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Back The Dream Runners
Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. Part Two
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. Part Three
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. Acknowledgments
  50. About the Author
  51. Books by Shveta Thakrar
  52. Back Ad
  53. About the Publisher

Her neck heating, Tanvi bobbed her wool-stuffed head in an approximation of a nod. “I’m not promising anything. Only that I’m not doing it right this second.”

Venkat smiled at the dreamstone. “I’ll take that.”

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23

For Venkat, the next day passed in a flurry of meetings, curating elements for his project with Nayan, and fending off the line of anxious customers that seemed to triple in size each time he looked up. Word of the runners’ hiatus had spread faster than a serpent could slither, and suddenly everyone who’d ever flirted with the idea of experiencing a mortal dream was turning up in the archives.

Who cares if you get to dream? Venkat could’ve demanded. What if he didn’t have enough scraps left to move into the next phase of the project? Or to help Tanvi and the others?

Instead, he smiled politely and explained again and again that dreams needed to be rationed, and surely the ban on travel would be lifted soon, allowing the runners to resume their harvest. He smiled and smiled: at Nayan, at the courtiers, and especially at Madhu, trying to feel her out.

Madhu returned amiable smile for amiable smile, going so far as to praise Venkat’s handling of an unusually aggressive customer, as if she’d never threatened to report Tanvi to Nayan. That only worried Venkat more.

He longed to escape into his experiments, but he settled for checking on the sky-faring sofa. Like the scissors, it showed every sign of enduring. He should have been excited, but he just felt irritated. A doll-sized flying couch wouldn’t solve his problems. The runners were counting on him, whether they knew it or not.

Tanvi was counting on him.

He hadn’t even had a chance to ask Asha what really happened to the two of them on Prithvi.

That night, determined to clear his head, Venkat climbed under the covers with his favorite volume of naga folktales. But he kept reliving Tanvi sitting beside him, chewing on her lower lip as he read from the purple book and hugging herself tighter at the tense parts.

Not only that, but then she’d held his hand and told him about her sister. She’d scorned the fake bracelets and insisted on the real one. Unlike Jai, she’d turned down the illusion. Did that have anything to do with why the copies had disintegrated?

Piecing together what had woken her might be the key to preventing burnout.

Venkat’s pulse sped up. She’d been awake.

How could he possibly put her back to sleep?