MCSM: Forgotten Demons (sequel to A World Unwound) [HIATUS]

~Chapter Five~

Picking up where we left off after chapter three-

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You don't know how fragile a good dream could be until it's gone, shattered into something darker and worse. You could be having a perfectly pleasant fantasy dream, until some part of your brain flips a switch and sends you into a nightmare.

Why does this happen? Why are dreams such unpredictable things? How can we never predict this change?

Rush pondered questions of this sort as she struggled to remain in control of the Dreamworld, though her wording involved a few more swearwords. She'd been jumping between the dreams of the other Authors, relaying information.

It was confusing. Rush was a rather disorganized person, especially inside her own head. Keeping ahold of her imagination was difficult enough, but communicating with others and remembering information as well? Not impossible, but certainly difficult.

She'd talked to the three other Authors who had control over the Dreamworld, i.e. the ones who could only exist there now. Between the four of them, most of the living Authors had been informed of the situation: there's a new threat to this world, and we all need to reconvene. We're not entirely sure of the full situation yet, but it's bad.

They'd agreed to all meet in the Portal Network, for simplicity's sake. In barely a day's time, most of the fourteen would be seeing each other again, after nearly a year's separation.

Rush shook off the dark creeping tendrils that had begun to touch her. Whenever she wasn't paying full attention to it, the Dreamworld could sometimes spawn random, creepy things around her. She got the feeling it didn't like her, didn't like the weakling of a girl this power had been tethered to.

"It's not my fault. Knock it off." She snapped at the vinelike shadows waving around her, then closed her eyes. If she talked to another of the Authors, their power could help with hers. Though none of the others were tied as closely to the Beyond as she was, they all had at least a little bit of influence over the Dreamworld.

But most of them were all on the same page now, assuming Megan and Wolfe and Logan had all been relaying the same information as her. So she really had no need to talk to any of the others again, not right now.

She reached out for one of them anyway, trying to sense who's dream he was in.

She felt the Dreamworld shift and change as she appeared in the same Author's dream that Logan was in. When this happened to most of the Authors, they simply sensed it changing. Rush felt it, as though the mental link that connected her to the Beyond wasn't just mental after all.

Opening her eyes, Rush saw that she was now standing near the beginning of a pier that stretched outward over the crashing waves of an ocean. Light shone brilliantly off the crests of the waves, making her want to shield her eyes. This must be Dawson's dream.

Sure enough, Logan was sitting beside the small blonde girl near the end of the pier, their feet and legs damp from the ocean spray.

Rush stepped onto the pier and walked up to them, startling Logan when she laid her hand on the top of his head.

"Ah! Rush, what the..." He glanced over at Dawson as he refrained from swearing.

The blonde girl grinned up at Rush, her ponytail falling over her shoulder onto her back as she turned around. "Hi. Long time, no see."

"Yep. Logan update you on the whole mess?" She asked, sitting down next to the Author boy.

"Yeah. Sounds a little scary, but I'm happy to help. And it'll be great to see all the other Authors again." Dawson replied. Rush nodded. She'd seen Dawson a few months earlier- the two of them plus Aranna and Kendall had gone on a little portal-hopping adventure together.