Chapters (38)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
“Consciousness.” Lishta nudged the edge of the paper and the dust particles shifted. “More plainly, it lets you talk to a dreamer as they’re dreaming. They’ll hear you inside their dream without waking.”
Maren’s imagination spun in a million directions, but the one it kept leaping back to was Hallie. She could ask Hallie to wake up. Give her a million reasons to get better, remind her of the life that was still waiting for her. Nine days was plenty of time to convince her.
“Can they talk back?” she said, nearly breathless.
“Maybe, maybe not,” said Lishta. “People’s words often sound normal to them in their dreams, but they come out of their actual mouths as gibberish. Or there’s no sound at all.”
Maren’s feet shuffled left and right. Even if Hallie couldn’t respond, the fact that she might be able to speak to her was massive. Of course, there were a few minor obstacles. Number one was the fact that she shouldn’t be giving Hallie dreams at all, let alone ones dosed with whispering dust. Number two was the fact that the dust in question was locked in a safe that Maren didn’t have the code for.
“This is very dangerous stuff in the hands of the wrong person,” said Lishta. “Imagine what you could do by influencing someone’s subconscious. The things you could tell them, make them believe. Make them want to do.”
Maren set her chin on the counter and waited for the dust to look different, do something, maybe whisper a little. “But what if it were the only way you could talk to someone?”
Lishta folded the paper in half and tipped the dust carefully back into the tin. “I know exactly what you’re thinking, sweetheart, and the answer is no.”
Tears pricked the corners of Maren’s eyes. Lishta set her own chin on the counter beside hers and sighed. “I understand why you’d want to do it. It’s very hard for me not to want the same. Everyone misses your sister like mad. But we don’t know exactly how this stuff works, how much to use, what will happen. Her brain is still healing, and we wouldn’t want to make it harder for her.” Lishta caught sight of Maren’s cringing face, and her voice softened. “Until we can test it out on a healthy person at least, it’s just not safe, darling.”
“PETITE SOURIS SOURNOISE.” Henri zoomed down from the shelves, buzzed the top of Maren’s head, and dropped a wrapped candy on the counter beside Lishta.