His feet had taken him to a part of the city that seemed to be nearer to the water and farther from people and businesses. Beside him was a raised bit of highway that just ended in midair with weeds beneath it, ready for an action scene.

Declan would have been extremely displeased to find him here.

Back when Matthew learned he was a dream, Declan had told him that he was just as much a Lynch brother as the other two, but Matthew knew now that wasn’t true. Because he wasn’t being sent to school. He wasn’t being prepared for a future. He was being tended and loved and managed. The thing about this life of Declan’s, Matthew thought, the thing about it, was that Matthew was just a thing in it. A dream object. A puppy to be walked and then returned to “home” with some of the energy burned off.

His eye was caught by an unoccupied crane, a spiffy one. It had one of those big boom things that looked like a ladder and at the top of it was a hook.

Matthew thought, without hesitation: I’m going to climb that.

He did. He clambered onto the body and then onto the boom, up and up and up. He thought how annoyed Declan would be. Good, he thought. Good, good. But I told you to stay in the house, Declan would say, confused. You’re supposed to stay exactly where I put you, like a toy.

He kind of wished he’d never found out he was a dream.

At the top of the crane boom, Matthew closed his eyes. He used to imagine that air was a hug that was always happening, but he couldn’t seem to conjure up that happy thought right then.

It had taken Matthew a long time to understand that he was a boat anchor in Declan’s life.

“Crumbs!”

Opening his eyes, he realized there was a tiny person looking up at him. A tiny Jordan. Well, a regular-sized Jordan, far below.

She shielded her eyes. “Yeah, I thought that was you!”

“You can’t make me come down,” Matthew told her.

“I sure as shit cannot,” she agreed, “but it is harder to talk this way, you up there, me down here.”

“Don’t talk to me like a kid. I can tell you’re talking to me like a kid and I don’t like it.”

Jordan crossed her arms, a posture readable even from up on a crane. “All right, here you go, then: Climbing up on a stick into the sky is a stupid way to process any kind of problem, but stupid’s your right, so if you want to stay up there, just lemme know how long it’ll be, so I can know if I have time to get a drink, or if I should just hang here.”

“Why do I need to be watched at all?”