Charlie~~
We all practice our roles through the night and into the early morning until I'm called away by Dad to attend a meeting within Somnia's headquarters. A meeting with all of my older siblings. Marcella, Stacy, and Tyler will be the only ones in attendance that are younger than me.
The meeting room has been arranged so that all the chairs face one direction. I'm seated between Kyle and Tyler as usual. The quadruplets sit in the front. With three of them at separate facilities than the one Dad occupies, they're the reason he calls meetings in the dream so often.
Dad has yet to arrive, and the general consensus in the room is that none of us know what the meeting is for. I can't help the worry gnawing at me that he's found out I'm going to attempt to wake the master dreamer.
That hasn't sunken in yet.
Freedom. Can I really have it?
Kyle cracks his neck. "When I'm at college, I'm not taking a class if it's before 10 AM."
Tyler side-eyes him, eyebrows furrowed above a concerned and judgmental gaze. "We're asleep. What does it matter when meetings are?"
"You have to admit he has a point, Kyle."
He scowls at us just as Dad enters the room, followed by Cobbs.
I can't recall a time when Cobbs and I didn't have an issue with each other. He's always been a sycophant, acting as if he's just as high up as the quadruplets, despite not running a facility like them. We haven't had a conversation where I don't feel his arrogance rolling off him. He's never voiced his issue with me, but I'd say there's a strong possibility that it simply stems from me publicly taking issue with him in many meetings.
Dad stands front and center, his face stern, his eyes scanning over all of us. "If I can't trust my own children"—his nostrils flare—"who can I trust?"
My heart races, making me question for a moment whether I've already been put into one of Dad's fearscapes and if my heart will continue to beat toward a crescendo before it gives out.
"Cobbs has informed me that one of you has been going behind my back."
He knows.
"Sabine."
The focus in the room shifts from Dad to my sister in the front row.
"Did you really think you could hide your creation from me forever?" The res—Cobbs somehow found out. If Dad gets word that Hewn and I knew or if Sabine needs bargaining chips, we're screwed.
He could already know.
Sabine stands. "Dad . . . I— I wanted to take initiative. I thought you'd be impressed." Her voice trembles.
"If you wanted me to be impressed, you would have told me."
"I was still testing it—"
Dad holds up his hand. "One year."
"What?"
"You'll spend one year in the dream without your memories. In your absence, Thomas will take over the northern facility."
My sister clasps her hands in front of her. "Dad, please. I wasn't going against you. Cobbs only wants it to look that way."
"Enough. You're fortunate I don't sentence you for life." He's right. That's the punishment I expected. It even sounds like she'll resume control of her facility when a year is up.
While my heart goes out to her, we were never close, and as selfish as it is, I'm worried about myself because at this point, I'm waiting to hear Hewn's and my name called out. He helped Sabine get the res out into Somnia. I only knew about it, but that's usually enough to earn Dad's vengeance.
But if Sabine is only getting a year, my punishment couldn't be that bad.
Until he finds out about me working to wake the master dreamer of Somnia.
I need to get out of this meeting before I throw up on either Kyle or Tyler.
Cobbs keeps his expression tense, but in his eyes is delight at watching one of my eldest siblings humbled before Dad.
"Dad," Sabine tries again. "Just let me explain."
Shaking his head, Dad clucks his tongue. "After you've lost a year of your life, I hope you'll realize the importance of disclosure." Dad places his hand on her cheek. "We'll speak again in a year." He taps his watch, and she makes a grab for his wrist, but he snatches his arm back, and Sabine vanishes as she wakes up.
With a tug on each of the cuffs of his sleeves, Dad faces us. My hands clutch my seat. Here it comes.
"I must attend to your sister's transition. You all are dismissed."
It's not until both Dad and Cobbs have left the room that I release the breath I didn't know I was holding.
My siblings murmur among themselves. Dad never told them what it was that Sabine created. They must be flummoxed at whatever Dad's favorite daughter could have possibly done to warrant being given a second year in the dream without her memory.
I rise out of my chair, Kyle and Tyler speculating on what just happened as I try composing myself. Hewn's eyes fall on me, my fear finding its reflection in his eyes, and I understand that he also knows we could very well be screwed. I don't know how Cobbs figured out about the res. The quadruplets are fiercely loyal to each other. I can't imagine Sabine would give up Hewn's name in the moments before she's forced asleep, but she has no reason not to give up mine. In Hewn's eyes is a question: will I give him up to save myself?
If it means I have any chance left to free Nora from this dream, then absolutely. I don't care for those who alter the personalities of others.
Nora asked me to find out about her friend's new identity. But even if it weren't risky to speak to Hewn, Nora wouldn't have a chance to use any information I'd gain because by this time tomorrow, we'll either be awake or at Dad's mercy.
I turn away from Hewn giving him no indication of my answer to his silent question.
Anyone could be watching.
*****
I rift into the basement of the Lion's Den where the team still practices.
Team. That's what we are, aren't we?
Nora looks up from the table where she's gathered around Raymond's holoscreen. "How was the meeting?"
Can they hear my heart? It's too loud. Too fast. "We can't wait. Even tomorrow morning might be too late." I tell them about what's happened to Sabine and about how I learned what my sister had done weeks ago and explain that Dad could be coming for me next. When I finish, they're silent. "We may only have hours or less. My dad will be wondering who else has betrayed him. He won't rest. He'll investigate all of my siblings."
Avery nods, chewing on her lip. "Okay." She lets out a breath. "If you think we have to do this now, I believe you."
While Tye, Ricky, and Avery finish preparing, Raymond has me and Nora run through the program that will wake the master dreamer. If I'm going to create an anima to wake him, I need to know the process as close to perfection as I can manage. I continue to practice while Nora moves onto studying the program that will unweave the fabricated reality.
I need to tell her the truth about her dad. It's what she deserves. That way if we lose, she'll at least know for a few minutes who her birth dad is and who she's fighting to wake up.
"Nora?"
Scratching at her face, she uses one hand to type. "Hmm?"
"I wasn't sure when to tell you. If we wake up, then it all works out, but if we don't . . ."
"Charlie, what is it?"
"It's about the master dreamer. He's—"
My phone rings. I pull it out to silence it when I see it's Kyle. "I'm sorry. I need to . . ."
She nods, both hands back on the holoscreen. "Go ahead."
I hold the phone to my ear. "Kyle?"
"Hewn's been drawn into this mess."
I almost drop my phone. "What?"
"Someone said he was also involved. I don't know how or who. Do you think it's true? That he's gone behind Dad's back? I mean, this is Sabine and Hewn. I never would have thought—"
"I don't know." I sit on the edge of the table. "Where's Dad now?"
"He's in the Lucid dream. He went there after Sabine was put into Somnia. Hewn's going to be put in one of those cells until Dad feels like dealing with him."
"Kyle, I—I have to go." I end the call and set my phone beside me on the table. "We have to go now."
The rest of the group moves toward me, their faces twisted in confusion.
I rub my face. "My brother Hewn has now been accused of helping my sister. And he won't hesitate to name me."
Keep counting those fingers.
~Mikaela