The Children of Hypnos

[Vol. 2] Chapter 23: Business Negotiations

The black car wove across the park without so much as a whisper, the ride so smooth Emery didn't feel a bump. Trevor didn't have to ask where she wanted to go, and after that first comment, he kept his mouth shut. Emery twisted around in her seat and needled the other passengers.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" she asked Ridley and Marcia, who had both seen better days. They were scratched up from the woods and red with exertion, but Marcia looked like she might start tearing open the leather car interior, and Ridley was softly gasping for air. Wes had one hand on her head and the other on her arm, whispering something to try to calm her.

The Wilmark Fox had sliced open Ridley's cheek from the corner of her right eye to her chin. The blood made it hard to see if there was more than one wound, or how deep it went. Ridley kept trying to touch it and Wes kept pulling her hand away.

"I called them," he said, without looking at Emery. "They have doppelgängers too. They're the other horsemen. Whatever Morrigan is doing, they're part of it. Besides, I couldn't leave Ridley. I don't trust them enough not to use her as leverage."

Emery pressed her lips together. Without Marcia, they wouldn't have gotten out of Fenhallow, but Ridley was more a liability with them than she was at school. She wasn't a bad dreamhunter, but she hadn't been the same since the appearance of the doppelgängers.

Emery also hadn't thought of the State using anyone as leverage, although she should have. There wasn't much more they could do to Edgar, but what about Jacqueline? Emery hadn't even said goodbye to her, much less warned her that the State might try to use her.

"We're not calling them horsemen of the apocalypse," Emery said. "I don't know if Morrigan decided that or what, but it's stupid and it gives them more power than they should have. They're doppelgängers, and mostly weak ones. They aren't harbingers of anything."

She noticed Trevor glance at her, but still he said nothing.

"We need to go somewhere we can hide," Marcia said, eyeing the back of Trevor's seat. "Why is Van der Gelt our chauffeur?"

"I'm here by special request," Trevor said, smiling at her in the rearview mirror. "You'll be safe at my home, at least for a short time. Of course, I'd like to be filled in on what's going on, but that can wait until we get there."

"Your home? How do we know we'll be safe there?"

"Because even if the dreamhunters of this city find out where you are, they'll be reluctant to break in to arrest you. They can't do that without upsetting me, and if they upset me, they lose a lot of opportunities for the State."

They were on the streets now, headed toward Geist Heights. Emery still felt as if she was being chased, though there were no cars in pursuit, and no feeling of the Dream or dreamkillers around them. By the time they reached the long drive with the wolves and their laurel wreaths, Emery's adrenaline had drained from her, leaving her feeling jelly-limbed and empty. Trevor drove the car down a sloped drive to the garage underneath the house.

Emery had expected a line of cars each more expensive than the last, displayed to show off. Instead, there was a beat-up Honda and a ten-year-old Jeep kept in good repair. There was a workbench and tools on one side of the garage, and sporting equipment hung from hooks on the walls on the other side. Mr. Lowe stood at the door into the house, bristling at their appearance like an unhappy bird.

"Blood!" he squawked.

"Can you get the first aid kit?" Trevor asked him, shutting the rear passenger door behind Marcia and Ridley as they climbed out. "I think they'll all need it."

Mr. Lowe disappeared. Marcia marched into the house without an invitation, dragging Wes and Ridley behind her. Trevor did nothing more than raise his eyebrows and hold out an arm to invite Emery inside. Emery went, legs numb and head pounding, feeling as if she could sleep for days.