Mania by J. R. Johansson

Author:J. R. Johansson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, young adult fiction, young adult, ya, sleep, dream, stalker, crush, night walker, night walkers, night walker series
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2015-05-12T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

Jack

Wendy was definitely just a Dreamer … and kind of a boring one at that. Her dreams layered one upon the next upon the next. They were filled with mostly mundane tasks like cleaning, running errands, having dinner with her husband. It was like swimming through a soup of normalcy.

I rubbed my eyes again and tried to focus on the details—looking for anything that felt odd or out of place. But there didn’t seem to be anything to find, nothing to see.

Moving through the dream, I braced myself and reached out for Wendy. It was almost a habit now, knowing how and when to blend in and stand out from a Dreamer’s dreams. Still, when I was this tired, it required some focus. I imagined myself as part of the scene around me, blending in perfectly with the kitchen until I was almost invisible. Then I nudged her mind in the direction I wanted; guiding her thoughts to memories of my dad.

Usually, when sifting through memories, the most recent ones were the ones that came first. So I frowned when a memory from when they were teenagers rose to the surface instead. Wendy had said she’d seen him more recently than that, hadn’t she? I sorted quickly through each memory, making sure it wasn’t important before moving on to the next one. It wasn’t until I got through almost all of them that I found her most recent memory of dad. For some reason, it wasn’t coming to the surface the same way the others were, but I could feel it in the corners of her mind … yet I couldn’t make her remember it fully, which was weird. This was so easy with other Dreamers.

Standing there in confusion, I watched her revert again to one of the earlier memories. This didn’t make sense. Something weird was happening here.

I frowned and focused, trying to guide her thoughts where I wanted them to go, but stopped when Wendy winced. When I pulled harder, it caused her physical pain. Carefully withdrawing my hand, I let her whirl through all the memories of my dad I’d pulled up as I tried to figure out what was going on here. This wasn’t right. I’d never encountered anything like this in dreams before. Could a Taker have messed with her memories like this?

No, that didn’t make any sense. Takers couldn’t enter, let alone control and manipulate, memories and dreams.

But Watchers could.

Dad.

My heartbeat sped up, and I felt for the first time in hours like I might actually be close to making some real progress. I took a slow, calming breath, and reached out for Wendy again. I sorted back down through the other memories and grasped for the one I knew I wanted. When it resisted again, I closed my eyes and felt around the edges with my mind.

All of a Dreamer’s memories were intertwined. They’re tied to other memories, thoughts, and feelings, all making up one convoluted ball of personality. Dad had taught me to find those connections, to locate the place where one memory bonds with the next.

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