Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (25 page)

I
t was nearly midnight when Leesa finally closed her magic book. She had read the section on dreams several times and discovered that the dream power was among the most complex and least understood of all waziri powers. Complete control over dreams was beyond even the most skillful of wizards—which she certainly was not.

Still, she had shown ability in this area even before she realized she possessed magic, having had four dreams that seemed to have come at least partially true. Those visions had arisen on their own and had been completely beyond her control or understanding at the time, but
they certainly demonstrated
she possessed some power in the dream realm. Now if she could just learn to harness it a bit.

There were lots of details in the book—more than she could possibly digest in just one evening of reading—but she thought she had gotten a good start on the basics.

It seemed t
here we
re two basic
parts to controlling dreams. The first wa
s to be able to see your visions clearly and to recal
l them in detail when you awoke
, so th
ey could be
interpret
ed correctly. The second aspect
appear
ed to be the more difficult, for it involved
summoning a dream about a specific subject.
This was where things really got tricky. As Leesa understood it, sometimes
what you wish
ed to know might simply be beyond the reach
of you
r power, in which case there was nothing to be done about it. However, there were also many obstacles that could
block your attempt
to see what you wanted
. Figuring out whether a subject was beyond your ability or simply being blocked was the first challenge. Devising a way around whatever was blocking you was the next. The book included a caveat not to be upset when something remained beyond your reach, because absolute knowledge of the future would be a terrible burden indeed. Leesa clearly understood that.

The book also explained how these wizard dreams were
merely g
uides, rather than infallible laws. Not everything that was foreseen would come true in the same way it was seen. But like signposts that guide
a tra
veler along strange roads, dreams were most useful when they we
re clearly seen.

Fortunately, the everywhere and nowhere technique Leesa employed before using any of her other magic worked here as well. Clearing your mind before sleep gave you a better chance not only of having a dream, but of remembering all the details, too. Since some useful dreams arose without being summoned, the book recommended clearing your mind every time you got ready to sleep, unless you were trying to summon a dream, in which case you needed to do the exact opposite. Leesa decided she would do that from now on—use the everywhere and nowhere thing when she got into bed. If she was trying to call forth a dream, like she planned to do in just a little while, she would then go to the next step.

This was where things
really
started to get complicated.

After
emptying your mind, you
had
to
concentrate t
otally upon the subject you wanted to dream about. Every thought needed to be completely focused on
one key eleme
nt of that subject, whether it wa
s a person, a pl
ace or an incident. Nothing could
be allowed to distract you; all your energy
had to be directed at the single key you
had
chose
n
. You
weren’t even supposed to think about falling asleep.

The book warned that even complete and utter concentration was no guarantee of success. There were still plenty of things that could thwart you. Most commonly, you would
fail because you made the wrong ch
oice of the key element. You could
try changing that el
ement by using
a different person or incident
as your
key. Unfortunately, there
was
no way to know what to choose except by trial
and error. And you had to always remember that the thing you were seeking to see might simply be beyond your reach.

The book also confirmed something Dominic had already told her. Some dreams gave glimpses into the future while others showed you things that had already happened. Unfortunately, it was often difficult to tell one from the other.

Another thing the book discussed was the importance of recurring dreams. Leesa had already experienced one of those. She had dreamed several times of being in a dark cave with a vampire. Someone else had been chained to the wall behind the vampire, but Leesa had never been able to see the vision clearly enough to tell who it was. The dream had turned out to be a warning that Cali was in danger from Edwina, but Leesa had not known that until it was too late. Luckily, Stefan had showed up in the nick of time and
saved Cali from Edwina’s vengeance
. Leesa wondered what had happened to Edwina—Stefan had said she would never bother them again, and Leesa believed him.

All these things were important and potentially useful, but only one thing concerned Leesa right now. She was going to try to call up a dream of her choosing. She knew she had already gone way past the amount of magic practice Dominic had recommended, but figured trying to produce some magic while she was sleeping didn’t really count. So now all she had to do was choose a subject for her endeavor.

She decided to get ready for bed while she thought about it. That way, as soon as she figured out what she wanted to dream about, she could slip beneath her covers, close her eyes, and begin. Plus, she was
already
pretty tired.

Washing her face took a bit too much concentration, but when she started brushing her teeth, her mind turned
back to the problem of what to try to dream about
.

Her first thought was of Rave. Dreaming about him was always fun, but she dreamed about him
lots already. If she dreamed about
him again tonight, she would have no real way of knowing whether she had actually called forth the dream or whether it would have happened anyhow. S
o s
he scratched
Rave
from
her list. Instead, she thought about things she might want to know, just in case she was successful. The answers to her Chemistry mid-term, just a few weeks away, would be nice, but she did
n’t think
dream magic worked like that. She’d love to see what the black waziri might be up to, but she didn’t know enough about them to make them a good choice for this first attempt.

From the black wizards, her thoughts moved to Dominic. She could certainly picture him clearly enough in her mind to create a detailed image, and she had grown close enough to him that she was pretty sure she
could
add enough emotional and character details to produce the kind of sharp, well-rounded mental portrait that the ma
gic book
call
ed
for. She even knew where he was, since h
e had called her from
Ohio earlier today. And if it worked, she would love to know what he was up to or what might lie ahead for him.

She nodded to herself. Dominic was definitely a good choice. She switched off the light and climbed into bed.

As soon as she got comfortable,
s
he
drew in a deep breath and mentally voiced her trigger word “breathe” to send her into the everywhere and nowhere state. With her mind clear, she began creating as vivid and detailed an image of Dominic as she could. As the book had instructed, she coupled the image with a strong desire to dream. Before long, and without realizing it, she drifted off to sleep.

She was standing in the sprawling parking lot of a large suburban mall. She didn’t recognize the place, but it was not unlike other malls she had visited. The sun hung high in a cloudless blue sky and the breeze blowing against her cheeks was cool, but not really cold. From the leafless trees in the distance, she knew it was winter. Glancing down at her arms, she saw she was wearing a dark red sweatshirt.

The parking area was jammed with cars. A steady stream of shoppers snaked toward the mall’s entrance. Most wore winter coats—maybe it was colder out than she realized. Some of the men sported heavy, bright red Ohio State sweatshirts. She didn’t know why, but the sight of the sweatshirts gave her a feeling of satisfaction. She was unsure what day of the week it was, but from the number of cars and
people, it had to be either a
weekend or a holiday. For some reason she didn’t understand right now, knowing the day seemed like it could be important.

Unsure what she was doing here, she fell into place behind a small clump of girls her age and headed toward the glass
entrance
doors. All the girls had long hair hanging loose over their backs. Two were blond;
the other three had darker hair, one so black Leesa guessed she was probably either Asian or Hispanic.

Inside, she followed the girls past a row of small shops and boutiques lining the main aisle until she spied a wooden bench near the foot of an escalator. She
sat
down and waited, watching the shoppers flow by her. They were of all ages, but the majority seemed to be high school or college age.

How much time passed, she didn’t know and didn’t care. S
he was content to sit and watch and wait. She was pretty sure she was here for a reason.

Suddenly, shouts and screams erupted from back near the mall entrance. A moment later, people began racing past her,
screaming and yelling as they headed
deeper into the mall.
She rose to her feet and walked
determinedly
in the opposite direction, threading her way through the throngs of people rushing by her.

She didn’t have far to go before
she spied the source of the commotion. A dozen figures dressed in rotting clothes had just entered the mall, moving with awkward gaits toward the open doors of
two
small stores
right
inside the entrance. Their hideous faces looked like
they were formed of
melting wax. She had seen such creatures before,
both
in real life a
nd in her dreams.
Z
ombies.

Panicked screams echoed
from shoppers trapped inside the
two
stores. Some who were braver and more quick thinking pushed the glass doors closed and tried to hold them shut against the hungry creatures. The zombies simply bunched mindlessly against the doors, pus
hing against them. Slowly, the
weight
of their numbers
was
forc
ing
the doors open. Leesa remembered a scene just like this from some old movie she had watched late one night.