Dreamscape (29 page)

“It’s Seth,
Amelia. Listen to me.” She thrashes in my arms, so I squeeze her tighter
against me.

Giving a grunt,
she whirls around, clipping me with her blade-encrusted elbow. The blow makes
my head spin, and I clutch my face. Blood drips through my fingers and down to
my elbow, where it drips down and plops on the ground as I stare at her.

When her eyes
finally focus on me, they widen in horror. She opens her mouth, only to cover
it. Her fingers tremble as she pulls them away and touches the line of blood flowing
down my arm.

Her voice is
breathy when she speaks. “I’m so sorry, Seth.”

“Don’t be,” I
tell her. “You have done well. In fact, I would like you to continue on your
mission.” I motion behind her to where my brother and Maybell stand. “Zed waits
for you.”

She shakes her
head. “But you’re bleeding.”

I pull her
against me and inhale her scent. “I’m fine. I also have to get going. I have
much to accomplish tonight.” When I release her, I give her what I hope is a
reassuring nod. “I am proud of you, Amelia. Thank you for helping us.”

Her feet
shuffle against the dirt. “Don’t go getting all mushy on me now. I’m sorry you
had to come after me.”

That’s the
thing. I didn’t have to come after her. She handled herself as a seasoned agent
would have. She is more of an asset than I could have hoped for. Her level of
control is unheard of for someone who has no experience to speak of.

Daegan will
only want her more now. If I know him at all, he won’t come after her right
away. He’ll strategize until he’s sure he has a chance to capture her. He’ll
watch from the shadows.

Now that I know
what Amelia is capable of, I will not relent in our training. With any luck,
she will be able to locate Olivia tonight. If not, soon. My heartbeat speeds to
a fevered beat. She could find Nathanial for me. If I can secure him, the
Erobos will be weakened immensely.

I muss up
Amelia’s hair, then turn to go. “You did well,” I tell her again before
quickening my step, trying to recall where the nearest portal is.

“Aren’t you
going to introduce me to your brother?” she calls after me.

I wave to her
from over my shoulder, not bothering to turn back around.

“Whatever,” she
says.

“Amelia,” says
Zed. “This way, please.”

Maybell gives a
hearty laugh, and I’m tempted to join them just for the company,but I have
dreams to send tonight. Their voices fade away and I am left to myself. Always
left to myself.

Gritting my
teeth, I morph into an eagle and take for the sky. In this form it will only
take me minutes to find the portal. The sooner I accomplish my tasks, the
sooner I can return to Amelia.

Seth is so
weird, but his brother is worse. Zedekiah is shorter and leaner with a dark
beard that any self-respecting redneck would envy.

Somebody should
really tell the guy to shave; I might just be the one to give him a head’s up
once I get to know him better. His wild hair goes every which way, yet somehow
still manages to be on the sexy side. He’s got this Middle Eastern thing going
that works for him, especially in the current setting of ancient-looking pots
and colorful fabrics. It’s as if he were cast as Shahryar in Arabian Nights.

He should look
like a killer, dressed as he is in pants that balloon off his waist, the crotch
hanging to his knees. A wicked holster crisscrosses over his bronzed torso. The
hilt of a sword peeks up over his shoulder. Yet, kind brown eyes crinkle at the
corners when he smiles at me. “Are you ready?” he asks again as I continue to
gape at him.

Long fingers
scratch his chin then twist his beard. Maybell strolls over to me and clasps my
upper arm.

I finally snap
out of it. “Sorry,” I say, “but you don’t look a thing like Seth. How can you
two be brothers?” To be fair, now that I think about it, neither does Ian.

A soothing
laugh escapes his lips. “Let’s just say we have different mothers and leave it
at that. Come. We have a task to complete.”

I nod. “So
where did you see Olivia last?”

His face
dissolves into sadness. “She was researching a target for me. We are now in his
dream world.”

“Do you think
she’s still here?” I ask, glancing around to see if anyone seems a little too
interested in our conversation. We’re still concealed in the shadows, but you
can never be over-careful.

Giving a slight
shrug, he says, “We’ve been guarding the portals since word of her
disappearance reached me, and no one has seen her. It is likely the Erobos are
waiting for us to leave, or they are attempting to change her here, hoping to
use her against us while we still have hope for her.”

He takes a deep
breath and closes his eyes. His pain over her loss is written in his rigid
stance and deflated features.

I’ve only known
him for a few minutes, but his depth of love for Olivia strikes me more than
any man I’ve been around.

“So she was in
the church…doing what?”

The place
radiates darkness, and no one who has been in this business long should have
risked going in there alone.

Neither of them
answers me, so I ask another question. “Was someone else with her?”

Finally,
Maybell breaks the awkward silence. “She shouldn’t have been in this part of
the city. We have no way of knowing why she chose to abandon her team.”

“Are they still
here? Can I talk to them?”

Zed snaps out
of his pensive silence long enough to grunt. Then he takes off down the alley I
just came from.

Not really the
best idea if you ask me, but I’m the one who barely escaped Mr. Creepy only
minutes ago.

Maybell and I
follow Zed through back alleys until I think I’m going to be sick from the
twists and turns. We finally emerge onto a thoroughfare where ships zoom past
and no one even looks our way. They stare straight ahead without an ounce of
emotion written on their features, as if they are all rushing toward a distant
port without taking the time to enjoy the journey.

I stare at the
turbulent water, wondering why the streets aren’t paved. My body vibrates with
a connection I never expected. Someone else’s memories download into my brain
in an instant.

The dreamer is
a forty-something-year-old man, living in a three hundred-square-foot flat in a
rundown area of Karachi, Pakistan. Despite his circumstances, his mind is
active and alive on a level that is inspiring. He’s developing a hybrid
generator that harnesses solar energy using a system of satellites to transfer
energy to the generator through already established towers. I couldn’t possibly
understand the mechanics of it, but he sure seems excited about it.

More
information zooms through my mind. This guy could change the way the world
consumes energy. Just as quickly, reasons the Erobos want him crash through me.
Simply put, he will ease suffering and they can’t have that.

They thrive on
suffering and anxiously work to increase human terror by ten percent within a
human year. Where did that come from? It’s unlikely the dreamer would have that
kind of information.

When Maybell
sets a gentle hand against my cheek, I hear her voice calling my name. As if
rising from a deep sleep, I finally come back to the present.

Her eyes focus
on me as she scans my face. The kindness held in those depths twinges against
my heartstrings. How can someone I just met show that much feeling toward me?

“Hello there,”
she says. “Welcome back.”

Zed meanders to
my side and studies me for a moment. “Where were you taken?”

Taken? “I don’t
know what you mean,” I say, trying to make sense of the information I now
possess.

“Setting. I
need to know the setting.”

“It wasn’t
Olivia that I saw.”

Crestfallen,
his features deflate before he nods. “Setting?”

“An
apartment…somewhere in Karachi. That’s all I know.”

Zed moves
closer until he is directly in front of me. When I gaze up at him, his eyes
hold mine immobile. After a moment, he says, “I think not.”

Irritation
bites my insides. “I’ve told you what I know.”

He gives me a
cursory smile. “You’ve told me what you think you know; however, you still have
information to share. Focus. Recall the sounds around him. Recall the
temperature. Was someone else with him? Was he doing something specific?”

I close my
eyes, hoping it’ll help me visualize the dreamer responsible for this realm.
Something in my mind slips free, like a cap on a tube, and the information
flows steadily again.

“He’s looking
out the window of his apartment, wondering if he’ll have a job in the morning.
His rent is past due and he still hasn’t heard about his research grant. With
so many people focusing on renewable energy sources, very little remains to
spread around. His last effort failed and if his proposal to SBI doesn’t take,
he will be left homeless.”

The thought
instills an echo of fear in me. I was in a similar situation not that long ago.
“The place he’s in is different than here. The streets are pavement, not water.
He watches the cars as they flow along the streets, lights ablaze, and imagines
a world where anyone who wishes to own a vehicle can obtain one. He’s never had
one, but it is one of his ultimate desires. He’s a dreamer about to lose his
dream.”

Maybell lets
out a long sigh, and Zed follows close behind. His voice pinches to nearly a
whisper. “Who is in charge of the distributing the grants?”

“How should I
know?” I ask, irritated that he expects so much from me. It’s not as though I
really know this guy.

Zed’s
expression darkens as he takes a step closer. “We don’t have time to deal with
your inner conflict. This man is under attack!”

I throw up my
hands, tempted to smack him one. “What do you want me to do?”

“Release your
preconceived notions and listen to him…become him.”

“You want me to
become a guy…a guy that’s dreaming?”

Maybell cuts
in. “What Zed is trying to say is ignore your judgments and let your mind
wander. If you reach a connection, your thoughts will no longer exist in this
moment. His thoughts will be all that remain.”

My hands move
up to my hips. “That’s not possible,” I say.

Zed’s almond
eyes hone in on mine. “All is possible for one who believes.”

I cock a brow.
“What if I don’t believe?”

Immediately,
his expression withers. “Then we have lost another soul to the Erobos.”

“Nothing like
putting pressure on the girl that doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing,” I
say, my mind trying to make sense of what these people are telling me.

Honestly, I
want to help. I don’t want this man to fail. He’s got some really great ideas
that could improve the entire planet. Not many people even care about whoever
lives next to them, but he’s got us all on his radar. He deserves a grant. He
also deserves more than a cockroach-infested space that smells like rotted
cigarettes.

In fact, he’s
one of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. What a silly
thought. I don’t know him.

Or do I? His
ambitions have lit my insides. His flickering hope has my chest expanding.

As more of his
presence enters me, I ask, “How can I help him?”

“Close your
eyes,” says Zed.

The moment I
let my lids fall, I’m viewing the world through the eyes of a man I have never
met and most likely will never really know.

“Direct his mind.
Search his memories for the information we need. Who heads the grant
committee?”

The face of an
old man shimmers into view. My mind expands until I find him and forge a link
with his mind too. Age has etched his dark skin with kind lines. He sits at a
desk in a small office, riffling through files. His thoughts tumble into me.

Computers only
cause problems. The world was a much simpler place when people had to gather in
a room to discuss options. Now, nobody wants to meet anymore. People want to
teleconference.

He loved the
old days when he could feel out a project. He’d been right about most of them
just by trusting his gut, but now? He has to rely on gadgets and computerized
statistics. Not once has a machine been able to match his ability to pick a winner.

He’s got more
files to sort through than the Great Bambino had hits. One last decision. Then
he’ll be free of the political chains that bind him to this office. He’ll be
free to travel to America, to see the Hall of Fame in person. His fingers trace
over the game ball his father gave him so many years ago. His mind wants to
wander to the good times he had as a child, but he has work to do.

Giving a sigh,
he pulls out the next file and opens it, scanning the contents. He laughs
immediately. Another kid who thinks he can singlehandedly solve the world’s
energy crisis with crazy ideas. He stares at the picture, taking in the skinny
frame, dark hair, thick glasses that obscure large brown eyes, and barely there
smile.