The Children of Hypnos

[Vol. 2] Chapter 10: In Theory

Trevor van der Gelt had no nightmares that night, nor the next. It was easier to sit in one spot and sense the Dream around them than to constantly patrol the yard, so Emery and Wes spent most of the time posted near Trevor's dock on the lake. They both ended up in coats and hats; dreamhunter armor could keep them safe from most elements, but sitting on a lake at night in the middle of winter was a bit of a different story. If Trevor was having any nightmares, they weren't strong enough to leave the Dream and come find him, and rotating between sitting at the dock and brief trips around the yard seemed like a better use of their time than waiting for something that might not come. They watched the moonlight shine off the frozen lake surface and spoke in private about Morrigan.

Neither of them wanted to enter the Dream again. It had been too volatile the last three times they were there, and was especially harsh on Emery. Plus, in the Dream, they were at a disadvantage—it clawed constantly at their minds, trying to take their memories and force them to remain inside the Dream forever. As a dreamform, Morrigan didn't have that problem. Not to mention that of the two of them, only Wes could make a gateway, which meant that if anything happened to him inside the Dream, Emery wouldn't be able to get them out again.

But Morrigan could stay in the Dream for the foreseeable future. At least until Emery had well and truly entered her Insanity Prime, and Morrigan's need for her host body was too strong. All it meant was that until Emery was ordered to enter the Dream by the Hypnos State, she could do little more than prepare. Learn to open a gateway herself. Figure out how to dreamform without giving herself a raging headache and a nosebleed.

"I'd feel better about it if we had an actual dream theory teacher," she said on the car ride back from Trevor's house on the second night, "and not Lenton, who I am pretty sure would wet himself if he ever set foot inside the Dream."

"Normally I'd say that's ridiculous," Wes replied, "but in this case you're probably right."

It wasn't Professor Lenton's fault he was a terrible dream theory teacher. Like most of the other teachers on campus, he wasn't a dreamhunter, but unlike many of the other teachers on campus, he taught a course that required a dreamhunter teacher to be of any use. Dream theory was all about dreamforming, making gateways, and navigating the Dream, and a teacher who could do none of those things was only as useful as the bone-dry textbooks he taught from. Some of the students in their class had asked Marcia to teach them more during weapons classes, but she couldn't—her hands had been tied by the restrictions put on dreamhunter education by the State.

Lenton was at his desk the next day when they reached the classroom. Emery had to stop and look around to make sure there was nothing else out of the ordinary; normally he stood next to the door and marked attendance as students came in. Everyone else was already sitting at their desks, backs straight, either staring at Lenton or staring at the door.

"What's going on?" Emery slid into the desk next to Wes.

"I don't know," Wes said.

From Emery's other side, Veronica Lash leaned over and said, "Lenton's been muttering under his breath since before you came in. Five minutes ago, he broke a pen."

Isaiah Howard snorted behind them. He and his brother Samuel leaned in, too. "Ten minutes ago he pulled out part of his mustache. I think he got a bad review this semester."

"I think he got fired this semester," said Samuel.

"If he was fired, he wouldn't still be here," Emery said. The last of their classmates wandered inside, looking confused. The bell rang overhead. Lenton didn't get up from his desk.

Emery raised her hand. Lenton didn't look up. She waved a little. Still no reaction.

"Professor," she said.