Charlie~~
Dad leads me to the oval-shaped room where the master dreamer for Somnia is kept. There are separate rooms for the master dreamers of the other dreams. Those dreams don't hold nearly as many people. They're for certain tests Dad wants to run.
Asleep on the gray examination table, dressed in the standard uniform, the man looks like any of the other dreamers.
"I wanted to show my appreciation for you being the one to tell me Nora was finally lucid."
"I've been in here before."
Dad claps his hands behind his back. "I want you to know why I'm interested in Nora."
I keep a neutral expression. If he sees interest, he will extort it. "You said her father . . ." My expression morphs into a mix of horror and understanding. That can't be right.
"That's Nora's father. And also my best friend."
Besides for the brunette hair, they don't look related. Though maybe I'd need to see him awake. His beard hides a good portion of his face.
"He worked with me before your grandfather died. He wanted to test himself in the dream as if he were a normal dreamer." Meaning he wouldn't know what was going on. "That's how we discovered he was a Class One."
"He didn't need to give up his memories to test if he could manipulate the dream . . ."
"He wanted to go all in." Dad crosses his arms and sighs. "When I thought of loyalty, I thought of him."
"You expect me to believe that he asked to be a master dreamer?"
"He didn't." Dad sighs. "He never told his wife that he'd have to give their children to the dream. When his wife got pregnant with Nora, he . . . changed. I was informed he was making plans to run so I made him the master dreamer; I'd never have to worry about him trying to leave again."
He keeps those he cares about in cages.
"You trapped him in the dream like you did Mom."
His eyes flash. "I put her in the dream to protect her."
"If she wanted you to protect her, she wouldn't have escaped and left us."
"That's enough, Charlie."
I clench my teeth.
"We're here to talk about Kiernan"—he inclines his head to the master dreamer—"and Nora."
"How did Nora end up at OneirTech?"
"As I said, Kiernan never told her mother they'd have to give her up. I made sure that after she had time to properly mourn the death of her husband, that she met a man loyal to me. I was at their wedding."
My stomach churns, and I breathe deeply through my nose trying not to throw up. He's practically orchestrated Nora's life and he's still doing it, but this time with even more control.
"The control Kiernan had over the dream—he was stronger than you." Dad doesn't know half of what I can do. "I had to know if Nora was like him."
"And if she is a Class One, what are your long-term plans for her?"
"Once her father passes away, she will be the next master dreamer for Somnia."
I swallow down my bile as the room seems to tilt on its side. No. No, he can't force that on her. She'll have no life, no control, no power. She'd be barely more than a consciousness.
"I'm surprised you don't want her to have children," I spit out with a sneer. "Create a pedigree of Class Ones. You've already decided every other part of her life." Written every bit of it. I turn, headed for the door.
"An interesting idea."
I stop, my heart pounding. "Don't you understand sarcasm?"
"You're a Class One."
I feel the ground open up underneath me. "No."
"You don't even know what I'm going to say."
"I'm not going to get Nora pregnant."
Clicking his tongue, he strolls past me. "Don't get ahead of yourself."
I follow him out of the room. "Don't get ahead of myself?"
He waves his hand with a flourish, dismissing my question.
We enter the Hall, walking between the rows of dreamers before stopping in front of Nora's bed. Her long brown hair fans around her face, her neck, her shoulders. Her eyes are shut, hiding the blue that's underneath them and her lips are barely parted.
She's one sleeping beauty in a room of thousands.
There's a faint smell of lemon verbena soap, which means someone must have recently washed her. I usually do my best to avoid thinking about how when I'm in the dream for long periods of time, someone has to partly undress me in order to clean me off. I've never allowed myself to ask who on the staff washes the dreamers.
"I know I warned you about getting attached to her—that she's mine, but having her take her father's place, that's wholly unoriginal of me. Your idea though is so inspired."
I feel myself shrinking into my body, curling into a dried-up husk. When I brought up the pedigree comment, I was angry—disgusted at him for choosing her as the next master dreamer. In that moment, I wanted him to know just how awful I thought he was.
"Of course," he continues, "we still have to determine whether she's a Class One. Why don't you arrange for her to have dinner with us at your house? Call it your first date."
I keep my eyes on Nora's face. "It wouldn't be much of a date if you're there."
"I want to meet the girl my son's dating."
I tap my fingers against my leg. "We're not dating. You just decided on this inane plan. And you've already met her. You'll recall the last time that you did caused her to hate me."
Shaking his head, he eyes me and lets loose a huff from his nose. "Hewn can take care of that. Make her forget that day. He can even make her completely and entirely in love with you."
My knees threaten to buckle, and I try to subtly lean against her table. "If you want us to have children, you'll have to wake her up, and those feelings would be gone, replaced with the memories of what we did." Grandpa made sure memories in these dreams aren't wispy like those from normal dreams.
He eyes me long and hard. "There'd be no need to wake her up."
The bagels and eggs in my stomach rise up my throat, and I breathe deeply, trying to make my breaths even.
"Charlie?" Dad places his hand on my shoulder.
"Give me a chance to talk to her before you go to Hewn, please." My voice sounds distant, the colors in the room grayer, more muted. "If you don't need to alter her memories, leave them alone. Besides, you don't know how altering her memories could affect her discovering her powers."
"I want the dinner arranged for tomorrow night."
"Dad, be reasonable for once—"
"If I were to have Hewn take care of this, the dinner could be tonight."
"You have a meeting with Cobbs tomorrow night."
"And? Cobbs can reschedule. Take care of this, Charlie. Or I will."
He leaves me, and I try to get my bearings back. I pull out my phone and text Hewn.
I'm coming to meet with you now. It can't wait.
Hewn: I'm in my office in Somnia
As I'm deleting the texts—I don't trust Dad not to read them—a text from Nora comes through.
Menagerie?
There in front of me is Nora asleep, but within her mind she's living her life, texting me without any idea that I'm standing over her right now.
Communication between the dream and reality has always been a part of my life—a fact. I don't imagine Nora would be able to accept so easily just how blended reality and dream are here.
I delete her text and head for a launching room. I'll respond to her after I ensure Hewn will leave who she is intact.
*****
Hewn's office in Somnia is orderly. Tidy. All smooth surfaces and curves.
He looks up over the edge of his holo-screen, the picture of bored, not the least bit startled at me appearing in the center of his office only seconds ago. "How can I help you?"
"I've got a problem." I debrief him on what Dad plans to ask him to do to Nora's memories.
He shuts off his holo-screen and folds his hands together. "What Dad wants, he gets."
"I'll tell him about the res."
Hewn rolls his eyes. "We went through this. He won't believe you."
"That may be, but I just got a long story from Dad about what he does to people who go behind his back. Are you willing to take the chance he won't believe you and risk losing the western facility? I'm sure Thomas would love a promotion."
His throat bobbing, he drums his fingers against his maple-wood desk.
"Of course, no matter what he does to you, Sabine's punishment will be far worse. She did invent the res."
His fingers curl into a fist. "You would stab your family in the back over a girl you can't even consider a friend?"
I place my hands on his desk and lean forward. "Absolutely."
Silent, he stares at me, his jaw clenched. Finally, he says, "Very well."
I back up, feeling some of my tension fade. "Thank you." Now I have to convince Nora to act as if she's falling in love with me or at least act like she's open to the possibility. I know she could pull it off. I just don't know if she would.
"Don't ever ask anything of me again, Charlie."
"I'd prefer not to."
Exiting his office, I pull out my phone and text Nora.
Care for a trip to the jungle?
Pace has been manipulating Nora's life since before she was even born.
Also I'm participating in the BootcampMentors bootcamp as a mentor again this year. You can find details on their profile in their guidebook about how you can apply to work with a mentor!