I told her who I was looking for, and she gave me a printed map of the campus area. She circled the right building for me. I thanked her and went on my way. There was no point looking around the museum - my mind was worrying over the message hidden in the dream book to such an extent that none of the objects in the collection would have registered. I would go and wait by the professor's office until Grandma came.
I don't quite know what I expected, but his office didn't look too impressive to me from the outside – an ordinary door with his nameplate on it. I stopped in front of it, and for the first time felt nervous. So far the momentum had just carried me along, but now I had to decide what exactly I was going to say to him about the dream book - if anything. "Hello, have you heard of the buffer zone? I was given this interesting book that tells me that you do - I have no idea where it came from - but I was told to meet you in a dream?"
Yeah, right... If the whole book was a hoax, the professor would most likely consider I had bats in the belfry.
Thinking that I probably had half an hour or so till Grandma appeared, I was musing on the book and its curious message when the door suddenly opened and an elderly, tall man hurried out, almost knocking me over.
"I am so sorry, miss!" he exclaimed, "a bad habit of mine, reading while I walk!"
He was standing there with his glasses perilously near the tip of his nose and a thick book pressed against his chest.
"That's quite all right," I said. "Are you... Professor Reginald Rowan?"
"Indeed I am - ah - sorry, I don't seem to recall your name? Do we have an appointment? I am sure my secretary has forgotten to inform me... or I have forgotten to check my appointments. Probably the latter one... can't blame the secretary, dear heart, a very efficient lady as she is, and probably rather desperate to be stuck with me."
"Well, yes, we have a meeting, sort of. Or rather my Grandma has, and she brought me along. She isn't here yet, though..." I interrupted when he had to stop talking for a second and catch his breath. Then, deciding this was as good a time as any, I inhaled deeply and asked: "But if I said yours was the fifth name on a list, would that mean anything to you?"
He looked at me straight in the eye (he was quite tall), and suddenly his somewhat scatterbrained demeanor changed. There was a very sharp intellect there staring at me over his glasses.
"Fifth, you say... Where is this list, if I may ask?"
"In an old book..." I said.
"Now this wouldn't be a book about... gates?" he whispered.
I stared at him for a few seconds before answering, as if his looks would reveal whether he was trustworthy or not. The knowing look in his eyes convinced me to answer honestly.
"It would..."
"Are you sure you were not followed?"
"I don't know. Probably not..."
"You haven't seen odd...shadows?" his voice was so low I almost did not hear it.
He clearly knew.
"No, I haven't seen any here. At home I did, once. And then there is this odd young man who pops up out of nowhere and..."
He straightened and suddenly I wasn't sure anymore that he was old at all.
"In here, quick."
He opened the door and practically pushed me inside, while already talking on his cell phone, canceling some appointment. Then he closed the door and took off his glasses. I noticed there were no wrinkles around his eyes.
"Now. You and I need to have a serious talk. But first, show me the book so I know you are the real thing. And to convince you, here is my signature, so you may compare it to the fifth name."
He scribbled his name on a piece of paper. I could immediately see the signature was similar. He used quite extensive loops for his R's. My dream had led me to the right person.
*****
I shall publish the first 25 chapters of the book on Wattpad- if you wish to read the whole book for free, go to http://www.leenamaria.com and sign up for the email list (open until 31st December 2015). I shall send you the download link in January 2016 a few weeks before the book is published. I only ask you to leave a review on Amazon on the date of publication