Incubus (67 page)

going to do this, make us a promise. If anything feels wrong, you get out of the dream and report to us

immediately. Deal?”

“Deal,” I said.

Dad looked like he’d swallowed something sour, but the discussion was over and he knew it.

Dreams are funny things, even for a Lilitu. If I let my mind wander in someone else’s dream, I can get

swept away in the current of thoughts welling up from the dreamer’s unconscious. A few times, with

Lucas, I’d released control entirely, letting myself float along in the narrative of his dream. It was

exhilarating and terrifying in the same moment. Because regaining control—once it had been

relinquished—was a struggle.

I had always felt safest in my own garden. Here, letting my mind wander meant only rest and

calm; a chance to escape from the tension of my physical body and simply drift,
being.
This was my

sanctuary from the world. This was my fortress.

But as I sat among the roses, I felt cold. Someone had visited this place, without my knowledge or

my permission. Worse, I hadn’t sensed the trespass. They’d left no trace of their invasion. It was in

the middle of these unhappy thoughts that I felt Karayan’s presence, hovering at the edge of my

dream.

“Finally. I’ve been waiting for you,” I said.

Karayan appeared, looking every bit as beautiful as she did in the physical world. “I said I’d come.

I didn’t promise to jump at your beck and call.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you, Karayan,” she said, gushing sarcastically. “I don’t know
what
I would do without your

help. And your hair looked so
fabulous
the other day. I can’t do anything with mine.” It was meant to

be an imitation of me, and I frowned. “Oh, stop,” Karayan went on in her own voice, ignoring my

grimace. “You’re going to make me blush.”

“Really?” I asked, giving her a flat stare.

Karayan crossed her arms. “You want my help? I’m here. Let’s get this over with. I’d rather not

spend the whole night holding your hand.”

“Okay.” But here I hesitated, at a loss. Where to begin?

“It helps to know what you’re trying to do,” Karayan prompted. She was not a very patient person.

“Do you know what you’re trying to do?”

“I need to find the incubus,” I said.

“And I already told you: I don’t know who that is.”

“Mr. Hart,” I clarified.

“Oh, little Nancy Drew’s gone investigating, has she?” She crossed her arms, waiting. “So?”

I hesitated again. As brave as I’d felt at the Guard’s dining table earlier in the night, things were

different in the dream. What if he took control and I couldn’t fight him? What if he was able to mess

with my head like I’d messed with Parker’s? Karayan’s expression softened. I turned away from her

abruptly. The last thing I needed was her pity.

“You know,” she said. “If it’ll move this thing along, maybe I should just come with you.”

I glanced at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. A soft wash of gratitude welled inside of me. I

cleared my throat. “Sure. Whatever.” I knelt and placed my palm on the ground-that-wasn’t-ground at

my feet. I let my awareness expand beyond the confines of this dream and felt the infinite world of the

shared dream lapping at its edges. It was a simple matter to open my mind and let the shared dream

inside.

A pool of dark liquid grew under my hand. It looked like water, but felt like glass. For a moment I

let the drifting sparks of dreams pass beneath us, undisturbed. I felt rather than saw Karayan watching

me, but she didn’t speak.

“Mr. Hart,” I murmured. Ready or not, it was time to learn whatever I could about the mysterious

stranger who’d charmed his way into my school and into my friends’ lives.

A brightly gleaming spark of a dream rose from the sea of swirling lights. As it grew closer, I

studied it. It looked just like a human dream; there was no bright-blue halo surrounding it as there

were surrounding Lilitu dreams. But there was something different about it. I couldn’t place what it

was, but Karayan noticed it, too.

“Odd,” she said. “I can’t sense anything from this dream.”

She’s right,
I realized. Whenever I called Lucas’s dream out of the dark pool, I could feel
him

drawing near. Or, more accurately, I could feel his essence—the stubborn, loyal, brave core that made

him Lucas. With Parker, I’d caught a flash of the cold self-confidence with which he navigates the

world. But with this dream? Nothing. No charisma, no open friendliness, none of the dramatic flair

that he exhibited at school—none of
Mr. Hart
emanated from his dream. I looked up. Karayan was

frowning in thought. Her eyes found mine.

“It looks like a human dream,” I said.

“I’ve never met a human who could shield his dreams this completely.”

“What do you think it means?”

Karayan tilted her head to one side with a tight smile. “I love that you think of me as the holder-

of-all-answers, but I have to burst your bubble.”

“You don’t know either.” I sighed. “Here goes nothing.” Karayan didn’t look nervous. I tried to

push my own misgivings to the back of my mind. “Together?”

“You’re the fearless leader,” she said.

Together we lifted our hands and cupped them around the dream. Nothing happened. I mean

nothing.
The only reaction Karayan gave was a small, startled breath. We withdrew our hands at the

same moment.

“Is this...?” I asked.

“No,” Karayan said. “This is
not
normal.” She looked at me, all traces of her characteristic attitude

gone. “Even with a really powerful Lilitu who’s shielding her dream, you feel something.”

“You’ve never seen this before? A dream that’s totally closed?”

“Not only have I never
seen
this before, I’ve never heard of this
happening
before.”

“So what now?”

Karayan pulled her eyes away from the sparkling dream. “It’s your show. You tell me. I’m just

your backup.”

“Okay. Let me think,” I said.

Karayan sat back, brushing her hair off one shoulder. Her eyes caught on something behind me.

She grew suddenly still. “Braedyn?”

Something in her voice alerted me. I turned around. A slender roll of paper was tied to the stem of

a beautiful rose with a red ribbon. I stared at it, uncomprehending.

Karayan’s eyes cut to mine. “Was that there before?”

“No.” My mouth went dry. Karayan and I were on our feet in an instant, instinctively pressing our

backs together, scanning the field of roses for any sign of the intruder. A wind ruffled the roses as my

fear found a way to manifest itself across my dream.

“Control yourself,” Karayan murmured, not pulling her eyes away from the field.

I forced my fear to the back of my mind. The wind died down. We stood there, back to back, for

several long minutes. Nothing else stirred. Whoever had broken into my dream and tied that scroll to

my rose—they were long gone.

“How did they get past us? How did they enter my dream without me sensing them at all?” I asked.

Karayan shook her head, unable to answer me. I took a step toward the scroll. Karayan caught my

hand, stopping me.

“I don’t know if you should do that,” she said.

“I’m not going to leave it there,” I snapped. “This is my
mind.
”

Karayan’s jaw tightened, but she let me go. I walked to the scroll. It was a thing of beauty. The red

ribbon shimmered with the luster of a pearl, and the scroll itself was a thick, cream-colored

parchment. I barely had to tug on the ribbon before it sprang loose. Freed, the scroll unspooled. I

recognized the bold handwriting instantly. It was the same as the handwriting on the note from

Cassie’s locker.

It was a simple message:
Apparently, my friendly warning was too subtle. Stay out of my way, little

sister, or I’ll be forced to sideline you. Permanently.

I turned back to Karayan. She was watching my face; something like concern had etched faint lines

into her brow. Wordlessly, I handed the scroll over. Karayan took it. As her eyes scanned the message,

her frown deepened.

“Okay. You played the brave little soldier, good job. Now it’s time to back off.”

“Back off? I thought this was my show.” I snatched the note out of her hands.

“I’m here to help, remember? This is me helping.” Karayan pointed at the scroll in my hands. “It

doesn’t take a genius to see that that’s a threat.”

“A threat is different from an attack,” I said.

“Come on,” she lifted her hands, looking around. “The guy can slip into your dreams undetected.

You want to tell me he can’t slip into your house?”

“If you really want to help me,” I said. “Show me how to shield my dreams so he can’t come

barging in here whenever he feels like it.” Karayan looked mutinous. “Please,” I said. Karayan gritted

her teeth. But instead of arguing, she waved her hand over the pool of dreams. It dried up, leaving the

ground unmarked.

“Shielding your dreams isn’t something you can do once and then forget about like locking a

door,” she said. “That’s not how this stuff works.”

Locking a door?
I glanced at her sharply, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“You’ve got to keep it going every time you fall asleep. Close your eyes.” When I hesitated, she

waved at me impatiently. “Close your eyes. This is easier to do if you can just feel it.”

Trusting Karayan wasn’t something that came naturally, but I swallowed my suspicion and did as

she asked.

“You can sense the edge of your dream, right?”

“Yes,” I said. In my mind’s eye I stood in the center of a snow globe, its curving wall of glass

separating this dream from the infinite dream it travelled through, like a bubble of air in water.

“Okay. You have to hold that edge in your mind. Search it for weak spots. Will it to grow

stronger.”

As she spoke, I let my mind probe the outer edges of this dream. I found that—unlike the glass

wall of a snow globe—this wall shifted under my touch. Some places were thicker, some thinner. And

then I came to a small hole in the wall, centered around a silvery cord. Curious, I toyed with the idea

of closing the hole. It started to constrict instantly.

“Stop!” Karayan said. “Unless you’re done with this lesson.”

My eyes sprang open. “You said to look for weak spots.”

Karayan looked exasperated. “You want me in here, you’ve got to leave one door open.”

“Okay, sorry.”

Karayan gave me an appraising look. “But that was pretty good,” she said. “Don’t worry. You’ll

build up strength over time, and one day you’ll be able to push unwanted visitors out of your dream.”

I suddenly remembered the time I’d visited Karayan’s dream. “You tried to do that to me,” I said.

“Well,” her smile looked a little strained. “I wasn’t trying all that hard.” She brushed her hands, as

though finished with a dirty job. “That should be enough to get you started. Maybe if you keep your

head down, the incubus will leave you alone.”

I laughed ruefully. “Yeah,
that’s
not going to happen.”

“Braedyn,” Karayan put a hand on my shoulder. “We have no idea how powerful this incubus is.”

“I know.”

“Good. Don’t be stupid. If he doesn’t come after you, don’t go after him. That’s all I’m saying.”

I pushed Karayan’s hand off my shoulder. “If he tries to hurt Cassie, I’m going after him.”

“That. That right there is stupid.” Karayan punctuated the words by poking her finger into my

chest.

“Cassie doesn’t know the danger she’s in,” I said. “I do.” I turned away but Karayan caught my

shoulder and spun me back to face her.

“If you’re not careful, your friend is going to get you killed.”

“There’s no way I’d leave her unprotected,” I said, getting angry. “There’s no way I’d leave any of

my friends unprotected. That’s the difference between you and me.”

“No,” Karayan snapped back. “The difference between you and me is that I’m not wiling to throw

my life away trying to win approval from a bunch of old men who’d just as soon see me dead.”

“You know, Karayan? Maybe the reason you don’t have any family is because you don’t

understand what
makes
family family.”

My words struck Karayan deeply, as I meant them to. She jerked back as if stung. “Believe it or

not, I really am trying to help you. The writing is on the wall. If that incubus is as strong as he seems,

there’s a good chance he’ll open the seal like he plans.”

Her words drove like spikes into my chest. I tried to keep my expression neutral. “You should go

now.”

“And once the seal is open and the Lilitu are freed, the Guard is going to be wiped out—you along

with them if you’re still standing by their—”

With the smallest twist of effort, I closed the hole I’d found in my dream. Karayan winked out of

my garden mid-rant. Fury boiled in my mind, but under that, an icy sea of terror opened up. My mind

cast out, running along the walls of my dream. Everywhere I passed, I felt the walls of the dream