

### THE DREAMERS

### DREAMSHARE BOOK 2

### Celesta Thiessen

© 2017 by Celesta Thiessen

All rights reserved.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

# Chapter 1

We are the dreamers and this is our story.

Blaze stood on the beach in the fading light. There was an angry expression on his face and in his dark brown eyes.

"Cara, you think you're perfect but you're the selfish and demanding one! Nothing is ever good enough for you!" He turned and stormed away, the wind blowing his too-long, dark hair.

I didn't shout back. But, inside, I was angry. _How can he say that to me? He's the one who ruined everything._

I turned away from his receding form and looked out over the water, longing for peace and the happily-ever-after I thought we would have together. Bitter tears fell from my blue eyes as a swell of hopelessness engulfed me. It was like the High King hadn't come through for us.

Great waves crashed on the shore as a cold wind blew through my long, red hair. After our honeymoon in Hawaii, Blaze and I had moved to Corpus Christi, a city on the Texas coast. Our home was right on the beach. The High King had guided us here. Corpus Christi means "the body of Christ". At first, we thought we would be happy here, doing missions for the High King. We felt like we were his hands and feet, carrying out all the work he told us to do. But it wasn't long before things started to fall apart.

Out of habit, I put my hand on my belly. Six and a half months pregnant. I couldn't believe that I would be bringing a child into this kind of messed-up situation. More tears spilled out onto my cheeks. The wind blowing in off the ocean was cool, this November evening, and getting colder. A storm was coming.

Soon after Blaze and I were wed, I found out about the numerous lovers he'd had - 27, to be exact. He should have told me about everything before we married. But he'd brushed it off, reminding me that he'd been a movie star. But I wasn't okay with it. And that was only just the start of his character flaws. He drank too much alcohol, getting drunk regularly. I regretted marrying him and told him so.

After that, he'd been pretty mean to me. He'd gotten physical with me six times in the first year of our marriage, when he'd been drinking. Since I'd been pregnant, he'd kept his distance though. It wasn't just that he hadn't hurt me; he'd completely kept his distance, like he didn't even want to touch me anymore. And it didn't help that I was so terribly swollen all over – like a bloated whale.

We still saw the High King sometimes, when he gave us new missions. But even those had become less and less frequent lately. He looked sad but never said anything about what was happening between Blaze and me. Surely he knew what was going on. Why didn't he help us? Why didn't he help _me_?

And I was all alone. If I left Blaze, I'd have no one. The Kingcade Worldcorp had designed the Eclipsesys Entertainment System. The idea was that certain people would sleep and others would dream along with the dreamers. Only a select few people qualified to be dreamers, people who were highly sensitive to Focused Unifarious Neurostimulator waves - FUN waves as the Kingcade Worldcorp called them.

The Kingcade Worldcorp technology had an unforeseen consequence, however. Anyone exposed to the FUN radiation, anyone who was highly susceptible to it, was affected neurologically, physically and, also, to a certain extent, spiritually. As a result, Blaze and I had been pushed onto a different plane of existence. Though the physical world is just as solid to us as ever, we can no longer interact with any other living beings; we just pass right through them, like ghosts. So, despite the fact that, in some ways, I hated him, Blaze was all I had.

Looking out at the water, I suddenly felt weird, like I was going to pass out. I sometimes felt that way when I got up too fast but this was different somehow. I wavered, looking around for somewhere to sit down.

The next thing I knew I was waking up to the sound of a strange moaning. As I came to, I realized the sound was coming from me. I was lying on the wet sand. Rolling onto my back, I opened my eyes. Blaze was standing over me, looking angry.

"What are you doing, Cara?"

"I don't know." A shudder ran through me and then it became uncontrollable shivering. I felt weird and afraid.

"You were moving on the ground, partly on your stomach."

"I must have passed out..." My mind was reeling. What _had_ happened? I was moving on the ground... "Was I having a seizure?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Let me help you up." The anger was gone from his face, replaced by a look of concern.

I reached my hand up to him and let him pull me to my feet. He was still holding on to me.

"I can walk." I pulled away.

But he didn't leave. "You're not looking well. I think you should come to bed and lie down."

"Fine." I walked slowly towards our home. My teeth were chattering. I felt so cold. Our house was huge – eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms – ridiculously too large for the two of us. It had a spiral staircase and an indoor/outdoor swimming pool. Blaze was used to this lifestyle, and we had the money because Blaze had made quite a lot as a movie star, and Kingcade Worldcorp was paying me, monthly, to keep me quiet about what had happened to me. When Blaze and I had first bought this place, I was so excited to be starting this adventure with him. But, now, I could barely stand to look at him.

Once I was in bed, Blaze still didn't leave. This was the longest we'd been together for quite some time.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know." The shivering had gotten worse. It was like I couldn't get warm.

"I think we need to get you to a doctor."

"And how would we do that?" I asked.

"I don't know." He pulled his phone from his pocket. "I'm going to look this up online."

While he was playing on his phone, I buried myself deeper in the blankets, even covering my head. Still shivering, I put my hand on my belly.

My secret fear was that, when the baby was born, I'd try to pick her up but my hands would pass right through. What if she wasn't like us? What if she wasn't born onto this plane of existence?

I pulled the covers down and looked over at Blaze. He was intent on his phone and didn't notice me looking at him. I had wanted to talk with him about this worry on a number of occasions. I wanted him to reassure me, to tell me that everything was going to be all right. But fear stopped me. He didn't feel safe to talk to anymore. I put the covers back over my head and tried to turn my thoughts in a different direction. Finally, the shivering eased and I drifted towards sleep.

Ever since slipping onto this plane, I never dreamed anymore – neither of us did. I had always loved dreaming and was sad that part of my life was over.

***

I woke up in the dark. Everything was pitch black, darker than anything I had ever experienced in my life. I pushed the covers off but it didn't help. Feeling around with my hands, I felt blankets. I was still in the bed.

"Blaze?" I called. "Blaze!" There was no answer. Panic was rising inside. What was happening to me now? "Help! Somebody, help!" A glowing light appeared, coming from the small cracks around the drawer of my night table. I pulled the drawer open. Inside, there was a light so bright that I couldn't see what it was.

***

"Cara! Cara!"

I opened my eyes, feeling exhausted. Blaze was sitting beside me in bed. Our lights were still on.

"What?" I asked.

"I think it was happening again. You were shaking and making a weird sound." His eyes looked panicked. "I looked it up online. I think you have eclampsia. The only cure is to have the baby early, usually through a C-section. Otherwise, the mother can die. We need to find you a doctor, Cara."

I felt scared too but the situation seemed hopeless. There was no way we would be able to get a doctor to help me. But, at least, Blaze was being nicer to me now. Guess dying was what it took for him to treat me better. I didn't feel so cold anymore but I felt so tired. My eyelids started to drift closed.

I sat up quickly. "Wait! I had a dream!"

Blaze put his hand to his chest. "Cara, what? You're freaking me out!"

"I had a dream."

"We don't dream anymore, remember?"

"Well, I did." I wrenched open my night table drawer. My Bible rested where the light had been in my dream. I lifted the thick black book out and placed it gently on my lap.

Blaze shifted closer so that he could look at the Bible too. "What did you dream about? You weren't out very long."

"I saw this glowing." On impulse, I flipped it open. My eyes were drawn to a certain passage. I looked down at the words on the page there.

You do not have because you do not ask God.

I pointed at the words I had read. "We need to ask the High King for help."

"But... he's not here," said Blaze.

"We can pray. Just like everyone else."

"Right. I guess we've been spoiled, so that I've never really gotten into that."

The truth was that I hadn't either. The Bible had lain in that drawer, mostly unused, just a keepsake, a gift from my father. That would have to change.

"Do you want to pray with me?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. Of course I do. It's an emergency. I don't want you and our baby to die... But I don't know what to do. I don't know how to pray."

I held his hand the way my father had held my hand when he prayed for me, when I was little. "Praying is just talking to God. He'll hear us no matter how we say it." I closed my eyes. "I'm sorry for not asking before. We need help, Jesus. And I'm sorry for not reading the Bible. Now I'm reminded that the Bible has the answers for life. Please help me, Jesus. You see that there's something really wrong with me. We need your help... Amen." I didn't have much experience praying either. But I knew that the High King loved us. I trusted in that.

Blaze squeezed my hand. "Is it my turn?" he whispered.

I smiled with my eyes still closed. This side of him was endearing. Too bad he wasn't like this more often.

"Yes, it's your turn."

"High King... uhh... You know everything. You know that I didn't even want to see you anymore because... because of what I did. Because of how I've treated Cara and because of the drinking. I'm so sorry... You know I've stopped... uhh... hurting her. I haven't done it in a long time. I don't want her to die. Please... she's all I have. Please... We're asking now, just like you want us to. Please help us..."

It sounded like he was crying. I leaned into him. He let go of my hand and put his arms around me.

"I'm sorry, Cara."

"I know. It's okay." And I wanted it to be okay. But I still felt a hardness towards him because he had hurt me.

We waited in silence, his arms around me, expecting something to happen after praying. But, after ten minutes, still nothing had happened. I was uncomfortable and I felt so tired. Shifting away from Blaze, I lay back down in the bed.

"The High King didn't answer," said Blaze.

"Didn't answer yet," I corrected.

He stood. I didn't look at him because I didn't know what I would see there. He'd been so nice to me and I wanted to hold onto that.

"I haven't eaten supper yet. Do you want me to make you something?" he offered.

"Thank you, Blaze, but I don't feel like eating."

He walked from the room. I heard his quiet footfalls receding down the hallway.

"Jesus, we asked, just like you wanted us to..." I whispered. Sleep came over me again.

# Chapter 2

I looked around. The dense jungle overhead confused and frightened me. I put my hand on my belly. Nothing. I looked down. My baby bump was gone. _Did I already have my baby? Why couldn't I remember?_ I saw that I was dressed in what I imagined someone on safari in the jungle might wear - kaki pants and a light blouse. That's when I heard it - something huge stomping through the jungle, shaking the ground.

An older Asian woman with short grey hair came hurrying from the foliage. "Run!" she shouted.

I didn't wait to see what was coming but hurried after her. The sound of snapping trees and violent footfalls were closer behind us now.

"This way," she gasped, darting into thicker underbrush.

I pushed my way past bushes and watched as the woman disappeared into an opening in a rock wall. A cave! I entered the small cave after her. We moved to the back of the cave, crouching, and then sat down there. It was small and it was so dark inside that I could hardly make out her features. But I could see her gesture when she put her finger to her lips. I understood. We weren't safe yet.

The stomping sound moved past our hiding place and faded into the distance. After a while, all I could hear were the calls of birds and insects.

"I think it's gone," she whispered.

"How did you know about this place?" I gestured around the little cave.

"I've been here before... I think I live here."

"But how did _I_ get here?" Something tickled at the back of my mind. This wasn't right.

"I don't know. That was one of our dinosaurs that got loose. I'm a scientist. Dr. Lacy." She shoved her hand out towards me. I shook her hand. Something about this seemed familiar, but not in a way that made me think that I should actually be here.

"I'm Cara."

"Hello, Cara. It's nice to meet you."

"Where's Blaze?"

"Who?"

"He's always with me." I pulled away from her towards the entrance of the cave.

"No, you mustn't go out. It's not safe!"

Something about this whole thing was making me uneasy. _The High King!_ Then I remembered the words: _You do not have because you do not ask God._

"High King!" I shouted. "High King, I need your help!"

"Shh... You'll attract the creatures out there," Dr. Lacy whispered, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I pulled away from her and pushed myself through the small opening of the cave and out into the brush. Pushing blindly through the twigs and leaves, I finally found myself in open jungle, with a green leafy canopy far overhead. The trees were massive. I heard Dr. Lacy come out behind me.

"Cara." A man's voice.

I turned to see the High King. He was smiling. I smiled back. Relief welled up in my heart and spread out to every part of my body, making me feel tingly.

"You're here."

"Of course. I'm everywhere."

"Please help me... I don't know what to do."

"Who are you talking to?" Dr. Lacy looked around apprehensively and then back into my face.

"You can't see him?" I gestured towards the High King.

"Who?" She peered into the jungle.

"The High King."

She sighed. "I don't know why I'm even surprised. This place hasn't been making sense for a while now."

I looked back to the High King. " _I_ see you."

He nodded sadly. "You believe in me so you can see me. I can help you because you believe."

"I think something's wrong. Where's Blaze?"

"Something _is_ wrong. And you do need Blaze."

As if on cue, the bushes parted and Blaze pushed his way into the small clearing.

"Blaze!" I rushed into his arms, despite the lingering negative feeling I still had towards him.

"Okay, I _do_ see him," said Dr. Lacy.

Ignoring her, Blaze held me out at arm's length and inspected me. "Are you okay?"

"I think so..."

"Where's the baby?" Blaze asked in a panic, looking at my flat stomach.

I turned to the High King, a fresh fear in my heart.

"The baby's okay. You're not really here. This is a dream."

_A dream!_ Now it made sense. I thought I couldn't dream anymore. Yet here we were. Blaze pulled me into an embrace and I let him. He wrapped his arms around me and it felt better than it had in a long time.

"But there _is_ something very wrong." The High King moved towards us so he was standing close enough to touch.

Blaze and I separated. "What is it?" Blaze asked.

"Cara needs a doctor."

"Couldn't you just heal her or something?" asked Blaze.

"That isn't part of the plan this time. You need Dr. Lacy. And Dr. Lacy needs you."

I turned towards the older woman. "I need you. I'm having complications with my pregnancy."

She looked down at my flat midsection. "How far along are you?" she asked skeptically.

"So you could help me? You could do a C-section?"

"Yes, I know how. I'm certain I have done it many times... which doesn't really make sense, with my being a researcher of dinosaur DNA..."

I looked back towards the High King. "She's a real person – a dreamer like us? And we're dreamsharing with her?"

"Yes. And she's been in here too long. She's slipped planes and now she isn't waking up. If she doesn't wake up soon, she will die."

"Can't you help her?" asked Blaze.

"I've tried. She won't accept my help. She refuses to even see me."

"Okay, what can we do?" I asked.

"Bring the dream to an end by bringing it to what Dr. Lacy would perceive as a positive conclusion."

"How do I do that?" I asked.

The High King smiled. "You are Cara, the Warrior Dreamer."

"What about me?" asked Blaze.

The King took Blaze's hands and leaned his own forehead up against Blaze's forehead. "I forgive you. I've heard your prayer of confession and repentance." He pulled back a little and they looked into each other's eyes. "I forgive you, Blaze."

Tears squeezed from his eyes. "I don't deserve to be forgiven."

"No. And that's what forgiveness is. Me giving you what you don't deserve."

Blaze met his gaze. "Thank you." He wiped the tears from his eyes.

Blaze turned to me and held me again. I brushed the tears from my own face and put my arms around him. Maybe things would start to be better now... But why had the High King let him off so easy?

"This doesn't make any sense." Dr. Lacy turned and started walking away. "I'm going to see if I can get back into the lab."

I pulled away from Blaze and hurried after the woman. "We'll come with you. This problem needs to get resolved right away."

"It's not going to be easy. I've been working at trying to fix this for... as long as I can remember."

Blaze jogged a few paces to catch up with Dr. Lacy and me. "You've got us to help you now. We've handled worse than this, right, Cara?"

I thought back but I couldn't remember. "Have we?"

"Oh, yeah. This isn't going to be a problem."

Dr. Lacy slipped through a sheet of vines and then froze. We both walked into her. I looked past her to see what had caused her to stop. About two car-lengths away was a medium-sized but dangerous-looking dinosaur. It looked to be a little shorter than we were but it had razor-sharp teeth and claws. It started slowly approaching us.

"Oh, no, you don't!" I stepped out in front of the doctor. _Never run from animals,_ my father had always taught me. "Get back!" I opened my arms wide as I took a quick step forward, shouting, "Go away!" The thing took a step back in response to my step. But it wasn't running away.

"Huh. Look what I have."

I looked back and saw Blaze holding up the High King's sword, glowing blue.

"What on earth?" said Dr. Lacy.

"It's the sword of the High King. That's who we were talking with before," I explained.

Blaze charged towards the creature, sword upraised. It fled into the jungle. Grinning, Blaze walked back to us. "Let's get to the lab."

"It looks like I might have a hope after all, thanks to you two. Right this way. We're not far now." We followed her through the jungle to a large white building.

She pulled open an oversized door. "We'll have to be careful and quiet. The building has been breached. The dinosaurs were in here too." Inside, it was all dark.

"I'll go first, since I have the sword." Blaze held the sword up as he walked into the building. The blue glow illuminated the walls and ceiling of the wide hallway. Dr. Lacy followed him and I went in last.

"Wait, shouldn't we close this door?" I asked.

"Right. Of course. I don't know why I keep forgetting things." Dr. Lacy pulled the heavy door closed until it latched shut. She turned back to follow Blaze and I followed her.

I felt a tap against my leg and looked down to see the High King's sword hanging in a sheath from my belt. "What?" I pulled it from its sheath and held it aloft. Blaze and Dr. Lacy looked back.

"Two swords?" asked Blaze.

_All who believe in me may wield my sword._ I heard the words in my mind. Blaze must have heard the same thing because he was nodding slowly. I grinned and tightened my grip on the sword.

Blaze grinned back. "Now we're really ready to fight some monsters!"

"They're not monsters... Well... maybe they are." Dr. Lacy pointed down the hallway. "The lab is just up there."

Blaze led the way. Following, I watched behind us. We entered a larger room. The lights were off here too. By the blue light of the swords, we saw equipment scattered about the room, like someone had trashed the place.

Dr. Lacy looked around. "The dinosaurs were everywhere. The switch for the back-up generator is here somewhere." Dr. Lacy was looking at the control panels in the dim light. I brought my sword closer and looked at the controls too.

"Here it is." Blaze flipped a switch and the overhead lights came on. The place lit up like a hospital.

"Good. Now we need to activate the self-destruct. We can't risk these creatures getting off this island. The whole world would be in danger. We will have to die so that the rest of humanity can live." Dr. Lacy found a touch screen and was tapping at the controls there.

"Hold on." Blaze put his hand on her shoulder. "Unacceptable. We can't lose you. We need you, Dr. Lacy. We need you to help Cara and our baby."

"There's no way off this island. Even if I set the self-destruct on a delay, we wouldn't be able to escape."

"You don't have a helicopter or something?" asked Blaze.

The doctor looked thoughtful. "I think we do... If it hasn't been destroyed, it would be on the roof. But the roof is swarming with pterodactyls. We'd never survive. And even if somehow we got to the helicopter, and it still worked – I can't fly it."

"But I can." Blaze took his hand from her shoulder. "Set it on a delay. We're _not_ going to let you die."

"Wait. You know how to fly a helicopter?" I asked.

"Yeah, my family owns one. My dad taught me how to fly it and I got partway through the certification."

Dr. Lacy smiled for the first time since we had met her. She turned back to the panel and tapped quickly. "There. It's set."

"Lead the way to the roof." Blaze moved so that she could go first.

Dr. Lacy walked quickly down the brightly lit hallway, with Blaze close behind her. With all the lights on, the place looked much less intimidating. The way was clear. We got to the staircase.

"Let me open the door." Blaze stepped in front of Dr. Lacy and slowly opened the door, his sword drawn. He stepped into the stairwell and looked up and then down. He leaned back towards us. "Looks all clear."

I heard a high-pitched animal call. "What was that?" I pulled the High King's sword from the sheath on my belt.

Blaze looked back into the stairwell. "Let's get moving."

"It's one of ours. A small but deadly dinosaur," said Dr. Lacy. Blaze ran up the stairs. Dr. Lacy followed at a quick walk, pulling herself up with the hand railing. I heard the animal's call again, much louder. I turned and saw, behind us, a dog-sized dinosaur, racing up the stairs on four agile limbs.

"Blaze!" I held the High King's sword out in front of me. The creature sprang at me. I closed my eyes. But the sword knew what to do. I felt it moving and I held on with all my strength. When I opened my eyes, the reptilian creature lay dead at my feet. I breathed a sigh of relief. Blaze rushed to my side.

"Cara, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Let's get to the helicopter."

Blaze sprinted back up the stairs. Dr. Lacy was almost at the top now, near the door to the roof. I ran after Blaze and caught up to them at the entrance onto the roof.

Dr. Lacy put her hand on the heavy metal door. "Listen."

I strained with my ears and put my hand on the door. I heard a scuttling sound and felt vibrations. "What is it?" I asked.

"It's the pterodactyls. They're taking off and landing on the roof. There must be swarms of them out there."

"I'm ready," said Blaze.

I held tighter to the High King's sword. "Me too."

Blaze pushed open the solid metal door. I cried out as a pterodactyl swooped into the building. The sword in Blaze's hand split the thing in two, horizontally, right down the middle.

Dr. Lacy screamed, her hand over her mouth.

Blaze pushed forward, out onto the roof. "We have to get Dr. Lacy to the helicopter." I grabbed her arm and propelled her after Blaze. The roof was swarming with them. I pulled Dr. Lacy with my left hand while using the sword in the other. Every pterodactyl that flew at us, we struck down. But the fight was attracting even more of the creatures. We reached the helicopter. I helped Dr. Lacy in.

"Get in, Cara!" shouted Blaze.

"No, you need to get in! You're the only one that can fly this thing. Get it started up while I hold them off."

Blaze got into the helicopter from the other side. I focused all my attention on slaying the flying lizards. The sword swung this way and that, blocking their every attack. In their attempt to get at me, some of the pterodactyls were flying into the side of the helicopter. I moved away from the humming machine. Now they were coming at me from every side. But the sword spun me round and round. None of them were able to harm me.

"Cara!" Blaze was shouting above the roar of the helicopter. "Cara, get in!"

But I couldn't. The way was blocked. Pterodactyls swarmed around me so I could hardly see the helicopter, never mind get to it.

"Go without me!" I shouted. "Get Dr. Lacy to safety!" We both knew I wasn't really here. I would be okay. The chopper lifted off the roof of the building. I started crying but I didn't know why. Through tears, I watched it fly away from the building, out over the jungle. Still slashing at the creatures, I saw the helicopter gain the safety of open water.

_Protect me, High King. I give myself into your hands._ A flash of light exploded around me but I felt no pain.

# Chapter 3

Slowly I opened my eyes, but I still felt tired.

"Cara!" Blaze was there, pushing the hair out of my face. "Cara, I was so worried. I was sleeping with you but then I woke up. But you weren't waking up... When I left you behind, I saw the whole island explode... And then you weren't waking up. With everything that's happened... I felt just sick about it. How could I go on living if you died?"

_Left me behind? The dream!_ "Blaze! We need to find Dr. Lacy." I struggled to sit up. "How long have I been out?"

"More than twelve hours."

"We need to ask the High King how to find Dr. Lacy."

"How? He's not here. I'm really not appreciating these cryptic games of his."

But then, at that very moment, he was there. "Cara." The High King stood before us. He came to sit on the other side of my bed and took my hand.

Blaze looked shocked to see him. "I'm... I'm sorry," he stammered.

The High King looked at him seriously for a moment. "I forgive you, Blaze. Nothing I do or allow is without reason. I'm always working for the best for those who love me. You need to believe that and to trust in me." The High King looked at Blaze until Blaze looked down at the bed. But Blaze didn't say anything.

The High King was still holding my hand. His hand felt warm over mine.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I know you do. I love you too, Cara."

I looked up into his face. "Can you phase us to Dr. Lacy?"

"Phasing wouldn't be safe for you in your condition."

Blaze stood up. "I'll go alone."

"No. Cara needs to get help in a hospital and that's where you will find Dr. Lacy. But we'll also need to find people to help Dr. Lacy. She'll need a nurse to assist her and an anesthesiologist. I will help to bring them to you. But, Cara, you'll have to help me too. Soon you'll understand."

Blaze shook his head. "How will we be able to find all those people?"

"They're all here, in Corpus Christi."

"If I can't phase, how are we going to get to them? Is the doctor at the Shoreline Hospital?" asked Blaze.

The High King was smiling. "No, you will find the doctor at Corpus Christi South Hospital. The others Cara and I will bring there. Just get Cara to this hospital." He gave me a paper with the address on it.

"Something written by the High King." I clutched the paper to my heart.

"That's not the only thing I have written." He put his hand on my Bible that was still sitting on my night table.

"Right. I got your message earlier."

"Good. Remember, Cara." Then he was gone.

I looked at Blaze. He held out his hand for the paper. I handed it to him.

"I think it would take hours to walk there. And you're not doing well," said Blaze.

"We could take the bus," I suggested.

"I hate public transport. I wish we could call a taxi."

I laughed. "Buses aren't that bad."

"Okay, well let me find out where this place is." Blaze pulled out his phone. "Okay. It's 14 minutes by car but 54 minutes by bus. We're not taking a bus, Cara. Walking would take about an hour and 45 minutes."

"I don't think I'm up for that."

"No, of course not. Walking is much too unsafe even if you were able to. We'd probably get run over because no one could see us." He swore and struck the bed with his fist.

I pressed my lips together, not saying anything. He was like a child having a tantrum. I didn't understand why he acted like that. Then I had an idea.

"Maybe we _can_ get a taxi. What if we tell them to bring something to the hospital for us? When the driver opens the taxi door, we jump in. When he gets to the hospital and opens the door there, we jump out."

Blaze was nodding. "Good thinking, Cara. That just might work!" He focused on his phone again. "Perfect. We can reserve a taxi online... That was easy. It'll be here in 15 minutes."

"What did you tell them?"

"I gave them our address and told them to pick up the package of diapers outside our house and deliver it to the front desk at the hospital." We had diapers because we had ordered online. Almost everything we would need for the baby had already been delivered. "I'm going to grab a pack of diapers from the baby's room and put them outside. We'll have to wait out there too so we'll be ready to jump into the cab when he opens the door. Are you feeling well enough to walk at all?"

"Yeah. I'm tired of lying in bed. Let me grab something to drink and then I'll come out with you."

Blaze and I stood outside the front gate of our house, next to the package of diapers lying on the ground. I always wondered what people thought when our gate opened and then closed, apparently by itself. Maybe they thought the gate was automatic, electronically controlled. And surely someone must have seen the diapers just appear on the ground. What did they think? I always wondered such things. No one ever looked in our direction or remarked on any of the things we did. It was like they couldn't see the things we were interacting with in the physical world. They couldn't see our clothing or our phones or things like that – it seemed they couldn't see any of the things we engaged with.

"Here comes the taxi," said Blaze.

I looked up to see a green taxi slowing down and pulling up in front of our house. A man got out of the driver's side.

Blaze swore. "We're going to have to get in his door. Be careful of the traffic, Cara." The man came to where the diapers were and looked down at the package curiously. Then he looked up at our house. "Come on!" Blaze took my hand and pulled me around the front of the car. I pulled my hand away and carefully got in the driver's door. I shuffled over so that Blaze could get in beside me and wouldn't have to sit right where the driver would sit. Though we could do that, it always felt weird to pass right through someone.

The driver threw the package of diapers into the back seat. Then he got in and slammed the door. We'd made it.

I felt so tired. I leaned back against the headrest and let my eyes slowly fall closed.

***

I awoke looking up into white lights and a white ceiling. I sat up slowly. Did we get to the hospital already? I was on a hospital cot but I was still in my regular clothing. The big baby bump was there. This must be real. But why was I alone?

"Hello?" I called. "Hello?"

Dr. Lacy came around the corner. She stopped and stared at me. "It's you."

"I'm Cara. I think I need a C-section."

"Yes, I know your name. I remember you from the island. But you died. Am I dead too?"

"I don't think so." Shifting over in the cot, I swung my feet down so that I could stand. "Where's everyone else?"

"Who?"

"Blaze and the others that will help you with the surgery."

"I haven't seen anyone else."

"No one else?" I walked slowly down the hall. There was no one in sight.

"No one."

"That's odd," I said. As I walked, I felt something bump against my leg. It was the High King's sword in a sheath on my hip.

Dr. Lacy followed my gaze. "Oh, I don't think you're supposed to have that in here."

Dread rose in my throat. "There must be a reason that it appeared."

"It appeared?"

"Yes. This must be a dream. A dream in which I will need the High King's sword."

"A dream?" Dr. Lacy echoed.

I looked out the window. It was a long way down. I heard a sound, like metal dragging against stone.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I... I'm not sure."

The sound was faint but getting louder. I pulled out the High King's sword. It glowed bright blue, even under the florescent hospital lights.

"I don't know why no one's here..." Dr. Lacy rubbed her arms. I felt goose bumps rising on my skin too. The sound was even louder now, coming from around the corner ahead of us.

"It's getting closer," I whispered.

"Let's go this way." Dr. Lacy spun on her heal and set off at a brisk pace in the opposite direction down the hallway. Room after room was empty. I looked over my shoulder. I couldn't see anything but the sound was louder than ever. The hallway ended at a patient's room that was currently empty. There was no farther we could go. No escaping whatever was coming.

"It's a dead end." _Dead end._ I didn't like the sound of that. I turned and held the High King's sword out in front of us.

"This isn't right. It's not supposed to be like this." Dr. Lacy went into the room at the end of the hall. I followed her in, still watching behind us. The scraping sound continued. From around the corner came a massive, alien-looking, bug-like creature. It was black and its mandibles scraped against the tile floor as it pulled itself along the narrow hall.

Dr. Lacy gasped, slammed the door shut and locked it. She backed away from the door. "What do we do? I scanned around the room for something Dr. Lacy could use to defend herself. It was clear the creature would make short work of the door. My eyes fell on a Bible that was sitting on the bedside table. A thought pulled at my mind. The Bible, it would tell us the way. I went over to the table. I sheathed the High King's sword and picked up the Bible.

"What are you doing?" demanded Dr. Lacy. "It's almost at the door! You need to have the sword ready!"

I let the Bible fall open in my hands. It opened to 1 John. My eyes were drawn to chapter 4, verse 4.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

The spirit of the High King was inside me. I didn't have to be afraid of some random creature.

"The Bible shows you the way. And it's a weapon." I held it out to her. She shook her head. I continued to hold it out. "Take it. It's a weapon. It really is. Take it and see."

Hesitantly, she reached out her hand for the Bible. As I put the book into her hand, it became a sword. She gasped and dropped it. The sword clattered to the floor. "What kind of strange magic is this?"

"Pick it up."

She shook her head. "I don't trust that."

Cara felt sorry for the older woman. The creature was now scratching at the door. It was only a matter of time before it got through. I pulled the High King's sword from the sheath at my belt and went to stand in front of the door.

"It's not safe!" Dr. Lacy yelled.

"The High King is always with me. And I have his sword. I don't have to be afraid." The door broke inwards and the creature stuck its head into the room. My instinct was to cower backwards but I held onto the verse that I had just read. _Greater is He who is in me than he that is in the world._

I stepped towards the creature, sword upraised. The creature swiped at me with its long mandibles as it struggled to pull its forelimbs into the room. I rushed towards it.

The sword knew what to do. It slashed at the creature, cutting off the mandibles near the face. Then it plunged into one of the huge eyes, all the way up to the hilt.

The creature thrashed in the throes of death. Then it stilled. It was dead.

I pulled the sword free. The blue glow of the metal burned the blade clean. I sheathed the sword and turned to Dr. Lacy. She was transparent, fading from sight.

"Dr. Lacy, wait!"

She looked at me and smiled. "Thanks for saving me, again, Cara."

"You're welcome. But this is a dream, Dr. Lacy. You need to wake up. It's important. I need your help or both my baby and I will die – in the real world. And you're in danger too. You need to wake up!"

"It's a dream? It's a dream! This makes sense. I'll try to help you."

"The first thing you need to do is to wake up."

"Okay, I'll try." Dr. Lacy faded away, leaving me looking into an empty room.

"Cara."

I turned to see the High King.

"There you are!" I rushed to him and he held me gently in his arms.

"You have done well, my good and faithful servant."

I started crying at his kind words. "I love you!"

"I love you too, Cara." He pulled away a little so that he could look into my face. "The forces of evil want to have Dr. Lacy. I have assigned you to stand in the gap for her, for now. She is in great danger, Cara."

"I think we're in danger, too." I put my hand on my belly.

The High King smiled. "Cara, you and the baby are safe in the palm of my hand where nothing can harm you. The forces of evil want to kill you, to take you out of this world so that you can no longer work for me here. But they have no power over you. You are mine. So do not be afraid. For I will be with you wherever you go." He held me close again.

"Does that mean I won't die? And my baby will be okay?" I whispered.

"It means that, whatever happens, you don't have to be afraid. Trust me."

"I trust you." Being held by the High King and hearing his words took away all my fear.

He pulled back to look into my face once more. "But Dr. Lacy will be lost without help from you and Blaze. It is urgent."

"I'll do my best for you."

He pulled me close again and spoke into my hair. "I know you will."

# Chapter 4

"Cara! Cara, wake up!"

I felt someone tugging on my arm. Opening my eyes, I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. I was in a stopped car. Blaze was dragging me by the arm across the seat to the driver's door, which was open. I felt a flash of panic before I remembered where I was. The taxi! I pulled my arm away from Blaze so that I could use my hands to shuffle across the seats.

I stepped out of the driver's door, staying pressed up against the car to avoid the traffic. Blaze took my hand again and led me around the front of the car to the sidewalk. The driver walked right through us and hopped back into his taxi.

We just barely got out of the way before the taxi took off down the road. We stood on the sidewalk for a moment. My heart was pounding. That had been a close one.

"What's wrong with you?!" asked Blaze. "I couldn't wake you up."

"I was dreaming again."

He was quiet for a few minutes as he led me into the hospital. I thought he was mad but maybe he was just scared, like me. No one looked suspicious as the automatic doors opened to admit us. I realized that Blaze was _still_ holding my hand. I pulled away.

"I'm scared, Cara."

He was scared. That was good. At least he wasn't mad at me. Because I didn't think I'd done anything wrong this time. It hadn't been my fault that I couldn't wake up.

"Me too," I said.

"I'm scared that you and the baby are going to die and that I'll be all alone. Do you think that the High King is going to punish me for everything that I've done wrong?" He didn't look at me as he asked the question.

I felt for him. I wouldn't want to be left alone either. "I don't think I'm going to die. There's more work for us to do."

We stopped in the large foyer and looked around. "I hope you're right."

"Which way do we go?" I asked.

Blaze shrugged. "I don't know."

"Let's ask the High King," I suggested. Blaze nodded so I closed my eyes and folded my hands. "Where is Dr. Lacy? How do we find her?"

"You must be Cara." The voice was raspy.

My eyes flew open and there was Dr. Lacy! The grey-haired Asian woman was leaning on a chair in the foyer. "I could hardly wake up. I think there must be something wrong with me." She slumped down onto the floor. "So thirsty..."

We rushed over to her. "Blaze, help her up into a chair."

He took the older woman's hand and helped her to her feet. Then he helped her to sit in one of the foyer chairs.

"Thank you," said Dr. Lacy. "Could you get me some water?"

Blaze set off down the hall in search of water. I sat down beside Dr. Lacy and, on impulse, I took her hand.

She smiled and patted our clasped hands with her other hand. "I can't believe you're real. When I woke up and called out for help, no one came. It seems like no one here can see me except you two... Is this another dream?"

"No, I don't think so. Have you heard of the Eclipsesys Entertainment System by Kingcade Worldcorp?"

"Oh, yes. I could see their silly aliens when they pulled that prank on everyone a number of years ago. But what has that got to do with me? I didn't sign up for that dreamers program of theirs, even though they pressured me to do so on a number of occasions."

"The radiation emitted by their technology affected everyone susceptible to it, even those who never agreed to be dreamers. I was a dreamer and it affected me. Blaze never went into the program but it affected him too. And now it's affected you as well."

"Affected me how?"

Blaze returned and held out a cup of water to Dr. Lacy. "Here."

She took the cup. "Thank you." But she kept her attention on me. "Affected us how?" She took a long drink.

"We have slipped sideways, partially out of this dimension, so we can no longer interact with living things on this plane."

She took a longer drink. Then she turned to Blaze, who was still standing there. "Please go to the cafeteria and get me a bowl of chicken broth. I must be dehydrated." Blaze nodded and set off in search of the cafeteria. Then she turned back to me. "This all seems rather unbelievable but I cannot deny the reality of the situation. What can be done to rectify things?"

"I... I don't think there's anything we can do. Maybe Kingcade Worldcorp is searching for a cure but..."

"There must be something we can do," Dr. Lacy insisted.

I put my hand on my belly. "I've been having seizures. Blaze says that he thinks I have eclampsia and that I'll need to have a C-section or I might die."

Dr. Lacy finished her water. "How far along are you?"

"Thirty three weeks. It's seven weeks until my due date."

"That's good. The baby is viable. I'm going to check your blood pressure first and then we'll go from there." She gave my hand an encouraging squeeze.

Blaze arrived, carrying a styrofoam bowl of soup with a lid. She reached up for the soup.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot a spoon. I'll go back and get one."

"It's fine. I'll just drink it." Carefully, she took the lid off the soup. "This smells good. Cafeteria food never smells good. I wonder how long I was asleep?"

Blaze sat down on the other side of Dr. Lacy. "We're supposed to find some other people to help you give Cara a C-section only I don't know how to do that," said Blaze.

"Hmm...that's right. I will need help. We'll figure this out, don't you worry." Dr. Lacy patted my hand again. Then she carefully sipped her soup. "Lukewarm. At least I won't have to worry about burning myself." She drank the soup slowly.

I felt very tired. My eyes were slowly closing. I wondered if it mattered if I fell asleep sitting here in the foyer. We'd found Dr. Lacy. Step one complete. Maybe falling asleep would actually help – maybe the High King would help me contact the other people we need to help with the surgery. I was almost asleep when I heard Blaze's voice.

"Cara?"

I opened my eyes. "Hmm? What?"

"Don't go to sleep again. It's freaking me out the way I'm having trouble waking you up."

"Yes, don't sleep. We should get you settled on a cot near a blood pressure machine and check your blood pressure before you rest." Dr. Lacy stood up. She wobbled and then almost passed out. Blaze got up quickly and steadied her. "Thank you... It's becoming clear to me that I won't be able to do this surgery anytime soon. I need to recover first. But come, let's find us two cots in an out-of- the-way area." Blaze took the doctor's arm and I was left to walk behind.

I knew I shouldn't feel mad – Dr. Lacy was older and was extremely dehydrated. But still, it was like Blaze turned his back on me, literally, and left me alone. I followed them down the hall. We turned a corner and went down another hall. There was no one in this area.

"We don't usually use this hall unless all the other beds are full. It's farther from all the main areas and a little too far from the closest nurses' station if there's an emergency."

The hall looked eerily familiar. Then I remembered my dream with the alien-bug thing. I rested my hand on my belly and hoped that this wasn't a dream now. The doctor led us to a room at the end of the hall. There were two cots.

"Lie down and rest, Cara," said Dr. Lacy. "Blaze, please bring me a pitcher of water and a cup. I need to get rehydrated before I do anything else." The doctor climbed into one of the cots. Blaze nodded and left the room without a word to me. He hadn't even offered to help me get into bed. I tried to push away the feelings of sadness and abandonment as I struggled onto the cot.

Dr. Lacy was in the other cot. "Thank you, Cara. I think you saved my life. When I woke up, I was in a corner on the floor. I felt so stiff, like I had been lying there for days, and I was so weak. If I hadn't woken up, I'm certain I would have died."

"You're welcome. The High King was helping me. He helped me to find you and to know what to say and do."

"The High King?"

"Yes. Jesus."

"Oh...I..."

"What?" I asked.

"I was going to say that I don't believe in that sort of thing but, after what has happened recently, I think I may need to re-evaluate my beliefs."

I leaned back and felt my eyes falling closed again. _Please help me,_ _High King! I'm asking just like you wanted me to. Help me to find the other people who will be needed to help with the surgery. I trust you, I trust you, I trust you,_ I repeated in my mind as I drifted off to sleep.

# Chapter 5

Snow fell around me like feathers after a pillow fight. I scanned in all directions, trying to make sense of my situation. I didn't feel cold, even though the soft whiteness went on for as far as I could see. I held my hand out to touch the soft, white flakes and noticed that my hands were bare. The snow was beautiful and it could not harm me. The land was flat, and the snow lay undisturbed, without footprints in any direction.

I looked down, taking in my blue, shimmery dress and white cloak. I couldn't remember who I was or why I was here. But this didn't feel like home to me.

Across the snow came the sound of jingling bells. I looked up. A horse-drawn sleigh was coming in my direction, making tracks in the snow. There were bells on the horses' harnesses.

Fear surged through me. Should I run? I looked around. In this open expanse, there was nowhere to go. So I stood my ground, trying to look composed as the sleigh barreled towards me. As it got closer, I could see that no one was driving the sleigh. The sleigh pulled up beside me.

I looked into the totally empty open sleigh. There was no one else there. Was it trying to abduct me? But would it be worse than standing out here, all alone, in the middle of nowhere? Decision made, I climbed up into the sleigh.

We traveled, for what felt like almost an hour, over fields of beautiful white crystals, before coming to a majestic castle made of ice.

I looked at the beautiful ice palace, unsure of what to do next.

I climbed out of the sleigh and regarded the castle. It was formidable-looking, with towering walls of ice and an open gate.

I turned back. "Am I supposed to go in there?" I asked the empty sleigh. It gave no reply but the horses took off running again and the sleigh disappeared around the other side of the castle.

_Should I go in or follow the sleigh?_ I wondered. This _did_ look like the main gate and it _was_ where I was dropped off. I gathered my courage together and strode through the gate. Inside was a courtyard paved with ice. There was no one about.

"Hello?" I called. "Hello?"

No one answered. Across the courtyard, I saw a set of large wooden doors leading to the castle proper. They were closed. I walked over to the doors and stood there, looking up.

_Should I knock or just try the doors?_ Since this wasn't my place, I opted for knocking. I rapped loudly on the wooden door. The sound was much louder than I had expected, echoing around the empty, frozen courtyard.

I waited a few minutes but still heard nothing. Feeling apprehensive, I knocked again. This time, I heard the sound of movement inside. The door was pulled open. I was thinking it might be Dr. Lacy again but it was a man I didn't recognize. He had white hair and ice blue eyes.

He stared at me appraisingly. "Well, this _is_ surprising."

Suddenly, I remembered who I was. Cara. But this wasn't Blaze or the High King. Was this another dream? I looked down and saw my flat stomach. Of course, it must be.

I stuck out my hand. "I'm Cara."

"Stuart Norbert, Ice King." He shook my hand.

"Are you a real person?" I asked.

The man laughed. "Funny - _you_ asking _me_ that."

" _I'm_ a real person and I think I need your help."

Stuart laughed again. "Right. Come in. Let's talk about the dragon problem."

"Dragon problem?" I followed the man into the castle. A servant quietly closed the door behind us.

"A dragon has been plaguing our land for some time now. Last night, the stars foretold that a warrior would come from the snowy beyond to save us. My horses reported that they found you, far to the North, in the middle of a field, with no tracks leading to where you stood, like you had been deposited there by the gods, wearing nothing but that, which certainly any mortal being would have frozen to death in." He looked at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. "You're not even wearing shoes."

I looked down. My feet were bare. I had not noticed that.

Standing straighter, I spoke. "I _have_ vanquished a dragon before."

The king smiled. "That is grand news! How can I help you prepare to attack this one?"

"Promise me a boon, whatever I ask, if I am able to defeat this dragon."

"Yes, I agree," the king replied. "Don't you need weapons or something?"

"I have a sword." I reached down to my belt and, sure enough, the sword of the High King was hanging there in a sheath.

"Oh, I didn't notice that before..."

"Now, where is this dragon I am to vanquish for you?"

The Ice King walked me back to the large double doors and pulled one of them open. He pointed up into the sky. "Follow the smoke."

A thin column of black smoke rose up into the sky.

I walked out of the castle and through the courtyard. The powdery whiteness on my bare feet felt cool but not cold or wet. Coming out through the main gates of the castle, I kept my eyes fixed on the smoke. An ongoing fire must be making smoke like that. But what could the dragon possibly be burning in this frozen desolate wilderness?

I trudged along through deeper snow beside the castle wall. When I turned the corner, I could see all the way to the horizon, to where the smoke was rising. It looked to be quite far away. I decided I had better run if I wanted to get there any time soon. I jogged a few paces in the deep snow. Then I took a giant leap and found myself soaring up into the sky. I could fly!

I relished the feeling of the cold wind against my face. The landscape zipped by beneath me. Soon I came to a place where a giant red dragon was breathing fire into the snow. It hadn't seen me yet. I landed nearby and drew the High King's sword.

"Dragon!" I called.

The scaly beast stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me. "Oh! That's a shiny sword! Can I have it?"

"I've heard you've been causing trouble for this kingdom," I said.

"Oh. Have I? I don't think so, not really. I've just been looking for food. I'm terribly hungry."

"The Ice King says you have been causing trouble."

The dragon snorted with laugher and flames came out his nose. "The Ice King! Is that what that rascal is calling himself these days? He's no king. He's the one you should be showing that pointy sword to." The dragon lifted a claw towards the sword.

"And why is that?"

"Because _he's_ a bad guy. He's brought eternal winter to this land. Almost all the people have either left or died. It has been winter now for over a hundred years."

"How is that possible?"

"Ask the _king_ ," said the dragon, pointedly.

I knelt down and touched the snow as I considered the dragon's words. "Why does he want you dead?" I asked.

The dragon sighed. "Because I'm trying to fight him by melting the snow and bringing the land back to life... Not that it's working."

I looked at the small patch of earth that he had cleared – the only patch of brown earth in the overwhelmingly bright expanse of reflective snow. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just kill this dragon. Unlike the other dragon I had encountered, this one didn't seem like a creature of evil. But it was likely that I would need Stuart's help in real life. How could I fix things so that he would wake up and come join us at the hospital?

The sword in my hand pulsed, glowing almost white for a moment and then fading back to blue. The High King, of course! I should ask _him_.

"High King!" I called. "High King! What do I do now?"

A picture came into my mind of an ocean. And beyond the ocean was a volcano island, jutting up out of the sea. A yellow dragon flew overhead and the waters around the island teemed with fish.

I sheathed my sword. "Ah, I have an idea, Dragon."

"What is it?" it asked, bringing its large green eyes closer to me.

"I know of somewhere you could go. You'd be happy there."

"Where?"

"Across the ocean, there is an island with an active volcano on it. No people live there, only another dragon. The shiny black rocks are warm and the ocean around the island is full of fish."

"Warm? Another dragon? But... _this_ land has always been my home."

"Things change, Dragon. It's time to start over, somewhere you will be happy."

The dragon turned around in a circle once and lay down in the patch of dirt he had just cleared of snow. "It sounds lovely but I'd probably never find the place anyway."

"You would, Dragon. I know it! The High King could help you; I'm sure of it! Do you know where the ocean is?"

"Yes, but it is very large."

"Dragon, go now, and the High King will be your guide."

The High King appeared in the snow beside me. I gasped in surprise and then laughed. He was smiling. I hoped that he would hug me.

"I really can guide you, Dragon."

The dragon got up. "The High King!" He stumbled over himself, rushing towards us. Then he bowed to the ground before the High King. "Yes, of course I will accept your guidance and I am profoundly grateful."

The King laughed. He turned to me and hugged me. "You're doing well, Cara."

"I feel like I don't know what I'm doing but I'm glad that you are pleased."

He touched his forehead to mine before wrapping his arms around me again. "I am very happy with you, Cara." Then he pulled away from me and stepped towards the dragon.

The dragon flattened even lower to the ground. "Master, I would be very honored to carry you on my back as you guide me to my new home."

"Very well." The High King climbed up onto the red dragon's back. The dragon stood and, beating its powerful wings, lifted up into the sky. The High King waved at me from atop the dragon's back. I waved back and watched them until they were out of sight. Then I turned back in the direction of the castle. I sprinted a few steps and took to the air.

What was going on with this Stuart guy? Was he really a bad guy like the dragon had said? Soon I was soaring over the castle. I lowered myself down into the courtyard right in front of the large double doors. Taking a deep breath, I pounded on the door. A moment later, it opened for me. Stuart was there, looking surprised.

"You killed the dragon that fast?"

"I didn't say that I would kill him. But he won't be bothering you again. I've gotten rid of him."

"How?"

"I've sent him somewhere else to live where it's warm and there's lots of food. The dragon will be happy there."

Stuart looked angry. "That wasn't the deal. I wanted it punished."

"I said I would vanquish the dragon. And I have. With words. Now, what's this I hear about you?" I put my hand to the hilt of my sword.

Stuart took a step back and started to close the large door.

"Not so fast." I pushed my way into the castle. "You owe me a boon for defeating the dragon. You promised me whatever I wanted."

He laughed mirthlessly. "I lied."

"Why has it been winter in this land for over a hundred years?" I demanded.

"Because my heart is cold." He laughed again but in his blue eyes was no joy. "And something weird has happened to me. Weird but wonderful... Most people can't see me anymore. I don't know why I'm even telling you this since this is only a dream."

"It's not _only_ a dream."

Stuart started fading.

"Wait! My request is this: come to the Corpus Christi South Hospital. I need your help."

"I don't know if I believe any of this but... I'll come."

"Thank you!" I said.

The man faded away and was gone. I hoped that he had been a real person – the nurse or the anesthesiologist – and not just a figment of my imagination. And I hoped that he would help me... but he didn't seem like a very nice guy.

# Chapter 6

My eyes slowly opened to see a white ceiling. _Where am I?_

"Cara!" It was Blaze. He came to stand beside my cot.

My memories came rushing back to me. I put my hand to my belly and felt the baby there. I sighed in relief, relaxing back into the bed.

"Don't sleep, Cara. I've been freaking out the last three hours. When I came back with the water, both you and Dr. Lacy were asleep and I couldn't wake either of you up. She's still sleeping. What's happening?"

I took his hand. Marriage was for life; I knew that, even if I didn't feel the same about him anymore. "I think Stuart Norbert will be coming to help us."

"Who is he?"

"I hope he's the nurse or an anesthesiologist. He was in my last dream."

"What are we going to do? I can't wake Dr. Lacy."

I still felt so tired. "Maybe we can go in and get her - in the dreams. Come lie beside me." I shifted over in bed and tugged at his hand. He shuffled up onto the cot beside me. It was narrow for two but we still fit.

"Cara, I'm scared."

"I know. Me too. But we have to trust the High King. He's going to take care of us." Still holding his hand, I closed my eyes. After being a dreamer for so many years and then not being able to for the last two years, it was a relief to be able to dream again.

When I was almost asleep, my phone buzzed from my pocket. I jolted awake. I put my hand to my chest to try to calm my stuttering heart. Fully awake, I pulled my phone from my pocket and turned it on. I had received an email. Most of the emails I got were spam. But, once and a while, I got one from my brother, Matthew. I tapped open the email app and read the subject of the new email.

DNA results.

_DNA results!_ I'd almost forgotten that I'd gotten myself tested. I swallowed. For some reason, I was feeling really nervous.

I had wanted to know more about who I was ever since I found out I was adopted. When I was living at home, my mother would never talk to me about who my biological family was. My adopted father died when I was a teen. I felt more alone now than ever. The only person I had contact with that I considered family was my brother, Matthew. He wasn't my brother by blood but we'd grown up together and loved each other. But just one brother didn't feel like enough.

One day, when I had been searching online, I happened to watch a video of someone who'd had a DNA test done to find out their ancestry – their genetic make-up. They were really surprised and happy to know where they came from. I wanted to know where I came from, too. Maybe I had family somewhere. The website also connected you with people that you were related to. I would be able to see their profiles and could email them, at least. Maybe I could even meet some of them one day, if they were dreamers too, now that other dreamers were crossing over. People said that being a dreamer ran in families. Maybe there were other dreamers in _my_ family.

When I had looked at the price of the testing kit, it had been only just under one hundred dollars with the shipping. I had decided to go for it. I hadn't bothered to ask Blaze. Almost half of the money we had was mine anyway.

The kit had arrived a couple of weeks after I ordered it. I had spit into the vial, like the instructions had said to, and then I had mailed it back to them. And now the results were in!

_Should I tell Blaze and let him share this experience with me?_ I looked over at Blaze, lying beside me on the bed. His eyes were closed and it looked like he was possibly asleep already. He probably wouldn't care anyway.

Maybe, somehow, seeing these results would make me feel less alone. I tapped open the email and scrolled down. There was a link to see my results. I tapped the link and another window opened to the website. _Ethnicity results_. I tapped again. Here was the information I was looking for!

100% Europe => 72% Ireland, 26% Great Britain, 2%Western Europe.

I sighed. That was hardly worth the money. Tears filled my eyes and I scrubbed them away. I didn't know what I had been expecting to find. It was just that, now that I was pregnant, I wanted family. My baby should have family. I put my hand on my belly out of habit. I looked around for anything else that my results could tell me. _Wait. Cousins?_ I had cousins?

The results showed only one cousin. _Anthony Washington._ I looked closely at the tiny profile picture. He was black! That was confusing! Why was my cousin black? Or, I guess you're supposed to say, "African American", here in the United States.

Where I was from in Canada prejudice wasn't a big deal. Or, at least, not that I had noticed. Many black people in Canada were immigrants from Jamaica or Trinidad or Africa or they were descendants of those immigrants. The black people in Canada are people whose families had enough determination to be able to immigrate - usually people with education and money.

I thought having a black cousin was cool... but how could _I_ be related to someone black... I mean African American? He was marked as a fourth cousin. Our common ancestor would have been, maybe, a couple of hundred years ago. He was not a close relative but at least there was someone I was related to. He must have some European in him too since that was all I had in my genetic profile. I smiled. _Family._

What would Blaze think of this turn of events? I looked over at Blaze. My smile faltered. He was asleep. And, even if he weren't, we fought most of the time anyway. He didn't even know that I'd ordered this DNA test. There was no one to share this happy moment with.

Again, I wiped tears from my eyes. Being pregnant made me weepy. But I knew that wasn't all that was going on. I felt so depressed that I was starting to feel despair. Sometimes I wished I had died instead of slipping onto this plane. I knew feeling that way was wrong but I couldn't stop it. I rubbed my belly again. I needed to be here for the baby. But maybe this cousin was someone who I could connect with.

I clicked onto his profile to send him a message. I hoped that he would get back to me. Maybe we could text from time to time, like Matthew and I did. I sent him a quick message.

Hi!

I'm adopted and I took this DNA test to try to find out who I am. I feel lost sometimes. Anyway, I see we're cousins. How weird is that? I guess you must have some European in you since that's all I have. Anyway, I'd love to get to know you better. I'm pregnant and I feel like I don't have any family, really. My adopted Mom and I aren't close. The only people I have in my life right now are my adopted brother and my husband. Well, anyway, hope I haven't said too much and I hope to hear back from you.

\- Cara

_I feel lost sometimes._ More than I can even express. And, yeah, I have Blaze in my life, but I don't know... When we fight, it's almost like it's worse than being alone. Maybe Anthony would get back to me. _Or maybe I'm an idiot. Yes, probably that._ The excited feelings were all but gone as I settled back into bed. Blaze didn't stir. I turned off the screen and put my phone on the bedside table. I looked across the room to Dr. Lacy. She was still asleep.

I closed my eyes. Just as I was almost touching sleep, my phone buzzed again. Guess I should turn it off completely or I might never get to sleep. Knowing I had an email waiting for me made me unable to fall asleep. What if it was my cousin? Would he really get back to me that quickly? I opened my eyes and reached for my phone. Turning on the screen, I pulled it close and got into my email app. It _was_ from the ancestry website! I clicked the message.

Yeah, that's weird all right. Look, I don't know how you don't know this, but the only reason we could be cousins is because your slave-owning ancestor raped my slave ancestor.

That was all he had written. Guess I hadn't thought that through. I felt bad... and sad. It wasn't me who had done such a horrible thing. What was I supposed to say to that? Maybe that was the point. He didn't want me to message him anymore. Tears filled my eyes again. Now all I knew was that I probably had an ancestor who was from the southern United States who had been a bad guy. I was still utterly alone.

And I was afraid. I rubbed my belly again. Something was really wrong with me but Dr. Lacy couldn't help me because she was asleep. And the other people who needed to help her with the surgery weren't here.

Trying to push the panic away, I turned my phone completely off and set it on the table again. I hardly felt sleepy now – too upset to sleep. I noticed on the table beside the phone was a Bible. _I guess people sometimes leave them in hospital rooms._ Pulling it over, I clutched it to my chest. I still had the High King. And I had this book that he had written.

There was a bookmark in the Bible, near the beginning. I opened it to there. A verse on the page caught my eye.

_I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go._

That's what the High King had told me - that I was safe in the palm of his hand. He was with me and he would watch over me.

***

The sky was overcast and grey. The water mirrored the sky. I looked out over the ocean as grey waves crashed against the shore. It was like nature reflected my faded hope. How had it all come to this? Life had held such promise, such magic.

I felt someone next to me on the beach. It was Blaze. We stood side-by-side, not touching, looking out at the ocean. The wind off the ocean was cold.

"Thank you for staying with me, Cara."

His words surprised me and I didn't know what to say. Still looking out over the ocean, I saw someone walking towards us on the water. It was the High King! He approached, riding the waves as they rolled onto the beach. He stopped before us.

I knelt down in the wet sand. Blaze copied my posture. We looked up at him.

"You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things."

I looked down at the sand. He knew that I was basically failing at life. How could he say such a thing to me?

"Are you speaking to Cara?" asked Blaze, his voice tight with emotion.

"To both of you."

"You know I... I wanted to be faithful to you but... I haven't been." Blaze confessed.

The High King put his hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Thank you for staying with me."

Blaze blinked back tears. "But you're totally worthy and so good... I'd have no reason to ever leave you."

"People look at the outwards appearance but I look at the heart. Though your actions have fallen short, your heart is for me."

"It is. My heart is for you, Jesus," said Blaze.

I looked up at the High King and he put his other hand on my shoulder. "You are my beloved child with whom I am well pleased."

My eyes filled with tears, which overflowed onto my cheeks. I recognized that verse from the Bible. That's what God said about Jesus. I couldn't believe that he would say that about me. He lifted me up and held me in his arms. When my tears had ended, he released me and pulled Blaze up from the sand too. He stood before us as we stood side-by-side.

"Now, I have a mission for you."

We blinked out of sight and I gasped. It had been months since the High King had phase-shifted us. _What about the baby?!_ As we landed in the back of a car, I looked down at my belly. Nothing. Ah, right, in real life Blaze and I were asleep on the cot back in the hospital. This was a dream.

I was in the backseat, with Blaze on one side of me and the High King on the other. In the front seat was a young man, who seamed to be driving rather recklessly.

The High King leaned forward and looked at the young man who was driving the car. "He's planning to kill himself."

"We'll whisper to him like we have to others." Blaze climbed up into the front seat, beside the driver.

"What the...?" the guy looked at Blaze. He swore. "This is a bad trip. Not what I need right now." He rubbed his forehead and then his face aggressively.

"Wait... You can see me?" asked Blaze.

"Must be just in my head... Just in my head."

"Can you hear us too?" I asked.

The man flinched. As he turned to look at me, the car swerved into oncoming traffic. Horns honked as cars veered out of our way.

Blaze tried to grab the wheel but his hand passed right through it. "Keep your eyes on the road!"

The man turned back and wrenched the car back into the correct lane. "Never had a trip like this before. Soon this is going to be all over."

"Have you been taking drugs?" I asked.

The man laughed and laughed with crazed laughter.

"His name is Michael," said the High King.

Blaze leaned closer to get his attention. "Listen up, Michael, we're not drug-induced hallucinations. We're real and we're here on a mission for the High King."

Michael looked into the rearview. I could see his face there. "I can't see you in the mirror," he announced and then he turned and looked at me. "But when I turn around, I do see you. Are you ghosts or something?" He turned back to the road.

I shook my head but then realized he couldn't see me because he was watching the road. "No, not ghosts. We're here on a mission for the High King, Jesus."

"Oh... so you're angels?"

Blaze laughed. "No. We're really not."

"We're dreamers," I said. In the rear-view mirror, I saw a confused expression on his face. "You know - from the Eclipsys Entertainment System?"

"You mean this is all a dream?" He swore. "Can't kill myself in a dream." He swore again.

I looked at the High King who shook his head. "He's not asleep."

"Nope, wrong again," said Blaze.

"Then how can I see you?"

"I don't know. What all did you take?" asked Blaze.

Michael laughed again. "I don't even know."

The High King spoke quietly. "If he kills himself, his daughter is going to kill herself too."

"If you kill yourself, your daughter will kill herself too," I said, repeating the High King's words.

"What?" He looked back at me and the car swerved again.

"Eyes on the road!" shouted Blaze.

Michael looked back at the road and laughed. "Now I know this is just some crazy trip. My daughter's only three."

"But she'll know what happened to her father. And when she's fourteen, she'll kill herself," said the High King.

This time Blaze repeated the High king's words.

Michael tightened his grip on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "I don't want that for her."

"Let's pull over and we can talk about it," said Blaze.

Michael slowed the car down and pulled off into a small park. Beyond the park was the ocean. I recognized the place. It wasn't that far from where Blaze and I lived. It seemed we were still in Corpus Christi.

Michael pulled into a parking spot and stopped the car. "My life is wrecked. Sara's mom won't let me see her at all. Totally burned that bridge. Crime and drugs and crime and drugs and crime and drugs – that's basically all I do now. That's my life. And I want out."

"That doesn't have to be your life," said Blaze. "I used to do drugs too – was just living for myself and nothing else. But I switched allegiances and that changed everything. You can too."

Blaze used to take drugs? What else didn't I know about him?

"What do you mean - switch allegiances?"

"When you reject God, you make yourself his enemy. And if you're not on Team Jesus, you basically belong to the devil."

"What?" he asked again.

"It's either Jesus or the devil. There's no middle ground."

Michael put his head down into his hands. "I don't want Sara to kill herself. But I can't change my life. I'm sure Team Jesus doesn't want me."

"Of course I want him." The High King was looking at Michael with love in his eyes.

"High King Jesus is here in the car with us. He says he wants you," I said.

Michael turned to look at me. But, as he did so, he saw the High King. His eyes went wide with surprise and then a look of understanding came over his face. He turned around in his seat more, looking at the High King.

"You're...Jesus."

"Yes." The High King looked kind, not angry.

Michael's eyes filled with tears and he put his hands out in front of him. "I'm so sorry!" He squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm so sorry. So sorry... I've done too much bad. I thought the only way out was..." His words trailed off.

"Things can be different. I can help you, Michael." Jesus put his hand on Michael's shoulder.

Michael opened his eyes cautiously. "I want that... I want to be on Team Jesus."

"And are you willing to follow me – to read the Bible and try to do what it says?"

"Yes." Tears tracked down Michael's cheeks but he didn't seem to notice or care.

"Michael, you are mine." The High King leaned over the seat and hugged him.

# Chapter 7

It was raining like the downpour would never end. The sky was grey and it seemed to me like it had been that way forever. I leaned against the grey brick building. I could feel the rough bricks through my raincoat. I didn't feel hope today.

I looked down at myself. The baby was there. Then I remembered that I wasn't doing so good... I should probably be lying down. I straightened up and took a step out onto the sidewalk. _Where am I anyway? I don't remember getting here._

There were a few people on the sidewalk and cars on the street. I saw past the houses. Ocean. I was still in Corpus Christi. I saw a young African American man approaching me on the sidewalk. He was lanky, with short hair, and he was wearing a baseball cap. He looked familiar somehow but I wasn't making any connections. With a sharp intake of breath, I realized he was looking at me and walking right towards me. He could see me!

He stopped a few paces away, looking down at me. "Are you stalking me or something?"

I laughed at his unexpected question. But he wasn't laughing.

"I don't even understand what I'm doing here. Who _are_ you?" I asked.

"Aren't you that white girl who said we're cousins?"

My mouth fell open and I could hardly answer as I remembered the website and the email I had received about my DNA. I had gotten out of practice talking to people in general but this... I didn't even know what to say.

"Okay, yes... I mean, no. I'm Cara and I'm not stalking you. Yes, I recognize you now from your profile photo. I said we're cousins. But I don't know how I got here..."

He looked around, rain dripping from the brim of his cap. "Now that you mention it, I don't remember how I got here either."

Hope lit like a fire in my heart. "Are you a nurse or an anesthesiologist?" I asked him excitedly.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "No." He shrugged. "I'm working at Subway... or I was."

"Oh." My heart fell. _Wait... "_ You must be a dreamer!"

He shrugged. "I used to do that for a while. And I was good too. Made a ton of cash. But then they fired me." He swore and shook his head.

"You are a dreamer. Anyone who saw the aliens really clearly - we're all dreamers... And it makes sense because it runs in families." I smiled up at him, hope beginning to return.

He sighed deeply. "Let's get out of the rain." At the entrance to the building, there was a large overhang. He led the way and we stood under the shelter. He looked around and squinted. "Are we dreaming now?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But that would make sense since neither of us can remember coming here."

"That figures. Something weird has been going on with me lately."

I waited for him to continue speaking. He looked down at the sidewalk and then back into my face.

"I can't talk to anyone. I don't get it. It's like... I'm a ghost. I thought I was dead."

"You're not dead. Dead people can't answer emails," I said.

"Yeah. I guess."

"I know what happened." I explained what I had learned about Kingcade Worldcorp and their FUN waves. "Here's the email they sent me." I put my hand in my pocket to pull out my phone but it wasn't there. "No phone. This _must_ be a dream."

Across the road, I saw some sort of zoo or amusement park. Suddenly, I was there, going through the entrance. Looking behind me, after I had entered the gate, I saw that Anthony was there too. I looked around. The park was massive and a glass roof covered the whole area.

Someone on staff gave us a tour of the different animals. I noticed that there were rides too and an elaborate swimming pool.

I spoke to the person in charge. "You have so much more to offer here than just the animals." I motioned with my hand towards the rides and pool.

The guide looked thoughtful. "You're right. Usually that's an extra fee but I could let you try them for free." I looked at a fast gondola-type ride and grinned. "Sure, that sounds fun." Anthony was there beside me. "Both of you could try it." She included Anthony in the offer.

"All right," he said.

We got into the gondola. I felt a thrill of anticipation. Anthony was looking at me, serious.

"Don't you like rides?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I guess so."

The gondola took off, flying over the water, dipping and turning. I gasped and wondered if I would scream out of sheer excitement. But I held back – I didn't want to annoy Anthony. The gondola dipped down into the pool and our feet got wet. I laughed out loud in surprise. I looked over and saw that Anthony was grinning now too. Suddenly, the bottom of the gondola swung away and the ride ended in a splash as we fell into the pool! With a shock, I struggled to swim, fully clothed.

Beside me, Anthony's eyes were wide with panic. He was reaching for something to grab onto with his hands but there was nothing close enough. With his feet, he was trying to feel for the bottom but the pool was too deep. Anthony couldn't swim! I kicked off my shoes and struggled out of my rain jacket.

"I'm going to help you," I told him.

His eyes only focused on me for a fraction of a second before they went back to the wild, panicked look. I knew I had to be careful not to let him drown me too. He looked very strong. I swam around behind him in a large arc so his grasping hands wouldn't find me.

I took hold of his shoulder, head and neck, gently tilting him onto his back. I remembered learning about this and doing these kinds of exercises in swimming lessons when I was a teen. Then I kicked hard, pulling him to the side of the pool. When we reached the edge, I let him go. He started flailing again. I grabbed his hand and pulled it to the edge of the pool. When he touched the side, his body became more relaxed and he put his other hand there too.

"That was too weird," he said.

"Yeah." I pulled myself from the pool, dripping wet.

After composing himself, he followed suit. We walked around the edge of the pool, trying to make our way back to the other side of the park where we had started. We came to a large building that we had to walk around. When we were passing it, I heard hushed voices coming up from a window well. I had the urge to find out what they were talking about. Stopping, I crouched down and listened. Anthony had curiosity written on his face. He knelt down to listen too.

"We had a setback but she's back now. Make sure she doesn't get away again."

"Understood."

"Dr. Lacy is very important to our plan. She needs to stay here until she dies."

My eyes flew to Anthony. I motioned him away from the window well so they wouldn't hear us talking. He moved to stand with me.

"I need Dr. Lacy to help me. She's a baby doctor." I put my hand on my belly.

"So we need to break her out of there?"

"We..." I struggled to remember. "This is a dream! Dr. Lacy needs to wake up."

"All right. You wait here. I'll go get her."

"But..."

"No buts. These sound like some really bad guys. You need to stay out here where you'll be safe."

I stopped protesting. We walked back over to the building. Anthony leaned down and looked in through the basement window.

He got up and motioned me away from the building again. "Okay, she's alone now, down there. Some old Asian lady."

"That's Dr. Lacy!" I cried.

"Okay, but the window's too small. I can't get in that way. You wait here while I find some other way in."

I nodded. He strode away, continuing around the building. Shivering, I hugged myself. I was soaking wet and I was getting colder.

As I waited for Anthony to come back, I wondered about what we had heard. Who had been talking? Who would want to keep Dr. Lacy here until she died? Was it just some random dream or... Then I remembered what the High King had told me. The forces of evil were trying to kill her! Then I remembered the verse from the Bible.

The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Did Anthony know the High King? What if Anthony needed help? I needed to make sure he was okay. I went around the building the way that he had gone. At the front of the building, I found a set of glass double doors. I pushed one of the doors. It didn't move. Then I tried pulling. The door opened. Once inside, I held my breath, listening. The door fell closed without a sound. I didn't hear anything. I was in a hallway. There was no one around.

Slowly, I walked down the hall. My wet sock feet left a trail of small puddles. I sent up a silent prayer for help. The hallway opened into a large room that looked like a banquet hall. I didn't really want to walk through there. If someone saw me, they would ask me what I was doing. Then what would I say? I saw a door off to the side. I pulled the door open, slowly. Inside was a stairwell. I breathed a sigh of relief as I slipped inside and quietly closed the door behind me.

"What are you doing here?" A man's voice.

I flinched and cried out at the sound. I spun around to see who was there. It was a tall man in a security guard's uniform. But his eyes were all black; even the part that was supposed to be white was entirely black.

"I... uhhh..."

He stepped closer. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

All I wanted to do was to leave – to get away from this creature of darkness.

But then I remembered a Bible verse that I had learned in Sunday School, back when I was a kid.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

And I remembered the passage that I had read from the Bible more recently.

The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

I took a deep breath. The Spirit of the High King was with me. He had told me that he would be with me wherever I went. I straightened up to my full height - still about three feet shorter than the one opposing me. But it didn't matter.

"I'm here for Dr. Lacy."

He laughed. The sound made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. There was no joy or pleasure on his face. Only pure evil. Darkness swirled about him and he transformed, growing even taller and sprouting tentacles out of where his mouth and arms had been.

Fear threatened to overwhelm me but I stood firm, trusting in the truth. I said the verses out loud.

"Resist the devil and he will flee from you! Greater is he who is in me than he that is in the world. The Spirit of the High King is in me!"

The creature wasn't attacking. All at once, I felt a familiar weight on my belt at my hip. The High King's sword! Right when I needed it. Reaching down, I drew the sword. It glowed brilliant blue in the dim stairwell.

Uncertainty flashed across the creature's features as it took a step backwards. It was working! I held the sword higher and took a step forward. The High King's sword knew what to do. It slashed at the monster, connecting with the solid darkness. The creature cried out and stumbled backwards, shielding its face. Then the darkness became less dense, dissipating until I was in the stairwell alone.

Sheathing the High King's sword, I hurried down the stairs, but I wasn't able to run due to the baby. I reached the door at the bottom of the stairs and pushed it open. Another hallway. No one was there. Cautiously, I walked the length of the hall. I came to another door and pushed it open. Inside, I saw Dr. Lacy and Anthony sitting on chairs with their hands tied behind the back of the chairs.

Anthony's face filled with concern when he saw me. "You shouldn't be here. There's a really creepy guy around here somewhere. You've gotta get out. Maybe you can get help or something."

Dr. Lacy chuckled. "She _is_ help. It's good to see you again, Cara. And just in time."

I pulled the High King's sword from its sheath and approached them.

Going around to the back of Dr. Lacy's chair, I cut her free. Then I did the same for Anthony.

Immediately, Dr. Lacy began to fade. I put the sword away and reached out to the doctor, putting my hands on her shoulders. "Dr. Lacy, I need you. You have to wake up now."

Dr. Lacy nodded as she continued to fade. "I will. I'm coming to you, Cara."

I let my hands fall to my sides. The older woman was gone.

"Let's get outta here." Anthony led the way out of the building. We walked out of the amusement park and stopped on the sidewalk just beyond the entrance, under a canvas awning there. It was still raining.

"Well, that was something else," said Anthony.

"Yeah."

"How did you get past the creepy dude and where did you get that sword?" He indicated the High king's sword that was still hanging from my belt.

"It's the High King's sword. He helped me." I rested my hand on the hilt of the sword.

Anthony looked dubious. "Say what?"

"Don't you believe in the High King?"

"High King?"

"You know, Jesus?"

"I don't know. My sister believes in all that stuff. And my grandma was big into all that. She's passed on now. I used to go to church when I was a little kid." He shrugged.

"That's how I was able to save you guys. Because the High King helped me."

He shrugged again. "Or it's because this is just a crazy dream. Why do you care what I believe in, anyways?"

I didn't want to argue. But if he didn't believe, he wouldn't go to heaven. It was a matter of life and death.

"You're my cousin," I answered.

"Why did you take that DNA test anyway? You're white. Or didn't you figure that out?"

"Why did you take it?" I bounced the question back to him because I didn't know how to respond. Why was he yelling at me? None of this was my fault – at least I didn't see how it could be.

"Because. We were robbed of our heritage by _your_ ancestors! I didn't even know who I am – who my people are. Now I find out I'm 26% Europe – white. I didn't want white cousins."

"Like I told you in the message, I'm adopted. I don't know who my people are either." Tears filled my eyes as I looked up at the angry stranger. "My adopted mom was abusive... You're the only family I know of in the whole world." The tears spilled down my cheeks.

He looked away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."

I wiped the tears from my face. "Do you live in Corpus Christi?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. Come visit me at Corpus Christi South Hospital?"

"Yeah. You alone there or what?"

"My husband is with me. And Dr. Lacy. Something's wrong with me and she's going to help me."

Concern had replaced the anger on his face. "What's wrong with you?"

"I think the baby will have to be taken out early – a C-section. It's six weeks before the baby's due date but I keep having seizures. My brain tissue is swollen or something."

"Okay, I'll come visit you." He stepped towards me and put his hand on my shoulder. The move was so quick that I flinched and stepped back.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you..." He stepped away and looked down, and he seemed angry again. "I just wanted to show you that I'm here for you. Why do you even want me to come see you?"

"Because you're my cousin."

"Yeah, the cousin who you flinch away from when I touch you."

"Sorry..."

"You scared because I'm a black guy? You a racist or something?" There was resentment in his voice.

I laughed despite the inappropriateness of it in the situation. "I don't know why I have to explain myself to you. I saved you in the pool and then again in the basement! A little compassion on your part would be appreciated. I'm probably dying."

He shrugged and looked away. "You didn't really save me – this is a dream, remember?"

"Well, I'm not a racist. I already told you I was abused. It just scares me when someone comes up to me fast like that."

He looked down. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't think of it that way. I'm sorry for scaring you..." Concern replaced the anger in his features again. I liked his face better that way. He looked back into my face. "But no one's hitting you anymore, right?"

I hesitated, thinking about my answer. I didn't want to make Blaze look bad and the arguments had been my fault, too. Plus he hadn't hit me in the last six months or so... "No, not recently." But I saw that I had taken too long to answer.

Anger was back on his face. "Has the baby's daddy been abusing you too?!"

I looked down. "He hasn't gotten physical with me since he found out I'm pregnant."

"He hurt you before that?"

Looking down at the sidewalk, I didn't say anything. I hated making Blaze look bad.

"Okay, yes. I _am_ coming to the hospital. No one hits someone in my family and gets away with it."

We stood just staring at each other.

"I'm part of your family now?" I asked.

"Yep. We're family."

The sound of the rain hitting the canvas awning above us was the only sound for a moment. Tears filled my eyes again but, this time, they were happy tears. I could hardly speak past the tightness in my throat. "I'm glad."

He put his hands out in front of him. "I'm approaching now."

I laughed as I wiped the tears from my face.

He held out his hand to me. We shook hands.

"Hello, Cousin Cara."

Just then, the canvas awning above us ripped in two and water that had been pooling there poured down on me, leaving me panicking and sputtering.

# Chapter 8

I woke up soaking wet, feeling like someone had thrown me out of the back of a truck. I was still lying in the hospital bed. Blaze was there, his face right in my face. I groaned.

"What happened?" I croaked.

"You were having a seizure again and then you wouldn't wake up... So I started splashing water on you. Cara, I didn't know what to do." He rested his hand on my shoulder.

I remembered Anthony. "I met my cousin!" I cried.

"Cara, you're not making any sense. Are you okay?"

"Yes. I dreamed about my cousin. He's a dreamer like us. I think he's coming here."

"What cousin?"

"He's... African American."

"What?"

"I guess my ancestors were from the southern United States – you know, slave owners?"

"How do you know this?"

"I got a DNA test and I got the results back today."

"You went and got some DNA test done behind my back?"

"It was hardly behind your back. You never said I couldn't do something like that. And we don't have to ask each other's permission to spend less than a hundred dollars."

He looked angry and stepped closer to me. I put my hands up in front of my face but couldn't move away from him because I was still lying in the hospital cot.

The tension went out of Blaze's body at my response and his gaze went to the floor. "I'm sorry for getting mad. It's just – this changes things. It was always just the two of us. Now, if there's some guy cousin in the mix... What if he wants to stay with us forever? That's really going to change the dynamic."

_Maybe for the better,_ I thought. I was glad that Blaze didn't know what I had told him. "Is Dr. Lacy awake?"

"No, I wasn't able to wake the doctor. She's still totally out of it."

A voice came from across the room. "Don't be so sure about that." It was Dr. Lacy! I sat up so I could see past Blaze. Dr. Lacy was getting up out of bed.

Blaze turned to see her too. "Thank God you're awake. I think Cara's getting worse."

Dr. Lacy took a shaky step and put her hand onto the cot to steady herself. "Cara saved me again."

"It was only the High King and his sword that made it possible," I told Dr. Lacy and Blaze.

"Thank you," said Dr. Lacy. She drank the cup of water on her bedside table. Then she looked over at me again. "Oh, you poor dear. Cara, you're soaking!" Dr. Lacy scowled at Blaze. "Did you do that?"

"Yes. She wasn't waking up."

"Dumping water on someone who is sleeping could be quite a shock to their system. Was that really necessary?"

"Yes, I think it was." There was hostility in his voice.

Dr. Lacy shook her head and pulled open one of the cabinets in the room. She took out two hospital gowns. "Here, change into these, Cara. Put the first one on with the opening to the back and then the next one with the opening to the front. That way, it won't be too drafty for you and you won't be flapping open."

Slowly I moved over to where she stood and took the hospital gowns from her. I went into the bathroom to change.

"Don't lock the door," called Blaze. "If something happens, I need to be able to get in there."

I looked at myself in the mirror. In my blue eyes was sorrow. At least he cared a little. _I can't believe that he just dumped all that water on me._ When I came out, Blaze and Dr. Lacy were watching me. When they saw I was okay, they seemed to relax.

"I think I need something to eat." Dr. Lacy looked at Blaze.

"Fine. I'll go get something for both of you. But no sleeping while I'm gone."

"Right. We won't," I said, though I still felt tired. Would I ever feel okay again? Maybe once I had the baby.

Blaze walked quickly from the room. Dr. Lacy sat down in a chair. I went over to where she was.

"It would be best for you to stay in bed – safer because of the seizures. That way, you won't fall on the floor and hit your head."

"We can't sleep right now, remember? And I'm so tired. If I lay down, I can't really promise that I won't just pass out." I grabbed a chair from near the window and pulled it back to where Dr. Lacy was sitting. "Here, we can sit together while we wait for Blaze to get back."

"Was that boy from my dream real, the one who was tied up with me?"

"Yes. He's real. He's a dreamer, like us. I think he's going to come here. He's my cousin."

"And he's crossed over, like us?"

"Yes."

"How many dreamers do you suppose have crossed over?" asked Dr. Lacy.

I shook my head. "I have no idea. For a long time, I thought Blaze and I were the only ones. But it's happening to more people now... You'd think Kingcade Worldcorp would stop what they're doing."

"I guess they won't as long as they can get away with it. After we get you fixed up we'll have to look at what we can do to make them stop what they are doing," said Dr. Lacy.

Soon Blaze returned with food on a tray. Egg salad sandwiches in plastic containers and boxed apple juice. The three of us ate, with Blaze sitting on the edge of one of the cots. It was weird. In some way, I felt like I had when I was working as a dreamer - like my dreams were more important than real life. But, in real life, my baby and I were in danger. The dreams couldn't be more important, could they?

After we had finished eating, Dr. Lacy stood. "I need to go get a few things. Blaze, I could use your assistance."

Blaze looked at me. "Are you going to be okay while I'm gone?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Okay." Blaze nodded to Dr. Lacy and followed her out of the room.

The plastic chair I was sitting in was hard and uncomfortable for my pregnant body. Dr. Lacy had said that I should be lying down. I moved to the bed. It was wet. _Blaze._ I shook my head, annoyed.

The Bible on the table beside the bed caught my eye. I picked it up and carried it over to the bed where Dr. Lacy had been sleeping. I climbed in, lay down and opened the Bible to the New Testament. I started reading in the book of James. One passage stood out to me.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Being healed sounded really good. I wondered if my marriage relationship could ever be healed... or my heart.

Dr. Lacy came in with a syringe. Blaze was trailing her.

"I'll need to give you a needle," Dr. Lacy said. "This is a steroid that will help the baby's lungs get ready faster. If you don't get this shot at least 24 hours before the baby is born, he or she will likely need to be on a respirator. If I give this to you now, it is likely the baby will be able to breathe on its own. It will be much safer for the baby."

"Absolutely, I'll get the shot."

"Please roll over onto your side. This needle is best delivered to the buttocks. It's one shot today and one tomorrow."

It felt silly with Blaze in the room but whatever - we were married. I rolled onto my side. Dr. Lacy pulled up my gown and I felt a quick prick.

"There. That will help the baby."

I rolled back onto my back. "How soon will I be able to have the operation?"

"We'll want to wait about two days before we do the procedure, if I feel it's still safe for you to wait. That way, the steroids will have time to get Baby's lungs ready for breathing. Hopefully, the other staff we'll need will be here by that time. I'm going to check on the status of the operating rooms so that I'll be ready when the others arrive to help me with the procedure."

"We haven't been able to make contact with the nurse. I guess we'll just have to trust the High King with that," I said.

Blaze shook his head, anger on his face. I didn't see what he had to be angry about. We had to trust. There was nothing else we could do. I knew that the High King was good. Even if I didn't understand why he allowed certain things or why I was suffering, I would still trust.

Dr. Lacy stood, without comment, and proceeded to the door of the little room. "Here, I'll go with you." Blaze followed her to the door. He turned back it the doorway and looked at me. "No sleeping, Cara." But he didn't wait for me to answer before they left.

I picked up the Bible again and opened it. I knew I should get more organized with my Bible reading and maybe try to read it in an order that made sense, but I figured that reading anything from it was better than nothing. When things were a little less crazy, I would try to figure out how to read it properly. I opened it up to near the back. My eyes came to rest on Romans 11:29.

God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

It was good to know that his calling was irrevocable. I took comfort in the fact that, even though I felt like I was failing, the High King wasn't going to fire me. He was going to let me keep working for him.

My eyes felt so tired. I hadn't promised Blaze _anything_. Plus we still needed to find the nurse somehow. I put the Bible on the side table and let my eyelids close.

# Chapter 9

When I opened my eyes again, I was in an ancient-looking castle with stone walls. Flickering torches were fastened to the walls of the long hallway. I could see a full moon shining through the window. It was night.

I followed the hall into the throne room. On a raised dais at the far end of the room sat the High King. I felt a little afraid of him but he didn't look angry so I approached. When I reached the platform, he beckoned me to continue forward so I climbed the stairs. Reaching the throne, I knelt at his feet. Looking up into his face, I felt gratitude and longing.

"Cara." He smiled and held his hand down to me. I took his hand. He stood and pulled me up to a standing position and then he embraced me. "You must forgive him."

"What? Who?"

"Blaze."

"But he doesn't deserve to be forgiven... You know what he's done."

"But that's what forgiveness is, Cara. Giving someone what they don't deserve. Punishing Blaze is not your place. You need to forgive."

I wanted to do whatever the High King told me to. "I'm sorry for not forgiving him. Please help me!" I burst into tears. "I want to do what you're telling me to but I don't think I can."

"Of course I will help you, Cara." He pulled back and looked into my eyes. "I love him. Let me show you, okay?"

I trusted the High King. "Okay."

He held my hands, closed his eyes and put his forehead against my forehead. I closed my eyes too.

I saw Blaze crying. I had hardly ever seen him crying. He was lost. Then I felt a deep, almost desperate, love well up inside me. I understood that this was the High King's love for Blaze.

"Blaze is hurting and I love him, Cara. He needs help. Please forgive him."

When I felt the High King's love for Blaze, all my anger towards my husband melted away.

"I forgive him," I whispered. "Please forgive me for wanting to punish him before."

"I forgive you, Cara."

I wished Blaze were there. And suddenly he was. There were now three of us in the circle, holding hands - the High King, Blaze and me.

Blaze looked startled at appearing there with us. His expression shifted to one of concern when he saw that I was crying.

I was staring at him, tears running down my face. The High King's love for him was still burning in my heart.

"I forgive you," I said.

He looked down. "I don't deserve it, after all I've put you through."

"The High King has been telling me that forgiveness is giving someone what they don't deserve."

Blaze looked up at the High King. "I'm sorry... I keep telling you that I'm sorry and then I just keep messing up again. Please help me. I want to be a good guy. I thought that, when I switched allegiances, I would be. But I haven't turned out to be a good guy at all. I feel trapped and like I can't change."

"The first step to being healed is to confess your sin."

I remembered what I had read in the book of James in the Bible so I said it aloud, "confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."

"That's right, Cara," said the High King.

"You both know anyway. Do I really have to say it?" asked Blaze.

"Yes, it is the first step of the healing process. I know you're hurting, Blaze. I want to heal you and restore your relationship with Cara."

"So you brought us here? Why didn't you just come to the hospital room? Why all this cloak and dagger?"

"Blaze, I wanted you to remember who I am."

Blaze looked at the throne and then he looked back down at his feet. "You're the King over all. The only true king."

"That's right."

"And I'm subject to you. That's what you want me to remember?"

"Yes. It's my power that can save you. But only if you align yourself under me."

"I do." Blaze fell to his knees, still holding our hands in the circle.

I knelt beside him. "I submit myself to you too, Jesus."

The High King nodded. "Blaze, confess your sins."

"I confess being abusive to Cara both with words and physically. I confess sleeping around with all those different girls before I was married."

"Name them all. And then confess those relationships as sin."

"Really? Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"But... I'm not sure I can remember all their names."

"Any you can remember."

Blaze listed off some women's names. "And I confess all these relationships as sin."

"Do you know what the Bible says happens after you confess?" asked the High King.

"You forgive us?" asked Blaze.

"That's right. It says, ' **** If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.' Blaze, I declare to you today that you are completely forgiven."

Tears were in Blaze's eyes. "Thank you."

The High King sat down cross-legged across from us, still holding our hands. We have more work to do, though. Make yourselves comfortable."

I copied the High King's sitting position and Blaze tried to do the same, though he didn't quite have the flexibility to cross his legs right.

"What else do I have to do?" asked Blaze.

"You're doing well and I'm proud of you." The High King stared into Blaze's eyes. Blaze smiled and looked away.

"Okay, thanks."

The High King took a deep breath. "Okay, here's the thing, when you had sex with those women, you became one with each of them, not only in a physical sense but also in a spiritual sense. So, in a way, you're still connected to them. That's why bonding with Cara has been difficult and painful."

Blaze looked at the stone floor. "I'm sorry. I don't want that."

"I know. You need to renounce and sever those connections."

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"You just declare it."

"Okay. I renounce and sever all the connections I had to those women that I slept with. I declare it."

The High King was smiling at him. "How do you feel?"

"It's like I do feel a difference – like a weight has been lifted off me. That's amazing!" Their eyes met.

"I love you, Blaze."

"I love you, too."

"Good. Now it's time to get Abigail." The High King pulled away, stood and strode down the stairs and away from the dais. He broke into a run. We scrambled up and chased after him.

# Chapter 10

Running through the halls after the High King, Blaze took my hand and, this time, I didn't pull away. It felt good to hold his hand again. We raced out the large door and into a dark forest. There was no castle courtyard. The High King dodged between the trees as he ran. I was breathing heavily and fear was rising in me. It was really dark out.

"We can't lose him," I said to Blaze, trying to push my burning muscles to go even faster.

"We won't." Blaze ran faster too. Here, under the trees, there was very little light. I couldn't see the moon. The High King stopped abruptly. We pulled up short, trying not to crash into him. We managed it, but just barely. I kept myself from toppling over by careening into a tree.

"What is it?" asked Blaze.

The High King put his hand up, indicating that we should be quiet. Still holding Blaze's hand, I strained to look out in the darkness and listen. I heard only the night insects.

The High King turned to the two of us. "Abigail needs help. Are you ready to fight?"

"You're here. Can't you fight for us?" asked Blaze.

The High King put a hand on each of our shoulders. "There are things at play that you don't understand... But I can fight _through_ you." He looked into my face. "Are you ready for an adventure?"

"What kind of adventure?" asked Blaze, suspiciously.

The High King grinned. "A rescue adventure, of course."

I smiled back at the High King, despite the seriousness of the situation. We'd been on rescue adventures with him before. "Of course I'm ready. Anything for you!" I said.

"I love your heart, Cara." Then he looked at Blaze.

Blaze looked down at the forest floor. "I want to want to. Is that good enough?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Actually, it is." The High King pulled us both into a hug. "You guys are doing well and will do well."

The High King stepped away from us, still smiling, and then he was gone, vanished from sight. Blaze and I were still holding hands. I looked at him and smiled tentatively, squeezing his hand gently. "I'm ready for an adventure."

He smiled a small smile back at me. "I'm glad I still get to adventure with you."

Light in my peripheral vision caught my eye. I turned to look. Through the darkness between the trees, I could see a faint light bobbing in the distance, like a firefly, only it had to be much larger since it was faraway. I pointed.

Blaze peered in that direction. "Guess we'd better check it out."

We started walking towards it. As we went, the trees overhead thinned so that I could catch glimpses of the moon. The yellow-green light ahead was getting brighter, too.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know. Something to fight? Or, maybe, it's Abigail."

"Hmm... That would be easy. Hope it's her." Holding hands with Blaze felt so good it made the walk through the dark, creepy woods at night almost fun. I felt thankful that the High King had given me Blaze. And given him back to me. I really did need him.

The light became more sparkly-looking as we neared it. As we got closer, the light was momentarily obscured by a tree. We maneuvered around so that the light source would come into view again. It was close now. When we could see the light again, I gasped at the nearness of its source. It was a woman in a flowing gown with her hair done up on top of her head like a cartoon princess. Her skin and dress were glowing with a shimmering green-yellow light. She startled when she saw us.

"I wasn't expecting anyone to be here," she said.

"Abigail?" I asked. Was this the nurse? She looked like some type of fairy.

"Yes?"

"The High King sent us," said Blaze.

"The High King?"

Through the dark woods came a terrifying howl.

"What was that?" I asked.

Abigail looked around. "No, no, no! I thought I had escaped. Run!" She dashed away through the trees. We chased after her, Blaze pulling me along because he could run faster.

She shouted over her shoulder, "If we can just make it to the river, we'll be safe. We can swim across. They don't cross water."

"Who's they?" shouted Blaze as he struggled to keep up with her frantic pace.

"Orcs!"

My foot caught on a root. I went sprawling onto the ground. My hand wrenched away from Blaze's as I hit the leaves and dirt. The howling sound was closer now. Terrified, I sat up. Blaze came back for me.

"Cara, are you all right? Get up quickly!"

I tried to get up, wincing as I put weight on my left foot. "I think I twisted my ankle."

"Abigail, wait!" Blaze called into the dark forest. He felt at his belt for the High King's sword but it wasn't there. "How can we fight without the sword?"

I felt at my belt. Nothing. Blaze lifted me up and I stood with all my weight on my right foot.

Abigail rushed back to us, breathless. "What happened?"

"Cara fell. Now she can't run."

Abigail looked around fearfully. "I don't know what to do."

"Why are you glowing?" I asked. "Are you a fairy or something?"

"I used to be. But..." She looked down at the ground. "I gave all that up. I knew it was God's special gift for me but I stopped doing it so that I could do the easy thing."

"You need to use your special gifts to save us!" Blaze cried.

She shook her head. "You don't understand. That is something that I have given up completely. It's like I threw that gift away. I don't do that anymore."

I grabbed her arm. "God has given you your special gifts. It's part of who you are. Like I read in the Bible today, 'God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.' You can still do it and we need you!"

Abigail looked around. The first orcs were just visible through the trees. They were towering giants with red eyes and tusks by their mouths.

"But what if I can't do it?"

The orcs' howling had reached a fevered pitch. I forced my eyes away from them and back to Abigail.

"Irrevocable – his gifts are irrevocable. You _can_ still do it!" I cried.

Abigail lifted her hands and light magic swirled about her. She smiled as the light shone more brightly. "You're right. I do still have it."

Light swirled around them as bright as daylight. The orcs cried out in pain as they shielded their eyes with their hands. The three of us floated up into the air in a bubble of light. As we rose above the orc horde, the orcs cowered and slunk back into the woods. We floated above the trees as we moved towards the High King's castle in the distance. When we were nearly there, we floated downwards and settled on the forest floor. As we landed, I noticed that my ankle was feeling better.

The light from Abigail faded as we entered the castle. All the sparkling light disappeared and, with us, walked a young, African American woman with shoulder length dark hair done in small braids.

"That was something else," I said.

"Yeah." Abigail was looking at her hands. "I'm thinking this is a dream, though."

We were quiet as we walked down the hall in the castle towards the throne room. Finally, I spoke.

"I need your help in real life. You're a nurse, right?"

"I used to be. That's something I gave up to be a dreamer. I gave up God's special calling on my life to do the easy thing instead."

Now I could see what the dream was getting at and why Blaze and I didn't have the swords.

"I need a C-section and the doctor needs someone to assist her in the operation."

"And I'm guessing that, even though I thought I would never be a nurse again, it's still a part of me – still a part of my gifting?" She was smiling.

I felt relief as she came to the same conclusion that I had. "Yes! God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."

She nodded slowly. "I'm glad you came to find me."

We entered the throne room. When we saw the High King sitting up on his throne on the dais, Abigail gasped. We walked slowly through the hall and up the stairs. Then we fell at the feet of the High King.

"You found Abigail." The High King smiled down at us from his throne.

"We did," said Blaze. "But it ended up being us who needed the help."

"By needing her help, you helped her." He looked at Abigail. "My daughter." He stood from his throne, pulled her up by her hand and drew her into an embrace. "I'm so glad to see you." She hugged him back, then she pushed him away so she could look at him.

"It's really you, isn't it? How is this possible?"

"All things are possible with God. You know that."

She laughed, smiling and nodding. "I do know that! Thank you for helping me to remember your calling on my life. Thank you that your gifts are irrevocable."

The High King smiled and hugged her again. "Now, all of you." He motioned that Blaze and I should get up too. He pulled both of us into a group hug with him and Abigail. "My Dreamers." After a final squeeze, he pulled away and looked at us seriously. "Are you ready to dream my dreams with me?"

"I am ready!" I said.

The others murmured their ascent.

"Good. But, now, it's time to wake up."

My eyes flew open. I was back in the hospital bed and I didn't feel well. Looking to the side, I saw that Blaze was lying in bed beside me. He looked peaceful and sweet when he was asleep. Slowly his eyes came open. He had really long eyelashes. No wonder he used to be a model.

"Like what you're seeing?" he asked quietly.

I laughed. It felt like forever since he had flirted with me.

"Ah, you're both awake. Good. Blaze, I'll need your help getting things set up for the procedure. The anesthesiologist arrived while you two were sleeping."

I looked up and saw the self-proclaimed ice king, with eyes of pale blue – Stuart Norbert. His expression was ice, too, just like I remembered from the castle in the dream. I shivered.

"I came, like I said I would," said Stuart.

"Thank you." I felt exposed in just the hospital gown and a thin blanket.

# Chapter 11

"I'm here to help." But the way Stuart leaned his face towards me and the look in his ice blue eyes made me feel uncomfortable.

Blaze sat up, causing Stuart to have to take a step backwards. "Great. Good to meet you, Stuart." Blaze held his hand out to the older man. They shook hands. "Now, we just have to wait for Abigail to arrive. She should be here pretty soon, I think." Blaze swung his legs over the edge of the bed and Stuart took another step back, still smiling his icy smile. I was glad there was now some distance between him and me.

"I need to give Cara another shot." Dr. Lacy stood with the needle in her hand. The men didn't move. "I'm sure she'd appreciate some privacy for this." It was as if Dr. Lacy could sense my discomfort with Stuart.

Stuart snorted. "It's not like I'm not going to be seeing it all anyway." He sauntered from the room. Blaze followed him.

"Thanks. For sending them out." I turned onto my side so that she could give me the needle in the buttocks. A short prick and then it was over.

"There we are. Now Stuart and I will go make everything ready for your procedure. Hopefully, the nurse will arrive shortly." Dr. Lacy left the room and I was alone.

Blaze didn't come back in. Maybe he was getting something to eat. Lying in bed, I still felt tired, even though I hadn't done much but sleep. But when my eyes started falling closed, I didn't fight it. There was nothing for me to do now but wait anyway.

***

The woods were dark and I was alone. By the light, it seemed like it was evening. I looked down into a small satchel that I was carrying and saw that it held a loaf of bread. Some of the bread had been picked off. My heart was pounding. I looked down at myself. I was short... a child. And all alone in the woods. I felt like crying. Where were my parents? Why was I alone?

_Gretel._ The name came to mind. Was that my name? Gretel? Somehow, it didn't seem quite right.

"Hi."

The boy's voice made me jump. I turned to see my brother, Hansel. I knew it must be him but, somehow, we didn't really look much alike. Even in the dark, I could see that his skin tone was much darker than mine. But whatever, family was family.

"You're here. I'm glad." I took his hand. He was taller than me, though he was a child too.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"I... I think we're lost," I said.

"Guess we'll have to keep going until we see something that we recognize."

"Yeah, I guess."

"What's in the bag?" he asked.

"Bread." I showed him.

"Why does it look like that?"

"I guess I've been pulling pieces off." On impulse, I looked behind us on the ground. "Oh! I've been leaving a trail so that I can see where we've been!"

"That was smart. Maybe we can follow the trail backwards and find our way home that way."

"Let's try it." We turned around, still holding hands, and followed the trail of bread pieces lying on the forest floor. It wasn't long until the trail ended.

"What now?" he asked.

"I don't know."

A black bird swooped down and plucked up one of the pieces of bread. I cried out in surprise.

Hansel squeezed my hand. "It's just a bird."

"I know that. It just surprised me... I guess that's what happened to the rest of the bread trail."

"Yeah. Guess we should just keep walking this way. It must be the right way." He stepped forward along the path.

"Right." Holding hands, we kept walking through the woods. His hand felt warm as the coolness of evening pressed in around us. I was glad that I had family with me.

"I'm glad I'm not alone," I said.

"Me too."

Soon we came to a house in a meadow.

"Do you think this is our home?" I stopped a little ways from the house, staring at it.

"Only one way to find out. Let's go see." He tugged on my hand as he started walking again.

We walked up to the small cottage. It was a lovely little brown and white cottage. When we got close to it, I smelled something sweet and delicious. Going even closer to it, I inhaled deeply.

"Gingerbread!" I cried. We let go of each other's hands and he sniffed the cottage too.

"You're right! And icing! And candies!"

My stomach rumbled. "I'm starving."

"Me too." He broke a piece of house off and started eating it.

I felt kind of bad eating someone's house. They wouldn't like it. But it smelled _so_ good... Without further hesitation, I broke off a piece of the iced gingerbread and started to eat. It was hard but it had the best gingerbread flavor and thick, dried icing on top.

We heard the creak of a door opening. I dropped the piece of cottage and turned to see the source of the sound. An old woman was standing there at the door.

"What are you doing, my little dears?"

A rush of guilt flooded over me. We had been eating her home!

"Nothing," said Hansel from behind me.

I looked down at the grass. "We were eating some of your cottage." I looked up at her. "It tastes like gingerbread."

The old woman cackled a laugh. "Of course it does. Are you poor dears lost? Are you hungry?"

"Yes. We're lost _and_ hungry," I replied.

"Aww... Come right on inside and I'll give you something yummy."

I thought about that for a moment.

"I have much more candy inside!" She beckoned that we should follow her.

Greed overrode every other thought. We both surged forward into the little cottage. She closed the door behind us and locked it, putting the key into her skirt pocket. Then she smiled, showing her crooked, black teeth.

The inside of the house looked nothing like the outside. It was scary! Dried herbs hung from the ceiling and light from the fire in the hearth cast large moving shadows everywhere.

Hansel tried the door but he couldn't open it. The old woman cackled a chilling laugh. "You'd eat my cottage, would you? I'm the witch of the glade and you just fell into my trap! I love to lure unsuspecting, soft, little children into my home."

Fear filled me and I cowered back to stand beside Hansel.

"Why?" I asked, my voice quavering.

"So that I can eat them, of course!"

Horror washed over me. We shrank back into a darkened corner of the room.

"You'll just have to wait a few minutes while I get everything prepared. You can help yourselves to that plate of candies there on the table. I wasn't lying about that... It will sweeten you up a little." She licked her lips in the firelight as she pulled down some dried spices that had been hanging from the rafters.

I shuddered, clinging to Hansel. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." He tried the door again but it wouldn't budge. He let go of my hand and tried to push open the window on the wall above us.

The witch saw what we were doing and cackled again. "It's no use, little dearies – it's all locked up tight." She opened the door to a huge wood-burning oven and threw in more wood. Then she prepared spices in a large bowl.

I tried to remember what I should do when I felt afraid. The High King! Yes, he had always helped me before. I went over to where Hansel was rattling the door again.

"We need the High King to help us. I remember, 'You do not have because you do not ask.' We need to ask for help!"

He stopped pulling at the door and turned to look at me. "Okay, how?"

"I think it's like this." I folded my hands together like praying.

Hansel copied me. "Now what?"

"We call him. Let's shout, 'High King' together on the count of three."

"Okay." Hansel held up his fingers as he counted. "One... two... three!"

We both shouted, "High King!"

The witch stopped what she was doing and stood. "That's enough out of you! Looks like I'm going to have to put you into the oven straight away! She opened the stove door. "I'll just put a little more wood in here. She walked to the corner of the room where the wood was stacked.

"I'm here."

I looked up and saw the High King, standing outside the window.

"We're trapped," I cried. "Come and save us."

"You have chosen to go into a place of evil."

"I didn't know," I said, pulling at the window latch.

"You followed the witch because of greed."

I stopped pulling and looked down. It was true. "I'm sorry." I looked up at him through the window.

His face was kind. "I forgive you."

"How can we get away?" asked Hansel.

"Do you believe in me?"

"Yes, yes, I believe!" Hansel looked back at the witch who was shuffling towards the oven with a stack of logs.

"Take the key from her pocket." The High King pointed at the witch.

Hansel darted over to the witch, who was hefting the logs into the oven. As he reached into her pocket and pulled out the key, he bumped into her. The old woman was knocked off balance. She teetered and then screeched as she tipped over and fell into the fiery oven. The heavy metal oven door banged closed behind her.

Hansel backed away from the oven in horror. "I didn't mean to do that..."

I was horrified too but I took the key from his fingers and unlocked the door. Tugging on Hansel's hand, I pulled him out into the meadow with me.

The High King was there. He pulled both of us into an embrace. "It was not truly an old woman but an evil deceiver." He let us go and looked down at us.

Hansel was just standing there, looking down at the grass. I felt so sorry for him.

Moving closer, I put my hand on his shoulder. "You saved us."

"But... I killed her. I didn't mean to do that. I never killed anyone before." Tears spilled out from his eyes.

The High King took his hands. "Anthony, this is a dream."

Suddenly, we weren't children anymore. And he wasn't Hansel, my brother, but Anthony, my cousin. I still had my hand on his shoulder and the High King still held his hands.

"What? This is weird!" he said.

The High King looked intently into his face. "But do you still believe in me?"

"You're right here. How could I not, right?"

"But this is a dream. You convinced yourself that the Cara from your dream last time wasn't a real person. That's why you didn't go to the hospital to see her like you said you would."

I pulled my hand from his shoulder. _Yes, Cara. That was my name._ I put my hand on my belly out of habit and felt the baby bump there. Relief welled up in me. My baby was okay and the High King was here with us.

Anthony looked over at me. "She's real?"

The High King nodded as he released Anthony's hands. "And so am I. Are you willing to believe?"

"But, if I believe in you, I have to follow you, right? I haven't always been a completely good guy."

"Come to me as you are. I will receive you and help you."

Anthony stepped towards the High King. "I believe in you. Deep down, I never stopped believing. I'm going to follow you but I really do need your help."

The High King pulled Anthony into an embrace. "My son."

# Chapter 12

I woke up to the sound of a woman's voice. Opening my eyes to the bright lights of the hospital, I looked around the room for the source of the voice and saw Abigail in a nurse's uniform.

"Abigail!" I cried.

She hurried over to my bed and leaned down to hug me. "Cara! I finally get to meet you in person!" She pulled back and looked me and my belly over. "How are the two of you doing?"

"We're okay – just waiting to have the C-section."

Abigail put her hand on my shoulder. "Well, I'm here now and everything's going to be alright. I met Dr. Lacy in the hallway. When you've been invisible from everyone for so long, it's so weird when someone can see you - actually see you. We were passing each other in the hall but then we were making eye contact and it was like, can you see me? Wait! Can you see _me_? Then we introduced ourselves."

Blaze walked into the room. Abigail turned to see who had come in. Then she walked over to him.

"Hello, Blaze." They shook hands. Then Abigail looked back to me. "Dr. Lacy told me the anesthesiologist is already here. So we should be able to see this baby pretty soon."

"Yeah, I hope so... I'm so glad you're here with us, Abigail. And not just to help with the C-section. I enjoyed meeting you so much in the forest dream and I really hope that we can stay friends even after this."

"Absolutely! There aren't many of us dreamers out here. I think we should stick together. Let me give both of you my cell phone number. That way, we can keep in touch but also, if there's anything you need while you're here at the hospital or if there's a problem, you can text or call and I will get your message right away."

"Good idea," said Blaze, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.

Abigail took his phone to add her contact information. "I just got Dr. Lacy's number when we met in the hall so I'll copy that into your phones too." She added the contact information to our phones. "This will be like a call button for you. If you need help, you can call."

"Thank you," I said.

Blaze held both our phones. "While we're swapping phone numbers – Cara, remember that guy, Michael, that we met in a dream? We talked to him in his car. "

"Yeah."

"You left before me. I talked with him a while longer and I got his phone number and put it in my phone, just in case. Maybe I should give it to you, too. He said he'd be willing to help us out if we ever needed it."

"Okay." I handed Blaze my phone and he put the number in. "Hey, was he a dreamer too?"

"No, that's the weird part. He's not a dreamer. I think he's the only person who's not a dreamer who knows what happened to us." Blaze passed my phone back to me.

Just then, Dr. Lacy came into the room too. She had some equipment with her that she gave to Abigail. Then Dr. Lacy came to stand by my bed. She pressed a button, adjusting it into a more upright position. "Now that I've completely recovered and Abigail is here, we're going to be able to take better care of you. The first thing we need to do is to put an IV in. That way, we can give you any medication that you need, right away, without worrying about finding a vein at the time."

I looked at Blaze for guidance. He nodded.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." But I hated needles. And thinking of a needle thing stuck in my arm and staying stuck there made me feel queasy.

Dr. Lacy motioned Abigail over. "Abigail will take care of you. I'm going to go check on a few things. Then I'll come back." The doctor left the room.

Abigail came to stand beside the bed. "Are you right-handed?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll put it in your left then, right here." She touched the back of my left hand. "First, I'll wash your hand with this." She held up white square package that, no doubt, held an alcohol swab. "Then you'll feel a prick and then coldness. The IV will be attached to this bag up here." She showed me a long pole with a bag of clear liquid hanging from it. She ripped open the package and rubbed the swab on a spot the back of my hand.

"Okay." I looked away. I've always hated the sight of needles going into my skin. It's pretty funny that my mom had been pressuring me to go into nursing after high school.

I felt a prick and clamped my teeth, holding very still.

"There, it's in. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I looked back as she was taping the IV on.

"The tape is so that it doesn't come out accidentally."

"Okay." It was like I was losing more and more control over everything, even over my own body. The IV was attached to a tube that led up to a pole. On the pole was a bag of water. From the bag, the water dripped, dripped, dripped into the tube leading to my arm. It felt so cold. I felt somewhat concerned about so much water being pushed into my blood. And I hated it when things just happened to me.

"I'm already so swollen. Even my brain tissue is swollen, right? That's why I've been having seizures. Pumping more water into me doesn't seem like a good idea." I looked at Abigail.

"We can turn the drip down to the lowest setting." She adjusted the rate of drip from the bag so that it was slower. "There. I'll just make sure that's okay with Dr. Lacy but it should be fine."

I felt a little better. "Thank you."

Dr. Lacy came back into the room a few minutes later. "I found it! When you have people working for you at the hospital, you just send them off to get the medication you need. It sure is different when you need to find everything yourself. Never experienced that before. It was so frustrating not being able to ask anyone. I was reduced to walking everywhere and looking into random cabinets. But here it is. This is a medication so that you won't have more seizures." She held up a small bottle.

"But I thought you shouldn't take any medication when you're pregnant?" I was worried. I didn't want to take something that would harm the baby. I was starting to feel freaked out, like I was trapped.

"This medication is commonly used for this purpose. It's important that you don't have anymore seizures for your sake and for the sake of your baby."

"But will it harm the baby?"

"It's much safer than the alternative – you having seizures," said Dr. Lacy.

Blaze moved closer to the bed. "You should let her give it to you."

"Okay." I looked away as she inserted the needle into the port on my IV.

My control was slipping away more and more. _High King, please may my baby be all right._

Then Dr. Lacy and Abigail went out, leaving Blaze and me alone.

Blaze sat down in the chair beside my bed. "It's great Abigail came. That's a relief."

"Yeah."

"Looks like your cousin might not be coming after all, though," said Blaze.

I looked away, feeling sad but also like an idiot because I thought some random person could actually care about me. Trying to make some stranger part of my family.

"Aww... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

Apparently, Blaze could see how his words had affected me. He came to the edge of my bed and drew me into an embrace. "I love you, Cara. Maybe he'll show up after you have the baby. He might still come. And if he does and he wants to be part of your family, I'll support you in that and we'll make room for him in our life."

"Thank you, Blaze!" I heard sincerity in his words. This was the hero that I had married!

He rubbed my back as he continued to hold me. "Maybe us dreamers should be sticking together after this anyway. It was pretty tough being alone. Maybe it would be better if we had each other. We could invite the others to come live with us. Our place is plenty big enough."

"I wouldn't mind inviting Dr. Lacy and Abigail and Michael." I looked around to make sure the room was empty and no one else would hear us. "I don't think I'd feel comfortable with Stuart coming to live with us," I whispered.

"Okay, I agree." He pulled away so he could stand up straight and he took my hand. "It's almost time for the operation. How are you feeling?"

"Apprehensive, I guess. They're letting you stay with me, right?"

He sat down in the chair beside my bed. "Yep. I'm going to be with you the whole time."

Relief let me breathe a little easier. "Good."

Dr. Lacy walked into the room with a paper, clipboard and a pen.

"That looks very official." Blaze sat up straighter in his chair.

"It's a waiver."

Blaze laughed. "It's not like we could sue you. No one else can see us."

"I understand things are different now with the dimensional shift we've experienced but I'm not sure quite what to do with that. So I'm going to do things the way I have always done them... at least for the time being." She handed the clipboard to me. "Please sign this so that we can do what we need to, without specific permission, for the remainder of your stay. This is so that, if you suddenly go unconscious or something happens with your baby but you're not able to communicate your wishes, we will be able to act for your good and for the good of your child."

I looked at Blaze. He was nodding. But I just hated the idea. I already felt that I had lost so much control. I hated feeling powerless. If I signed this, they could just do anything they wanted to me and they wouldn't even have to tell me about it first.

"Please sign, Cara. If anything happened to you or to the baby, I just don't know what I would do. We can trust Dr. Lacy. She's a good doctor. The High King sent us to her, remember?"

He was right. We could trust her. But it wasn't only Dr. Lacy I was worried about.

I leaned closer to the doctor. "Just you will get to decide what medications I need or what will happen to me, right?"

"Yes. I would be the one making those decisions."

I took the pen and the clipboard from her and signed the highlighted sections of the three-page document. As I handed the paper back to her, I tried not to cry. I would be glad when my hormones went back to normal. This crying all the time was getting old. I put my hand on my belly. _Jesus, please help the baby to be okay... and help me to be okay too._

As Dr. Lacy was leaving, Abigail walked into the room. "We're ready for you now, Cara."

"Okay." I put my feet over the edge of the bed to follow her.

"No, just lie back and I'll wheel you there."

"Oh, okay." I lay back and tried to keep my breathing steady. This was going to be okay.

Abigail wheeled me down the brightly lit hallway. She couldn't help but wheel me through some people on the way. I shuddered. With everything else going on, I just didn't need that. She turned a corner and we passed through a whole family bringing flowers and balloons to someone.

I smiled at the happy sight of the family but then I felt sad and wished that someone would bring me something. I'd always thought I'd have all the normal things - like a wedding shower, a wedding with actual people there and a baby shower, if I ever had children. Looking back at it now, I wasn't sorry for the way my wedding happened. Marrying Blaze on the beach, with the High King himself conducting the ceremony, couldn't have been more romantic.

But, now, I wished I could have a baby shower and photos. _Photos._ Tears came to my eyes. We didn't show up on photos anymore, so the only way I ever saw myself was in mirrors. It was weird. I could hold my phone and take selfies but they just showed the background - like I was a ghost.

I started crying then, at the realization that I would _never_ have photos of my little one. No baby pictures to look back at. I wouldn't be able to show her photos of herself when she was younger. The tears flowed more quickly. Blaze came to walk beside my cot and took my hand.

"It's going to be okay, Cara." He squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"But we'll never have pictures of our baby."

The look on his face told me that he had not thought of that either. "More people are coming through all the time. Maybe one day, we'll find an artist who will be able to do a portrait. We'll figure something out, Cara."

Maybe he was right. I was glad that Blaze was here with me and that we were getting along again and that things between us had been resolved.

"Here we are." Abigail pushed the cot into a room, closed the door behind us and locked it.

"Blaze, you put these over your clothing." She handed him a green outfit, hair cap, facemask and gloves.

"All of this?"

"All of it. Come into the next room when you have it all on."

She wheeled me into the adjoining room. In the next room, Dr. Lacy smiled in a friendly way but Stuart all but leered at me.

"Well, the warrior foretold by the stars isn't looking so good now." His voice was mocking.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to laugh or what, but the guy just gave me the creeps.

"Stuart, help me lift her," said Abigail.

I was feeling pretty out of it. I didn't know if it was something they had given me through the IV or if it was just the eclampsia. I was scared, too.

With Stuart at my head and Abigail lifting my torso and legs, they shifted me onto a cold metal table. I shivered.

"Is it going to be this cold the whole time?"

"No, you'll start feeling better in a few minutes. Just sit up here, first; we're just going to check your pressure again." Abigail put a black cuff around my upper arm. It hissed, filling with air and squeezed all the blood from the area. It pinched very hard. I felt panicked at the pain.

When she saw my distress, Dr. Lacy came over and hugged me tight.

"It's okay, Dear. Everything's okay. We're just taking your blood pressure."

But I was still freaking out inside. Where was Blaze? Before I knew what was happening, somehow the spinal was already done and I was frozen from the waist down. They laid me back down and covered the top half of me. Then they put up a little partition so that I wouldn't see what was going on down below. A moment later, Blaze came in. Relief flooded my heart and mind as he sat down beside me.

"Hi!" He took my hand. I felt the rubber of his gloves and looked at his hands. The gloves were blue. He looked kind of funny in the big, light green, shower cap thingy. I smiled. I was starting to feel warmer now, just as Dr. Lacy had said I would. It must have been whatever they were pumping into me. I heard counting.

"What are they doing?" I asked Blaze, looking down towards the partition.

"Oh, Cara, would you like us to turn one of these mirrors in your direction so that you can watch your baby being born?" Dr. Lacy pointed at a huge mirror suspended from the ceiling. At present, it was angled so that it just showed the ceiling across the room.

I shuddered. "No, that's okay. Blaze will just tell me without the... gruesome details." I didn't want to see my own blood. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to handle that. But the freaked out feeling was completely gone now. I felt warm and safe.

Abigail chatted to me. "This is one of the operating theaters specifically designed for C-sections. That's why they have the mirrors."

"Dr. Lacy's counting the... tools," said Blaze.

"Why?" I asked.

"We always count the instruments before the procedure and then again afterwards," Dr. Lacy explained.

"Oh!" It was a horrifying thought. "You want to make sure that you don't leave any in there?"

"That's right."

"All right, Cara, the freezing will be in full effect by now. Let me know if you feel anything when I do this," said Dr. Lacy.

Concentrating, I tried to feel what she was doing. I didn't want to be part way through and start to feel them cutting me open.

"I don't think so."

"All right then, good. Just let us know if you feel any discomfort. You will hear some sound and feel pressure but not any pain."

"Okay." I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling of Blaze's hand in mine.

"Oh!" said Blaze.

"Oh, what?" I asked, looking into his face.

"Oh, it's interesting, that's all." He was sitting on a stool so that he could see over the cloth divider that was stretched across my midsection.

"But everything's okay?"

"Everything's okay."

All of a sudden, I felt like I was going to pass out. It was a weird feeling to have when I was already lying down. Was I going to have another seizure?

"I don't feel well." I could barely get the words out. I felt like I was losing consciousness.

# Chapter 13

All was blackness and silence for a long, long time.

Then, slowly, a bonfire came into focus. I was standing there with a man I knew. He was my husband. I remembered that we were meant to be one in spirit, heart and love. And now I felt the spark of that in my heart. We were both wearing primitive clothing. Blaze had blue paint on his cheeks and forehead. We must be going through some sort of ritual. Blaze picked up two spears and gave one to me.

"We must go now."

I didn't understand how he knew what to do but I took the spear and followed him out into the mist. As soon as we stepped away from the fire, I missed its warmth and light.

"Umm... Where are we going?" I wasn't used to following Blaze.

"We're hunting."

"What are we hunting?"

"Truth. And once we know that, then we'll be free."

Truth – that would be an illusive prey.

I was afraid of what we might find, hunting truth. The wind whipped through my hair as I followed Blaze. The spear felt awkward in my hand. What would truth look like? I had to agree that truth was worth finding and freedom was worth fighting for. We had to get free!

The sky was overcast, all the clouds blending together until the sky was an almost solid grey color. The grass and hard packed ground felt rough to my bare feet. I was breathing heavily now, trying to keep up with Blaze's pace. I was glad when he slowed. He started walking, crouched down, in the long grasses. I tried to copy the way he was walking. I didn't really feel suited to this kind of hunting.

He turned to look at me and held his finger up in front of his lips. I closed my mouth and tried to quiet my breathing. I scooted through the grass up to where he was so that I could see what he was seeing. When I reached the crest of the hill where he was kneeling, I looked down onto the plain below. There was a creature there in the grass, curled up beside a fire.

"There it is." Blaze pointed at it. "I know that that creature is how we can regain our freedom and find out the truth."

I strained my eyes but it was hard to see much detail from this distance. The creature was lying at the base of a large tree near the edge of the forest. It looked like it had matted brown fur.

"I know if we kill that creature, then we will be free. We will discover the truth," said Blaze.

"Perhaps we could try to get the truth out of it before we kill it," I suggested.

"No, we need to get free."

I followed Blaze, uncertain of the wisdom of his violent course. He skirted the ridge and disappeared into the trees. I followed him. We made our way down the hill under the cover of the trees. I heard something howling in the distance.

"Orcs?" I asked Blaze.

He nodded, intent on the prey that we were stalking. We came near to the place where the creature lay. Blaze held the spear, ready to strike. He strode purposefully around the tree where it lay and raised his spear. The thing moved and cast off the brown blanket. There was the High King! He looked unsurprised but also defenseless. Blaze thrust the spear before he realized who it was.

Blaze gasped in surprise and, just in time, aborted mid-thrust, letting the spear fall to the ground. He fell on his knees beside the High King.

"My Lord!" Blaze bowed his head to the ground beside the High King.

The High King was wearing brown pants, a white shirt and a brown vest. He was younger-looking again. His black hair had a bowl-cut style and was a little long; his bangs almost hung in his eyes. He felt very safe to me when he took this appearance. The first time I had seen the High King, he had appeared to me with these features. He sat up into a cross-legged position and put his hand on Blaze's head.

"Remember, not all is as it seems."

I fell to my knees before him too.

Blaze sat up and took the same position as the High King. I did too.

"I can't believe what I almost did. Why did I want to do that and why were you hiding under there?!" Blaze demanded.

"There are things you can't know right now."

I was satisfied with that answer from the High King. The more I accepted the fact that I couldn't understand everything about God and the spiritual realm, the better I was able to accept the things that God allowed to happen in this old world.

"But I thought that this creature was the source of freedom and that we'd find out the truth."

"God _is_ the source of freedom and truth," the High King confirmed.

"But not with this." Blaze grabbed the spear and threw it away.

"The forces of evil will try to deceive whomever they can. They call good evil and evil good. But do not be deceived."

"I'll try not to be anymore."

"Pray about things with Cara." The High King looked at me. "You had a bad feeling about this the whole time, didn't you?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"Sometimes, I will give you feelings about things so that you will know what to do. They are part of the still small voice with which I speak to you." The High King looked at Blaze pointedly.

"I'm going to try to get her advice more often about things." Blaze reached over and rubbed my arm.

"And I'm going to listen to my feelings more. I'll pray about them to see if they're from you," I said.

"Good. Now, for some freedom and truth. Cara, do you remember what you first read in the Bible when this adventure started?"

I looked up at him. "Yes. 'You do not have because you do not ask.'"

"Right. So here I am, though, truly, I am always with you. Ask me for what you need."

"I want to get rid of this anger that I have," said Blaze, looking at the ground. "It's so bad that, when I get mad, it's like I get a rage blackout or something. It's like I feel so explosive and then I wake up on the other side of what I have done. I honestly feel like I have no control in the moment, not even any knowledge of what is happening until it is past."

I had not known that Blaze felt this way. I looked at the High King to see what he would say. Guilt surged up inside me like a tide. Feeling bad was normal for me. I had made a lot of mistakes with Blaze. I knew that, if I hadn't gotten on his nerves so much, we would have gotten along better. I couldn't stop the flood of condemning thoughts in my mind.

The High King looked at me with compassion in his eyes. He put his hand on the top of my head. "Cara, it was in no way your fault. Be at peace. Demons, I send you away." As soon as he spoke these words to me, the voices of condemnation stopped instantly. Relief filled my heart as tears filled my eyes. It really had _not_ been my fault! Even though it had been humiliating and painful, I felt so glad to know I had not brought it on myself .

The High King looked back at Blaze. "The way you are is the way that I have made you."

"What?"

"You are thinking that how you are is bad and that you are not good. But it's not true. You have also been made right for a purpose."

"How can that possibly be true? You know what I did to Cara."

"That was sin. But it wasn't because you have been made wrong."

Blaze shook his head. "I don't understand."

"The way you experience anger is a mechanism that I have put into place inside you. It will enable you to act when needed, without having to think things through first. So it is not the response that is the problem but the level of your anger at Cara. If you didn't feel such anger, that built-in response that I have given you would not be triggered in that way."

"Oh."

"Why do you feel such outrage and anger?"

"I don't know."

"Blaze, think back on your feelings. I can't help you get to the bottom of them if you refuse to think about your emotions."

"I just don't like to think about it, I guess."

The High King took Blaze's hand. "It's okay to have feelings. I have feelings."

"I know but you're... God."

"So it's okay for me to have feelings but not for you? I've made you in my own image, Blaze."

"Okay, I'll try. I'll engage. Just tell me what to do."

"Close your eyes and think about a time when things went really wrong with Cara."

Blaze closed his eyes. "Okay."

"What were you thinking and feeling?"

"All I remember was feeling outrage and knowing that what she was saying was totally wrong. I felt like she didn't care about me at all. And she was just going to trample me under foot."

"Physically?" asked the High King.

The High King must know what Blaze is thinking and feeling. The questions must be for Blaze's benefit, I decided.

"No, not physically. Emotionally, I guess. She was disrespecting me."

"So you felt threatened."

Blaze just looked down. "I feel really ashamed about it now."

"I know. But if you never get to the bottom of what's going on, then it's not going to change."

"And it needs to change. I'll go through whatever you want me to. What was the question, again?"

"You felt threatened by what Cara was saying."

"Yeah, I guess, in a way, I did."

"So your automated threat response kicked in. But your level of response wasn't equal to the level of threat, was it?"

Blaze shook his head, sorrowfully. "No."

"There are two things we need to address here."

Blaze looked up at him. "What two things?"

"The reason your response was wrong was two fold. The first problem is alcohol."

"What?"

"Alcohol isn't good for you, Blaze. It affects your brain, lowering your inhibitions. So, when your threat response is triggered, you respond much sooner and more violently than is warranted. Do you see what I mean?"

"I think I do. I've known for a while now that alcohol is no good for me... Basically, you're saying I should stop having _any_ alcohol?"

"Yes. For the sake of your family. And for me."

"I will give up all alcohol for the sake of my family and for you, Jesus, because you're telling me to."

The High King reached over and patted his shoulder. "Good."

Blaze looked up at him. "What is the other thing?"

"Love."

"Love?"

"Yes. In some way, you were afraid that Cara didn't care about you, that she didn't love you. Isn't that what you felt threatened by?"

Blaze shrugged. "I guess so. It must be - you know everything."

"Do you remember what the Bible says about love?"

"Love is patient?"

"Yes, that's right. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres... Let me show you love." The High King waited for Blaze's consent.

"Okay."

The High King put his hand on Blaze's chest, over his heart. Blaze started crying. He slumped over, holding onto the High King's wrist, crying a flood of tears. I was stunned; Blaze didn't cry much and I'd never seen him cry like this.

"I thought you were going to show me how you felt about Cara," Blaze gasped out through his tears. "But you showed me how you felt about me. I am unworthy of your love."

"And that's the point. Blaze, that's what love does. It loves regardless of the other person's worthiness or response. Love continues even if there is no reciprocation. Love lets go of its own rights."

"I want to do that. I want to be like you, Jesus."

"I can give you a new heart. A heart of love."

"I want that, Jesus."

Still the High King held his hand over Blaze's heart. Blaze closed his eyes. Out from Blaze's chest floated a blackened, shriveled heart. Once it had come all the way out, it turned to dust and blew away. Then, out from within the High King came a bright light – it was so bright it hurt to look at it. When I squinted, I could see that, in the center of the light, was a huge, red, healthy heart. The heart was so big that it had to compress to fit inside of Blaze. The High King took his hand from Blaze's chest and used both hands to squeeze the big heart. Then he pushed it firmly into Blaze's chest. As the glowing heart disappeared, Blaze gasped and his eyes flew open.

"I feel it! I feel your love." Blaze leaped up and practically tackled the High King in a hug. The High King rocked back a little and then steadied himself with a hand out behind him. Blaze was on his knees, hugging the High King who now hugged him back with both arms.

"I love your enthusiasm!"

Blaze pulled away, wiping the tears from his eyes.

I felt like an outsider and that I had witnessed something that I had no business seeing.

Blaze looked over at me. "Cara." He swallowed. "Please give me another chance to love you the right way."

"Of course," I whispered. We'd already reconciled but this felt like our relationship was moving to an even better place. He shuffled over to me and pulled me into an embrace, whispering into my hair, "I love you."

***

The scene faded away as I woke up in the hospital cot. The lights in the room were dim. I tried to make sense of where I was. Feeling panicked, I sat up.

"Cara, it's okay." Blaze came into view. He was sitting in a chair beside my bed. "I love you. I love you."

"What happened?" My voice was gravelly and my throat felt dry.

"There was a complication. You had a seizure during the procedure. They had to put you all the way under."

"The baby!" I put my hand to my belly. I still had a lump down there but it was not the same. The baby was gone!

"It's okay." Blaze put his arms around me. "It's okay, Cara. The baby's okay."

I pushed him away so I could look at him in the dim light. "The baby's okay?"

"Yes. They took her out and now they're taking care of her. She's only 3.6 pounds."

I smiled. "We had a girl." She was okay and we had a girl.

"Yes. We had a girl. She's tiny! But it was you I was really worried about. Dr. Lacy said that we almost lost you. They made me leave the room when things started going bad. I was so scared."

"Did you get to hold her?"

"Yes. She's so light and tiny. Her head's the size of a tennis ball!"

"Is she in our dimension? You touched her?"

"What?" His expression was genuinely puzzled.

I burst into tears. "Did you touch her?"

"Yes, yes, I touched her. What's wrong, Cara?"

Still crying, I threw my arms around him but now I was crying with relief. "I was always scared that maybe she'd be born... you know... normal. Not like us. I was afraid that, when I tried to touch her, my hand would pass right through. But you touched her. I will get to hold my baby and raise her myself. I'm so happy, Blaze!"

He rubbed my back. "I'm happy too. Dr. Lacy says that, in about a month, the baby will be ready to come home with us. But she'll have to stay in the hospital for now."

"Then we'll stay here too." I enjoyed the feeling of his arms around me.

"That's what I was thinking. It's pretty great being invisible sometimes. At least no one is going to be able to kick us out and send us home."

"When will I be able to hold my baby?" I was trying to calm my heart. _She's okay. My baby's okay._

"Let's wait until the morning. She's in neonatal intensive care, the NICU. I'll find a wheelchair to take you there in the morning. Abigail is with her and Dr. Lacy too.

"Okay." I wiped the tears from my face as more threatened to join them. _My baby's okay and I'm going to see her first thing in the morning._

"Just lie back down. You have a lot of stitches and you're under a lot of meds, I think, so don't try to get up yet."

"Okay." I lay back down fighting anxiety. "But you promise she's alright?"

"I promise." Blaze dragged his chair closer to the bed. "I love you, Cara. You were there for that dream, right?

"Yes." I reached out and he held my hand.

"I got the heart of the High King." He put his hand over his heart. "It's like I still feel it – feel his love. Cara. It's so good. Now I can love with his love. I feel such enormous, passionate, yet tender, love for you. I've never felt anything like it in my whole life. He leaned down, hugged me and whispered into my hair, "I love you, Cara."

I hugged him back, feeling relief. Everything was going to be okay. The High King was taking care of us. "I love you, too."

Blaze sat back down in the chair next to my bed and held my hand as I fell asleep.

# Chapter 14

When I opened my eyes again, everything was black. I felt movement though and heard some kind of electronic hum.

"Blaze?" I called. I couldn't feel him holding my hand anymore. I couldn't feel anything.

"I'm here." It was Blaze's voice.

"I can't see anything."

"Neither can I."

Whoosh! Light made me blink my eyes closed for a second. I was on a train that had just come out of a tunnel. But it wasn't a train from the past. It was more like a train from the future. All the walls were made of a transparent material. Outside was a world of snow and ice. I had the window seat. Even the floor was made of this same clear substance so that I could see the tracks whipping by beneath us.

I turned to see Blaze sitting beside me, in the aisle seat.

He looked at me, smiled and took my hand. "Cara. I'm glad to see you."

I relaxed at his touch. "I guess you don't know where this train in going?"

"Oh, I have a bit of a guess."

"Oh, yeah? Where?" I asked.

"Take a look around," he suggested.

I looked outside at the ice and snow again. Whiteness for as far as I could see, right to the horizon. It was snowing gently now, great white flakes falling from a light grey sky.

Then I looked around inside the train. The train was separated into cars but I couldn't see into the other cars because the panels, at the front and back of our car, were made of a light grey metal.

The red seats were arranged two-by-two on each side, with an aisle down the middle of the train car. Then I focused on the other passengers. They wore red and green and had bells on their shoes. Pointed ears stuck out from messy hair.

"Elves!" I cried.

A couple of the nearest elves turned around to stare at us.

"Sorry," said Blaze. "Cara didn't mean to be rude."

They turned back to their own conversations.

I giggled. "Why are we on a train full of elves?" I whispered to Blaze.

He spoke, keeping his voice low too. "And they're not just any elves. These look like they might be Santa's little helpers."

I looked around and saw that, besides being dressed in only red and green colors, the elves also had toolboxes and tool belts with tape measures and hammers.

"But why are we here?" I whispered.

Blaze leaned close and whispered back, "You're on some pretty powerful pain-killers back in the hospital."

I burst out laughing. Blaze laughed too.

Blaze squeezed my hand lightly. "At least you're happy. I haven't seen you smile in so long."

Movement outside the window caught my eye. The landscape was no longer just a flat expanse of snow. Reindeer played in fields between low red and green buildings that were decorated in Christmas lights.

"Looks like you were totally right," I whispered to Blaze. "Reindeer." I pointed.

He leaned across me to get a better look. "Rudolph! A glowing nose, right there." I looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, one of the reindeer had a cherry red nose glowing brightly in the falling snow.

"Final stop coming up," A cheery voice came over the speakers. All the elves started gathering their things together.

"Should we get off here too?" asked Blaze.

I squeezed his hand. "Maybe not. I've had just about enough of slaying creatures. I don't want this to turn into another monster-slasher, horror dream."

"Okay." We sat hand-in-hand as everyone else filed off the train. The elves looked at us with raised eyebrows as they passed by but no one said anything to us. Soon we were alone on the train. I was expecting that the train would take off again. It seemed like we waited for quite some time. Then the electrical humming sound went off and everything was quiet.

"What do you suppose that means?" I asked.

"Maybe the train's not going any farther."

"And what, it just parks here forever?"

"Until after Christmas? I don't know," said Blaze.

"Guess we should get off then." I stood and stretched. Looking down, I noticed my flat tummy. No baby. And I remembered that I really wasn't pregnant anymore. Suddenly, I didn't want to be here. "I want to be with my baby." I touched my midsection.

"Don't worry. We'll go find her as soon as we wake up." Blaze stood and led the way to the door at the side of the train car. It swooshed open as we approached. Blaze stepped down first and turned to hold his hand out to me. I smiled at him, took his hand and stepped down into the ankle deep snow.

I looked around. "So, this is the North Pole."

"Guess so," said Blaze.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked.

"Maybe we should find the big guy himself."

"You mean..."

"Santa."

I laughed. "Yeah, I guess." I scanned the nearby buildings. "Where should we start looking?"

Blaze pointed at one of the larger buildings. "That looks like a good place to start."

I looked at the building. Nailed to the front of it, somewhat crookedly, was a wooden sign in a large friendly font that read **Santa's Workshop**.

"Lead the way," I said.

"Did you know that the word 'Santa' has all the same letters in it as 'Satan'?" asked Blaze.

I laughed at his unexpected comment. "Blaze, please don't say that."

He laughed too and bumped into me amicably as we walked towards the workshop. It felt like old times, like back when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii.

"I like being here with you," I said.

"Me too... So I'll go in first, just in case." We had reached the workshop building. Blaze led the way up the wooden stairs to the porch. I joined him at the door.

"There's no doorbell," I said.

"So I guess we just go in." Blaze slowly pushed the door open.

The smell of popcorn greeted us, along with the sound of Christmas music coming over speakers. There were tables everywhere, with Christmas elves busily working on making toys and Christmas decorations. The bell over the door rang as Blaze pushed it all the way open.

I was afraid that they would all stop working and just stare. But no one seemed to notice us at all. We walked in and let the door fall closed. I scanned the room.

"I don't see him," I whispered.

I had never really cared for Christmas much. There had always been a lot of tension in my home over the holidays, even before my dad got sick with cancer. After that, it had been even worse. The more I was around Mom, the greater the chance that I would do something to set her off. I just dreaded the holidays when school was out. Becoming a dreamer had been a refuge for me. It had been such a relief to be able to get away from her. Even though I had Blaze now, the feelings of dread that I associated with the holidays lingered on, poisoning the season for me. And Blaze's Santa/Satan comment had not helped.

I took Blaze's hand and squeezed it.

He looked at me. "What?" he whispered.

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

"Oh, there he is!" Blaze pointed across the room.

I looked across the room and saw a big man in a red suit. "I guess, since we're here, we'd better go say hello."

"Of course! Can't wait!"

I laughed. "You're rather excited. You want to sit on his lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?"

Blaze laughed. "Maybe. Christmas was always a fun time when I was growing up. I believed in Santa until I was like ten or something." He let go of my hand and practically bounded over to where Santa was leaning over a table, working on something with one of the elves.

I followed hesitantly. When we got close to him, we waited for him to notice us. I didn't want to interrupt him. I was still dreading the twist of danger that usually accompanied these dreams. I felt by my belt, just in case. Nothing. It was probably a good sign that I didn't have the High King's sword.

Santa looked up at us and smiled a knowing smile. Recognition dawned and I loved him immediately. Under the red suit and white hair, and inside the typical Santa-shaped body, was the High King!

"It's you!" I cried.

"Of course!" The High King was grinning. "Who else do you think would be able to give a present to everyone in the world in just one night?" He laughed a full, jolly sounding laugh. "So, Blaze, you wanted to sit on my lap and tell me what you wanted for Christmas?"

He had heard us. Of course he had! And he knew what we were thinking. Blaze laughed and I had to join in. It was pretty funny seeing the High King dressed up as Santa.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

His expression became serious. "I have something to show you." He patted the shoulder of the little elf that he'd been working with as he moved away from him and led us past the tables. We followed. "There's a special project we've been working on but we need your help." We followed the High King through the workshop and then into a room at the back.

Alone at a table sat a pale elf who was quite a bit taller than the others. He didn't look up when we came in. On the table, yarn was piled up past the height of his head. He was pulling at threads and trying to loop them together.

"What's he doing?" I whispered.

"I'm trying to make something to save them. I need to save them. Need to save them." He rocked back and forth a little in his chair as he spoke.

I looked at the High King. There was an expression of sorrow on his face.

"What's he talking about?" I asked.

"If I don't help them, it's going to be too late!" The elf tried to pull at the tangled pile faster but it was too much of a mess. Whatever he was trying to do, it was clear he couldn't do it alone.

The High King went and sat beside the elf. He took both the elf's hands in his and turned the elf to face him.

"Jeffery, we need to talk with you now." The elf seemed to relax some as he looked into the High King's face. He didn't try to go back to what he was doing.

"Yes?"

"I'm getting you some help."

"Thank you." He bowed his head in reverence.

"Look up."

Jeffery looked up expectantly at the High King, who tilted his head towards us. "These two are Cara and Blaze. They will help you."

Jeffery regarded us for a moment. Then he spoke. "Every day, Jane arrives at the train station from work at 6 pm. Her husband leaves home in his car to meet her there at exactly 6 pm and drives her home. One day, Jane gets to the station an hour early and starts walking home, until her husband meets her on the road. They get home 30 minutes earlier than usual. How long was she walking?"

"Uhhh..." I had no idea how to answer. Math never was my strong suit.

Jeffery shook his head in frustration and tried again. "What's the most common way to write a for-loop?"

"A loop?" I looked at Blaze, who shrugged back at me. We had no idea what the elf was talking about.

Jeffery looked back at the High King. "They can't help me."

"Yes, they can, Jeffery. They were the first two people to cross over and they're in Corpus Christi, too. They have a big house where you can live and work in safety, and they have money. We can hire help." The High King was still holding his hands.

Jeffery collapsed, sobbing. The High King gathered him into his arms. "You're not going to be alone anymore." Once Jeffery had composed himself and wiped his face on his sleeve, the High King stood and pulled him up too. "Let's show them."

Jeffery was nodding. "Yes. That's the only way they'll understand."

"This way." The High King led us through the workshop again and out the front door, down the wooden steps and into the snowy yard beyond. He leaned down and spoke quietly to one of his little elves who had been standing in the yard, waiting for him. The elf hurried away as the High King straightened up. "He will make everything ready for us."

Jeffery came and stood with us in the snow. Now he was wearing a heavy green coat. I noticed that there were no bells on his clothing.

"No bells?" I asked.

He looked away across the frozen expanse. "I don't really care for the sound of bells."

"That must be hard as a Christmas elf," said Blaze.

Jeffery shook his head as he looked at the High King. "I thought they were real people. Don't they know this is a dream?"

I looked at Blaze. And it seemed to me that his clothing had changed or else, somehow, I had not noticed before. Blaze was wearing a merry green and red costume covered with bells and tassels. With an open-mouthed expression, my gaze continued up the length of his body until it reached his face where I saw an expression that mirrored my own. And out of his dark hair poked two pointed ears!

"Well, hello, my elfin wife!" laughed Blaze. It was very funny seeing Blaze as a tall, hot Christmas elf with bells sewn all over his clothing. I looked down at myself and saw that I had a matching outfit. I couldn't help laughing too.

Jeffery turned to the High King. "We don't really have time for this."

The High King put his hand on Jeffery's shoulder. "We all need to take time to laugh sometimes. Don't be afraid. I know you love me and you're working for me, Jeffery. I'm always working all things together for good for those who love me. I am with you and I am for you. Come on, it's time to go."

The tension visibly went out of Jeffery as he fell in step with the High King. Blaze and I followed behind them, jingling all the way.

We came around the side of a building that looked kind of like a garage. There, in front of the building, was Santa's sleigh, with all the reindeer harnessed and ready to go. The elf we'd seen earlier came skipping towards us. Santa held up his hand. They slapped palms in a high five.

The elf skipped away happily as Santa pulled himself up into the driver's seat of the sleigh. "Jeffery, you can have the front seat." He patted the bench beside him. Jeffery walked around the back of the sleigh and stiffly pulled himself in beside Santa.

Blaze and I scrambled into the back. I felt a rush of anticipation as Santa flicked the reigns. The bells on the harnesses jingled as we lurched forward. The reindeer ran along the snow and then took off up into the sky. Blaze put his arm around me and I thrilled at his touch. We circled once around the North Pole and then flew out across the frozen plains. We were still gaining altitude. After a while, we started flying over populated places where there were houses.

"Look down," the High King instructed.

I peered over the edge of the sleigh. Blaze pulled away from me so he could look down on the other side. It was breathtaking, seeing everything so far below us, as the cold wind rushed past us. The cars looked like tiny ants.

"What are the purple and blue dots about?" asked Blaze.

Now I saw them too, as the landscape flew by beneath us. There were some blue dots in every major city and a few purple ones, from time to time.

"Those are the Dreamers. The purple dots indicate dreamers who have already crossed over. The blue dots indicate dreamers that will cross over."

"Whoa!" said Blaze. "That's too many people!"

"Yes," said the High King seriously.

"Tell them. Tell them. Tell them." Jeffery was rocking a little on the front bench as he spoke.

"About half of the dreamers are children. They're basically orphans once they cross over."

My eyes filled with tears. "Oh, no!"

"We have to help them. Jeffery is working on a solution. Tell them about it."

Jeffery turned around to us, excitedly. "At first, I just made a website so that we could find each other." He put his hand up as if to stop our protests. "I know that was a low-brow, stupid idea. Now I'm working on something that will display on all the cell phones and computers in the world all at the same time, alerting dreamers as to how we can connect. I've been running into issues though. Different cellular and Internet providers have measures implemented to prevent that sort of thing. We need to find those kids! I'm getting closer and closer to being able to do it. I just need a little help with the final implementation. I hope to have this out by Christmas. I know it won't find everyone. What about the kids that are too young to be using a cell phone or a computer? How can we reach them? I have an idea for that too. A biotech solution. But it's a longer-term project. What if we could speak directly into each other's minds, just like we can dream together? But this might take up to two years to develop. What will happen to the littlest ones who cross over before then? Find me on Twitter. My twitter handle is @JefferyCrogan."

***

Tears were in my eyes as I woke up. I blinked them away. The grey light of pre-dawn was coming in the hospital window. It must be almost morning. Blaze still held my hand. He was leaned over, his head and shoulders resting on the bed. His face was towards me. His eyes slowly opened. There was compassion in his brown eyes and resolve. Blaze sat up. "We have to help him."

# Chapter 15

"I found you a wheelchair!" Blaze announced as he pushed one into the room.

"And no one noticed when you took it?"

"Nope. It was the weirdest thing. The chairs were just beside the nurses' station and there were two nurses there. I asked, 'Hey do you mind if I take this?' but of course they didn't answer so I just started wheeling it away. I watched them to see if they would do anything but they never even looked up." He shrugged.

"That's weird." I used the button on the guardrail to move the top part of the cot into a sitting position. "I think the medication they gave me must be wearing off because I'm feeling pain now."

"When we get down there, you can talk to Dr. Lacy about that. I went to find them, just before getting you this wheelchair. Dr. Lacy and Abigail are both still in the neonatal intensive care area with our daughter. They're using one of those incubator things to keep our baby warm and whatnot." The wheelchair had an IV pole so Blaze unhooked the bag of clear fluid and hooked it onto the pole on the wheelchair. "There. Now you're portable."

Slowly I shuffled my feet over the side of the bed. I felt my abdomen. There was a neat horizontal line of stitches just above my pelvis. It hurt to touch them and moving also hurt. "I'm scared to stand because of the pain."

Blaze locked the wheelchair so it wouldn't roll when I tried to sit down. "I'll be right here for you." He moved to stand where I could hold on to him.

Slowly, I eased down off the bed. The floor was cold beneath my bare feet but the pain wasn't any worse. I stepped towards the wheelchair. Yup, that hurt. I turned and, holding onto the armrests, I lowered myself into the wheelchair. I sucked in breath. My insides hurt like they were just about to fall out. I moaned a little but then clamped my mouth shut.

Blaze flipped the footrests down into place. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be okay." Carefully, I lifted one foot into place and then the other. Once I was settled, I breathed a sigh of relief and tried not to move anymore.

"Here we go." Blaze pushed me from the room and down the hall. He was going pretty fast down the hallway. Unexpectedly, a nurse came out of a room right in front of us. Blaze didn't have time to stop. I flinched and covered my face. We were just about to plow right into her. But we passed right through.

Blaze laughed behind me. "You forgot about that, did you?"

"I... I didn't know if the wheelchair and everything would go through."

"Guess anything we're touching is sort of pulled into our dimension or something."

"I didn't like that, Blaze."

"Sorry, Babe. I'll go a little slower. I'm just excited for you to see our baby."

_Our baby._ The tension dissipated as I thought about her. "How far away is it?"

"It's like ten more minutes. This place is huge. We have to go one floor down."

We stopped at the elevator and Blaze pressed the down button. A couple came to wait for the elevator with us. They pushed the button going up.

"Hmm... Someone's already pushed the down button," the woman remarked.

The man looked up and down the hall but saw no one. "Probably some fool kids thinking they're funny."

Blaze snickered. The elevator dinged and the doors swooshed open. Blaze pushed me in.

"Maybe if we push 4, it won't actually go down." They walked through us onto the elevator, too.

Blaze pushed 1 for the ground floor.

"Did you see that?" asked the man. "1 lit up all by itself. It wasn't lit up when we first got on here."

"Weird. Maybe it's because it was already set to go down... Or maybe it's because someone down there called the elevator."

"Maybe," the man agreed.

It was weird hearing people's private conversation. Living alone, Blaze and I didn't get much of that but, here at the hospital, it was pretty overwhelming.

When the door swooshed open on the ground floor, Blaze looked at me and grinned. Then he pressed the buttons 2 and 3 before pushing me off the elevator.

"Did you see that?" asked the man. "Now the buttons 2 and 3 lit up."

"There must be something wrong with this elevator," said the woman as the door finished closing, preventing us from hearing more.

"Blaze!" I cried. "Why did you do that?"

Blaze laughed and then shook his head disapprovingly. "Fool kids think they're so funny." Then he laughed again. And I couldn't help laughing a little too.

We chatted amicably until we finally arrived just outside the neonatal intensive care area.

"Here we are." He wheeled me in through the door. There were a number of incubators with babies in them. There were also several nurses in the room, monitoring the units. The place looked like some sort of sterile zoo. I didn't like it. I wanted my baby to be with me. I felt lost - like I didn't have control over what was happening.

"She's right over there." Blaze wheeled me to the back of the room. There was an incubator off to the side, away from all the rest of them. Dr. Lacy was sitting beside the small clear plastic unit.

"Cara! I'm glad to see you. How are you feeling?" Dr. Lacy asked.

"Glad to be seeing my baby. And I'm in pain. Are you sure this one's mine? They all look the same."

Dr. Lacy laughed. At this hospital, we use wrist bracelets to match the baby and the mother. We didn't need to do that in your case, however." She put her hand in the round opening at the side of the case and stroked the baby's leg. "Your baby is the only one I can touch."

Relief flooded inside me. "Bring me closer, Blaze." He wheeled me to the opening. Dr. Lacy pulled her hand out so that I could put mine in.

"Oh! She's so little!" I touched my baby for the first time. The baby was lying on her back, wearing only diapers, eyes tightly closed. She was a very skinny little thing and had sparse, short, black hair. There was a tube going into her nose that was taped to her cheek. I expected to feel more of an instant bond but I felt mostly traumatized. "Can I hold her?"

"We'll be feeding her in half and hour and you can hold her then."

I felt frustrated. "Why does the baby have to stay down here?"

"This is where the equipment is," Dr. Lacy explained.

"Can't we bring the equipment upstairs?"

"I feel more comfortable keeping her here, so that we have everything on hand that we need. But there's no reason why you can't stay down here with her. There's a bed in that room off to the side there. Mothers, who are doing a practice run of taking care of their baby overnight, use it the evening before they take their baby home. But that shouldn't be a problem for us, right?"

"Right. I guess not." Double occupancy bed. A shiver ran down my spine. It always felt creepy somehow, passing through other people. Maybe I'd just use the bed when no one else was using it.

Blaze put his hand on my shoulder. "So, I know I told you I wanted to name the baby Adam or Eve because our baby would be the first person born into our dimension but, since you didn't like the name Eve, we never actually settled on a name."

"I just don't like Eve because that Bible story had a sad ending."

"I know. And I agree with you now. Let's choose a name together that we both love."

I smiled, feeling relief. "Okay."

"Do you have any ideas?"

I looked at the small little thing in the clear plastic container. _Hope._ That's what all of us had now because the High King was helping us.

"What do you think of the name Hope?" I asked.

He leaned in closer to look at her. "Hope. I think that suits her."

"Hope." We watched her for a few moments longer.

Blaze turned to Dr. Lacy. "Maybe, before feeding time, I should go back upstairs and get Cara's things."

"That's a good idea. Abigail's going to be waking up soon and I'll send her to get some pain medication for you, Cara, and then she's also going to talk to you about breast feeding the baby."

"Okay." This whole thing was turning out way more awkward than I was expecting.

"So, Abigail is sleeping but what about Stuart? I haven't seen him since I woke up from the operation." Which was fine with me but just what was he up to? "Has he been helping out too?"

"No, more like he's been helping himself. He helped himself to a bunch of medication and other medical supplies. I don't even know where he is right now. Right after the operation, he said that he'd kept his end and not to expect any further help from him."

"Wow, what a guy," said Blaze.

I looked around to make sure that he wasn't in earshot. "I don't trust him."

"Nope," said Blaze.

I relaxed back into the chair. I still felt so sick and so swollen. Wasn't the excess water supposed to come out now? I looked at where the IV went into my hand. It felt so freezing cold there. Then I looked up at the bag where it was still dripping out into the tube and then flowing down into my hand.

"When can I get this IV out? I feel like it's still pouring too much water into me."

Dr. Lacy stood up and looked at the plastic bag and tubing. "No. You can see that the drip is very, very slow. It's okay for now. Let's leave it in, in case we need it."

I didn't reply but I didn't want it in anymore. She couldn't make me keep it in, could she? I felt like just pulling the thing out but I supposed I would never do something like that.

"I want to go with you, Blaze."

"Don't you want to stay here with our baby?"

"I can't do anything but touch her leg right now anyway and she's asleep. I'd rather stay with you." In my mind, it was huge for us, my feeling like I wanted to be with him. It hadn't been like that between us for ages. I wondered if he felt the same.

He put his hand tenderly on my shoulder. "Okay, then we'll go together." He turned to Dr. Lacy. "We'll be back when it's feeding time at the zoo."

Blaze wheeled me out of the neonatal area and managed to avoid running into any of the staff there. Back out in the hallway, he started running.

I gripped the arms of my wheelchair. "Blaze, what are you doing?!" The floor was very smooth so there had not been any bumps. But I was afraid of bumps. Right now, bumps would mean more pain. So would crashes.

"I'm happy! We're naming our baby Hope!"

"I'm happy too. Please slow down."

He slowed down to a fast walk. "I'm going to help you take care of the baby, Cara. You'll see. I'm going to be a good father."

"I'm glad that you want to be involved in her life. My father was always so busy with work. It seemed like he never had much time for me."

"My dad too. He was hardly ever around. It's going to be different with us."

"Wait..." I listened intently. Someone was shouting. "I think someone is shouting my name."

Blaze was quiet as he listened too.

"Caaarrrraaaa!!!!!! Caaaarrrraaaa!" The sound was faint but it definitely sounded like my name.

Blaze picked up the pace again. "That's weird. Let's go check it out." We stopped at a door with a picture of stairs on it. "Seems like the sound is coming from here." Blaze pulled open the door. Sure enough, the sound was louder there.

"Caaarrraaaa!" It was a man's voice.

"Should I shout back?" I whispered.

"Might as well," said Blaze.

I leaned forward a little in my chair to get ready to shout but then I winced as I felt a tug on my stitches and a flare of pain. "I think shouting's going to hurt. Can you call back to him, Blaze?"

"Sure." He took a deep breath. "Cara's here!"

There was a moment's silence. Then, "Hello?"

"Cara's here!" Blaze shouted again.

"Are you upstairs or down?"

"Downstairs!" called Blaze.

We heard the pounding of footfalls on the stairs. Then a tall African American man with short hair came into view!

"Anthony!" I cried.

He rushed over to my wheelchair and looked at Blaze with suspicion.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yes. I've had my baby. It was a C-section so I got a lot of stitches."

"You've had your baby. Baby's good?"

"Yes. She's good. We're naming her Hope. This is my husband, Blaze." I motioned towards Blaze standing behind me.

"Yeah. I figured that." He stuck out his hand to Blaze. "Hey. I'm Cara's cousin, Anthony."

Blaze shook his hand. "Cara's told me about you."

"She's told me about you, too." But Anthony wasn't smiling. I wished that I could tell him that things were all right between Blaze and me now, but I didn't want Blaze to know that Anthony knew that Blaze had been abusive. Ah, life was just so complicated!

"Cara, it's great to see you, Cousin." He held out his arms and leaned down like he was going to hug me. I held out my arms and hugged him back, awkwardly.

"It's nice to meet you in the real world too!" Turning back, I looked at Blaze. He didn't look upset that Anthony had hugged me, so that was a relief.

"We're going upstairs. You want to come with us?" asked Blaze.

"Sure. I've come all the way across town just to see my cousin. And I've been shouting for her for two hours."

"Have you really?" I asked.

"Yeah, this hospital's a big place and there's no one to answer our questions at the information desk."

"Yeah, the lack of communication now is scary. We have the cell phone numbers for Cara's doctor and nurse. That way, we can contact them if we need anything," said Blaze.

Cara pulled out her phone. "Should we exchange numbers too?"

"Sure." Anthony pulled out his phone.

Anthony and I added each other's contact information. Then he and Blaze also exchanged numbers.

We went up the elevator. The guys were quiet and I couldn't think of what to say either. The elevator opened and Blaze wheeled me down the hall to the room where I had been staying.

"So, how did you get here?" asked Blaze.

"I walked."

"I'm really glad you came," I said.

After we'd collected my clothing and shoes from the room, we went back down to the neonatal unit. We ignored everyone else as we walked through to the back. Dr. Lacy was still there and Hope was still in the incubator. Abigail was getting something ready on a side counter.

"So there's my daughter, Hope. Guess she's your cousin too." I looked at Anthony but he wasn't looking at the baby.

"Abigail!" he cried.

She turned and looked at him open-mouthed. "Anthony! What are you doing here!?"

"I was a dreamer. And now... this." He held up his hands, which were, of course, completely visible to us.

'Me too! I was a dreamer too... I thought you were in New York with Dad?"

"Nope. I'm here!" said Anthony. He hugged his sister, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around.

Abigail hugged him back, laughing. "I'm so glad you're here, Baby Brother. I thought I might never see you again."

Anthony set her down and turned to me to explain. "Our mom and dad got divorced when we were kids. Abigail, my big sister, moved south to Texas with Mom and I stayed up in New York, with Dad. But I moved to Corpus Christi three years ago. I made so much money being a dreamer, I thought I'd move somewhere nice and warm, by the ocean." He turned back to Abigail. "I had no idea you were here or that you were a dreamer, too!"

"I had no idea _you_ were a dreamer!"

"Well, they do say it runs in families..."

Abigail moved in and hugged Anthony again. "It's been way to long! I'm so glad we've found each other!"

I was grinning so hard my face hurt. What an excellent turn of events. "It must be the work of the High King, bringing you two back together... And this must mean that Abigail – you're my cousin too! Anthony's my cousin. We found each other on that ancestry website."

"We're your cousins?" Abigail looked at Anthony and then at me. She burst out laughing. "Weird but fantastic! I love you already, Cara." She pulled Anthony down towards me and the three of us had a group hug.

I winced as I got jostled a little. "I'm ready for some more pain medication now."

Abigail laughed again. "Coming right up, Little Cousin."

# Chapter 16

We were in the neonatal unit. Anthony and Blaze sat in chairs on either side of my wheelchair.

Abigail wrapped Hope up in a blanket and placed her in my arms. She was so tiny and she was still asleep. Abigail gave me a tiny bottle. I put it into the baby's mouth but she didn't wake up.

"Is there something wrong with her?" I asked.

"It's normal for premature babies to sleep a lot. Later today, we'll test her bilirubin to see if she's a little jaundiced. But we don't really expect her to be able to eat on her own at this point. She can't really suck much yet. But I thought we'd try."

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked.

"Yes, we'll tube feed her until she is able to suck." Abigail took the bottle back and poured the milk into a syringe. She attached the syringe to the end of the tube that was taped onto Hope's cheek, the one that went into her nose.

"You put the milk into her nose?" asked Blaze.

"The tube goes all the way down to her stomach," said Abigail.

After the baby was fed, I held her for a while longer. Then Abigail took Hope, removed the blanket and put her back into the incubator thing.

Just then, Dr. Lacy came into the room. She was carrying a tray. My stomach growled and I realized that I had not eaten anything since eight hours before the surgery.

Dr. Lacy passed the tray to me. "For the first day after the surgery all you get is liquids."

"Seriously? I'm starving." I looked down at the tray incredulously. There was a styrofoam bowl of broth, a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, a thing of juice and a tiny little dessert plate that held a rectangle of jello."

"Yes, we want to go easy on your intestines - making sure things are moving through nicely before we let you move on to solid food," said Dr. Lacy.

After everything that had happened, now I was being tortured with not enough food. I took a sip of the coffee. It was lukewarm. _Eww..._ I felt the other containers holding the tea and the soup - all barely warm.

Abigail and Dr. Lacy walked away, discussing something together. Blaze looked over the 'food' on my tray. "Wow. Um... Do you want me to get you anything from the cafeteria?"

I imagined eating a huge chiliburger. That would taste so good right now. I sighed. It would be foolish to do something that could potentially sabotage my recovery. I needed to get better so that I could take care of Hope.

"No, I guess not."

"Okay, if you're sure... I'll see you in a bit then. I'm going to go grab a bite to eat. I'm starved." He looked at Anthony. "Do you want to come?"

Anthony leaned over to me. "Is that okay, Cara?"

"Sure. I have my phone. I'll call if I need anything."

"Okay. Let's go." Anthony and Blaze walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my room temperature liquid meal. At least I liked jello.

After 'eating' my liquid meal, I maneuvered the tray onto the side counter. I felt so tired. Abigail returned and saw me almost falling asleep sitting up.

"Would you like to rest in that bed now?"

"Is anyone using it?"

"No, it's daytime right now. It's only used in the evenings and at night and, even then, it's not used every day."

"Yeah, that would be good. I can barely keep my eyes open."

Abigail wheeled me into the small room with a bed in it. She locked the wheelchair and helped me to stand. The pain meds that she had given me earlier were working. The pain was only mild, even when standing. She helped me to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I'm going to remove this IV. Dr. Lacy said that we could take this off for you now."

"Okay, thanks."

She unhooked the tube and bag. I was glad that I wouldn't have water dripping into me anymore. Then she removed the port and fastened a bandage to the back of my hand where it had been.

I lay down. It was a relief to be horizontal again. "Thanks, Cousin."

Abigail rubbed my arm. "You're welcome, Cara. Go ahead and get some rest now. I'll take good care of Hope."

"Thanks." I closed my eyes and quickly drifted towards sleep.

***

The forest floor was covered with dry leaves. It was autumn. The real kind of fall like the ones we had back home in Canada. I looked up at the strip of blue sky visible beyond the reaching trees of colored leaves. Inhaling deeply, I smelled the scent of wet leaves and of a bonfire, burning in the distance. I loved that smell.

I looked down at myself. Instead of my usual blue jeans and t-shirt, I was wearing a long, emerald green, flowing dress and a darker green cape.

Though there was a chill to the air, I didn't feel cold. I walked quickly down the path in the woods, hoping that I would come out somewhere that I would recognize. The trees were beginning to thin. The path turned and then I came out into a clearing. In the clearing, there was a bonfire with two men sitting on stumps by the fire. I approached cautiously, trying not to make any sounds, but the crunching of the leaves underfoot gave me away. They both turned to look in my direction. My apprehension melted away. It was Blaze and the High King! Joy filled my heart as I bounded over to them.

"Have a seat." The High King motioned to an empty stump on the other side of him.

I sat down gladly and gave him my full attention. "What now?"

"I'm thinking this is going to be another adventure?" Blaze looked to the High King for confirmation.

"Exactly!" The High King clapped Blaze on the knee. He looked around. "It's fall now. But, soon, it will be winter. We need to go on this mission together - I wanted to meet you here so you would see."

I wondered at his words. But he just kept sitting here. He didn't explain or start the mission, whatever that would look like.

"Are we waiting for something?" asked Blaze.

"This next part will be difficult for you, Blaze. We need to have a talk before we go on this mission. I wanted to speak to the two of you without the others here."

"Why is that?" asked Blaze.

"There are some things I want to talk about with you but I wanted Cara to be here too."

"Okay." Blaze glanced at me. He looked really uncomfortable.

"I want to give you some inner healing now."

Blaze rubbed his hands together in the cool air. "Okay." He looked down at the ground.

"What feelings or thoughts often trouble you?" the High King asked.

Blaze looked off in to the distance, "Uhhh... I guess that I'm a failure... I feel like I'm failing."

"I want you to think back. When was the first time you started feeling that way?"

Blaze rubbed his forehead. "Ummm... Okay, what came to mind was when I was a little kid. I must have been about four maybe. Anyway, I had made something with blocks and I was tugging on my father's arm to get him to look at it... I think he was mad that I was annoying him. He pulled his arm away and glanced at my tower. Then he told me it was sloppy and said, 'Keep it up and you'll never get anywhere in life.' Guess it's dumb that I even remember that. Not a big deal, right?"

I felt a rush of anger towards his father. What a mean thing to say to a child! But I didn't interrupt because it looked like the High King wanted to say something.

"Blaze, look at me." The High King waited until their eyes met. "He should not have said that to you. It was unkind and untrue."

Blaze nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

The High King reached over and took his hand. Blaze looked up into his face again. "I have made you to be a powerful influencer in the world. You are the hub into which many spokes will connect. You will do more than build a tower; you will build a nation – a nation of dreamers."

"Me?" Blaze looked in my direction. "I thought it would be Cara who would do something like that. Anthony and Abigail are her cousins. It seems like she's the one reaching out and connecting everyone."

"It is not her destiny to lead. It is yours."

I was surprised at hearing that Blaze was to lead. It had always felt like the important things were left up to me. But I was glad, too, and excited to see what that would look like.

Blaze pulled his hand away and knelt in the leaves before the High King. "I'm scared."

The High King put his hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Do not be afraid. This is what I made you for. And I will be with you. Even to the end of the age."

Blaze looked up into the High King's face. "I believe you."

I marveled at how the High King always did that. He made things better even when nothing in our circumstances changed.

"Good." He patted Blaze's shoulder. Then he stood and reached down a hand to Blaze and pulled him to his feet. "Come on." The High King motioned that I should stand too. "It's time to go on that mission. And we can fly here. Come on back to the trees and run full out." He led the way, demonstrating running across the clearing. Then he took off, up into the sky, skimming over the tops of the trees.

Blaze whooped as he sprinted across the field and up into the sky too. I smiled as I followed him. This place seemed familiar somehow. We followed the High King over the forest. The trees covered in colored leaves gave way to bare trees and snowy ground. I felt no cold now, even as we whipped through the air at an ever-increasing speed. The trees below became more stunted and more sparse. Soon there was only a snowy field below. The scene was beginning to look even more familiar.

I felt something touch my fingers. I looked to see Blaze grinning. He was trying to hold my hand while we were flying. I maneuvered closer and we held hands as the wind whistled past us. After a while, I saw the sight I was expecting. It was the ice castle. This was the land where I had made the deal with the Ice King and then convinced the dragon to leave peacefully. This was where I had found Stuart. As we drew closer to the castle, it loomed larger and looked more menacing.

We landed in the courtyard. The ice cobblestones were cool underfoot.

I wouldn't be just some foretold warrior to Stuart now; I would be the woman he'd seen naked and sliced open on the operating table. I shuddered, glad I had Blaze with me this time. And the High King! I looked over to where he stood, on the other side of Blaze. Hopefully, he would stay with us – in his visible form. I knew he was always with me but it felt so much easier when I could see him.

The High King led us over to the large wooden doors. "You need to see what's inside."

Blaze knocked on the door. No one came to answer. "I guess we should just go in then." He pulled the heavy door. It opened with a loud creak. The entry hall was deserted. We listened. No footsteps approached. The High King came in too. I turned around and closed the door behind us.

Blaze turned to the High King. "What is it that you want us to see in here?"

The volume of Blaze's voice startled me. I wished he would be a little quieter. "Shh..." I whispered to Blaze. "I think this is a stealth mission."

The High King came around and took my other hand. "It's okay. It's more of a reconnaissance mission prior to a rescue mission." The High King pointed down the hall so we all started walking in that direction.

"But what if he finds us here?" I whispered.

"Cara." He gave my hand a squeeze. "I'm here with you." The rest went unspoken. What could I possibly have to fear when the High King was with me? His eyes danced with life, alive with joy – his usual expression. I squeezed his hand back.

"Of course. Thank you for being here with us this time."

"I am always with you."

"I know. I know. I mean really with us." I laughed nervously. "I don't know what I'm saying. I'll just stop talking."

"I like you, Cara. It's okay that you're still learning. You have a good heart. I love that about you."

I felt like melted butter. He always knew just what to say to make me feel amazing.

We came to stairs that led downwards. The High King took a torch from the wall. Blaze did too. There weren't any other torches nearby so I just figured that I'd stick next to the High King.

The High King led the way down the narrow, winding staircase. We followed him down the stairs, with me in the middle and Blaze coming last. It was like the darkness was pressing in towards us. I was afraid and moved closer to the High King.

"I'm here, Cara. You don't have to be afraid." He was sensing what I was feeling.

It felt comforting to know that he knew everything that was going on in me. He knew I had been afraid of the dark until I was grown up. Who was I kidding? He knew that I still feared the dark. After what seemed to be a long time, we stepped out onto a level place. I heard water dripping in the distance.

""Where are we?" I asked.

"Looks like a dungeon," said Blaze.

"Exactly," said the High King.

I felt the familiar thump on my hip and reached down to pull out the High King's sword. As I pulled it out, it glowed, lighting our way.

I heard a ringing metal sound as Blaze pulled his sword out behind me. I looked at the High King who only held a torch. "You don't have a sword?"

He smiled. "I am the sword." He continued to lead the way. I heard a fearsome cry, like the ones we had heard in the dark forest.

"What was that?" I asked.

"It sounded like orcs," said Blaze.

We came to a gate and there were bars and a cell. I looked in. There, inside, were children.

"Why are they locked up?" I asked the High King.

The children moved to the door and put their hands on the bars. One of the little girls spoke. "The Ice King put us here. Please let us out!"

"That monster!" cried Blaze.

The sound of the orcs was louder now and also the pounding of heavy feet. They were coming up the passage, coming from somewhere deeper and darker in the dungeon.

Blaze stepped out in front of me, sword upraised. The High King put his hand on Blaze's shoulder.

"That's right. Do not be afraid. They will not attack now. Resist and they will flee from you. Because you are walking with me."

I put the High King's sword out in front of me too. The creatures roared again. Blaze roared back at them. Clearly, they were not expecting that. They stumbled backwards. Then they turned and fled into the darkness.

"That's right!" shouted Blaze. "You just keep running. Cara and I are here with the High King Jesus and you don't have any authority here anymore!"

I admired his new attitude. It must be coming out of the healing work that the High King had been doing in his life. He was brave. I liked it. Once the orcs were no longer visible, we turned back to the cell.

Blaze pulled at the door. It didn't budge. He looked around for a key. "Can you help us find a key?" he asked the High King.

"You don't need a key. You have my sword." He smiled at Blaze.

"Your sword! Of course." He raised it in the air. "Stand back!" The children stepped away from the cell door.

"Go right to the back," I told them. I didn't want them getting hurt. They moved to the far back of the cell where we could hardly see them anymore because the darkness was so deep in the dungeon.

Blaze still held the High King's sword in one hand and the torch in the other. He looked around for somewhere to put the torch. On the wall beside the cell, he found a black cast-iron loop designed for that purpose. He slipped the bottom portion of the torch into the metal loop. The torch slid into place and stayed, giving light to the little area where we were standing.

He raised the High King's sword and brought it down, two handed, on the place where the cell door was locked to the wall.

The sound of metal on metal rang out. The metal sparked blue as the sword sliced right through it. The cell door was freed from the lock and swung open. The children cheered and rushed out into the hall with us. I looked at them. They were dirty and skinny, ten girls in all. The oldest girl looked to be about twelve.

Blaze looked at the High King. "Is there anyone else down here that we have to rescue?"

The High King shook his head.

"Come, let's get out of here!" I sheathed my sword so I could take hold of the littlest girl's hand in mine. The winding stairwell was too narrow to go up while holding a sword. Blaze sheathed his sword too.

The High King led the way up the stairs. The children were quiet as we walked. With only the light from the torch that the High King held out in front of us, it was hard to make out the girls' expressions as we ascended. Once we reached the main hall, we broke into a run. Blaze threw open the door to the courtyard and stood back to make sure everyone got out. I led the children through the courtyard and out into the snowy field beyond.

The High King stopped and turned back towards the little group. I did the same. But all the children were looking at me. They couldn't see the High King. Blaze came to stand beside me. Now that we were out in the light, their appearance pained me even more. Their clothing was rumpled and their faces were dirty and they were all much too thin.

The High King turned to speak to me. "This is a dream. When they wake up, they will still be where they were. Tell them you're coming for them. We need to give them hope."

"You are the only hope," I said to him.

"The children range in age from five to twelve. They are some of the orphans that I told you about," said the High King.

"How did Stuart find them?"

"He got into the Kingcade Worldcorp records to find families who were dreamers. Then he went and searched at those addresses here in Corpus Christi and in the surrounding areas. He collected any of them that he wanted. Stuart must be stopped."

"How did he get the records?" I asked.

"Stuart just walked into the Kingcade Worldcorp office and looked them up on a computer there. He went in right in the middle of the day and, of course, no one saw him. But he hasn't learned that he can phase shift to different places. I don't want him to know that, ever. Only the two of you and Jeffery know that faded dreamers can phase-shift locations at will. If he does find out, he will become even more dangerous than he already is. Now, it's time to give the children hope."

I took a deep breath and looked out at the children. "My name is Cara and this is Blaze. We're coming for you. This is just a dream. And when you wake up, you will be in the same place that you fell asleep."

One of the little girls burst into tears.

"We haven't got anything to eat for two days," one of the older girls explained, putting her arm around the younger one. "Stuart hasn't let us out or given us anything. We had some water bottles but now those are gone too."

I felt so angry. How could he do that to these children?! And it was because he was with me at the hospital that he hadn't given them anything. I looked at the High King, feeling hopeless. Blaze took my hand.

"We're going to come for you," he asserted.

The oldest girl came closer and looked up at us. "My name's Addie."

"Hello, Addie." I pulled away from Blaze and put out my arms to hug her but she narrowed her eyes and took a step back.

" _When_ are you coming for us? We thought someone would come for us. But then no one did. He just brought more and more kids."

Blaze looked at me. I didn't know where they were or when I would be well enough to travel. We both looked to the High King.

"Soon," he said.

"We're coming soon," I told them. "We're going to come as quickly as we can. But it will probably be a few days for sure. Maybe even longer. Stuart is with us right now in the real world. We don't know where you are but we're going to find out."

"Can you make him tell?" asked the oldest girl.

I shook my head. "I don't know..." The High King took my hand. I turned and smiled at him. "But we're not alone. We have help. Supernatural help."

"Who?" asked the little girl who had been crying.

"The High King, Jesus."

"Jesus? Like in the Bible stories?" she asked.

"Exactly," said Blaze.

"So don't give up," I told the girls. "We will come for you. Have hope. You can believe in us and in the High King, too."

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Addie.

"That we're coming or that the High King is real?" I asked.

"Both. If you two show up, then I'll believe in Jesus, too. Then I'll believe that he sent you to find us and help us."

"We could never have found you girls without his help. He's wonderful. He's saved the two of us as well," I said.

"Someone kidnapped you too?" asked Addie.

"No...He saved us from different circumstances," said Blaze.

Addie crossed her arms over her chest. "Why did we go through this whole charade if it's no use and we can't get away?"

"This is the symbolic representation of what is going to happen," said the High King.

I repeated what he said, word for word.

Several of the children nodded but the youngest ones still looked scared and hopeless.

"We will come for you and it will be just like this. It will seem scary but we will be able to rescue you. Believe it," said the High King.

I copied his words again.

"It's time to go," said the High King.

I looked down at the children and tried to keep a smile fixed on my face. "We're coming for you," I told them again. "Come here." I called all the girls towards me that were willing and hugged them all tightly in a group hug. "Believe. Have hope. Never give up. We are coming."

The little girl, whose hand I'd held, pushed closer to me. She looked up into my face. "I believe you, Cara."

I hugged her tightly. The scene before us faded and the little girl disappeared from my arms. I blinked away the tears. I would go back for her. Somehow, Blaze and I would rescue them, with the help of the High King. When I could see again, I was back in the clearing by the woods, sitting by the bonfire once more. The High King sat beside me but Blaze was nowhere in sight.

Staring into the fire, I tried to come to terms with what I had just experienced. I was shaken up by what had happened to the girls but also by my own fears. The darkness in the dungeon had gotten to me. Why was I still afraid of the dark at my age? And Stuart! There must be such evil darkness inside him. Was there evil like that in me too? I worried about that sometimes. When I looked over at the High King, he met my gaze. It was reassuring to know that he knew what I was thinking but he was still here for me. He never thought that I was silly.

"Of course not, Cara. I see you as brave and mighty, and you have a heart for me."

I looked down. "The darkness in the dungeon was so frightening. I almost couldn't handle it." Then I looked back up at him.

The High King nodded, waiting for me to go on.

"I'm scared of the dark."

"Shadows are nothing to fear or even worry about. There is enough light for you to see by. Enough light to work by. You want what I want. Don't worry about the darkness. Just fix your eyes on me. I will lead you through."

"I want to love what you want."

"I know that is your heart and it pleases me."

"I'm scared sometimes, thinking that darkness is inside me. I haven't lived up to your perfection. I've thought dark thoughts sometimes. Is there darkness in me too?"

"There is _not_ darkness inside you. I am in you! Darkness surrounds you but don't let that bother you. Don't even give it another thought. Pay it no mind. Darkness is not a thing. It's just where the light isn't that bright yet."

"Thank you." I wanted to believe him but I still felt shaken.

He reached over and put his arm around my shoulders. "I am in you, Child. You are mine. You belong to me. You belong to the light. Not everything has been fully illuminated yet but you belong to the light. You are mine."

A flood of relief filled my heart. There wasn't darkness inside me. I had the spirit of the High King living in me. I felt much better; there was just one thing that was still bothering me a little. "I know it's silly but I'm still afraid of the dark."

He gave me a hug. "Not anymore."

"What?"

He pulled his arms from my shoulders and looked into my face. "You're not afraid of the dark anymore."

As he spoke those words over me, I felt the lingering fear that I had always had melting away. "I'm not?"

He smiled, with love on his face. "Cara, you are not afraid of the dark because you belong to the light."

At his words, my consciousness drifted towards waking.

# Chapter 17

I opened my eyes to find myself lying on the bed in the side room of the NICU. The lights were dim and I had a moment of panic when I couldn't understand what I was seeing. Then, with a little gasp of horror, I realized that someone else was in the bed too and I was basically lying inside her. As I sat up, a wave of pain surged out from my stitches. I gasped and tried to ease myself out of bed more slowly so that I wouldn't make it hurt worse. I felt relief when I was standing and away from the other woman who was sleeping in the bed.

My stitches were burning. I steadied myself and prepared for walking. Oh, it hurt! One painful step at a time, I walked towards the exit of the little room. I was relieved when I made it out into the main NICU area. Blaze was holding our baby.

"Cara! I just woke up a few minutes earlier so I came out to check on Hope. They had her out so I just had to come and hold her." He saw me just standing there. "Are you okay?"

"No. The stitches are really hurting."

"Here, let me get you the wheelchair." He passed the baby back to Dr. Lacy and then fetched the wheelchair from where we'd left it in the side room. He rolled it over to me and locked it. Carefully, I got in. Sitting down wasn't much better.

Abigail came over with a styrofoam cup of water and a tiny paper cup containing two pills. "Here, these will help."

I downed the pills, hoping for quick relief. Blaze wheeled me over to where Dr. Lacy and Abigail were standing.

I felt panicked because of what I'd seen in the dream but I didn't know what to do. "Where's Stuart?"

"I'm right here."

Dread leapt up my throat as I turned around in the wheelchair to see Stuart approaching us through the Neonatal unit.

"What?" His ice-cold blue eyes locked onto mine.

"Uhh... Nothing. I just hadn't seen you since the operation so I was wondering if you were still around."

"Yeah, I'm just collecting a few things I might want before I go. I love the freedom we have now. We can just take anything we want. I wouldn't want to go back."

The four of us didn't say anything. I looked away from his ice blue eyes.

I would go back if given a chance. Even if it meant that I wouldn't have made all that money, I still would rather have not slipped out of the world. I didn't like living as a specter and not being able to connect with people. I thought I wouldn't mind being alone since I used to prefer it but I didn't like _this_.

"What will you do now?" Dr. Lacy asked Stuart.

"Ah, I'll just keep on keeping on. Just the same old, pretty much."

His words sickened me. He was going to go right on doing the same thing. Only Blaze and I knew what that was.

Abigail looked at Hope in Dr. Lacy's arms. "I think I'll go back to being a nurse. Now that more dreamers are crossing, I think I'll be needed here."

"I was thinking along the same line," said Dr. Lacy. "Maybe I'll continue to live here at the hospital so that I can be ready to help those in need.

Abigail nodded. "Maybe I'll stay with you."

I wanted them to live with us but I didn't want to offer, with Stuart standing right there.

Stuart stretched languidly. "Well, I just came to say that I'm about to take off."

Abigail stuck out her hand. "It was nice meeting you."

He shook her hand but his eyes were focused on me. "There's just one more thing I need to collect before I go."

With that, he snatched the baby from Dr. Lacy and stepped away from the group.

Blaze rushed him. Stuart turned his body and shoved him away with one hand so that Blaze went sprawling past him onto the floor. "Uh, uh, if you try that again I'll kill her."

I looked at my tiny baby, held so precariously in his hand. Fear and dread rose up inside me so that I was frozen in place.

"What do you want?" asked Blaze, picking himself up.

"What do I want? Good question. Hmm...everyone step back."

I rolled the wheelchair back a little. My tiny baby wouldn't survive without special care. If he took her, she would die!

He backed away from us. When he was about fifteen feet from us, he turned and sprinted for the door.

"No!" I screamed. Blaze dashed after him. But Stuart reached the door of the NICU first. When Blaze slammed into the door, a fraction of a second later, it wouldn't open.

Blaze shoved the door again. "He must have jammed the door somehow."

Abigail pulled her phone from her pocket. "I'm calling Anthony. He must be just in the cafeteria."

In less than five minutes, Anthony pulled the door open. "There was a metal bar across the door to keep it from opening. He must have been planning this for a while."

"We have to find him!" I rolled past them in my wheelchair.

"Here, I'll push." Blaze grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. "He'll be trying to leave. We need to check all the doors."

"I'll check the side entrance first," said Anthony.

"I'll come with you," said his sister. The two took off at a jog.

Blaze ran down the hall, pushing me in the wheelchair. Dr. Lacy came along behind us, at a brisk walk. My fists were clenched in fear and frustration. How could the High King let this happen?

"We'll try the main doors, first," said Blaze. Running, he pushed me along a hall and then through the waiting room in the foyer. Dr. Lacy fell behind. There was Stuart standing just outside! Blaze pushed me out through the double doors onto the sidewalk.

"Give us our baby," shouted Blaze.

"Tell you what - I'll trade. The baby for Cara. Don't really care for a crying baby, plus this little runt would probably only die anyway."

I knew that I would be able to phase-shift away like the High King had taught us to do. But Stuart didn't know that I could do that. He didn't know that I could get away at any time. If I let him take me, I could find out where he had taken the children.

I looked at Blaze. "Let me do this." I prayed that he would remember about our phase-shifting but not give it away to Stuart. Blaze didn't say anything. I flipped up the footrests on the wheelchair so I could stand up. "Could you lock it?" I asked Blaze. He bent over to lock the wheelchair and, as he did so, Stuart hit him over the head with a crowbar. Blaze slumped to the pavement.

"No!" I looked at Blaze just lying there, crumpled up.

Stuart dropped the crowbar and grabbed me by the front of my shirt. "Now, of course, I will take you both."

"Please, please, leave the baby," I begged. "Hope needs special care. She can't even suck on her own yet so she needs to be tube fed... Please... I thought you didn't want to watch her die."

He shrugged and then laughed. "Ah, I wouldn't mind that."

A large truck drove up and stopped at the curb outside the main doors. "Here's our ride." He shoved Hope into my arms and opened the heavy back doors of the truck. Still holding onto my collar, he jumped into the truck. Then he turned and hoisted me in, pulling me up from behind. I cried out in pain from the motion on my stitches. Blaze still lay in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk.

Just then, Abigail and Anthony ran out the front doors. With one hand on me, Stuart pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped in a text, one-handed. The truck started to move. I was struggling to try to jump out but he was holding onto my shirt. Anthony chased the truck as it drove away. The heavy metal doors at the back were still open. Anthony jumped and was holding on but he was slipping.

"Here, take the baby," I screamed. I had to keep Hope away from this madman. Anthony grabbed the baby and fell away onto the road. Before Stuart closed the doors, I saw Anthony get up. He was holding Hope in his arms. She was okay. The heavy metal doors banged closed. Now we were in the dark. I stopped struggling. I closed my eyes and felt in my mind. Yes, I could phase-shift anytime I wanted to. I worked to calm my breathing. Maybe this was part of the High King's plan so that I could find the girls.

It was so dark I couldn't see anything. Stuart's hand was now clamped around my wrist.

"You'll have to get used to the dark," Stuart whispered. "That's all you're going to be seeing for a very long time." I couldn't stifle the sob that came out of me. Stuart laughed. "You'll be the perfect addition to my collection."

He pulled me over to where we could feel the smooth, metal surface of the side of the truck. I felt him sit down. I sat down too, leaving space between us.

_High King Jesus, please give me courage and keep me safe._ I prayed this over and over in my mind as the truck bumped along the road.

Stuart pulled out his cell phone. He let go of my wrist so he could use both hands. The light from the phone cast his face in an eerie glow.

I put my knees up to my chest and hugged my arms around myself. It hurt because of the stitches but it helped push back the fear as I prayed.

Every fiber of my being screamed to get away – to phase-shift away from him now. But then, he would find out about phase-shifting and he would be that much more dangerous, and I wouldn't find out where he was keeping the girls. I had promised that I would rescue them. I had to keep that promise, no matter how afraid I was.

I realized that I still had my phone. Maybe, if I found out where I was, I could get a message to Blaze. I should try to get him talking. Doesn't the bad guy always love talking and end up revealing his diabolical plans?

"Where is this truck taking us?"

Stuart laughed but it wasn't a happy sound. "You'll find out soon enough." He turned his phone's light on and shone it in my face. He laughed again. "I caught a good one this time." I looked away from him.

I was relieved when he went back to looking at his phone. The truck slowed down to a stop. His phone buzzed with a text. He stood up, grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. "Get up."

I cried out as the movement tugged at my stitches. Even though I had just taken the meds, all this movement was really hurting.

He opened the heavy metal doors and shoved me out onto the pavement below. I landed on my feet but cried out when pain flared in my abdomen again.

"Oh, you're a screamer, are you? That's okay. Because no one can hear you anymore." He closed the door to the truck and grabbed my arm.

I looked around, trying to get a fix on where I was. We'd been in the truck for less than an hour, I was pretty sure, so we couldn't have gone that far. Water. I saw a glimpse of the ocean behind his house. We were still near the ocean. Stuart pulled me towards a large house. It was almost as nice as the one that Blaze and I owned. The truck that had delivered us drove away. He pushed me up onto the front step. I wasn't resisting too much because I needed to see where the children were. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. Still holding onto me with one hand, he turned the key in the lock.

The house was light grey on the outside and looked like a two story castle, complete with white lattices on the arched windows and a light grey fence that completely enclosed the yard.

"Don't try anything or you will just make it worse for yourself."

I shuddered, feeling the cold of fear. He opened the door and shoved me in. I went sprawling and banged up against a wall that looked like it led into a kitchen. Thankfully, it hadn't hurt my stitches much. I looked around. The house was as nice inside as it was out. The interior was painted shades of light grey and white. There were many windows providing lots of natural light. The décor and furniture were all matching and looked very expensive.

"You like? I live like a king! When I got that email from Kingcade Worldcorp... well I've never been happier. They're paying me to do whatever I want. Now I can _live_ my dreams." He held up his hands, indicating everything around him. "And it's good you got rid of that little brat. I hate the sound of babies anyway."

Still I didn't say anything. I needed to know the address so I could tell the others where the children were.

"Hmm... Now you're the quiet one, aren't you? Maybe you're trying to figure out how to get away." He rushed towards me and pinned me against the wall. I was panicking, holding onto resolve by a thread. _Can't let him find out about phase-shifting._ It's like all my worst fears were coming true. I was trapped with no control over the situation – powerless. He reached into my pocket and took out my cell phone. Stepping back, he waved it in front of my face. "Can't let you be keeping this, can I?"

Despair welled up inside me. How could I tell Blaze where I was now? Plus I didn't even know where I was. Tears spilled from my eyes.

High King, please help me! I'm scared and I don't know what to do.

Instantly, a calm came over me. Somehow, he was going to turn this for good too.

"Well, time to get locked up with the others." He grabbed me by the arm and propelled me down the hall. "You know what the best thing about this house is?"

"What?" I asked, fear making my voice quaver.

"It's one of the few houses in Corpus Christi that has a basement." He pulled a door open. Beyond was darkness. He reached in and flipped a switch. Florescent lights came on in the basement, lighting it up as bright as the hospital. Well, at least it wasn't a dark dungeon.

"Get down the stairs," he demanded.

I held on to the banister, as I hurried down the stairs, my stitches jolting pain through me with every step. But I didn't want him to push me down the stairs so I didn't slow down. The basement floors and walls were made of concrete. There was shelving along the walls and a pool table near the center of the room.

"This way." He pulled me along to the end of the room. There was a brick wall with a metal door. He pulled the door open. Inside, there was no light at all. The smell that wafted out from the room made me gag. He shoved me in.

"I might make you some supper later. Probably I'll be back with some water for you at some point." He pushed the door closed so that the only light was from the crack under the door.

I held my breath as I heard his footfalls receding. Then the lights went off.

# Chapter 18

Though I could see nothing, I did not feel terror like I used to feel in the dark. The healing work that the High King had done in me held. I didn't fear the dark.

"Hello?" I whispered into the darkness.

"It's you, isn't it?" The voice belonged to one of the girls that we had rescued in the ice dream – to the oldest girl, Addie.

"Is that Addie?" I asked.

"Some rescue," the girl said. "You've just got yourself trapped down here with us. Where's the guy you were with when we saw you before?"

"Blaze, my husband. He's still back at the hospital." A small hand touched mine in the darkness. "Who's that touching me?"

"It's me, Lizzy," said a young voice.

"Hello, Lizzy. We are going to get rescued."

"You came back for us!" She threw her arms about my legs.

I gasped at the pain in my stitches caused by the movement.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Lizzy asked.

I took Lizzy's little hand. "Yeah, I just had to get stitches so my tummy is still sore."

"Why did you have to get stitches?"

"The doctor had to take my baby out early because I was sick. But my baby is okay now. She's with Blaze."

"So, what's your plan? How do we get out of here?" asked Addie.

"I don't know. If I knew where we were and if I had my phone, I could text Blaze... But Stuart took it away... We need to pray. Who wants to pray with me?" I asked.

"I will," said Lizzy. "If you believe in it, then so do I." A few other girls' voices spoke from the darkness saying that they would pray with me too.

"What about you, Addie? I thought you said that you would believe if I showed up here."

"But you didn't get us out! You're trapped in here with us!"

"Not for long." I squeezed Lizzy's hand. "I'll pray. All of you who want to, pray along in your hearts as you listen."

"Okay," said Lizzy.

I closed my eyes. "High King Jesus, you see the situation we're in now. We need your help so much. Please help me to rescue these girls and to stop Stuart from hurting anyone else. Please speak to us."

"I see him!" cried Lizzy.

I opened my eyes to see the High King in the cell with us. His face and white robe were glowing. His expression was serious.

"There you are!" I cried.

"What are you talking about? I don't see anything," Addie said.

He took my other hand. "Cara, you've been very brave. Thank you for remembering that Stuart must never find out about phase-shifting. I need you to keep being brave for a while longer."

The feeling of his hand holding mine made everything feel okay again. "Thank you for setting me free from the fear of the dark."

He put his arm around me in a side hug. I'd rarely seen him without that hint of a smile that he usually had in his eyes.

Addie interrupted, "I don't know what you're talking about. Are you still praying?"

"Yes," I whispered. The High King just held me. He didn't tell me what to do and that scared me a little.

I got tired from standing so I carefully sat down with my back against the wall. My stitches were just killing me. The High King sat down beside me and put his arm around me again. I wanted some more meds so badly. Lizzy's little hand felt good in my hand and having the High King just sitting beside me, with his arm around my shoulder, helped me feel calm. It felt good not to be alone.

"I like it when he's here," whispered Lizzy.

"Me too," I whispered back. "When we're with him, we're never in darkness."

Time passed. I don't know how long it was before the lights came back on. At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I jerked awake at the sound of the door being wrenched open. But I had not been dreaming. I scrambled to my feet. Florescent light flooded into our little room. It was Stuart. He threw in a couple of bottles of water.

"This is all you get for now." Then he closed the door and stomped back upstairs.

I picked up the two water bottles. "Are there ten of you?" I asked to the dark room.

"Yeah, and we've been thirsty a lot longer than you," said Addie.

"Of course. I was just trying to figure out a way to make it fair so everyone could have some."

"We don't need that kind of _help_." I felt hands fumbling against mine. She yanked one bottle out of my hands. I heard her turn off the plastic cap.

"Can I have some?" I felt little hands on me now. It was Lizzy.

"Of course." I turned off the cap. "Take two long sips then we'll pass it on, okay?"

"Okay."

I let Lizzy have a sip then I passed the water around to the other girls. Addie shared her water too. I didn't have any because I knew the girls hadn't had water for maybe as long as two days.

"It's empty," said Addie accusingly.

"The High King is going to help us," Lizzy said knowingly. "I saw him."

"You didn't see anything. You're just going crazy from being locked up down here in the dark too long."

"I did so see him!" Lizzy shouted. There were tears in her voice.

"I saw him too. You're right, Lizzy; he's going to help us."

The lights flipped back on.

"Now look what you've done by shouting," Addie hissed to Lizzy.

The door opened again. Stuart stood menacingly at the doorway. I stepped back. My stitches were burning but my fear made me almost forget about them. Lizzy hid behind me and the other girls tried to hide at the back of the room.

"Addie, come here," he said.

She cowered towards the back of the room. "Take _her_." She pointed to me. "She has red hair and is much prettier."

Stuart looked me up and down in a way that made me shudder. He grabbed my arm. "Fine. I'll take both of you. Addie, out."

With her head hanging down, Addie followed us out into the other room.

He slammed the door back into place and locked it. "You walk in front," he told Addie. Without protest, she went to walk in front of me up the stairs. I didn't fight either. _If I can just find out where we are and then escape, without Stuart finding out I can phase-shift..._

We reached the main floor and he propelled us into the living room. "Now, let's see what we can do for fun," said Stuart.

My insides went cold, except for the strip across my gut that burned with pain from the incision.

"I have an idea," said Addie. Even though she was just twelve, I noticed that she was only a little shorter than me. Stuart towered over both of us.

He leaned against the wall in the hallway looking down at her curiously. "What?"

"I was thinking about it when you had us locked up..." Addie pointed at me. "She thinks her husband is going to come save her. You can make it so that he'll never save her."

"I'm interested. How's that?"

"She said you took away her phone and, if she could only get it back, then she could tell him where we are. She would send him a text. What if you sent a text instead?"

"Interesting indeed! I'm starting to see the merits of your plan. So I could wait for him and then take him out by surprise or something." He stood away from the wall and moved closer to her.

"You could kill him and then you'd never have to worry about him again."

"I have to admit... I do love that idea... Maybe I can lure those two cousins of hers into the trap as well. If I can get rid of all three of them, then there will be no one to stand against me." He reached over and tousled Addie's hair. "I think I'm starting to appreciate you, after all."

Addie stood still looking down at the floor.

Horror rose up inside me. "No! You can't kill him!" How could Addie suggest such a thing?

He took my phone out of his pocket.

I had a moment of relief. He wouldn't be able to text Blaze. I'd _never_ tell him the password for my phone.

Stuart lunged towards me and pinned me against the wall, his hand clenched around the palm of my hand like a vice. Before I even realized what he was doing, he had pressed my fingertip to the button on my phone, using my fingerprint to turn it on.

"No!" The word came out more like a sob. I couldn't stop the flood of tears. _Blaze!_

"Hmm... Let's see... Oh, here's his contact info. Let's just send him a text, shall we?" He held the phone up so that I could see the message.

I'm okay but I don't know where I am. Will message when I do. Stand by.

He made an exaggerated motion of tapping the phone in slow motion. "I'm pressing send."

"No!" I grabbed for the phone. He swatted my hand away easily and then tapped send.

"Thanks for the idea, Addie. Now I have some work to do before I lure Cara's family into a death trap. I'll need to get things ready. So you'll have to wait. But we'll have lots of time together after I've gotten rid of them for good."

He pushed me back towards the stairs. I struggled this time; I wanted to get that phone. I had to warn Blaze!

"And don't think you'll be sleeping either. I'm not about to let you warn him. Addie, I'm charging you with keeping her awake. We can't risk her sleeping in case they dreamshare or however it was that Cara was in my dream before. If you let her sleep, you'll be in big trouble. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Addie walked solemnly back down the stairs.

But I was still resisting. I had to warn them!

Stuart hit me and sent me reeling. When I hit my head against the wall, I felt like throwing up. He grabbed my arm so hard I was sure he was making bruises. "Down you go." Addie was waiting, head down at the bottom of the stairs. I walked down because I didn't want to get thrown down the stairs. My head was throbbing.

Surely I would be able to sleep and then I could warn Blaze, Anthony or Abigail. Even if I could get through to Dr. Lacy, she could tell the others. Surely one of them would be sleeping. Surely the High King would help me reach them in my dreams.

We walked across the basement room. Stuart opened the door to the cell. Addie went in and then he shoved me in so that I tripped over one of the girls who was sitting on the floor.

"Don't worry, in my next message, I'll be sure to tell Blaze that I love him." Stuart snickered at my expression.

"No!" I pulled myself up and threw myself towards the door but it banged shut. I pushed against it but it was locked, immovable.

I sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. Stuart had left the light on in the main area. Light came in under the door so that I could make out the silhouette of the girls in the room but not their features.

Addie's shadow loomed over me. "Get up. Stuart said you're not allowed to sleep."

"Addie, if I sleep, I might be able to get in touch with someone who can help us. If I tell Blaze it's a trap, Stuart's texting him is actually one step closer to being reunited with him." Surely Addie would want to help us escape.

"You're _not_ sleeping."

She kicked my shin.

"Ouch! Don't!" I protested.

"That was just for starters. It's going to get worse if you don't get up right now."

"Maybe you should listen to her..." said Lizzy in a quiet voice. "She's mean."

"Now listen, Addie. I can get us help. Don't you want to be rescued?"

"I said, _get up_!" She threw herself on top of me and started hitting me. My stitches hurt like they were getting ripped open. I wondered if they were. The area was almost certainly infected by now with the condition this room was in.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you helping him?!" I cried as the youth fell on top of me, fists flailing. Ordinarily, I'd just push the kid off but my stitches were killing me. I wanted to phase-shift out more than ever. I pushed against Addie but I couldn't manage to push her away.

"Why did you even come!?" Addie screeched.

I could hear tears in the girl's voice. "I'm sorry, Addie. I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you."

"You should have stayed away." The girl picked herself up and stood over me.

"Don't you want to get away?" I asked.

"Shut up!" Addie kicked me again, the kick landing on my shin. "Don't you dare sleep."

"I'm _not_ sleeping."

"Stand up."

"I can't. I'm in too much pain. I think my stitches have ripped open." I felt the line of stitches above my pelvis and my hand came away wet. "I'm bleeding." Addie was crying more. My heart went out to the girl. Addie must be so mixed up inside because of what had happened to her. "The High King can help you..."

"I don't want to hear about it!" Addie screamed. Then she stormed away towards the back of the cell.

I felt relief at her departure but also pain and fear. _I need help..._ _How long can I hold out without phase-shifting back to Blaze?_ But I couldn't phase-shift. Addie would tell Stuart for sure. It was then that I remembered the verse that I had read in the Bible.

You do not have because you do not ask.

High King! I really need you. I think I'm bleeding and I need to get a message to Blaze!

I touched my shirt and felt wetness there. I looked at my hand but couldn't see anything other than its silhouette in the darkness.

I heard someone approaching. "I'm sorry I didn't help you and I left you." Lizzy slumped down against the wall beside me. "I didn't know what to do. Addie's way bigger than me... I'm scared of her." Lizzy was crying.

I put my arm around her shoulder. "That's okay, Lizzy. You didn't do anything wrong. And it's going to be okay." I wished I could lie down on my back. It would probably feel better because there would be less pressure on the stitches, but I was scared to move, with the mood Addie was in.

"Oh look! He's here again!" Lizzy cried.

Then I saw the High King standing before me. "You're here!" I wanted to throw myself into his arms but pain prevented me from any sudden movements. He came and sat down on the other side of me.

"How can I tell Blaze where I am?"

"Just keep holding on. Stuart must not learn that he could phase-shift."

"I won't let him know. I'm holding on, Jesus."

He put his arm around me and I leaned into him.

"My good and faithful servant - I love you, Cara." Tears were in his eyes. "I feel your suffering. I'm sorry you have to go through this. If there were another way, I would do it. I hate suffering."

Just hearing him say that made me feel better. Jesus knew about suffering. As a human, he was beaten and then tortured to death on a cross to save us.

"I'm willing to follow in your footsteps," I whispered.

I heard Lizzy's quiet snoring. She had fallen asleep with her head leaning on my shoulder.

"You'd better not be sleeping over there," called Addie.

"I'm not," I called back. "I don't think I can with these stitches ripped open. I'm in a lot of pain."

"Well, that's what you get for not listening."

I reminded myself that the spiteful little thing was traumatized, hurting and mixed up inside. Forgiveness is what she needed, no matter how her attitude and actions made me feel. _I forgive you,_ I said inside. Saying it helped me to feel it.

I felt warm, sitting next to the High King with his arm around my shoulder. So many questions always swirled in my mind but, when I was actually with him, most of the questions melted away like they didn't matter, and I just rested in his presence.

Jesus squeezed me gently. "I am with you always."

"Thank you." I knew his spirit was always in my heart. But it was so wonderful to be able to feel him with me like this.

Despite what I had thought about not being able to sleep, in another moment, my world went black. I don't know if it was because I was losing blood or because of the High King's influence, but a kind of sleep did come and I escaped the cell for at least a moment. When I opened my eyes again, I was on the beach at nighttime.

# Chapter 19

I knew it was a dream this time but still I felt urgency and danger. I had to warn them!

"Blaze?" I called. "Is anyone here?" I looked around the sandy expanse. A crescent moon hung in the dark sky and the water looked black beneath it.

_Fight, Cara the dream warrior!_ I felt the sword of the High King at my hip. I looked around but didn't see anyone or anything that I needed to fight. But I pulled the sword out anyway. The blade glowed blue in the darkness. I walked up towards our house.

The house was dark, with no lights on inside at all. When I was halfway across the sand that separated me from my house, I shouted, "Blaze? Are you home?"

I continued rushing towards the house. Even though I knew the High King was with me always, at times like this I didn't really feel it. "I need you!" I shouted into the air.

When I got to the house, the door was locked. I pulled at the handle but it didn't give. Searching my pockets one handed, while I held the sword in the other, I found they were empty. No key. Then I heard a sound on the sand behind me.

I looked back towards the ocean. There on the beach was Addie walking slowly towards the black water. She must have fallen asleep too! Stuart would be so angry if he found us like this.

The girl walked slowly, trancelike, towards the black water of the ocean. I had a really bad feeling, like I shouldn't let her go in.

"Addie!" I called. "Addie!" But she didn't stop or turn to see who was calling to her. She just kept walking slowly towards the water. She was about four yards away from the waves that were washing up on the shore but I was about 20 yards away from her.

"Addie!" I sheathed the High King's sword and raced across the sand separating us. She reached the water before I reached her. She was calf-deep in the brine before I grabbed her arm.

"Addie! What are you doing?!"

"There's nothing else I can do," she muttered.

"Sure there is. Addie, come back out of the water. It's too dark." I grabbed her but I couldn't pull her back because I wasn't much bigger than she was. "Addie, listen! This isn't safe!" I pulled her hard which made her hesitate in her stride but still she stepped deeper into the ocean.

Now she was almost waist deep. I felt something brush past my ankle. I screamed. That got her attention.

"What?"

"Something touched me under the water!" I cried.

Her eyes went wide with fear. "What am I doing here?" she asked.

"I don't know. Let's get out of here," I said, heading towards the shore, hoping that she would follow.

"Yeah. Do you think it was a shark?" She turned and started slogging through the water towards the beach. Something brushed past my knee and I cried out again. Then Addie screamed. I looked back. She had stopped and her eyes were wide in fear, her mouth open in an expression of pain and horror. I lunged back and grabbed her. Pulling on her, I tried to get to the beach. She was trying too.

Had a sharked grabbed onto her? I pulled her frantically onto the beach. She fell down on the sand. Clamped onto her calf was some kind of sea serpent. It released her and slithered back into the water.

Addie was looking wide-eyed back into the sea. "What was that?"

"I don't know. Can you stand?"

She looked at me without speaking. I stood up and pulled her to her feet. She stood on her good leg; the other one had a pretty nasty-looking bite.

"What did that thing want from me?"

"It looked like it wanted to devour you."

Addie gazed out over the water again, a look of horror on her face. I looked back at the ocean too. There, with its head above the water, was the sea serpent with its red eyes, huge teeth and black scales.

"She is mine!" it hissed. "You cannot free her. She is mine!"

"Wrong! I have freed her and I will free her!" I drew the High King's sword and held it out towards the dragon.

The blade glowed bright blue, pushing back the darkness. The thing hissed, spitting something foul in our direction. It stung my eyes and sizzled on the blade. Addie cried out, clutching her wounded leg. I wiped my face. When I looked back at the ocean, the thing was gone. I put my arm around Addie, under her arm so that I could help her walk. I considered putting the sword away. It would be easier to help the girl if I did, but what if the thing came back? I kept the sword in my hand as I helped Addie limp, step by painful step, away from the ocean toward my house. I looked back every few moments but I didn't see the serpent.

Suddenly, I felt a tremor in the sand beneath my feet. I looked around at the sand. Another tremor. The beast was beneath us.

"Run, Addie! We've got to run!" She didn't seem to understand the significance of the shifting sand beneath our feet. "It's under us!" I shouted.

She was able to pick up the pace, her pain forgotten as we raced towards my back porch. We reached the steps and ran up onto my deck. It was made of concrete. At least the thing wouldn't be able to get under us here. Addie limped to the door of my house but it was still locked.

"We can't get in!" She slumped down onto the concrete beside the door. "We can't get away. The black dragon will kill us."

Her words brought the past to my mind. Black dragon. I remembered how the High King had already defeated a black dragon. I didn't have anything to fear. I turned back towards the beach, sword held ready to defend. The black serpent rose up out of the sand.

"She is mine. Throw the girl to me."

"Never!" I held up the sword of the High King.

"You cannot protect her. She belongs to me!" it hissed, feigning a strike but not getting within range of the High King's sword.

Addie was moaning loudly behind me. Then I heard movement. She came to stand beside me.

"Get back!" I cried.

"He's right. There's nothing I can do. He's going to have me one way or another." She stepped trancelike down the stairs.

"Noooo!!"

All at once, Blaze was there with me on our porch. He saw the girl about to give herself to the monster. He leapt in front of her.

"No!" When he was right in front of her, she saw him and stopped walking. "I know it seems like you have no choice because you think it owns you, but it doesn't have to own you anymore. I promise you. I used to think everything was hopeless but then I believed in the High King and he set me free."

"The High King wouldn't want me. No one would. I'm no good. Just ask Cara."

"It doesn't matter what you've done. The High King will forgive you if you're truly sorry," said Blaze.

Tears filled Addie's eyes. "Really?"

"Yes. Do you know how I got this scar?"

She focused on his face under the light of the moon, looking at the faint scar that traced diagonally across his face when he was in the dream world.

"No. How?"

He motioned to me. "Cara slashed me with the High King's sword."

"What?!" Addie looked at me and then back at Blaze.

"I used to be an enemy to the High King and I tried to kill Cara and all the children that she was protecting."

" _You_ would do that?"

"Yes, I did, before I gave myself to the High King. I'm telling you - you can switch allegiances just like I did. Do you really want to let the evil have you or do you want to give yourself to the High King instead?"

She started sobbing. "I don't want it to eat me. I want to believe in the High King but I don't know how."

And suddenly, beside Blaze, was the High King. He didn't even look at the serpent. He didn't have to; he'd already won. The black serpent writhed and dove beneath the sand. The beach undulated as the creature made a hasty retreat to the sea.

The High King took Addie's hands. Then she saw him. She was crying so much that she couldn't speak. The High King pulled her into a gentle embrace.

Blaze came to me and put his arms around me. "Cara, I was so worried..." My attention turned to Blaze as I rested in his embrace. I had something I needed to tell him...

"Blaze! It's a trap! Stuart is planning to kill you and whoever else tries to rescue me. I didn't send you any text. That was Stuart!"

"Are you okay, Cara?"

"Did you hear what I told you?"

"Yes, a trap, I heard. I'm going to come for you, Cara. As soon as I find out where you are. At first, I was trying to find you using the name of the moving company that was on the side of the truck. I went to their office but I couldn't find out the route that truck had taken yesterday. It's a small operation so maybe they don't keep track of things like that. But then, I had the idea to contact Jeffrey by using his Twitter handle that he gave us during the Christmas dream. He told me it won't be long now. We're at our house and I'm actually sitting with my head down on your desk while Jeffery works on your computer. I'm surprised that I was able to fall asleep so quickly. But, obviously, this was a God thing that I should see you now. But, Cara, are you okay?"

"I think my stitches may have ripped open. There was a lot of pain. I'm not sure if I'm sleeping now or if I'm unconscious."

Blaze balled his hands into fists. "I'm going to kill him!"

"It was me. I hurt Cara." Addie was standing there, holding hands with the High King, looking down.

"Addie was damaged by what happened to her," the High King explained. "But now I'm going to help her."

"But what about Cara?!" demanded Blaze.

"Cara is my precious child. And I love her more than you do."

Blaze dialed down the aggression. He looked down and took a deep breath before looking back up at the High King. "But what will happen to her? Will she be okay?"

The High King looked grave. His expression made me feel worried. Was I going to die?

"But I want to live and raise my baby!"

"Why did you let Stuart take her?!" shouted Blaze.

"So that you could save the children."

"But I don't want to trade her life for that!" Blaze shouted.

"I traded my life for yours," the High King said quietly.

I nodded. "I'm willing. I will do what you want me to, Jesus."

The High King let go of Addie and put his hands on Blaze's shoulders. "Whatever happens, I am holding Cara in the palm of my hand." He showed Blaze the palm of his hand. "And close to my heart." He curled his fingers closed loosely and brought his hand to his heart. "Whatever happens to her, she is safe with me."

"Do you mean her soul, or whatever?"

"I mean in every way that matters. Cara is safe."

I could see in his face that Blaze wasn't satisfied. But I was. I hugged the High King and Blaze. Then I reached back and pulled Addie into the circle too. Everything was going to be all right, no matter what happened. The High King put his strong arms around all of us as everything faded.

I came to with a fire burning in my gut. I opened my eyes to the dark of the basement cell. The only light was from the crack under the door. I shifted and moaned as the pain intensified. How long had I been out? What had Stuart been doing? At least I had been able to warn Blaze, even though I couldn't be specific.

"Are you okay?" It was the little one, Lizzy. She was sitting beside me and had noticed that I was awake.

"I don't think so. I'm in pain because of my stitches."

"Addie's bad," she whispered.

I found her hand in the darkness. "Jesus can forgive anyone and we have to, too, okay?"

"But she hurt you," Lizzy whispered. I could tell that she was crying.

"I found Blaze in my dream. He's coming for us," I whispered.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

I heard movement. Someone was coming from the back of the cell. I could see a little now that my eyes had adjusted to the small amount of light that was coming through under the door. Addie was approaching. She knelt down in front of where I was sitting. She didn't say anything.

"What do you want?" Lizzy asked, sharply.

"You were right...And I'm sorry."

"Cara's hurt bad," Lizzy whispered fiercely. "You hurt her!"

"I know... I'm sorry."

"I forgive you," I said.

Addie started crying. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me from the sea serpent and for making me believe in the High King."

I reached out and touched her arm. "I'm glad you've given yourself to the High King now."

I heard the sound of heavy footfalls on the stairs. Quickly, I struggled to my feet. The door was wrenched open. It was Stuart.

# Chapter 20

"Oh, good. You're awake. Lucky for both of you." He looked pointedly at Addie, who was standing beside me. She looked down at her feet. Stuart laughed. "My plan is in motion. Pretending to be you, I texted your dear hubby and told him that I'm being held in a camper in the garage. I gave him the address of the house across the street. They're out of town and, when there's an explosion in their garage and then a fire, my house won't be affected. The bait is laid out... Do you know - it's remarkably easy to steal grenades from a military compound when you're invisible? I had already stocked up before we met, just in case, because you never know when you're going to need grenades. Oh, and I got guns too, but I'm not sure how many friends Blaze might be bringing. With the grenades, I'll get them all at once, by surprise. And if the initial blast doesn't finish them off, the fire will."

"No! Please..." I begged. _Blaze wouldn't fall for the trap, would he?_

Stuart laughed. "Well, I'm off to finish setting up my trap. Oh, and don't worry. I ended the text with, 'I love you, Blaze.'" He laughed again.

Tears of frustration sprang from my eyes. Stuart slammed the door shut and ran up the stairs. This time he flicked off the hall light, leaving us in complete darkness. The pain in my gut burned fiercely and I couldn't stop crying _. Please, Jesus, please may Blaze and Anthony be okay!_

Addie spoke quietly. "I'm sorry."

I reached for her in the dark and pulled her into a careful hug, so I wouldn't aggravate what was left of my stitches. "Jesus forgives you and I forgive you too." Addie cried in my arms.

Liz also hugged me in the darkness. "I'm scared."

I didn't know what the other children were doing but I spoke loud enough that they all would hear me. "I know the High King is going to take care of us. When I was asleep just now, I talked with Blaze, and he's coming for us. He was just about to find out where we are. I know we will be rescued."

"Really?" whispered Addie.

"Really." _Please, Jesus, please don't let Blaze die._

For us, there was nothing to do now but wait. In a few minutes, feeling nauseated and unsteady from the pain, I sat back down. The fire in my abdomen was intense and I also struggled with feeling trapped, powerless and helplessness. I could still phase-shift but I didn't know where Blaze was now. And I still had to be certain that I never let Stuart find out about phase-shifting. _Please don't let Blaze or my cousins get hurt!_

I wasn't sure how much time had passed when the lights in the basement flicked on again and shone in through the crack under the door. I heard footsteps on the stairs. I struggled to stand up. The door opened. I looked at the man silhouetted in the doorway. It took my eyes a moment to adjust. Then I saw the dark hair.

"Blaze!" I cried. But I didn't rush to him because I was in too much pain.

He looked down at my shirt. "You're bleeding." Concern turned to anger in his face. "I'll kill him."

"I think the stitches ripped open. Let's just get out of here." I shuffled towards Blaze. "Let's hurry. Stuart's crazy. He has guns and grenades." I turned back to the children. "Come on. We're getting away." Most of the children didn't wait for me but rushed past us and up the stairs. "Wait!" I called. But they didn't. Only Addie and Liz trailed along behind me.

Blaze put his hand out to steady me. "It's okay. Anthony's keeping a lookout up there. He'll get them to the van."

"A van? Who's driving it?" I held onto Blaze's arm as I tried to hurry across the basement.

"Michael. He drove us here and then got the door open for us." Blaze helped me up the stairs, one step at a time. I wanted to go faster but it felt like my insides were going to fall out. When we reached the landing, Blaze gestured to the front door. "The van's parked in the driveway." We reached the door and exited onto the porch. There was a black van with no windows parked outside.

When we got to the back of the van, I saw the children already huddled inside. We had almost gotten away. But how would we be able to protect the children? What if Stuart found out where we lived? How could we stay safe from him? How would we be able to make sure that he didn't get any of the children again... Or get other dreamers as they crossed over? And what if he somehow found out about phase-shifting?

"Addie and Liz, get in the van," I said.

Blaze helped Lizzy hop up into the back of the van.

A popping explosion was followed by a scream. Panic surged inside me as I looked across the street. Black smoke billowed from a garage. Out the side door came a man on fire, screaming.

Stuart was missing an arm and his face... One of the grenades must have gone off while he was setting his trap. I looked away and closed my eyes. It was too horrible. I was glad the children were already in the van and couldn't see it. Finally, the screaming stopped. I looked back. Stuart was facedown on the ground, unmoving, smoldering. I turned away from the sight and found Blaze, Anthony and Addie watching too.

"Jesus saved us," said Addie.

"Get into the van," I said quietly. Addie got in without another word.

Anthony and Blaze helped me in and closed the door. There were no windows. One small light overhead lit the interior of the van.

"What happened?" asked Lizzy.

After everything that had happened to them, they had a right to know. "Stuart is dead." I told the children. They looked relieved. And so was I.

Liz nodded, knowingly. "That's what happens to the bad guys. Now he'll never be able to hurt anyone ever again."

I put my hand on her shoulder as the van pulled out into traffic. Then I looked at my husband.

"Blaze, is our baby all right?"

"She's doing well. Dr. Lacy and Abigail are taking care of her."

"How did you find us?" I asked.

When Jeffery came over to our place, he suggested trying to track you by using your phone. I didn't have access to that app for your phone but I knew you had it turned on, because that's how you always found it when it was lost in our house. I don't know why I didn't think of using that... I was just so panicked when I saw you being taken away in that truck. Oh, Cara." He stroked my shoulder and back. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get you back to the hospital and Dr. Lacy's going to fix you up."

Agony flared in my gut and I winced. "Keep talking, Blaze. It's distracting me from the pain... Tell me how Jeff found us."

"He was able to change the password on your laptop so that we could access the app from your computer. The app shows exactly where the phone is, if it's turned on. And, of course it was, because Stuart had just contacted us."

"I'm so glad you found us. I love you, Blaze." I tried to hold still to keep the pain at bay.

"I love you, too." The van stopped and his phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and looked." It's a message from Michael. We're at the hospital now."

Anthony opened the back door and jumped out. I crawled over to the back of the van and sat on the edge. Anthony extended his arm so that I could climb down as gently as possible. I clamped my mouth closed to keep from crying out as I slid down and stood on the pavement. Abigail was waiting for us. She had a cot with her. They brought the cot to me, lowered it a little and helped me on.

"I'm so glad to see you, Cousin. Here, take this." Abigail gave me a small white paper cup with two pills in it and a white styrofoam cup of water.

Gratefully, I downed the pills and chased them with the water. Then I lay down. That brought me some relief.

"It's going to be all right. Dr. Lacy has been watching over Hope. But we'll let Anthony and Blaze watch her while we get you fixed up," said Abigail.

"Thank you."

The children came out of the van and Anthony made sure they all followed us into the building. I looked at Blaze, Anthony, Abigail and the children. I came to this hospital expecting to get one new family member but I had gotten much more than that. Blaze walked along beside the cot, holding my hand, as Abigail pushed me down the hall. It was going to be okay now - better than okay. Hope was the perfect name for our baby. My heart turned to the High King.

Thank you for saving us! Thank you for giving us each other. Thank you for giving us hope.

# Chapter 21

Blaze was sitting on the sofa with our tiny baby, Hope, asleep in his arms. Now that she was finally asleep, I could have some quiet time.

We had been back in our own house for a week now, and it had been over a month since I had delivered Hope at the hospital. Anthony, Abigail and the children were all living with us. Dr. Lacy had decided to remain at the hospital for now.

I sat down in one of our big chairs. It was angled so that I could look out the window. I took my Bible from the end table and opened it on my lap. I knew that I needed to take the High King's word more seriously. It was his words that had the power to save us! The Bible fell open to Galatians chapter 6. My eyes were drawn to verses 7 and 8.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

"What are you reading?" Addie came into the room.

"It's the Bible - God's word to us." I was grateful that our baby was a sound sleeper so I didn't have to worry about her waking up by talking.

"God wrote it?" asked Addie.

"Yes, through people. He told the people what to write down."

"What does it say?"

I pointed to the verse that I'd just been reading.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Addie looked thoughtful. Then she looked into my face. "Destruction is what happened to Stuart."

I nodded somberly. That's what I'd just been thinking too. "Yeah."

"So... The bad guys are all going to get it in the end? Like Liz said?"

"Yes. All the bad guys are going to get it in the end."

"And how do you know if you're a bad guy?"

"Whoever's not on Team Jesus is a bad guy. Whoever rejects and scorns the one who created them and gives them life – those are the people who will face judgment."

"That's kind of what I thought." She crossed her arms and looked out the window at the ocean. "Deep down, I'm a bad guy, too."

Blaze stood up from where he'd been sitting on the couch and came over to stand in front of us, with the window behind him. He was cradling Hope in his arms. "No, you're not. Not anymore. You believed in him, remember? When we were together on the beach."

"Yeah, I know but... I think I've been too bad."

Blaze shook his head. "That's impossible. No one's too bad for Jesus to save them. He has saved me and he's fixing me from the inside. It takes a while but he's changing me so that I don't act like a bad guy anymore."

Addie looked over at Blaze. "Do you think he'd fix me too?"

"I know he would."

"Oh, will you look at that." Addie pointed past Blaze out onto the beach. A man with dark hair and a flowing white robe stood on the sand. He was glowing with a soft white light. "That's him, isn't it?"

Blaze turned to look.

"Yes," I said.

"Can I go out to him?"

Blaze turned back to her. "Of course!"

Addie looked at me with fear in her eyes. "Come with me?"

I nodded and walked to the sliding door that led out onto the deck. Sliding the door open, I walked through and waited for her to walk out too. I looked back at Blaze. He was still standing at the window.

"Come with us too. I need you, Blaze."

He walked outside to join us and then looked at Addie. "Is it okay?"

"Sure."

Blaze walked beside me, holding Hope up to his chest so she wouldn't get the wind in her face as we crossed the sand to meet the High King.

The High King was standing on the beach against a backdrop of grey stormy clouds and the ocean, which mirrored the sky. The wind whipped up the waves and blew his hair. He was watching us come.

When we were halfway there, I noticed that Addie was crying. Seeing her tears made me cry too. She ran to him and threw herself down on the sand at his feet. I didn't know if I should hang back or approach, but Blaze kept walking so I did too. The High King leaned down and gathered Addie up in his arms. He hugged her while she wept. We were close enough to hear what they were saying now.

"You saved us... even me."

"Of course. You are my child. I love you more than words can express."

She cried into his robe. "But after I betrayed everyone, I don't deserve to be loved."

"I forgive you, Addie. Every sin you've ever committed has been forgiven. And now, I put them out of my mind forever and forget them."

"Can you really do that?" She looked at him puzzled. "Really forget them?"

"Of course. I can do anything."

"So I'm not one of the bad guys?"

"No. You're my daughter."

Addie motioned for us to come closer. "I'm not one of the bad guys anymore."

I looked back towards the house at the sound of someone shouting, "Hey!" It was Anthony. He was running across the sand, closing the distance between us. Abigail and the other children were close behind him.

They reached us and Anthony fell to his knees at the feet of the High King.

"You're here!"

The High King reached down and pulled Anthony to his feet. "I am always with you."

Across the beach from the other direction came someone I didn't recognize at first. Then recognition dawned. He didn't have the long pointy ears now. When I had returned home, Jeffery had been gone. After helping Blaze locate me, he'd told Blaze that he had other business to attend to. But now he was back! Hopefully to stay.

Jeffery had eyes only for the High King. He knelt before our Lord. "I am here to serve you. Anything you want."

"You are my good and faithful servant." The High King put his hand on Jeffery's shoulder. Then he put his hand down to him. When Jeffery gave him his hand, the High King pulled him to his feet.

"I have gathered you all together now, my dreamers. There will be more work for all of you to do. But, for today, we can rejoice." He pulled us into a group hug. We all pushed in towards him.

It felt so good to be with the High King and also with my family. For that's what these people were to me now. Family.

We are the dreamers and this is our story.

# Note from the Author

Marriage Problems

My husband Leo and I were married in 1996, a little over twenty years ago. We went into the marriage ready to do whatever it would take to make a good union. True love wasn't enough, we knew, loyalty and hard work would also be required. I felt adequately prepared for marriage.

Sadly, the first seven years of our marriage ranged from not-that-great to hell-on-earth. We didn't even know why, really. Everything was messed up. We just couldn't get along or treat each other kindly, even though we wanted to.

Then we found out what was wrong. We were broken inside, as individuals. When we learned how to really listen to God, He started fixing us inside. Once our hearts began to heal, then we could work on fixing the marriage. Now we have a marriage that ranges from not-that-great to bliss! We are closer in heart and in purpose – growing into a true unity. We're falling more and more in love all the time! I have never loved Leo more than I do now.

In my short book, PLEASE FIX MY MARRIAGE, I explain how hearing God fixed my marriage. Find PLEASE FIX MY MARRIAGE at your favorite online bookseller.

Domestic Violence

If you are facing an abusive situation where you and/or your children are currently in danger of physical violence, please get to a safe place as soon as possible! Get away while the abuser is at work. Take the children and all your ID/ important documentation and go somewhere safe, like to a women's shelter. You can look online to find one in your community.

If you are currently in an abusive situation where you feel the level and frequency of the incidences don't warrant leaving immediately, Dr. Phil's book, RELATIONSHIP RESCUE, may be helpful to you.

And, most importantly, tell someone about what's going on. It's NOT your fault and you don't have to deal with this alone! Tell your parents, a trusted Christian friend and your pastor.

Arrange to have a trusted person whom you can call in case of emergency. Plan to have the person ask you questions that you can answer with yes or no. Have a pre-arranged code word or phrase that, if you say it, they know that it's a code for _I'm in trouble!_ Then the person will know to show up to give you a ride and bring help.

If you feel like you have no one locally that you can talk to about this situation, you could call the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or 1-800-787-3224.

**For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~** Jeremiah 29:11

If you are the abuser in a relationship, there is hope for you too. God made you. He can fix you. You need to tell people what's going on so that you can get help, prayer and accountability. Tell your Bible study group, Christian mentor and your pastor. I highly recommend the internationally-attended, non-denominational Set Free retreat, hosted by Southland Church.

**Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.** ~James 5:16

# About Author Celesta Thiessen

I live in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada with my husband and two young daughters. We're homeschoolers and entrepreneurs. My husband and I make iOS apps and I write stories. Being a writer is magical - spinning nothing into stories - stories that can light the way to a different world.

Join my readers club to get free books and other special offers!

Other Books by Celesta Thiessen

Prince Jade

Jade, the fourteen-year-old, second-born prince of Kedrin, is full of unnatural powers and an uncontrollable darkness. He is ready to seize the throne. But when Jade's life takes an unexpected turn, he meets Marigold, a simple farm girl who embodies everything that he is not. Gradually, for the first time, he begins to want the light.

Like a Shakespearian fairy tale, this romantic fantasy adventure chronicles Jade's journey as he finds love...and love finds him.

Dragon Warrior and the Princess

He's a volatile, genetically-engineered slave, longing for peace. She's a spoiled princess who wants to reclaim the throne and save the world. He must help her.

Princess Aurelia is left for dead on the frozen planet of Quisquiliae. There she meets a dragon warrior...the last of his kind. The Dragon Warrior, who had also been left for dead, thought war and servitude were behind him. But his short-lived peace is shattered when the fiery young woman revives and starts telling him what to do. He submits himself to her, as is his duty as a slave to the royal family but, deep down, he blames her for everything he is and all he has been forced to commit. After the Dragon Warrior saves Aurelia's life, the princess is duty-bound to return the favor. Her course of action shocks the Dragon Warrior as he tries to come to terms with his true nature and identity.

The Dragon Warrior and the princess walk the path of honor together but it will take a confrontation with space pirates, a supply run for weapons, a star ship battle, a ground skirmish, a rescue mission and, ultimately, an encounter with evil itself before they find out where this journey will end.

An edge-of-your-seat science fiction adventure filled with innocent, romantic longing, The Dragon Warrior and the Princess breaks from the typical military space opera mold. Shaped by the theme of mercy verses justice, where shades of grey polarize and resolve into right and wrong, The Dragon Warrior and the Princess displays the power of good working through its heroes to give the world hope and a future.

If you liked **THE DREAMERS** please write a short review wherever you bought this ebook. Thanks for reading!

### THE DRAGON WARRIOR AND THE PRINCESS

# 

# Chapter 1 – Things Would Be Different

Aurelia

She awoke with a start, the smell of decay heavy in the air. Where was she? Aurelia strained her eyes but saw only darkness. She lay on and amongst objects, hard and soft, and there was a wetness - a terrible, foul wetness. Then it all came flooding back to her.

Aurelia had found their grand estate deserted. She had been in the gardens for a long time that afternoon. When she had returned to the palace the vast emptiness of the place had bewildered her. She had wondered at the absence of guards, servants, and family. Now she knew. Their servants and guards had betrayed them. And her family - dead.

It had been Paiden, her father's political rival. The man had no honor! She clenched her fists as she recalled what had happened over the past few months. First, he had instigated the decimation of the Layaz Dragon Warriors. She had protested, of course, but the people were afraid...and rightly so. Her father had capitulated. So unlike him...but he had been getting old. Over 7000 of their specialty warriors were killed – all of them. It had been genocide. Not a single Layaz Warrior remained. That move had cleared the way for Paiden to seize control of the world.

Aurelia flung objects away and sat up, pulling her knees to her chest as she realized where she was. The waste disposal ship. This was meant to be her death sentence.

Suddenly, a grinding sound echoed around her. _The compacting cycle!_ She stood but the slow crushing never came. Instead, garbage shifted beneath her. She was falling! Aurelia saw daylight, felt ice-cold air whipping past her. The waste was being emptied onto the planet's surface! She braced herself for impact but unconsciousness took her before she reached the ground.

Layaz Warrior

He shielded his unnatural blue eyes with his hand as he looked up into the white sky. The waste disposal ship had arrived. Garbage fell from the ship onto the surface of the planet. He would go and see; he would search through the refuse as he had done each time a ship had come. Perhaps there would be more of his kin. Maybe some of them would survive, as he had. Even if there were only more corpses...he had to know. The longing he had always carried with him for family...now that he was alone, it was stronger than ever before.

The Layaz Warrior set off at a fast run through the rubbish and the snow. Freezing wind flowed through hair as white as the snow but he did not feel cold. Though he wore little more than rags, the temperature felt good to him. His feet never slipped on the ice, and his long strides carried him quickly over the miles to where the ship had deposited its load.

The pile was as yet untouched by ice or snow. He saw many items that could prove useful. Then he saw a body. He tugged it free. The man was facedown. There was dried blood on his clothing. _No spark of life in him._ Besides, the man had brown hair. This man was no kin to him. All the Layaz had white hair. It was just a corpse, disposed of on the waste world of Quisquiliae.

Then he saw a woman's hand. He reached out. The hand was still warm! _She's alive!_ Carefully, he pushed objects away and pulled her free of the garbage. She wore a pink silk dress stained with dried, brown-red blood. As he rolled the woman onto her back, her golden hair fell away from her face. His breath caught in his throat. _No. It couldn't be._ He turned the dead man over and looked into the blood-splattered face of his king.

Carefully, he knelt beside the woman. It was death to touch the princess unbidden, that was the law... but surely he was required to save her? As a slave-soldier to the royal family, he had to honor and obey them. She would ask for his help if she could – wouldn't she? The princess would freeze to death if he left her exposed to the elements of this harsh planet. He observed her pale face as snow slowly began to fall. But why was she here? What had happened on their home world? He stood and looked down at her. But did it matter? He was supposed to be dead. Didn't his death sentence free him from servitude? _I'm not a slave any longer...am I?_ _I could walk away._

Then, reaching a decision, he crouched and scooped her up into his arms. _No._ He had to follow his own code of honor. It was the only way he could live with himself, the only way to combat the ever-present knowledge of what he was and what he'd done. His personal code was to obey his masters, when they were aware of his business and when they were not, and to protect the innocents who could not help themselves, whenever it was possible. No matter how he felt about her family, he couldn't let the princess die.

Aurelia

Aurelia felt jarring movement. Pain. Cold. Wind. She was on the planet, Quisquiliae! Aurelia opened her eyes. She was being carried! In panic, she looked down to her hand. The royal signet ring was still there on her thumb, the large garnet sparkling in the bright light. Aurelia looked up into the face of her rescuer. Relief welled up within her. She noticed right away the strange eyes and hair that marked him as a Layaz Warrior. During the brightness of this planet's daylight, his pupils were little more than vertical slits of black on a canvas of surreal blue. His eyes were like those of a cat. He was one of the special slave-warriors who had served her family! She was going to be all right, after all. He would have to take care of her. The warrior's eyes flicked towards hers for a moment and then away again. His rapid footfalls never faltered nor did he speak. The pain in her legs increased, and Princess Aurelia let unconsciousness claim her.

Layaz Warrior

He put the woman down on a mattress in the place he had made for himself. Constructed from garbage and ice, the small hut was his home, a shelter from the ever-falling snow. Kneeling beside her, he watched her face. The princess didn't wake up. She must be injured. Hesitantly, he touched her forehead. The skin beneath his fingertips was cold - too cold. He snatched up a thick blanket that he used for sitting on and spread it carefully over her. She stirred. Suddenly, her blue eyes were open... looking right at him! The Layaz Warrior bowed low to the ground and averted his gaze as he had been taught. The woman murmured something. He shuffled closer and bent his head near to her mouth to catch the words.

"I'm cold."

"It is always very cold here, Your Highness."

"Let your heat warm me."

She reached out and grasped his wrist. Her motion shocked him and, for a moment, he had to struggle to control the beast inside. The princess pulled him towards her. He tried to relax as he let her draw him closer. She slid away from him on the mattress with a gasp of pain. Then she released him and pulled back the blanket.

"Lie down," she commanded.

The warrior obeyed. He lay rigidly on his back beside her, staring up at the ceiling, a tumult of emotions roiling inside. Desperately, he fought to retain control and tried to banish his anger at the royals. Maybe she wasn't like the others. He felt her shift nearer to him, her cool body touching his. Thoughts of running though the snow and icy wind calmed him. He tried not to think of her. The warrior recalled the months he had spent alone on the planet. Though he missed his kin, the other Layaz Warriors, there had been peace on Quisquiliae. A quiet peace he had never known before. Why was she here? Now, everything would be different. Now, it seemed he was a slave once more to the royal family. The family that had used and abused the Layaz for centuries. The family that had allowed all his kin to be put to death.

Aurelia

When she awoke, Aurelia was warm but pain radiated from her left leg. Her eyelids fluttered open. The ceiling was composed of metal beams and ice. She turned her head and saw the Layaz Warrior, still lying beside her. His eyes were closed. What had she done, pulling that creature into the bed with her? But...he seemed safe enough. Their education was very thorough. Only the most fit, intelligent, and obedient survived the years of training. Surely he would be loyal to her?

"Thank you. I am warm now."

Immediately, he rolled away, freeing himself from the blanket. He crouched beside the mattress, his eyes to the ground.

"My leg," said Aurelia, "it hurts...I think it may be broken."

"I am not trained in the art of healing, Your Highness."

"Nor am I. Let's take a look at it."

Aurelia flipped the blanket aside and pulled up her dress to reveal a bruised and swollen leg. The warrior just stared, as though he had never seen a leg before.

"Well, it looks straight," she said, inspecting the injured limb herself. "I suppose time will tell," she said finally. "I'll wait until the swelling goes down and then I'll see if I can walk on it."

Still the Layaz Warrior said nothing.

"Do you have anything to eat?" she asked him.

"Yes, Highness. Fish." He rose and walked out of the small dwelling. A large flap of rubber swung back into place as he disappeared. He returned several minutes later with something in his hands. He knelt and presented her with two large fish. Whole fish. Fins and eyes and all.

Aurelia reached out a finger and touched one.

"They're frozen."

"Yes," he replied. "They taste very good."

"Can you cook one for me?"

"Yes, of course." He rose swiftly, bowed, and went outside again.

Only minutes later, the Layaz Warrior returned. He knelt and presented the whole fish again, now scorched black.

"Disgusting!" The word was out of her mouth faster than thought.

"Forgive me, Highness; I don't understand your ways of cooking and eating."

Aurelia chose her next words more carefully.

"Do you have something I could eat it on? Like a plate? And something I could eat with? A fork and knife would be fantastic. I'm famished."

The warrior just looked at her, as though he could find a plate in her face!

"I have no...plate."

"Any flat, clean, portable surface then? There must be something in here that you could put the fish on." Aurelia twisted on the bed to survey the room.

The warrior wandered off, inspecting the piles of debris lying around the room.

"Will this do?" he said as he retuned, carrying the fish on a shiny sheet of metal.

"Yes, thank you." She reached for it and set the tray on her lap.

"A fork and knife?"

"I have a knife." The Layaz Warrior pulled a long and lethal blade from a sheath at his right hip.

Aurelia suppressed an emotional reaction. At least the knife was clean. She reached for it.

"Thank you."

He carefully handed her the knife, hilt first.

Aurelia awkwardly cut the head from the fish. _I will eat even this. I am so hungry._ Then she noticed the Layaz Warrior. He stood to the side, head bowed.

"I give you my leave," she said curtly.

Layaz Warrior

_Finally dismissed!_ No sooner was Princess Aurelia awake than she had started ordering him about. His freedom had come with the death of all his kin and kind. And now he was a slave all over again! His face burned and he felt the all too familiar rage boiling to the surface. He ran hard, away from her, towards the ocean. As he ran, he felt the change coming. He burned, a fire exploding within him. A burst of blue flame obscured his vision. A primal sound tore from his throat. Landing on all fours, he loped towards the ocean. A dragon.

***

The warrior opened his eyes to find himself deep under the surface of the water, near the ocean floor. Light played upon the sand, filtering down through the ice-cold, clear water. His belly was uncomfortably full. The dragon had hunted. He called to mind where he had been just before it happened. He had been far from Princess Aurelia. Only fish filled his stomach.

He swam for air and broke the surface with a gasp. The warrior found himself in the freshwater ocean, some distance from shore. The beauty of the scene caused an ache in his heart. The waves frothed white in the strong wind. Dazzling snow covered the land beyond, and large flakes drifted from a pure white sky. Sunlight reflected, from the water and snow, with a brilliance unmatched anywhere on their home world.

The warrior dove beneath the waves. With powerful strokes, he pulled himself through the water, reveling in the light and the coolness and the freedom.

Aurelia

She threw the tray, now holding the entrails, bones, and scales, to the side. Her hands were filthy. She looked around hopefully for somewhere to wipe them and finally selected a fairly clean spot on her dress. It had been one of her favorites. But now, tattered and blood stained, it was only a reminder of her father's death. She would be rid of it just as soon as possible. She heard a sound at the door. Was it her warrior? But it was a small, scratching noise. An animal? Surely it wasn't the dragon? The heavy rubber mat that hung in the doorway shifted slightly. Something small and dark entered the shelter...a cat!

Aurelia made kissing noises to the animal.

"Here, kitty."

It was very scrawny. _The poor thing must be starving!_ The scent of cooked fish must have lured the animal out of hiding.

"You can have some." She reached for the tray and shifted it a little towards the cat.

Slowly it approached, meowing pitifully. The cat was completely black, apart from four white feet and a streak of white on the bridge of its nose. As it sniffed the remnants of the fish, the cat came close enough to touch. Tentatively, Aurelia stroked its soft fur. The cat leaned down and licked up the fish remains, purring vigorously.

"You're a pretty kitty," she cooed. "A pretty girl. Who would throw you out?"

Where was her warrior anyway? What was he doing outside so long?

"Layaz Warrior?" she called. No answer.

Aurelia sighed and stroked the cat. At least she wasn't alone in this world. It would only be a matter of time until she and her Layaz Warrior found a way off this planet and back home. Then she would take her rightful place as Queen.

When the cat had licked her fill, she stepped onto the mattress and looked at Aurelia expectantly. Aurelia lifted the blanket and patted the mattress beside her. The cat understood the invitation and settled in beside the princess. Aurelia pulled the blanket back up over them both. The room was getting darker. Less light was coming in through the ice. Night must be approaching. The throbbing in her leg was diminishing. She thought she could probably sleep, especially with the comfort of the small animal purring beside her. Aurelia closed her eyes and let sleep take her. She was not afraid. Tomorrow would be a better day.

Layaz Warrior

Darkness had fallen as the warrior gathered the supplies they would need. But it didn't matter. He could see as clearly in the dark as in the day. Layaz had great night vision. It was his eyes that indicated his ancestry. Wherever he went, people knew what he was...and feared him.

He paused to consider. Was he the last of his kind? There had been so many bodies. So many. He had burned them. All that he found. To honor them...and so he would not have to walk through their frozen forms, past unseeing eyes, for the rest of his days. If he was the last, it might mean that the Layaz line would end. Or perhaps it already had when their DNA had been altered. But he wanted to know if he were the last Layaz Warrior. He would ask the princess. She would know.

He flung the heavy pack over his shoulders. This trip to his den was his third one. He would make as many trips as needed. The warrior wanted to be prepared - to have the things Princess Aurelia would need. If he was to work for her now, he wanted to succeed. To feel angry about what had happened in the past...that was a foolish waste of time and energy. He would live in the present and look to the future.

After the sixth trip, the Layaz Warrior was tired. He had found another mattress in the rubble. Silently, he held open the door flap and lay the mattress just inside the small structure. Then he entered and lay down, letting the flap fall closed behind him. The warrior looked to where the princess lay, across the room. Her chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. She wasn't badly injured. She would be alright. Her deep breaths sounded loud, compared with the usual stillness of the place, but somehow...peaceful.

Aurelia

It was a royal outpost, high in the mountains. Seven large, golden dragon statutes perched atop a decorative stone archway. A thick, stone wall enclosed a small area. Inside the enclosure, along the walls, were stately homes where the masters lived, and the guest home where Aurelia was staying. The courtyard was cobblestone, and a fountain of clear water sprayed up from the center, cascading into a decorative stone pool, the sides of which were etched with the likenesses of dragons. Outside, on the snowy slopes of the mountains, stood herds of wild mountain goats and other animals. This wilderness was a perfect initial training ground.

Just beyond the fortress walls were many pens, each marked by a crude wooden fence. In each pen were 20 boys with blue eyes. Boys that would become Layaz Warriors.

"Why are they kept like animals?" she asked a master.

"Because they are animals."

She had been instructed not to go near them. Even though she was only a young teen, she was the princess. So she would do as she pleased.

Passing under the archway of golden dragons, she made her way to the nearest corral. She blinked back tears as she looked over the fence at the children. They were so small.

"How old are you?" she asked the nearest child.

"Four," he replied. He looked up at her with cat-like eyes. The boy was dirty, his clothing tattered. He looked to her with trust and need.

She gathered her skirts and awkwardly climbed the fence to land beside him in the yard.

A faint smile passed across the child's face. The other boys came and looked at her; they didn't press close but stood at a respectful distance, as if waiting for instructions.

She looked over the pale faces. The hair, the eyes - all the same. It made sense since they were all brothers...well, half-brothers. Her eyes returned to the boy nearest her.

"How long have you been here?"

"Three months," he replied, solemnly.

"And...do you like it here?"

The boy's eyes flicked towards the fortress and then back to her.

"I won't tell anyone," she assured him.

"I've been afraid," he whispered. "We all have." He looked to the other boys, who nodded.

"The cougars, we don't have to worry about them much anymore. After we ran them off a few times, they understood - we aren't prey. But the grizzly bears...one of us was killed a few days ago. The bears are very strong and fast. Our brother didn't even have a chance to change. Then he was dead. And..." The boy looked down in shame.

"What?" she prompted.

"We were so surprised and frightened. And we're not very big yet...The bear got away. We should have killed it but we let it get away."

Later, as Aurelia looked around her room in the guesthouse, she felt anger well up within her. _They could all sleep here,_ she fumed. _Where they would not be in danger and afraid_. There was plenty of room. She could take care of them.

But Aurelia knew better than to speak to the masters or even her father about it. If anyone found out what they had said, the boys would be punished. She had seen that type of brutal discipline before.

Seated on the edge of her bed in the large, ornate room, Aurelia balled her fists and cried. Things would be different when she was queen.

Aurelia awoke to the gray light of early dawn with these thoughts from the past in her mind. She had been dreaming of a place that she had seen as a youth. She looked towards the entrance and saw the Layaz Warrior lying there, asleep. _He is not an animal_ , she reminded herself. Yes, things would be different.

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