“So, you’re the one I felt?” the stranger asked softly, leaning against the wall. “Huh, that’s strange. I don’t think it ever happened that quickly before. Odd, no?”

  Zach stared at him, then looked back down at the plate in his hands.

  “Something odd is happening,” he said, setting the plate down. “I just don’t know what.”

  “You’re in the Dreamhold,” the young man responded with a pensive frown. He tilted his head to the side, studying him with narrowed eyes.

  “I’m happy to see you found the message,” he added. “Of course, I’m also happy you’re not crazy—at least, you don’t seem crazy. There are people here who rave the moment they wake up. I’ve had to—” he stopped himself.

  “Had to what?” Zach asked, hearing something in the man’s tone.

  “Well, the people who rave... they’re really dangerous. The enforcers already see us as a threat. They’re looking for any opportunity to kill one of us. Before they decide to kill all of us out of their fear, I go in and handle things myself.”

  Zach was only half listening to what the man had just said. His mind was too busy tackling the term rave. Was that how he’d be viewed if he said he wasn’t from this place? That he was from another world?

  He said the only words that came to mind now. “I’m sorry for finishing your food. I was just so hungry. It’s like I haven’t eaten in months.”

  It’s amazing I managed to fight it off for as long as I did. The effects of caging his hunger had vanished the second his mouth had touched the food. Another oddity.

  Afraid of being called crazy, he adjusted his tone, making it sound like he was exaggerating. But the man only nodded.

  “I’ll have to get more. Stepping leaves me very hungry.”

  He walked across the room, giving Zach a wide berth as he approached the window. The board that Zach had been about to remove came undone easily enough before he set it on the floor. He studied whatever view the window offered.

  “They should still be on their rotation,” he muttered to himself. “Should I risk it?”

  “Risk what?” Zach asked.

  The man turned around in a start, almost as though he’d forgotten Zach was there. He studied him for a good minute before he took a step closer, offering his extended arm, his hand balled up into a fist.

  “My name is Noah,” he said.

  “... Oliver,” Zach said.

  Zach grabbed the man’s fist before his host’s memories told him that was the wrong way of greeting. He quickly let go and extended his own arm, touching his wrist to Noah’s inner elbow and letting him do the same with his arm.

  “You don’t sound sure,” Noah remarked.

  “Still feeling the effects of hunger, I guess,” Zach lied. “I was a little out of it.”

  “After all that, you’re still hungry?”

  Zach searched his stomach and found that he was. Not as bad as it had been before, but still there.

  He realized he didn’t even feel sick after stuffing his face and chugging down the water despite not having both in days.

  “I don’t know why,” he answered with a frown.

  “Hmm,” Noah mused, tossing his head side to side.

  “You’ve been trapped in your body and that pain for a while. I’ve found that fresh air usually helps. I can take you with me, but you have to promise you’ll be quiet and do as I say. They’ve never seen me outside. I don’t even want to think of what they’d do if they did.”

  Outside? Zach had to hide his smile. To be presented with such an opportunity. Maybe he could even escape? And go where? That didn’t matter. Not now. He could find that out later. He just had to get out of this crazy place.

  “Well? Will you?” Noah asked.

  “I will,” he said immediately. A bit too fast for his ears, but Noah didn’t seem to find it strange.

  “Fine, then. We’ll go into the stores.”

  He carefully set the board on the floor, gently sliding the window open to admit the night’s cool breeze beyond.

  With only the slightest bit of hesitation, he turned once more to face Zach. He put a hand on his shoulder, warning, “This might hurt. A lot. But you’ll be fine. Just try not to scream when we Step over. Alright?”

  Try not to scream... Zach gave a reluctant nod.

  “Here we go.”

  Noah raised his right hand, forefinger and middle finger pointing outward, the ring finger and small fingers pointing inward towards him, while his thumb stood erect.

  He closed his eyes, whispering something under his breath, before they shot open.

  He stared at the wall, his hand on Zach’s shoulder tightening, and like pulling the trigger on a gun, he cocked his thumb, the strong boom from before sounding instantly.

  A second before anything happened, Zach saw the dust in the room and the hairs of the thick carpet moving inward.

  The world rushed past his eyes. Zach had a more than disorienting sensation. He swore they’d jumped straight out that seventh floor window, yet at the same time the ground had never been too far, despite being far below.

  When he blinked, his ears blocked, they were standing in an open field. A farm. The night sky above them shimmered with red and black stars.

  By all rights, he shouldn’t have been able to see the black stars, but there they were, almost burning with the vaporous form of the demons.

  The first difference between this world and mine.

  A cool breeze blew across the open land, ruffling the stalks of wheat and oats sitting before them. He could only appreciate the immensity of the land unfolding before his eyes.

  As he stared at it, he saw how it looked in Oliver’s mind, but seeing it with his own eyes was something else entirely.

  “You’re okay?” Noah asked beside him, removing his hand from his shoulder. “Your ears aren’t sore?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Just blocked,” he answered breathlessly.

  “Huh, odd.”

  Zach followed him as he turned away, approaching a large shed that stood behind them. He glanced discreetly at the surrounding land. How easy it would be to run for it now, with all the grains acting as his cover.

  But being out here now, seeing this strange land with his own two eyes suddenly seemed daunting. Where could he possibly go?

  “Not yet,” he whispered.

  “What was that?” Noah asked.

  “What’s odd?” Zach quickly said, clearing his throat.

  “Oh, that I don’t know what you are.”

  The door on the shed was locked. Zach watched as Noah put a hand on the lock, his eyes going distant as if he were lost in deep thought.

  Then a loud crack split the air as the shackle of the lock snapped in two, sending the lock falling hard into the ground, where it continued pressing into the earth, burying itself as surely as if someone were stepping on it.

  “Blast it,” Noah cussed. “Why did it have to be locked?”

  “Are people going to come running at that sound?” Zach asked.

  “Most likely. But it’s fine. It’s fine. We just need to take what we have to; the council will never think it’s someone from the Dreamhold.”

  Zach nodded as Noah pulled open the door. The grains were in white bags stained brown, and there were a lot of them. Stacked neatly on shelves, on the floor, against the walls, the room looked exceptionally organized.

  “Stand watch, will you?” Noah asked as he toured the shelves, pulling out a folded knapsack from his jacket.

  Zach turned around and watched for any sign of approach. He noticed a dead rabbit lying close by, the base of its ears coated in specks of blood.

  “I mean, I’ve seen a few Dreamers now,” Noah continued. “They’ve all had different Forces, but I haven’t seen yours before. I can’t see it at all. I’m curious about your immunity to the Stepping.”

  “Forces?” Zach asked, looking uncomfortably at the dead rabbit.

  “Yes, Forces. Not everyone survives being Claimed, but the few lucid ones I’ve spoken to all mentioned a Creational Force.”

  He sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. Running now would be stupid. I have to try and get as much as I can from him.

  “So, you know what happened to me?”

  “What happened to you?” he asked in return. “In what sense?”

  “At the risk of sounding like I’ve lost my mind, I’m pretty sure I almost died.”

  “You did.”

  Noah’s voice was so carefree, Zach turned back and stared at him as he moved about in the shed.

  “And if I died, why am I still here?” he asked.

  Instead of answering, Noah turned around and studied him again. In the light of the moonlight, his eyes looked weary, curious, and introspective all at once.

  He shook his head slightly, then turned and continued stuffing a small bag.

  “That’s the question, isn’t it? Why are you still here?”

  Zach had the distinct feeling that it was what Noah hadn’t said that mattered more. He turned back to study the farm.

  Under the night sky, the house on the far side—Oliver’s grandmother’s house, he remembered—was silhouetted in black.

  From that direction, the wind carried voices his way. He strained his eyes and saw a small group heading their way.

  They weren’t running, which meant they hadn’t heard the lock snap, but there were a lot of them there, and their silhouettes showed that they carried rifles.

  “They’re coming,” he said.

  “They are.”

  Noah stepped out of the shed, his knapsack full and slung over his shoulder. Zach stood ready for the teleporting—he called it Stepping?—but Noah only looked at him. He chewed on his lower lip, that pensive frown back on his face.

  “You know, I felt something before you even entered the Dreamhold, when you were still on the execution block. You could call it a sensation. I’ve never felt it before. And it took you just over a week to transmute into String One. How is that?”

  “Transmute into String One?” Zach repeated stupidly. What is that?

  “Never mind that,” Noah said dismissively. “They’re coming, and I promise you they won’t be all that friendly with a Dreamer.”

  There was something dangerously close to hostility in his eyes.

  “What possessed you in that realm? What are you?”

  Zach racked his brain trying to find an answer, but he had nothing. Nothing at all.

  “Your time is running out,” Noah sang, glancing back at the approaching group.

  “Nothing possessed me,” Zach said, but he couldn’t hide the hoarseness in his voice.

  “I swear to the Divinity, I’ll Step without you. I’ll leave you right here.”

  Zach threw his own glance to the group. If they were even remotely close to the enforcer who’d been with Ava, then Noah wasn’t lying. He knew they’d kill him just for being outside the Dreamhold.

  Besides, Oliver’s memories could attest to the Camp’s fears of the Dreamers.

  I have to give him enough to show that I’m not lying, while at the same time careful not to let him think I’m losing my mind. A very fine line to walk, but one that he had to tread if he wanted to get out of this.

  “Look, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t see a realm. My memory... I don’t have all my memories, alright? And I don’t know why. I’ve been trying to remember, but nothing comes to me. Nothing.”

  He didn’t bother hiding the frustration in his voice. Let him see that he was telling the truth, or at least, a version of it.

  The group was still a good distance away, and Noah seemed inclined to take full advantage of that. As seemed to be his way, he only studied him in that heavy silence of his.

  “You don’t remember seeing a realm?” he said softly. “That’s odd. Dangerous? I’m not so sure. And that’s the problem. I don’t know. I’m not used to not knowing. It was very fast.”

  “You keep saying that,” Zach said. “And I’m telling you, I don’t know why. But nothing possessed me.”

  Again, Noah nodded slowly. “I suppose you’re the only one who’ll know that. A demon wouldn’t have lasted this long acting so human, but there’s more than demons in those realms. That’s one of the few constants I’ve marked.”

  Zach swallowed, thinking of those creatures he’d seen clinging to the sky, stalking him. He remembered saying the words Come in. Is that what Noah was talking about? Could he sense that defeat?

  “Blast my curiosity,” Noah swore. “But I need to know how many there are.”

  “How many what?” Zach asked, annoyance quickly building up.

  Noah clearly knew a lot, but he spoke with himself more than anything.

  “Creational Forces.”

  Those words again. Oliver’s memories had no mention of such a concept.

  Noah went on, his hand rubbing against his forehead. “There’s something we can do to trigger your connection to that realm. As for your memories, I don’t know what’s happening there. You’re the first Dreamer I’ve spoken with who's lost their memories.”

  So he believes me?

  “If I take you back, I can trust you won’t cause any trouble?” he asked. “The Dreamhold isn’t ideal, but it serves its purpose well enough. I won’t be bothered there.”

  “I won’t cause any trouble,” Zach said.

  This is my only hope, he told himself. I’m too ignorant right now. And ignorance will only kill me.

  That phrase felt familiar, felt like home. He knew that was his, not Oliver’s.

  “Okay,” Noah said, walking up to him. “Bring that with. We can use a little meat.”

  He was talking about the dead rabbit.

  Zach picked it up by its feet, ignoring the squeamish feeling that came from touching a dead thing. It was still so warm.

  Noah turned and faced the shed, or more accurately, what the shed was obscuring. Houses and buildings in the distance, all of them black shapes under the red darkness of night.

  Noah’s hand landed on his shoulder again. His other hand formed that weird gesture again, two fingers pointing outward, two pointing inward, and the thumb cocked at the top. He muttered, slightly turning his body.

  His thumb jerked up and down, the sand on the ground came drifting in, then a strong boom sent them rushing again. The world passed by so fast it felt like vertigo. The pressure on his ears only made the sensation worse.

  It passed when the apartment from before stabilized around them. He pitched his nose and blew until that pressure eased. The relief was so great, he couldn’t help but sigh contentedly.

  “You know, it’s not so odd,” Noah suddenly said. “For two people from the same family to be Dreamers. But two immediate siblings? And both of you transmuting within such a short timeframe like that? Now, that’s odd.”

  “What are you talking about?” Zach asked him, a new memory entering his mind.

  “Your brother,” he said simply. “You Emerys sure raise a lot of questions.”

  That did it.

  Like floodgates being forced wide open, Zach remembered Oliver’s brother and the pain associated with that memory. Before he knew it, the tears were flowing.

  Noah could only stand and watch as it happened.