The Dream Sanctum: Beyond The End (3 page)

T
he following week was
uneventful and seemed to pass slower than usual as Kai waited to finally
Alastor in the real world. He had to admit that it was coming sooner than he
had expected; he hadn’t even considered visiting Alastor until Lindsay brought
he up. Ever since, Kai found himself preoccupied with thoughts of what Alastor
was really like, and whether he was as similar to his Sanctum self as Kwin was.

Confronted by this imminent meeting with his friend and tutor, Kai spent
more time focusing on his old training techniques. Ever since the battle with
the Nightmares he chose to relax, knowing that even something as perfect as the
Sanctum wasn’t something he could take for granted.

He also didn’t want to appear out of practice in front of the man who
taught him nearly everything he knew. Despite the fact that they would be
meeting in the real world, he wanted to be ready on the off chance Alastor
asked how his training was going. After all, if they were going to explore
regions of the Sanctum no other dreamer had ever been to, they had to be
prepared for anything. Kai wasn’t even sure how they were supposed to travel to
the mysterious borders of the map in the first place, but he expected that
either Kwin or Alastor would know more about logistics.

At noon on Friday, Kwin, Lindsay and Kai met in front of Lindsay’s house,
waiting for their ride. As Kawamari was too busy to drive them anywhere,
Alastor had offered to take care of it.

One minute after noon, Lindsay glanced impatiently at her phone.

“Do you think he got lost? I wonder if he wrote down the address
correctly… what’s taking so long?” she sighed, looking slightly worried.

“Is she always like this?” Kwin asked Kai quietly from his side.

“Oh yeah,” Kai replied. “She’s big on punctuality.”

Kwin rolled her eyes in a way that very clearly stated,
that’s an understatement
.

At two minutes after noon, a sleek black car with tinted windows rolled
smoothly up to the curb in front of Lindsay’s house. The engine shut off and
the driver’s door opened, revealing a rather stout, middle-aged man who wore a
pillbox hat to match his black suit. He had a round face and round-framed
glasses that made his eyes appear comically large. When he spoke, it was in a
slight English accent, and he sounded as though he suffered from a perpetually
stuffy nose.

“Ah, you must be the dreamers then!” the man said, giving a deep, quick
bow. “My name is Frederick, and I work for Alastor. Are we ready to go?”

“You work for Alastor?” Lindsay asked, looking confused, yet slightly
impressed.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied simply. “Come along, come along, we’ll get caught
in traffic if we don’t get started soon.”

Frederick opened the doors to the back of the car for them, then quickly
took their bags from their hands, stuffing them quickly in the trunk and
slamming it closed. He then wiped his hands on a handkerchief pulled from his
coat pocket before sitting back in the driver’s seat. The others shared a look,
then got into the car.

The interior of the car was surprisingly spacious and elegantly
furnished. The seats were covered in fine, cream-colored leather to match the
suede interior. On the back of the two front seats were flat screen displays
that were currently blank. The center console of the car had a slightly smaller
screen that turned on automatically as the car started, displaying a map.

“Driving directions back to the mansion,” Frederick spoke, and the screen
flickered in response.

“Coordinates set and route on display. Estimated time of arrival is 1:12 PM
based on current traffic,” a digital female voice replied.

“Not if I can help it,” Frederick muttered, and with a sudden screech of
tires, the car shot away from the curb and toward the main road.

Kai turned to face Kwin, who looked as though she had expected all of
this.

“Who is Alastor, really? What’s with all this?”

“Alastor and his family are… financially blessed. There is not really
anything more to it than that,” Kwin replied. “However, I am as interested as
you to see where he lives. For as long as he was my tutor, he always visited
me.”

Kai turned back to watch the road, thinking it strange for them to be on
equal footing in that regard. He had always assumed that Alastor and Kwin saw
each other in the real world all the time. Then again, it was only recently
that Kai learned that Alastor lived anywhere close to them in the first place.

The car swerved suddenly and Frederick gunned the engines as they sped
through an intersection, horns blaring from all sides. The digital voice spoke
again through the car’s speakers, turning the volume of the music down as it
did so.

“Warning: you have passed through a red light. Please drive carefully to
avoid any accidents or injuries.”

“Stop with the scolding and put my music back on,” Frederick scoffed, and
the computer obliged.

Frederick hummed along with the music as he sped through the streets,
darting between other cars at nearly twice their speed. Kai sat back in his
seat, holding the door handle to avoid being thrown left and right. Lindsay
looked absolutely terrified; she clutched the door handle and her seatbelt with
such force that her knuckles turned white, and her eyes were firmly shut. Even
Kwin looked slightly unsettled.

At 12:32, the black car finally slowed and drove through a set of wide,
white iron gates that opened automatically as they approached, revealing a
sweeping landscape of tiny lawns, glittering white marble walkways and
carefully trimmed flower hedges. A long, straight driveway of flat,
pale-colored stones that intersected like hexagonal puzzle pieces led through
the massive front lawn and turned into a loop around a large fountain in front
of the building’s front doors.

The mansion itself was a beautiful sight. It was the same clean white
color as the marble walkways that snaked around the grounds, and vast
symmetrical windows seemed to look back at them from every floor. A sweeping
staircase led up to where two huge doors sat under a broad archway along with a
large chandelier and two lamps. The front doors were made of a deep, red-tinged
wood and outfitted with golden handles.

As they got out of the car, assisted by Frederick, Kai looked up at the
building in amazement. He had never seen a mansion this big in his life, not
even on television. The property itself was massive, too. The nearly endless
lawn stretched for acres and acres before fading into a dense growth of trees
far behind the building.

Lindsay, on the other hand, simply looked happy to be alive. She stepped
uncertainly out of the car, looking shaken and pale. As Kwin walked over to
check on her, Lindsay draped her arm around her, leaning heavily on her smaller
friend.

“You could just sit down!” Kwin gasped under the pressure.

“You guys can do whatever you want on Sunday, I am walking home.”

“This way, please!” Frederick said, walking up the stairs and tossing the
car key to another man who quickly drove the car away and out of sight around
the side of the mansion.

The three friends followed Frederick up the stairs. He walked right up to
one of the heavy doors and opened it with difficulty; it looked very heavy.

The interior of the house was surprisingly empty. There were many rooms
visible from the front hall that looked to be nothing more than sitting rooms
or guest rooms. However, each one appeared to have its own unique color scheme;
and Kai noticed rooms decorated purely in red, white, black, blue, orange,
purple and green.

Kai also noticed a distinct lack of people in the house. He assumed many
people would live here, but he didn’t see or hear anyone apart from themselves.
Their footsteps echoed on the shiny tile floors as they approached the end of
the hall where a large double staircase swept up in opposing directions,
curving around and meeting back up at the top to form a bright ivory balcony.

“Alastor will surely be down to see–” Frederick started, but broke off at
the sound of a slamming door from upstairs. They all looked up simultaneously
to see a man jogging across the balcony toward the top of the stairs.

“Oh, damn. I’m late. Or rather, you’re early! Frederick, you didn’t ding
up your car, did you?”

“Not at all!” Frederick replied. “You really should have more faith in my
driving. That and the confounded directional assistant kept yelling at me for
running red lights.”

“Yes, it does tend to do that. Something about not wanting the car’s
occupants to die a horrible death. Oh well. I’ll take care of these kids now.
Thanks for the help, Fred.”

Frederick gave the three friends a short bow, then bustled off through another
large set of doors behind the staircase. The man up top hurried down to them,
skipping numerous steps as he came.

“Welcome!” he said happily.

Alastor looked very much like he did in the Sanctum, albeit a little more
disheveled. He was dressed comfortably in faded jeans and a loose t-shirt, and
his brown hair was uncombed. He looked slightly tired, as though he had just
woken up.

Kwin was the first to step forward, and she extended her hand.

“It’s good to see you again, Alastor,” she said politely, but after a
moment they were locked in a tight hug.

“You too, kiddo,” Alastor replied with a grin. “It’s been forever since
I’ve seen you up and about in the real world. You’re looking great! Must be the
lack of hospital food, eh?”

“You have no idea.”

They both laughed, and Kai noticed a look in Kwin’s eyes that he had only
seen once before back on the fields of the Coliseum. She looked at Alastor with
unfettered admiration and respect, and Kai realized that apart from her own
father, Alastor was probably the closest friend she had in the world.

“Now then, you two!” Alastor said suddenly, turning to face Kai and
Lindsay. “Great of you to come along, I’m glad you could make it. It’s… are you
all right?” He trailed off and his smile faded slightly as he looked at
Lindsay, but then he laughed. “It was Fred, wasn’t it? Don’t worry about him,
he’s a good driver. Then again, I suppose I should have warned you about him
before he came to get you…”

Lindsay only nodded, and Kai noticed that she still looked slightly pale.

“Anyway. Ah, yes! You can all come up to my room if you want. I’ve got
maps and books and things to help us prepare. We’re up for a fascinating
journey, I can’t wait.”

The trio followed Alastor up the stairs, then through a number of doors
and hallways until they finally reached his room. It was devoid of any
furniture except a bed, a desk and a bookshelf, but despite this, it was
incredibly messy. The unmade bed was shoved into a corner, and the desk was all
but buried in crumbled paper and open books. The blinds on the room’s single
large window were pulled unevenly halfway down, and a lonely sock dangled
precariously from the valance.

“I cleaned my room just for you guys!” Alastor proclaimed proudly.

“Really? In that case, what room are we standing in?” Kwin asked, staring
around at the mess before her.

“Oh, it’s cleaner than it was before. If Fred hadn’t gotten here early I
might have been able to finish. Oh well.”

Lindsay, who had been quiet up until now, finally spoke up.

“Your house is amazing! What do you
do
?”

“Ah, this is my parents’ house. They left it to me and went off on their
own,” Alastor answered.

“Oh? Are they traveling or something?” Lindsay asked.

“Nope! They disowned me,” Alastor replied cheerfully, responding as
comfortably as one might when discussing the weather. “I didn’t turn out like
they wanted me to. Something about being an insult to the family’s lineage or
something. But instead of kicking me out, they kicked themselves out.”

“That’s horrible!” Lindsay gasped.

“Not at all! I mean, have you seen this place?” Alastor laughed, then
adopted a more serious expression. “I understand why they did it, though. It
was an insult to me. They left me here, insinuating that I would never go
anywhere or amount to anything. This is a house, but also a prison. I’ve never
thought of it that way, but I was always the weird kid.”

“If this is a prison, I want you to be my jailer,” Lindsay said.

“Hey, I’d love to have you over more often, but you kids and your school
and all that. I don’t think I could get Fred to drive you that far every day.”

Kwin cleared her throat from beside them, and everyone turned to look at
her.

“While we still have daylight left, shall we discuss our plans?”

“Ah, yes.”

Alastor beckoned them to sit down on the floor, and he pulled a few
books, notebooks and papers off his desk before sitting down to join them. He
spread them out on the carpet between them, then placed a few of the papers
together edge to edge. Kai was astonished to see that it was a hand-drawn
replica of the map of the Sanctum, accurate down to the smallest details.