Dreamside Read Free Page A

Is it him, do you think? Or is
it her? We have to find out. Then we can stop them."
    "I was
afraid you might say that."
    "No
time for faint hearts," said Ella.
    "You
really are making a lot of assumptions. You can't know that the others are
responsible for this."
    "So
what are your ideas?"
    "Me?"
    "Exactly. How long do
you think it's going to be before these dreams, these repeaters turn into
something else? Something more dangerous."
    Lee felt
like a man in a paperweight snowstorm. Everything in his life had been settled
and silenced. Then Ella had arrived, had shaken the glass, and was now watching
him in his blizzard.
    "When
push comes to shove," said Ella, "there's only one question. Is it
him? Or is it her?"
    “Him, her;
what's the difference? It's happening."
    "I
think it's her. I think we'll find that she's responsible."
    "Look,
Ella, I'm really not convinced that we should get in touch with the others. It
might not do any good. Sleeping dogs and all that. It
might just make things worse. A whole lot worse. There
must be something else we can do without running to them."
    "We've
been through this once already. It's not a question of running to them. It's a
matter of not running away from them."
    Lee
wouldn't have minded running away from all of them, Ella included. He knew
where all this was leading and he didn't like it. Ella had that manic cast to
her eye. She wasn't going to be shifted.
    "So
what do we do?" she said.
    "You're
the one with all the plans."
    "So it
appears. Listen, it's simple. You're going to have to go after one of them; I'm
going to have to go after the other. No, don't look like that. Neither of us
wants to do it, but neither of us wants this thing opened up again either. You
know where it can all lead, and you're just as afraid of that as I am. You also
know that one of the others must be responsible for starting it up again. There
can't be any other explanation. We'll have to track them down and find out
what's going on."
    "How
the hell are we going to find them?"
    "Just like I found you. We're going to use a little bit of intelligence and a little bit of insight.
You'll have to take a break from selling washing powder or whatever important
thing it is you do."
    "I
can't take time off from work! What will I tell them?"
    "Tell
them you're ill! Tell them you're mentally disturbed! That's something like the
truth, isn't it? Our hold on reality is a little tenuous at the moment, isn't
it? What do I care what you tell them?"
    "Are
you getting angry with me?"
    "I'm
just trying to give you a sense of urgency, though God knows why. This morning
when I phoned you were hardly able to speak."
    “I don't
need reminding."
    "Lee,
we could simply do nothing about it. We could just forget it.
Until tomorrow morning, that is, when you're going out of your mind because you
don't know if you're awake or you're dreaming. Until you want to scream, and
then you open your mouth and wake up. Or think you've woken up, so you want to
scream again. Yes, we could do that. Then you could wonder if this conversation
was all a dream."
    "You
can see right into my mind, can't you, Ella Innes?"
    Ella
softened. "Remember that psychological test the professor gave us? You're
walking through the woods? You see a bear. What do you do? You always go around
it. I always approach it."
    "Sometimes to get a mauling."
    "That's
life," said Ella. "But sometimes the bear turns into a prince. You
need me here, Lee. To push you on. To make you face
up."
    "Thanks
all the same but I never had any use for a prince."
    "Only for a princess, eh?"
    He hated
the way she reasserted her position so easily. She always seemed able to guess
his thoughts. More seriously, she was already in the driving seat. He had
planned not to let that happen.
    He looked
at her as she gazed into the grate, her skin reflecting the firelight. Yes, the
years had left their mark here and there. Her face was touched with faint
runes, lines of personal history he wanted to read