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I nodded "What’s so dangerous, Mab?" As a dehter, I was familiar with the dream world I’d been in other people’s drea froh the collective unconscious"
Shit Noere talking dangerous with a capital D An individual’s dreaenerated from the dreamer’s subconscious, the mind’s basement that stores all the ee in drea place I’d once fallen into a client’s subconscious during a Drude extermination--and it was an experience I never wanted to repeat But if the subconscious is bad, the collective unconscious is a hundred billion tihtmares, fantasies, and terrors of everyone who’s ever lived Worse, it’s populated by for blob that absorbs everything it touches, then burps out those essences in new configurations
If I had to cross the collective unconscious, the fore in ood that you understand the danger But you must set aside fear In the collective unconscious, fear will rip you apart" She gentled her voice "Don’t think about it now You don’t have to cross that territory yet First, we must test whether I can pass the bloodstone to you So take a ht you"
Relaxation isn’t easy when you’re trying to decide which would be the worst fate: having your life force transferred to your enehtross blob of nothingness But even if the collective unconscious killedMyrddin had failed That alone orth the risk
I focused on the center ofer and deeper When the last dollop of fear melted away, I nodded to Mab
"Good," she said "Now, look at the lake Watch the water"
I did All was still, except for the sparkles of sunlight playing across the surface Then, several yards froed, curled into a fist Its ar sleeve of a white, silky er sat on the shore, but in a slided toward race The white fabric, shot through with gold and silver threads, caught the sunlight and low
The arm stopped beside my boat I tried to peer into the water to see the rest of the person, but all I could make out was a hazy white shape The fist shook itself--once, twice, three tih impatient I held out my open palm A stone dropped into my hand Immediately, the arently under reen and red spots, set in silver Mab’s pendant I curled ers around it
"Now, child, I need you to do so that’s a bit difficult, so you must do it very carefully" Mab’s voice blew across the lake like a summer breeze I couldn’t see her anymore, but I knew she was close by "Stay in the boat--that will keep you in the dream You must stay in the dream, but I need you to check your physical body I’ll hold you here, but take aworld See whether you have the stone there Do it now" Her soft voice went on,the lake, the sky, the woods on the shore
Holding on to Mab’s words like Ariadne’s thread, I let a corner of my consciousness travel back to that dark, silent room I still lay on ers were curled into a fist I squeezed theently Yes I could feel the pendant in rim reality and let Mab’s voice reel me back into my drea My body felt rubbery, like I’d run hard for ot it," I panted "Out there, I mean It’s in e, like a painting on the sky Her lips curved as though she were trying to sement--an odd expression I’d never seen on my aunt’s face--but worry lines creased her forehead and the corners of her eyes "I’ to steer this boat toward the far shore, out of your personal dreamscape Relax as best you can"
Mab’s face faded, and I felt the boat move I lay back and watched the sky It was blue and dotted with clouds--white, puffy, picturesque clouds, not the heavy kind that threaten rain or snow The boat glided through the water with a gentle rocking motion I smelled pine woods, and the scent reminded me of Kane
A small bump, and the boat stopped I sat up Mab stood in water up to her ankles, holding a rope tied to the bow The shore behind her looked nothing like the woods I’d conjured around htning The smoke roiled, thick and opaque; my vision couldn’t penetrate it at all
I looked over my shoulder Behind me, the placid lake reflected the blue sky Tree branches swayed in the breeze I wanted to stay there, but I couldn’t My dreamscape was an illusion, one from which I’d awaken into the reality of pain and death
I had to go forward