Dream a Little Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

They provide its waters, but exactly where the waters flow into Kafka is unknown. Now, there are very few humans who can create or destroy dreamstone. Your Creator is one of them. If you can find the human, and get to where the physical river flows into Kafka, to find the dam, then we will have a fighting chance.”
    “Where is the source and where can I find him?”
    She spread her hands. “No one knows how to locate the source. Not even me, and it’s her, not him. I will tell you how to find her in a moment.” She got up and poured a little more stock into the simmering pot. Then she walked over to the desk. “Come here, Mich, I want to show you something.”
    She ran one long, red, curled fingernail along the contents page of the huge text on the desk. She flipped through the quill-written pages. “There,” she said.
    Mich’s eyes followed the bony finger to the nail tip, which was gouged into a painting on the page. “That’s her,” Madrid said.
    Mich couldn’t believe his eyes. She was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. She looked to be three or four years younger than he. She had long red hair and intense, slate-blue eyes.
    “She’s my Creator?” he asked.
    “Yes. Her name is Nola Rollins.”
    “She’s so striking,” Mich said, half to himself.
    Madrid ignored his drooling. “When you find her, she may not be so eager to cooperate with you.” She closed the book and walked over to the simmering kettle to stir it.

    “But if she believes in me so much, why would she even hesitate?” he asked.
    “Because, though she is one of the few true dreamers left, she still lives in a world of reality and she may not believe that you are really who you say you are.”
    Mich heard a noise, and turned around to see the shape of a unisus standing outside the open door. That was odd, because he hadn’t summoned his friend. Was something wrong?
    The sorceress nodded, evidently aware of something he didn’t know about. “You must convince her, and not just because you will love her. So, to help you with that, all you have to do is show her this.”
    Madrid gestured to the door, and as Mich approached, he could see that the unisus wasn’t Heat. It was Spirit.
    He was a huge beast. He was not taller than Heat, but he was broader and definitely more muscular. His wings were each two lengths his own body size. It looked very awkward and unbalanced, but he stood as if his wings weighed nothing.
    He reminded Mich a little of himself. Spirit’s eyes were the exact shade of green as his own and his hide was glossy black, the same as Mich’s hair. There was an air about him, something intangible but powerful. Around his neck was a thin strap of leather bearing a silver crosslet with a tiny pallid, blue dreamstone. The pendant was lightly engraved with a Crosshatch pattern and was over an inch in diameter. It was a meager speck of glitter against the great black chest.
    “That is what you must show her,” Madrid said.
    “You mean the pendant?”
    “No, idiot! I mean the unisus.” She paused, then added: “But that’s not a bad idea. Take him with you.”
    “But how can we survive in her world if we are only dreams to her?”
    “Oh, all these petty problems! Must I do everything myself?”

    “But—”
    “Oh, very well!” Madrid flicked her fingers and mumbled some indecipherable phrases. “There, now you will be protected from her reality for the period of one week. That is the most any Kafkian can survive there, even with magic. I must warn you, stay longer and you will cease to exist, no matter how much she believes in you. In her world, you can die and you cannot be brought back.” She flashed a grim smile. “Please take care that you do not exceed that week.”
    Mich had no idea about death, or what it was like to die, but he knew that he didn’t want it to happen to him. It was probably worse than being Forgotten.
    “Now it’s time for dinner,” Madrid said briskly. Mich realized