The Child Dreamer: A Dead Dreamer Prequel

Chapter Nine: A Bloody Fate

Catori continued to question me for the rest of the day. No matter what I said, my answers were never enough. Even the Medicine Man knew I was lying to her. But regardless, I continued with my daily chores, as if nothing had happened. As if my entire life had never changed. As if the truth was never revealed to me.

The voices never left me either. With everyone move I made, they continued to chatter in the back of my mind. Some in familiar languages, others in foreign ones. But they were all begging for the same thing. They wanted to be freed. And with each plea for help, I grinned. Lorcan said it was the voices of the demons, testing me. Though wrong, they were still from insignificant creatures that meant nothing to me.

When the sun was finally beginning to set, my excitement rose. Tonight was the night I proved myself. Not just to Lorcan, but to myself. Prove that I was more powerful than the child. To prove that I was more power than any other like us. Catori called us Spirit Walkers, but he called us Dreamers. The name didn't matter. What mattered was power.

"George," Catori said as she walked toward me.

I was already walking toward the longhouse to go to sleep when she called me. It was tempting to simply ignore her, but instead I turned. "What is it?"

Her hand rested on my cheek as she stared to meet my eyes. "Stay in the village tonight. Do not wander."

My hand reached to hold hers and pull it off of me. "You know I can't. I never could."

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "I know. I wish you would understand. Understand what you're doing. If you do this, there will be no turning back."

"I know," I said proudly.

Catori sighed. "Think about what you're doing. Think about all of the destruction you will cause. Those men who were killed by the spirits that nights are only the beginning."

My mind flashed to the memory of the spirits dancing in the flames before attacking those men with the caravan. The image caused my lips to twitch into a grin. "I'm doing God's work. You won't ever understand that."

"You're wrong," she said as she turned away from me, "and I see now, there is no changing your mind. I cannot save you anymore."

When she turned to walk away, I thought nothing of it at the time. But that was the last time she would speak to me as a mother would a child. It was the last time I would see a mother's love in her eyes. Even after knowing that, I regretted nothing.

Despite my excitement, sleep came easier than it had ever had before. When I left the longhouse, the tribe was as far from my sleeping body as they could be. They were all talking around a large bonfire. Catori was sitting on the edge, leaning against the Medicine Man. He noticed me as I left the tent, but only stared. He made no move to tell the others, or even walk toward me. He simply stared.

I turned my back on them, having no interest in another potential lecture. Instead, I floated into the forest, aiming to find another demon door that hadn't been sealed by the child. Thankfully, it didn't take long before I found one. When I sensed it, I was already a few miles from the village and the tribe.

Lorcan and the boy were already there. They were waiting for me as they sat beside a small fire, cooking something on sticks. As I approached, I realized they were cooking two squirrels they had recently skinned and butchered. The boy never noticed me. But Lorcan did.

"I was wondering if you would find us on your own." he said with a warm smile.

The boy flinched when Lorcan spoke. His eyes searched the forest, trying to find me, but they never could.