Back to the Dream Sequel 2 Dreamland Read Online Free PDF Page A

very civilized. Lady Tamazusa is a very powerful woman, and, from what I found out, the only female lord in Nippon. Very few pre-industrial societies allow women that power. I must confess I didn't think about the other thing that he mentioned."
    "I don't think that—” Mrs. Adams started.
    "You been in prison?” I asked, wanting her to see some sort of light. “You ever have to watch out for the nasties? Besides the other Trustees?” Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say, but I wanted her to know how serious I was about this. “You're a nice lady who don't have to worry or think about this shit. Because if you did, you'd've protected Keno's ass. You're thinking that these guys are going to be playing by the rules. They ain't or at least not rules that we know and understand."
    "I doubt that things are going to be that bad,” Mrs. Adams insisted.
    "It might not be,” I snapped, “but I ain't setting up McGann to be part of a train pull if it is. You're still thinking that the monsters are the ones that you have to worry about. Humans can be worse than the monsters. Trust me on this. I saw it inside."
    "What's a train pull?” Mrs. Adams asked, a slightly confused look in her eyes.
    "When a group of men line up to use someone sexually, whether the person's interested or not,” Wolf told her before I could.
    I was surprised that he did, but considering where he had been assigned, he'd probably had to break up something like that at least once. Depending how nuts they were at Waltham, the inmates could be worse than those in prison. And I knew that he didn't want to see something like that happen to McGann. Or anyone, really. Me, I just thought that sending bruisers might stop that. I didn't know if he thought that would be good enough.
    "I don't think that I can use that for any of the other Trustees as an argument against Caitlynn going,” Mrs. Adams said.
    I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying something nasty, and McGann sighed. “Some of them might think that—"
    "I don't need to hear the rest of that,” I said. I really didn't. I had seen and done some nasty shit in my life, but I never thought that setting someone up for rape was a way to get even, like those fuckers did. McGann must have really pissed them off.
    "But what about talking to these people?” I continued. “I know English and some Spanish. Wolf knows German, Russian, and Jap, as well as English. Shouldn't we have someone that speaks Latin or something?"
    I barely remembered the map from my time in Tamazusa's library, but I knew that the nations I had seen there, not all of them spoke English, from what little that blue guy told us. Not that I had been paying much attention to him; I had been too busy talking to Samojirou and trying to figure out what shit he was pulling.
    "And McGann looked like she was going to puke the entire time she was there, like she had a bad headache,” I added. “I don't think that it's going to be better this time."
    "Mason, honestly, I can take care of myself,” McGann murmured. I could see she was amused I was fussing about this. Shit, she was a good person who had been dealt a rotten hand. I bet if she hadn't been a ‘path, she'd probably have had a nice, normal life being a librarian or something sane like that.
    I snorted. “Doubt that. You and Wolf... shit, you're good people."
    "I will take your concerns under advisement,” Mrs. Adams said.
    Even I figured that was a polite “shut the fuck up.” The meeting broke up after that, and I was wondering if the Trustees were going to smarten up and just leave the Dreamlands alone.
    * * * *
    Keno
    Dousetsu showed up at the final cherry blossom gathering as the blossoms artfully fell from the trees, blanketing the ground with their beauty. I was surprised to see him there. He was one of the more antisocial people I knew. He had seemed very uncomfortable even at the family gatherings at Shino's castle. I hadn't seen Shino or Sousuke since that party the