The Dream Sanctum: The Eternal World (17 page)

“But you got out, obviously. You escaped
somehow,” Kai said quietly.

“I did, but your father did not. Devnon
explained that when he noticed I was having a child, he decided to keep me
there with him. He wanted to see what would happen when a child was born and imprinted
on the mirror world and whether it would finally free them from their cursed
existence. I was horrified. Your father asked me if I still had the ability to
wake up, and I said yes. Before I could say another word, he looked right into
my eyes, told me to take care of you, and then pinched my arm. The last thing I
heard was Devnon screaming as I returned to the real world.”

Kai fell silent, feeling like the weight of
her words was crushing his heart. His chest hurt as he tried to process all of
this new information. He had heard stories about his father before, but never
anything like this. He felt a greater sense of loss than he ever had before,
thinking that he would have loved to share the Sanctum with his father.

“You would have loved to meet him,” Sarah
said, as though she could read his mind. “But unfortunately he is no longer
with us… and if you think about it, it’s almost like it’s your fault he’s
dead.”

Kai felt his blood run cold.

“What… did you say?”

“It’s nothing to be upset about, dear. It’s
just that you are pretty much responsible for your father’s death. He died to
save you, but if you hadn’t been there, that wouldn’t have been necessary.”

“I…”

He turned to stare at the floor. His mouth
fell open, but he was speechless. He knew his worst fear would be confirmed
eventually, but not like this. He wasn’t sure why, but the thought that he had
been responsible for his father’s death had always been there with him, even as
he grew up. Ever since he found out that his father had died around the time he
was born, he thought that it could be no coincidence. He had so many nightmares
about it that he taught himself lucid dreaming to escape, which was how he
found the Sanctum. It was a cruel irony, then, that the Sanctum itself had been
what killed his father.

“Of course, you weren’t even born at the time,
so there’s no reason for you to feel guilty. All I’m saying is that had it not
been for you, Devnon would have let us go and we would all be alive today.”

In the midst of his guilt and sorrow, Kai felt
a twinge of annoyance.

“That’s not true,” he said, standing up to
face his mother. “Devnon wouldn’t let anyone go. He captured everyone that went
to his world no matter who they were, then waited for them to be trapped there
and then burned them alive. I… I saw it myself.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, dear. You must have met
with a different man.”

“No… no, it was the same man,” Kai continued,
pacing restlessly. “I even remember that when we first met he said I looked
familiar. He must have been talking about my dad. And that’s why… that must be
why the angels kept confusing me for dad. But then that means…” Kai broke up,
looking up at her in surprise. “Dad was the keeper. He was the keeper, but he
died almost twenty years ago, and that’s why the angels can’t find him.”

“What
are
you talking about? Keeper?” Sarah asked. “Are you still half asleep? Let’s get
back to the subject–”

“I didn’t kill him,” Kai said defiantly, his voice
growing louder. “I wasn’t responsible for his death. Devnon made the choice to
do that, not me. I had no part in it. And even if I wasn’t there, Devnon would
have killed him anyway. You couldn’t have known, but that doesn’t make it my
fault.”

“Feeling some kind of denial is
understandable, sweetheart, but–”

“Don’t,” Kai said forcefully. “I will not be
manipulated into thinking I had any part in dad’s murder.”

Sarah stood up to face him, her face deadly
serious.

“I am not going to allow you to go with your
friends tonight. You have spent too much time with them in that world, and I
will not have you drag your best friend through the same trouble. She’s a good
kid and doesn’t need to be corrupted.”

Kai was about to respond hotly, but he paused.
Something was wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but the more his mother
talked to him, the more he felt like something strange was going on. He had a
theory, but first he had to test it.

“Well then what am I supposed to tell them
when they get here? Just to go home? Lindsay lives right there, but what
about…?” he trailed off pointedly.

“Lindsay can walk home, and when Kwin gets
here I will just tell Frederick to drive her back home. I don’t want her back
in this house. I’m sorry to put my foot down like this, you know I trust you,
but–”

At her words, it all came flooding back to
him. He knew where he was and why he was there. He had, in fact, gone to
Alastor’s house that night. And he laughed.

“Is something amusing?” Sarah asked, her eyes
narrowed.

“What did you call her?”

“Who? Kwin?”

“I thought so.” Sarah looked momentarily
confused, then she seemed to realize her mistake. “Yeah, now you get it. You
only know her as Ashley, but you used the name I know her best by. I remember
what’s going on now.”

Sarah looked as though she wanted to reply,
but after a few moments of struggling to find words, closed her mouth.

“I’ll be off, then. Better luck next time,”
Kai said casually. With a snap of his fingers, the golden door appeared in the
middle of his room, and he walked through it to the other side.

Kwin awoke with a start. Temporarily
disoriented, she looked around the room, trying to remember where she was. This
was not her house. This was not a house at all, actually. But it still looked
familiar.

But then she realized why she recognized it.
She was visiting Dr. Adams, her counselor. She was on his couch, and had
apparently drifted off. Sure enough, as she looked up, she saw the doctor
sitting in his chair across from her, writing slowly in his notepad as he always
did.

“Well rested, I hope?” he asked. “I was going
to wake you, but you looked so tired I wanted to give you at least a few
minutes.”

“I do apologize. I was unaware I was so
fatigued,” Kwin answered, stifling a yawn. “I hope I have not kept you
waiting.”

“Not at all. Pleasant dreams?” Dr. Adams
asked.

“Somewhat. I was in the Sanctum again, as I
discussed with you during previous sessions. But something has gone wrong, and
I was trying to…” Kwin trailed off, then sat bolt upright. “The Sanctum. I must
get back to it before our time runs out.”

The doctor looked at her quizzically.

“The Sanctum, you say?” he asked concernedly.

“Yes. Remember, the place I can visit when I
sleep?”

“I see…” the doctor replied, writing again on
his notepad.

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I had just thought we
managed to put the Sanctum behind us, that’s all.”

“Sorry?” Kwin asked, looking at him
suspiciously.

“We were making great progress during our
previous sessions. Do you remember what we discussed? We began to establish how
the Sanctum had been an escape for you, something you imagined. It was a
self-defense mechanism against your father, if I remember correctly, who you
said was the most influential factor in your decision to attempt suicide.”

“Something I… oh, do spare me,” Kwin sighed
impatiently. “We’ve discussed this multiple times over the past few months.”

“Months?” Dr. Adams inquired, looking
surprised. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration. You’ve only been out of your coma
for four weeks, which is why we’re trying to take things slowly, remember?
You’re still a little fragile.”

“Are you implying I have somehow been unaware
of the passage of time since I awoke?” Kwin asked coldly. “Believe me, I have
cherished and remembered every waking
moment
ever since I got out of that hospital.”

“I believe you,” the doctor said genuinely.
“While we’re on the subject, let’s test that remarkable memory of yours. Could
you please recite pi for me to the best of your ability? I know we haven’t done
this exercise in a while, so don’t worry about doing badly.”

Kwin sighed, then started reciting numbers as
the doctor viewed them on a separate piece of paper. As she passed one hundred
digits, the doctor held up his hand and laughed.

“Point taken! It seems your memory is as sharp
as always.”

“Is that what you really believe?” Kwin asked
in a cutting tone.

“I do! I don’t begrudge you these other
feelings or this Sanctum of yours. You were alone except for one other person,
and he was the only person you didn’t want to be with. Coming up with an escape
is completely natural, and coming to terms with reality is an emotional
process.”

“Please don’t patronize me. You’re insulting
my intelligence, and in my case that is a heavy insult. I have built many real
and powerful relationships through my interactions in the Dream Sanctum.”

“Are you referring to Kai and Lindsay?”

“I am,” Kwin shot back at him. “Would you like
to speak with them?”

“I would!” Dr. Adams said earnestly. “If they
are your friends, they must be wonderful people. And I’ve heard so much about
them from you that I would greatly enjoy the chance to speak with them.”

“Then give me a moment.” Kwin pulled out her
phone and scrolled through her contacts. Her brows furrowed. “Their numbers
don’t seem to be here, but I’ve memorized them. Please bear with me.”

The doctor waited patiently, a pleasant smile
on his face, as the phone began to ring.

“Hello? Yes, I would like to speak to Kai,
please. Kai? Yes, this is Ashley. Ashley, from… no, we’ve met before, I was…
no, I’m good friends with your son. He may have called me by my nickname, Kwin?
…I’m not sure what to tell you, then. No, he gave me this number, that’s how I…
what? No, please don’t–”

Kwin broke off, staring at the phone in her
hand.

“That was strange. I’ll try Lindsay.”

The room was quiet again as the phone rang,
then Kwin spoke again. Half a minute later she held her phone in her lap,
looking thoroughly confused and disheartened.

“They… don’t appear to remember me.” Dr. Adams
nodded consolingly, but Kwin sat up straight. “But I knew their numbers, so
that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Ashley, you have an excellent memory. Perhaps
the best memory I have ever seen in a human being. It is very possible that you
saw those numbers somewhere and unconsciously recognized them.”

“No, but… they were the right people. I knew
who I was calling, they just didn’t know
me
,”
Kwin argued.

“Your father is a teacher. He may have them as
students, and if so, you may have seen their contact information. Then they
worked their way from your unconscious mind into your dreams until the point
where the information you saw combined itself with the personas you created in
your dreams while you were asleep for so long. By the time you woke, it’s only
natural that you would have had the time to create meaningful relationships
with them.”

“None of this is right. Stop talking, you’re
confusing me,” Kwin moaned, burying her face in her hands.

“I must be honest with you, Miss King,” the
doctor said gently. “What I see concerns me. You are a logical and rational
person, so please consider my point of view. I have a young girl telling me
about a world she visits in her dreams where she can interact with people from
the waking world, something that by all scientific accounts is not possible.
She also claims that she has met some of these people in real life, but cannot
seem to prove this. Even when she contacts the people she says are her friends,
they have no idea who she is. How am I supposed to feel about this? What would
you say if our positions were switched?”

“I would say
shut up
,” Kwin growled.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I believe that
you
believe you’re telling me the truth.
I’m only trying to get to the bottom of this with you. I want to help you.”

“Do they teach you these wonderfully
condescending lines in school or did you come up with them yourself?”

“Ashley, please, be reasonable.”

“I
am
being reasonable!” Kwin shouted suddenly, standing up. “You’re testing my
patience, doctor. I respect your education and method but I sincerely disagree
with your results.”

“All right, Ashley. I apologize for my
rudeness. How about we sit down and talk this out, and I will be more careful
with my words. Let’s move back a few paces. I understand the subject of the
Sanctum is still a touchy one, and I’d like us to work together, so first, just
tell me what you’re feeling, anything and everything.”

Somewhere deep in the back of Kwin’s mind,
something flickered.

“I… I feel… what did you say?” Kwin asked
distractedly.

“I asked you to tell me what you’re feeling.
Anything that’s on your mind, just–”