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"Eat me," I whispered "I don&039;tI don&039;t understand"

"This thing you&039;ve been chasing, I think The Nighthtmare," I said I lowered my head and closed ht What&039;s going on?"

"Well You caills on va like a madman I think you didn&039;t realize that I was inside Mister Do you remember that part?"

"Yeah Sort of"

"What happened?"

I relayedseeuts to settle My heartbeat slowly eased down to so less than that of a terrified rabbit

"Sounds weird," Bob said "Got to be soht like that Even in a specially equipped van"

"I realize that, Bob," I said, and mopped at my face with one hand

"You any steadier?"

"II guess"

"I think you got torn up pretty good, spirit-wise It&039;s lucky you started screa I came as quick as I could, but you didn&039;t want to wake up The poison, I think"

I sat up, cross-legged, staying inside the circle "I remember that I had a dreauts turn to water, and I started shaking again "I tried to change it, but I wasn&039;t ready I couldn&039;t"

"A dreaures?" I asked

"Sure," Bob said

I shook my head, rested my elbows on my knees, and putthis Soo, leave town "It was a spirit that jumped me?"

"Yeah"

I shook et past the threshold?"

"Your threshold isn&039;t so hot to begin with, Bachelor Man"

I worked up enough courage to scowl at Bob "The wards, then I&039;ve got all the doors and arded And I don&039;t have any mirrors it could have used"

If Bob had any hands, he would have been rubbing theether "Exactly," he said "Yes, exactly"

My stosonity re into a hole and pulling it in after me I sed "Itit never ca It never had to cross those boundaries"

Bob nodded, eyes burning brightly "Exactly You went out to it"

"When I was drea?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Bob bubbled "It makes sense now - don&039;t you see?"

"Not really"

"Dreams," the skull said "When a s can happen When a wizard dreams, it can be even weirder Soh to create a little, temporary world of their own Kind of a bubble in the Nevernever Reh ghost to have had her own demesne in the Nevernever?"

"Yeah It looked kind of like old Chicago"

"Well, people can do the sahost, Bob"

"No," he said "You&039;re not But you&039;ve got everything it takes to ht set of circues of people, Harry, last impressions made by a personality" Bob paused, reflectively "People are al you run into on the Other Side"

"I hadn&039;t noticed," I said "All right So you&039;re saying that any time I dream, it creates my own little rent-by-the-hour demesne in the Nevernever"

"Not every time," Bob said "In fact, not eventhe necessary energy out of people But, with the border being so turbulent and easy to get through "

"More people&039;s drea bubbles on the other side That ot to poor Micky Malone, then While he was sleeping His wife said he&039;d had insos around outside his house waiting for hi fuzzy animals to fill up the time"

"Could be," Bob said "Do you remember your dream?"

I shuddered "Yeah II reot inside with you"

"While my spirit was in the Nevernever?" I asked "It should have ripped me to shreds"

"Not so," Bob beamed "Your spirit&039;s demesne, remember? Even if only a tee It didn&039;t help, since it got the drop on you, but you had it"

"Oh"

"Do you reure or character in the dreaht it should have?"

"Yeah," I said My shaking hands went tofor toothof that bust a couple of months back When we nailed Kravos"

"That sorcerer," Bob mused "Okay This could be i not to throw up "U That deer than it had been in life"

"The demon was?"

I blinked "Bob Is it possible for sohost?"

"Oh, uh," Bob said, "I don&039;t think so - unless it had actually died there Eternally perished, I mean, not just had its vessel dispersed"

"Michael killed it with Amoracchius," I said

Bob&039;s skull shuddered "Ow," he said "Amoracchius I&039;ht be able to kill a deic thing is awfully strong"

"Okay, so We could be dealing with the ghost of a demon, here," I said "A deht Maybe that&039;s what reed, cheerily

I shook my head "But that doesn&039;t explain the barbed-wire spells we&039;ve been finding on those ghosts and people" I grabbed onto the probleled facts, with a silent kind of desperation, like aIt helped to keep

"Maybe the spells are someone else&039;s work," Bob offered

"Bianca," I said, suddenly "She and her lackeys are all messed up in this somehow - reme forarrested"

"I didn&039;t think she was that big tied "She&039;s not, horribly But she just got pro up She&039;s always had a little more than her share of freaky vampire tricks - and if she was over in the Nevernever when she did it, it would have h his teeth "Yeah, that could work Bianca stirs things up by torturing a bunch of spirits, gets all the turbulence going so that she can prod this Nightmare toward you Then she lets it loose, sits back, and enjoys the fun She got aa note I&039;d read o "She blames me for the death of one of her people Rachel She wants to ret it"