Eventually I spotted a red glow ahead of us. As we drew closer, I saw that the glow came from a large cave. We walked toward it, splashing through a wide patch of muddy water where slimy things slithered over my feet. When something began nibbling on my bloody toes I cried out in fear, but my captor just pushed me forward.

We stopped at the mouth of an enormous cavern. A stone path, about three feet wide and lined with torches, led across a stretch of black water to a tall rocky island that looked like a giant skull rising from the water.

Carved into the island’s side, curving up the jaw and around the back of the head, was a slender stairway.

On top of the skull stood Weztix.

Fluffy was sitting on his shoulder.

Weztix was far taller than a man, and unbelievably beautiful, like some statue of a Greek god come to life. Light seemed to pour from his face when he looked down at me.

“Welcome, David,” he said in a voice that was as beautiful as he was. “Welcome. We have been waiting for you for such a long time.”

Though I had felt a surge of relief at seeing this beautiful creature, his words made me nervous again.

“Waiting for me?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Surely you knew something was waiting for you under your bed.”

“I just know it scared me,” I replied.

He smiled, which made his face even more beautiful. “Good. That’s what this place is all about.”

“What is this place?” I asked.

“The land of nightmares, of course,” he said, spreading his arms in welcome. “And I am the Lord of Nightmares. My name is Weztix, and I am the source of all your worst dreams.”

My blood felt cold in my veins. “Why . . . why have you brought me here?”

“Because we need you,” he said. “And because we could.”

“I don’t understand.”

He spread his arms, then rose into the air and began to float in my direction. I cringed as he came down, fearing that he would land on top of me and crush me. But he touched down about three feet away.

My head came up to about his kneecap.

Looking down at me, Weztix said, “There aren’t many places where the border between nightmare and reality is frail enough for someone to pass through it to our side. We can go through, of course; we have to, in order to do our job.”

As he spoke, I began to have flashbacks of old nightmares, terrifying dreams that had vanished from my conscious memory but turned out to have been lurking at the back of my mind, waiting to spring out again. Nightmares, I now understand, that had been meant to prepare me for this moment.