The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Five (Draft 3) "Supernatural Aid"

Orders from Jibril were that Morpheus was to support his mother in keeping vigil over Joy's last nearly-Human lifetime. Given his ability to cross the Void into any point in space-time, there was no rush to depart. Morpheus could take care in deciding what to take with him and what to leave, knowing he might also return at any time.

River must go with him. They were partners. The fact that his body was classified as impossible dream fauna and might cause a stir if noticed by a Human authority was a small concern. Morpheus could cast dreams and sleep enough to befuddle mortals. Though, it wouldn't hurt to do research and compose a cover story for the fanciful features of his lizard companion.

Morpheus was less certain about his Djinn. They were from the Empty World—Loren from within the Persian Empire and Hepburn from territory of Semitic tribes. They were skilled with disguise, so long as they knew the form they were to mimic, yet neither they nor Morpheus were familiar with New York, yet.

The plants were from Earth, but they offered little support, other than moral. It seemed better to leave them.

"River, you know anything about New York City?"

"Should I?" River asked from his shoulder.

Morpheus shrugged slightly. "I visited once."

He shifted his exostructure to form a long coat with deep pockets. He took the Djinn's bottles from their shelf and dropped each into a pocket.

"Are you bringing the guitar?"

"I wasn't even going to pack clothes."

"You have those built-in," River noted. "But, if you are going to a city and don't have money, you may need to play for your supper."

Morpheus hadn't thought about that. He stepped over the shifting piles of media to open his guitar case and look on the instrument Mother had gifted him: an acoustic-electric with a black folk-style body and inlaid mother-of-pearl crescent moon motif.

"It looks like a guitar you would play."

Morpheus laughed. "It does, but when we're going, this model isn't yet made. I can't play it in public. We'll need money. Especially if I'm to acquire another guitar."

"Yeah, I don't think we want to be homeless in New York."

Morpheus closed the case. "I'll figure something out. Remember: it gets better."

"What gets better?"

"That's what I said." Morpheus smiled. "Just things, apparently. Julien told me to remember it if things ever seemed bad." He lifted the guitar case. "I want to stop by the library in Dream before we leave."

"The Library of Fiction?"

"Yeah. For research."

Morpheus teleported directly to the Heart of the Allegory, landing with the sound of wings near the vacant hammock. Around the back of Jibril's hammock, was a quiet passage from which emanated a musty odor.

Beyond, lay a series of rooms lined with book-filled shelves. It smelled of wood and leaves.

A man approached, gray-haired and wearing a suit with wide lapels. He spoke in a language Morpheus suspected might be a dialect of Spanish, but before he could use telepathy to translate, River spoke to tell the man their purpose.

"You speak Spanish?" Morpheus asked.

"Sí, por lo visto." It seemed he did. "Jorgeasked if we needed assistance, and I told him you thought you could use the Libraryof Fiction for research."