The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

The awful truth

The forest was gorgeous—the ground, covered in moss of every hue of green, was soft and springy underfoot. The trees—cedar, fir and alder primarily—were luscious. The sun cast glowing rays of brilliant light, illuminating spider webs dripping with morning dew and a host of flying insects. It was, in a word, splendid, and for long chunks of time, I forgot all about The Family, Imorah, my books, Michael, Nicole... and it was just me and the birds and an occasional squirrel and everything was perfect.

Blue Jay was an excellent companion on this walk. He kept his own pace, without looking back, and when he got too far away, he stopped to wait for me. All I'd seen of him was his back as he turned to keep walking once I'd caught up. It gave me the security of knowing he was close-by, but the peace of walking alone.

Finally, after about an hour's hike, we reached the old lighthouse on the North end of the island. The lighthouse and the old seawall had crumbled back into the water. Up ahead in the distance, the Lion's Gate bridge, it's support cables long snapped, sagged into the water it had once spanned across. We were facing the open waters of the Salish Sea, so the waves were more rambunctious, but in general, everything seemed inviting and serene.

I was about to break the silence to ask what we were going to do next, when Blue Jay started throwing a bunch of fallen branches onto the grass at my feet. He was down in a gully, uncovering something, a stash by the looks of it. I stepped around the branches to get a better look and was surprised to see a boat. Not a canoe, thank god, but a nice sturdy wooden row boat, with room for three or four people.

There were even two life jackets stowed underneath of it and two oak oars. I was about to ask if he needed any help, when he shoved the oars into my hands. He proceeded to pull the boat onto a sand bar—the tide was perfect right now, I couldn't help noticing, realising that was why he'd wanted to get such an early start.

I followed him onto the sand, careful not to get my feet wet, and threw the oars into the boat. We pushed it to the water and I was grateful for a natural stone staircase that allowed me to board without much effort. Once in, the boat promptly bottomed out, but Blue Jay didn't seem to mind getting his feet wet and he pulled us out and hopped onboard, hooked up the oars and promptly started rowing.

I very much wanted to ask where we were going, but bit my tongue. So far we hadn't said a word since we'd begun this journey and I wasn't going to be the first to break the spell. The day was perfect for a boat ride and I felt perfectly at ease.

We headed out across the inlet, and soon enough, we were above the Lion's Gate Bridge, lying in a broken heap in the murky waters below. We followed the northern coastline and encountered a wealth of sea life—big purple starfish, lobsters, crab, and even a sea lion came along, curious about these strange humans. Soon enough, we left the crumbling condos of the North Shore behind us and entered the wealthy suburbs—beachfront property—huge, luxury houses now empty and decayed. The gardens, once manicured to perfection by devoted full-time gardeners, now grown wild and, by my estimation, more beautiful than ever. There were some points where I saw no sign of human life and it filled my heart with happiness. For moments, I could imagine that nothing horrible had happened and everything was right with the world.

It was in one such place, sunny and sheltered from the wind, that suddenly Blue Jay stopped his tireless rowing and the boat glided in silence along the calm, clear water.

Have we arrived? I wondered.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Blue Jay asked. Instead of tired, he seemed revived and alive from the rowing. His face was glistening with a light sweat and he was smiling.

I nodded—hunger was a perpetual hallmark of my existence, and one that I had learned to live with—but food was always welcome.

Blue Jay pulled out a leather bag from his old and tattered MEC backpack and revealed some bread and a glass jar of jam, blackberry by the looks of it.