned out my cry of anguish. Gears clunked like a tin can rolling in the turbines, and the fans ground to a halt as black smoke billowed from every orifice on the machine.