Tuesday, 21 May 2019, Late Afternoon
Paxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USA
Eyewitness: Kerry
“So, let me get this straight. You’re telling me that there is an entire, what, plane of existence that we can experience in our dreams, and the ghosts dragged you into their literal nightmare?” Sly asked as I finished my bizarre account of the day’s experiences.
Much like the last time I’d been at Tristan’s Antiques store, she was behind the cashier’s counter and I leaned against it from the other side. From her vantage, she could monitor the door in case any customers appeared. For now, pre-tourist season as it was, we had the store to ourselves.
Focusing on the events in Slumberland kept me from thinking too hard about the other aspects of the adventure in hindsight. This had no flavor of success, only bitter notes. But at least Bast, Clara, and Slumberland gave me something positive to work with.
“Exactly,” I confirmed, tracing a finger along the counter in idle curlicues. “Dream plane. Dream realm. Slumberland. With a guardian. And residents, ghosts, and something worse than ghosts.”
“This guardian of humanity’s dreams, instead of showing up in a full-fledged Night Fox suit, or decked out like millionaire Boyd Wright wore—”
“A cheap plastic Night Fox Halloween mask, covering the front of his face.”
“Did he at least have the eighties live-action actor lips?” Sly puckered her own lips as she said this.
That unexpected reference got a deep belly laugh that made the bandaged bite on my shoulder ache. Usually, an animal bite like this left such jagged edges it had to be stitched up, but the paramedics had been sure I was all right to go. It left me with questions about that dog, questions I couldn’t quite pin down. Easier to focus on Bast.
“Just… ordinary. A teenage boy, our age or a little older,” I said when I caught my breath.
“There’s a story there I’ve got to dig into after the Paxwood House sale.”
Sly hummed. “Did you figure out what Tricia was doing there?”
No more dwelling on the highlights. I sighed. “I didn’t really get much time in spying on them before the ghosts dragged me down. Hugh had that tranq gun ready, like they were expecting danger. Neither of them had anything in their hands when we were all leaving, so I doubt they found any hidden treasure. I still got the sense from the way they were carrying themselves that they got what they wanted. Whatever it was.”
I looked down at the counter, at my curlicues. If my finger oils hadn’t been leaving trails across the polished glass, I might have missed the pattern. It wasn’t random. It was like the one on the lid of the jewelry box—and the door that had slammed shut on its own in the basement.
I closed my eyes. Yes. I was sure. I’d only glimpsed it, and there was a lot going on in that cellar, but the door had this symbol.
“If they came ready for danger, they could have created that danger,” Sly mused.
“Hm?”
“I mean, they were there. The dog was there. People got hurt, but no one’s going to blame them for the actions of a random stray dog, right?” Sly said. “So, what if they planted the stray dog there? Turn any opposition off with concerns that the house is full of feral animals and pests.”
“Does that seem like something Tricia would do, from what you know about her?” I furrowed my brow, considering this possibility.
“She’s got a vampire for a lawyer. I might not know her as well as I thought. Also, vampires can control wolves, right? Like in Dracula?” Sly pointed out. “And dogs are descendants of wolves.”
“Hadn’t thought of that. Not sure if it’s accurate or not. I’ll ask Mx. Cardoso and Rowen what they think about that possibility and follow up on the dog. Animal control picked it up, so it should be in the shelter.”
The conversation lulled for a moment as I weighed the possibility. If Silphium would do physical harm to get what they wanted, that was all the more reason to push back against them. With the city’s chosen guardian down for the count, would they get more brazen?
“And how is that friend of yours?” Sly asked. “The one who broke her arm?”
The question came from nowhere and hit me hard in my gut. If my stomach could have sunk to the center of the earth, it would have dragged me right down there along with it.
“That good, huh?” Whatever expression had overtaken my face, Sly could read it transparently.
“I… don’t think she’s interested in picking up our friendship after all that.” I closed my eyes and swallowed, willing any tears inside of me back to where they came from.
“But you’re not just going to give up on her since she matters so much to you, right?” Sly put a hand over mine as she said this.
The contact surprised me, pulling me out from the spiral of doom. “I don’t know how to make up for it.”
“Everyone’s a little materialistic. Maybe a gift would do the trick. Some flowers. A card. One of those get well soon fruit baskets.” Sly reached under the counter and pulled out a tray of necklaces. “This is all stuff that’s made of cheaper material that doesn’t have any history or significance. For the tourists, we mark it all up and sell it as the sort of gifts a lumberjack would give to his belle, but for you I’ll take a hit. See anything she’d like?”
Some necklaces had charms made from old iron nails. Others had beads made from polished river rocks. A few were carved wood. A cute little wooden songbird caught my eye for a split-second, but then I saw the cameo necklace. The delicate details of the woman’s face, the miniscule flowers in her wavy hair, every detail was intricately carved into gray stone.
“That one is volcanic ash. You know, tuff,” Sly said. “Probably from Mt. St. Helens, back in the 80s. I guess during the Victorian era, tourists would get lava rock cameos from their visits to Pompeii as a sign of wealth, so it’s actually a historically accurate material to use, too.”
“This one,” I said. “But… I don’t know if it’d be right of me to approach her face to face and give her a gift when she said she needed time.”
“I’ll box it up and deliver it to her. Just give me the address.” Sly smiled. “You’ve had a tough day. This matters to you, and we’re friends, so I’ve got your back.”
After I paid, we chatted for a little longer before I made my way to Cardoso Auto as my next stop. I needed to own up to my actions, and besides, with the city council meeting tomorrow, I couldn’t go avoiding my biggest allies against Silphium.
“You’re going to have to teach me how to do this cleansing thing for myself,” I informed Mx. Cardoso as I once more fed Arcie some yogurt drops after going through the back-and-forth of how unwise it was for me to go into a haunted house unprepared. They confirmed that there was, in fact, a sleeping plane of existence, but it wasn’t their particular expertise.
Mx. Cardoso surprised me, though, by pulling out a bracelet with a rainbow array of quartz crystal beads. “Protection works better than clean-up, so I charged this up for you. If you’d stopped by during the school day, I would have given it to you before you went back into Paxwood House.”
“Thank you,” I said. “How do I charge it? How often?”
“It will naturally charge in the light of the full moon or in a bath of saltwater, but I can infuse it with a spell any time,” Mx. Cardoso said. “If the color fades or there’s a convenient full moon, charge it. If it goes completely clear, come see me. It’s too late in the day to check the animal shelter for that dog, but we’ll check it out tomorrow.”
“By we, you mean you and Rowen?” I asked.
“I’ve got work and you’ve got school, so we’ll meet up with Rowen and go afterward,” they clarified. “Rest up tonight and make nice to the teachers whose classes you skipped. And, do I need to make you an anchor for your bed so you won’t go wandering too far away from your body while you dream?”
I wanted to wave that off, but then I considered the danger I’d been in. I did not want to be a Lost Soul if a ghost pulled me into their dreams like that again. “If that’s a legitimate offer, I’ll take it. Not because I plan on wandering, at least not without more research. Just to be safe. Protection’s better than clean-up, like you said.”
“That’s right.” Mx. Cardoso scooped Arcie back, expression thoughtful. “I’ll get something together for you.”
Although I still counted the day as a loss, by the time I got home, my heart felt lighter. Sly, Mx. Cardoso, and Rowen all had my back. There was a guardian of dreams who’d kept me safe when
I’d gotten myself in stupid danger. Even if Anholts, Hugh, and the whole of Silphium had the upper hand at the moment, there was still a chance to make everything right.
After serving my mother another apology dinner, this time for skipping school, I did a little more research to verify the city animal shelter’s hours and procedures before heading off to bed.
As I drifted off, I remembered one of the first little bits of lore that I dug into with Char: black dogs. Why hadn’t I thought about it before?
