Nora~~

I appear in the basement of the Lion's Den, alone.

I did it. I rifted.

Taking a deep breath, I pull my phone from my pocket, making sure my ID doesn't slip out with it.

My hands tremble, my phone with them.

I'm a Class One.

My phone says it's 11:07. I swear and dart upstairs and scan the crowded bar. Not seeing Raymond, Avery, or Ricky, I do a loop of the club and find the three of them in a booth in the back.

Avery and Ricky agreed that it's best we don't make it seem like we are here often by using the basement or saying that Ricky owns this place unless we're sure we can trust Raymond.

I slip into the booth. "I'm sorry I'm late. My train was delayed."

Avery and Ricky don't question my excuse. I was worried they may have seen me come up from the basement.

Raymond regards me coolly. His beard has been trimmed, and he's dressed in jeans and a clean, wrinkle-free red t-shirt. If I had not talked to him yesterday, I wouldn't know this is the man who carries around a cardboard sign with writing on it that's meant to make me question my own existence and this world.

I match his stare. "Thank you for coming."

He dips his head in acknowledgement. "I'm sure Avery has told you who I used to be. And you must be wondering if you can trust me."

Avery rests her head in her elbow, which she's propped on the table. "Right as always, Raymond."

"When it came time to bring my daughter Liliana to live in Somnia, I couldn't do it." He twists a metallic beer bottle around on its rim. "I made plans for her to go live with family in England. Vroni, my wife, wanted Liliana to live in Somnia, believing she'd be safer here, so she arranged with Pace to bring her here sooner than the date we had set. Pace found out about my plan, and as punishment trapped my wife and me in here, leaving me with my memories and her without them."

"He kidnapped you." I dig my fingers into my legs. "How can he get away with it?"

"Pace works for most governments. He provides them with the means to keep working even when they need rest, to train armies while they're asleep. He's built a tight web of protection around himself."

"Why does he let you display your signs?" Ricky asks.

"So people think I'm weird and ridiculous. Strange. So that I'm reminded I was foolish for going behind his back. The words don't affect regular dreamers, and if it triggers memories in Lucid, it's all the better for him. He likes to play with them—his Lucid."

Like Charlie?

"I gather you aren't willing to tell us how to shut down the dream," Avery says.

Raymond wraps his hands around his bottle of beer. "I may be willing. I'm worried what Pace would do to my family should you fail, but I also want them out of this place. I'd have to be sure you won't fail. What classes are they?" he asks Avery who shifts in her spot beside Ricky.

"Ricardo is a Class Three. Nora is a Class Two."

"You need a Class One to get into their headquarters."

My nails dig into my skin. "I'm a Class One."

Ricky's mouth gapes.

Avery shakes her head. "I thought we decided—"

"I rifted today."

Avery's eyes widen. "You couldn't even conjure a bowl of spaghetti after we showed you how to cook it. How exactly did you figure out how rifting?"

I can't tell them I was with Charlie. Forget worrying about whether we can trust Raymond. They won't come near me with a ten-foot pole. "I thought that if I pictured where I wanted to go hard enough it would work. And it did. I don't know how it came easily when conjuring food hasn't worked at all."

Avery crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow. "Why'd you take the train then?"

"I rifted into the basement. As I don't know Raymond, I didn't want to announce I'd rifted here before we knew he wasn't working for Pace."

Raymond shrugs in understanding.

"But you were late," she pushes.

"I'm still getting the hang of it," I snap.

Ricky pinches the bridge of his nose. "Avery, leave her alone. Raymond, what else do you need if we have Nora?"

Raymond sets his bottle to the side and folds his hands. "A map of their headquarters in Somnia. There's a machine there with the program you'll need to get into. You'll use it to wake the master dreamer, which will then cause everyone to wake up."

"Master dreamer?" I ask.

"The dream uses his mind to stabilize itself. While we get to live in here, he can only watch us."

Ricky asks if the master dreamer created Somnia, and Raymond says no, that OneirTech created Somnia and how it looks. They only need his mind to make the dream function.

"Where do we get a map?" Avery side eyes me while addressing Raymond, and his eyes slide to me.

"You'll need someone who still works for Pace to get it. I can ask those who are still friends with me, but that will take time. You'll also need a picture of the inside so you can rift in, but keep in mind that Pace has fabricated reality in certain parts of their headquarters."

He has to explain what the hell that is.

Ricky sinks back into the booth. "So basically, even with Nora we won't get in?"

"You can. It just won't be easy. Once you have those two things, I'll explain how to wake the master dreamer." You, not we.

Avery rests her arms on the table. "You won't be coming in with us, Raymond?"

"Understand the risk to my family."

If Charlie was on our side, he would be able to get us the materials. He said he'd want to escape the dream, but I barely trust that today wasn't a ploy to figure out what I can do so that he can report it to his dad.

"If my friends come through, how should I find you?" Raymond asks.

"Here," Ricky says. "I own this bar. If you don't see me, just ask any of my staff. And if we get the materials how should we find you?"

"If you can get the map and picture, you'll be able to find me. I'm sure." He finishes off his beer and stands. "Thank you for the drink, but I think it's best we separate for now."

After he's gone, I slouch forward, massaging my face.

"Face it, Nora"—Avery pulls her legs up onto the booth and tucks them under her—"we're not getting out. We might as well start coming to terms with it."

"Leave it, Avery." I level her with a stare and stand, heading for downstairs, my hands shaking. If I don't wake up, my brother and sister will be forced asleep. I won't be able to get them far away from South Carolina. Far away from Pace.

At the bottom of the stairs, I push open the door and let it slam behind me. On the floor sits the top hat.

Charlie said he'll come by my house tonight. I need to get going since I'll be taking the train home until he can check for mics and cameras.

I scoop up the hat. In a way, my time at the circus felt like a dream, separate from Somnia. Not just because it was outside of the gates, but there was an ethereal feel in the air. It was like I was surrounded by magic, as if I had fallen asleep of my own free will and into a dream that was as beautiful as it was fleeting.

"Where'd you get that?" Avery props the door open with her back. Ricky stands behind her.

"I made it."

"Why?" She walks forward, letting the door close. Ricky steps in quickly to avoid being hit.

"My brother had a magic kit." I turn the hat over. "It came with a hat that looked like this." I weave the lie together effortlessly. Lies have always rolled off my tongue smoothly. A bit of the truth mixed in with the falsehood. My brother did have a magic kit when he was eight. He never had the hat. "I'll see you later," my tone is still bitter. "Right now, I need to come to terms with never seeing him again." I try to walk past them, but Avery crosses her arms.

"Are you going to rift?"

I grip the hat, and Ricky places his hand on her shoulder.

"Avery," he says softly.

"It's all right, Ricky." I meet Avery's eyes. "I'm not going to give up. I hope you don't either." Closing my eyes, I picture Tye's office, the desk pushed against the middle of the wall, the bookshelf filled with pictures and figurines instead of books.

When I open my eyes, its to Tye's empty office. I didn't know where to rift that I didn't have to worry about someone besides Tye seeing me. Now I can only hope that Pace hasn't been watching Tye.

*****

From Tye's I took the train home. Inside my cottage it feels empty. I haven't been here much in the past weeks.

The moment I sink onto my couch, it hits me how weary I am.

Raymond isn't getting me out. He doesn't have the key or the magic words. He can only offer a possibility. Avery, Ricky, and Charlie aren't getting me out either. I wish I could rely on myself here, but I barely know what I'm doing.

About an hour later, Charlie knocks on my door. I open it, but he makes no move to come in, instead closing his eyes. A few seconds later blue sparks zap around the living room and kitchen.

Only once the sparks are gone, does Charlie step inside. "Once a day do a sweep for bugs."

"Easier said than done." I have no idea how he did that.

With a soft smile, he takes a seat on the bench of my dining table before explaining how to check for mics and cameras.

I wrap my arms around myself. "When you said you have nightmares that make you reliant on this dream, does that mean you could never leave even if your dad gave you the chance? You said you'd have to hook yourself into the dream."

"I can leave as long as I have a way to hook into the dream. I have a machine for it in my bedroom. It's not that large. It's . . . what I'm hooked up to right now. Technically I don't have to be in one of the facilities, but I'm not allowed to leave them, so it doesn't much matter.

"It's weird hearing you talk about what you're doing in the outside world. Even if it's only sleeping."

A tinge of color darkens his cheeks. "Does it make you uncomfortable? It's probably insensitive of me."

"No." I walk away from the door and to the kitchen counter, resting my back against it. "I—I like it actually." I wet my lips. "Why are you trapped, Charlie?"

He takes a deep breath. "Did you ever have a hamster or turtle or something like that?"

"A guinea pig. Years ago."

"And you kept it in a cage so it wouldn't get away, so you wouldn't lose what was yours."

"You're not an animal."

He doesn't answer. I walk toward him until I stand at the edge of the bench. "Charlie?"

He bows his head and tugs at his fingers. "I might as well be. My dad likes his things in cages, remember?"

"But you have siblings. Are they trapped like you are?"

He doesn't look at me, and I step toward him.

"Why?"

Placing his hands on his thighs, he at last looks up at me. "I'm all he has left of my mom."

I sink slowly onto the bench, keeping at least three feet between us. "Your mom?"

"My dad had been in love with her since he was six. Her father worked closely with my dad's father, and because of that she didn't have to come to Somnia when she turned sixteen. My dad wanted to marry her, and his father wouldn't give permission. He didn't want my dad distracted by something like love, so he arranged a marriage for him, but when after a year his wife wasn't pregnant, he arranged a second marriage—this time with the woman who was to be Stefan's mother. He wanted to ensure my dad would have an heir." Charlie scratches his head. "He got his wish."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Twenty-six," he says without any inflection, and my eyes widen.

"You're joking."

He shakes his head.

"So how are you . . . alive?"

He snorts. "After his second wife gave birth to quadruplets, Stefan being one of them, he thought he would be able to marry my mom, but he wasn't given permission until his first wife had given birth to four children of her own. I came into being five years later."

Shifting on the bench, he crosses his arms and lets out a shuddering breath. I place my palm on the bench in the space between us.

"He's never cared for his other wives. Even after my parents were married, my grandpa kept arranging marriages that would benefit the company. My dad cared about my mom, so he cared about me. Once she was gone, I was a painful reminder of what he had lost. Putting me in the dream kept me out of his sight and out of his mind until he felt ready to look at me again. Now that he knows I'm a Class One, I'm a tool he can use."

"I'm sorry. Truly."

He stands, crossing the floor until he reaches the couch. I let out a sigh and draw my hand still lying flat on the bench toward me and into a fist. 

"I've accepted what my life will be like. You don't need to feel bad about it. Not when you're trapped too."

I want to trust him so badly, even if my instincts are telling me I shouldn't. He is the person who could help me get free. Help me find the way back to my mom and siblings.

No matter his story, he's still Pace's son.

I massage the side of my head, my thoughts at war with each other.

"How did you get mixed up with a boy that sold res?"

"You saw the res?"

"It was all over the ground."

I trace my fingers over the knots in the polished wood of the bench. "Aaron. That's his name. He was my friend from before. In here, I knew him as Ryann. It was when I finally recognized him as Aaron that I realized I was dreaming. He tried giving me the res and got angry when I refused."

"My brother, Hewn, altered his memories, his personality. Were he to wake up, he'd be fine, back to normal. But after what happened with you, they decided to make him start over in Somnia. He won't remember knowing you here."

I swallow against the tightness in my throat and wipe my eyes. "He told me he had been here a year."

"That's what Hewn made him believe."

A part of me wants to ask to be reintroduced to Aaron. My hand goes to my throat, feeling where his hands were. I don't know if I'm ready.

If they were able to change Aaron's memories, they could have altered mine. If I do manage to escape this dream, I could be a completely different person when I awaken.

Charlie tugs at the collar of his button-up shirt, the top buttons undone. "I should go. I've taken up enough of your time this evening."

"Charlie—"

"Bye." He rifts, leaving me with the words that would have me admitting that I wasn't ready for him to go. That I wanted to hear more about the life he shares between two worlds.

Has anyone else watched Tale of the Nine-Tailed?

Keep counting those fingers.

~Mikaela