We’ve passed through the other side of the clearing, and the forest towers over us once again. I feel so small, so insignificant. It’s as if Nazarin and I are the only people in this Technicolor twilight world.

“Kim knew even if we got proof that it’d never be enough. She’s been developing that false tooth for a long time. Used us, in a way, I guess, though I can’t blame her. I would have done the same in a heartbeat.”

Like you used me. The unspoken words hover between us, almost a presence. I can’t really blame him, either. It was my choice, too.

My nerves are on edge. I keep waiting for the world to turn dark and ugly. For the mandrake demons to grow from the ground and reach for me, for the sky to burn, for Ensi to appear with a scalpel, pin me down and cut me open.

“So we should be able to manipulate this place? Even you, though you’re not a trained lucid dreamer?” I concentrate, and make a knife appear in my hand. It seems solid and I feel better holding it. It was far easier than when I was in Mia’s dream world, or even Alex Mantel’s.

I remember Kim telling me about the nanites after she’d fixed my tooth: This will hack into Ensi. Once you dose him, he’ll have little control over the dreamscapes he creates. When he goes in to take his pleasure and revenge against someone, he goes in deep, leaves nothing back. If he dies in one of his creations, he’ll be brain-dead.

It was supposed to be a long con. Eventually someone would realize they could affect the dreamscape, fight back and get rid of him for us. I doubt she expected him to go in so soon after he’d dosed, bringing us with him.

“What happens if we kill him while we’re still in here?” I ask.

“Kim never said.”

“Well, shit.”

“Yeah. Guess we’ll find out.”

I feel like something should have happened by now. The cyber forest is eerie, but not as frightening as Mia’s demons with the faces of people I grew up with. It’s such a strange echo of Mana’s Hearth.

I crane my head and peer through the branches up at the violet sky. Where is Ensi hiding? Does he know we’re here?

I start to recognize the tree formations. I grab Nazarin and lead him to the left, to the thin track through the forest that my sister and I have taken so many times. But the redwood forest I grew up with is merged with the dream forest of mercury-dipped trees and their vibrant needles.