The Girl Who Could Not Dream (23 page)

But Madison planted her fists on her hips and glared. “I
so
don't understand. And you better explain everything right now, Freak Girl, or I'm going to start screaming and never stop.”

Madison looked as if she meant it. Sophie felt like the monkey, pinned by her glare. She didn't know where to begin, or how much to say. If she'd never talked to Madison, Lucy, and Ethan, then Mr. Nightmare never would have known about them. If she hadn't given them dreamcatchers, he never would have guessed they had nightmares. They'd be safe.

Ethan spread his arms wide and answered for her. “These are dreams, caught in bottles. They're captured in dreamcatchers, then turned into liquid, bottled, and sold. If you drink a dream, you have that dream. If certain people drink one, the creatures in it become real. Sophie and Mr. Nightmare are those ‘certain people.'”

Bristling his fur, Monster growled at Ethan. “You swore to keep her secret.”

Sophie put a hand on his back. “It doesn't matter now.” It was too late to worry about secrets. Mr. Nightmare was coming back, and there was nothing they could do to stop him. He'd already won.

“Sorry. But it was kind of obvious.” Ethan waved his hands at Monster and Glitterhoof.

Madison was shaking her head as if that would shake apart his words. “Wait, wait, wait. Those dreamcatchers you gave me . . . You expect me to believe they really catch my dreams? And then you bottle them and sell them?”

Sophie shrank back. “Um, yes. I . . . I'm sorry.” As she said the words, she realized that she truly was, for all of it. She shouldn't have taken their dreams and exposed them to this. She should have kept herself away from everyone.

“I always knew you were a freak, but you've taken it to a whole new level of freakdom. You sell our private dreams to complete strangers?”

“She also saved you,” Ethan reminded her.

“Temporarily,” Madison said. “You heard the freaky monkey. He's coming back! And if the monkey was right, he'll be back soon.”

Ethan nodded gravely. “I think it's time to call the police. This is out of control.”

“You can't!” Sophie cried. He had her parents! He'd threatened them! If they went to the police, he'd feed them to the monsters. And Lucy.

“You can't!” Madison echoed Sophie, to Sophie's surprise. “You heard what he said. We can't call the police. Or go home. He still has that little girl.” She began to pace back and forth between the shelves of bottles. “This is all your fault, Sophie. You and your dreamcatchers. And I trusted you!”

“You never trusted me. You hated me.”

Halting, Madison drew herself up, as if she'd just been insulted. Her face was flushed as red as the band in Glitterhoof's rainbow. “I didn't—”

“And you were right to hate me. This
is
my fault. If I hadn't given you those dreamcatchers . . . If I hadn't wanted your nightmares . . . And I did want them.” Sophie felt her eyes heat, and she blinked hard. She wasn't going to cry. She was going to say these words. She
needed
to say them. “I was jealous of you. Still am. You might hate that you scare yourself at night, but at least you can do it. You can take yourself on adventures. You can mix up the real and the impossible. You can have conversations that never happened. Live lives you never lived. Die a thousand times. And I can't!” Sophie took a deep breath, feeling the air rattle in her ribs. “I don't dream. I can't dream. I can never have a single nightmare on my own. But you, both of you, your minds are amazing. You make magic.”

Stunned into silence, Madison stared at her.

“And you just wanted to throw it away,” Sophie said.

In a hushed voice, Madison asked, “You think my nightmares are
amazing?
”

“Yes!”

“Oh.”

Ethan shook his head. “You don't understand. It's one thing to have a vivid imagination when you're awake. Daydreams can be controlled. You always know they're just in your head. But at night, it's like being inside a pinball machine. All these thoughts hit each other, and you can't stop them. And when you're in it, really in it, you don't know if it's real or not.”

Sophie looked at him, and he met her eyes—more serious and sad than she'd ever seen him, more than she thought he could be. For not the first time, she wondered
why
he had nightmares. “Believe me, Sophie,” he said, “you aren't missing a thing by not dreaming. I'm jealous of
you.
There are so many terrible thoughts in my mind. At night, it's like my mind is the monster.”

Sophie slumped on the stool. “
I'm
the monster. I'm the freak. All my life, I've thought I was the only one like me.” Monster climbed onto her lap and curled up. She petted him. “And then it turns out I'm not, but the person who is most like me is worse than any dreamed-up monster.” She couldn't see a way out of this. He'd left them no options. Sophie felt her eyes fill as she looked around the Dream Shop. This place had always been her sanctuary. She'd come here whenever she felt lonely or overwhelmed or bored or sad, whenever she felt ignored at school or separate from the world. But it had been invaded, and it didn't feel safe anymore. Half the bottles were missing—either stolen by Mr. Nightmare or sucked away by the man with the mouth. The others were toppled over. The unfinished dreamcatchers were strewn across the floor, several trampled. Up the stairs, the door was busted, and the chairs they'd wedged there were broken. Hugging herself, she wished she could disappear like a dream into a dreamcatcher.

“Enough,” Glitterhoof said in his booming voice. “All this self-pity is making my hide itch. Please, stop. You are all very special in your own special way. If you'd like to sing a song about our specialness, I will sing along. But if you aren't going to switch to a more entertaining mode than simply moping . . .”

“I'm not moping,” Sophie said without moving. “I'm explaining.”

“Not very well,” Madison snapped. “Let me get this straight. One, dreams are real. Two, you collect them and sell them without telling the dreamer, specifically
me.
And three, Mr. Nightmare is . . . Come on, someone, fill in the blank here, please.”

“A very bad man.” Monster shuddered, his fur ruffling all the way to the tips of his tentacles.

Sophie hugged him as if he were a stuffed animal. “He's a buyer. He came to buy dreams from my parents . . . but I guess he wanted more. His own direct source. And he found it.”

Madison was frowning, a crinkle in her forehead, as if she were trying to force her brain to cooperate. “So he's bringing our nightmares to life and using them for prizefighting?”

“Monster Fight Club,” Ethan said.

“It's not funny.” Madison switched her glare to him.

Ethan spread his hands to show his innocence. “I didn't say it was.”

“He wants you to dream up new monsters that he can sell,” Sophie said. “And I led him right to you, by giving you dreamcatchers.”

Glitterhoof whickered. “All of this is very interesting, and I'm pleased to see your friendship blossoming through shared epiphanies and confessions of guilt, but it doesn't change the fact that Mr. Nightmare will be returning soon, and he'll most likely bring many more of his unpleasant creatures. We need a plan, if you don't want our quest to fail.”

Sophie shook her head sadly. “There's no plan. He has my parents and Lucy. He'll hurt them if we tell anyone. He'll find us if we run.”

Madison marched over to her and halted directly in front of her. “If you think I'm just going to meekly stay here and let him put me back in that room, then you don't know me very well.” She poked Sophie in the shoulder. “There are things in this world that are stronger than you. Sicknesses you're born with. Things that can't be cured. But that doesn't mean you quit fighting them. That doesn't mean you don't try. My sister has been in and out of the hospital since she was born. She should have died when she was six months and again when she was two and then four and then six, but my parents don't give up. Even though it's hopeless because she won't ever get better. Even though it costs them everything else in their lives, they keep fighting because it might buy them one more day. And you're saying you want me to give up? Meekly go back? Not try? Uh-uh, Freak Girl. Think again. If we can't go for help, if you can't hide, then we're going to fight.”

Sophie stared at her. She didn't know what to say.

“Very inspiring speech,” Glitterhoof said approvingly.

“Thank you,” Madison said. She looked as though she'd eaten something sour. “Now, stand up, Sophie. You know how to get rid of monsters. I've seen you do it twice. You're our best chance of stopping him.”

Slowly, Sophie stood. Monster slipped off her lap. “You want
me
to stop him?”

Ethan put his hands on his head, as if squeezing his skull would make him think better. “We don't know how much time we have before he comes back—maybe he was telling the truth and maybe he wasn't—but we
do
know that he is coming back. What if . . . while he's coming
here,
we go
there
and rescue Sophie's parents and Lucy?”

“Yeah, and you zap all the monsters, and then it's over,” Madison said. “He'll be just an ordinary man, and we
call the police. It's brilliant!”

Sophie shook her head. “It's too dangerous.”

“Agreed,” Monster said. “It's my responsibility to keep her safe, and I can't fight all the monsters that Mr. Nightmare has, especially if he's off now dreaming up more.”

Ethan spun in a circle, gesturing at the remaining bottles. “Then Sophie should dream up our own!”

Sophie held up her hands. “You want me to raise a dream army?”

Ethan nodded. “Sneak behind him with monsters of our own. How about more dinosaurs?” He raced over to the ledger.

Madison snorted. “You want to cross town with dinosaurs? Exactly how far do you think we'll get before everyone notices and stops us?”
Good point,
Sophie thought,
especially given the curfew.
The streets were being watched, and dinosaurs weren't inconspicuous at the best of times. Madison continued. “What we need are ninjas.”

“Yes! Ninjas!” Ethan said. “Even better: ninja monsters with built-in throwing stars.”

A tendril of hope began to sneak into Sophie. She did have the same power that Mr. Nightmare had, and she had a shop full of bottled dreams. “Fine, I'll do it, but we need to find someplace safe to hide you two.”

Ethan shook his head. “We're safest with you.”

“Basketball Boy is right,” Madison said. “You're the Dream Girl.”

Softly Monster said, “Sophie, you have to accept they're part of this now. We're all in it together.” He laid a soft tentacle on her cheek. “Until Mr. Nightmare is stopped, they won't ever be safe.”

“But . . .” But surely they hated her, or at least distrusted her. She wasn't like them. She didn't have dreams. She was a freak, as Madison said. She belonged on her own.

Glitterhoof trotted forward. He laid his head on her shoulder as if to comfort her. “Sophie, you must trust them. Trust will breed friendship, which will breed kindness, which may save you all. Friendship will be your strength. Men like Mr. Nightmare know nothing of it.”

Rolling his eyes, Monster snorted. “Clearly, the glitter pony has watched too much TV. Still, the girl is right, and the boy has decent ideas.”

Glitterhoof nudged her toward the shelves of dream bottles. Monster jumped up onto the counter next to the ledger. Sophie took a deep breath. “I'll have to work with whatever dreams we have left,” she said.

Flipping through the ledger, Monster said, “He wiped out our entire collection of things with teeth and claws, and who knows what we lost to that thing with the vacuum mouth.”

“How about this one?” Ethan picked up a bottle that swirled with sparkling blue liquid. It sloshed as he waved it from side to side.

Monster unfirmed a tentacle and plucked the bottle out of his hands. “Those are fragile.”

Checking the number, Sophie compared it to the ledger. It was labeled
Forest variant, lots of fauna and waterfowl
. “It has animals,” she said. Some animals were dangerous enough to fight monsters, or at least distract them. “Let's view it.” Taking the bottle, she carried it over to the somnium. She dumped it in the top and put the bottle underneath to catch the dream when it finished. Madison and Ethan crowded next to her to watch.

“What are we looking at?” Madison asked.

“Just wait,” Monster told her.

Images swirled in the mist as the sparkling blue dripped through the tube.

“Whoa,” Ethan breathed.

An idyllic forest formed in the middle of the mist. Birds swooped through the air. A man in a suit and a woman with a parasol were having a picnic on the grass, and a rubber duck floated through the air past them, squeaking as it flew. And then without any transition, the man and woman were in a boat in the middle of a lake—the picnic was gone, and a baby moose stood by the shore of the lake. Rubber ducks flew in V formation overhead.

“Well, this makes no sense,” Madison said.

“And is useless,” Ethan said. “Rubber ducks can't fight monsters.”

Sophie collected the bottle after the dream filled it again. She stoppered it and put it back on the shelf. She selected another from the same shelf and dumped it into the somnium. It was a different forest, with sunlight filtering through the trees and a stream trickling over rocks. A deer with magnificent antlers pranced across the stream, then paused to take a drink, while birds flew from tree to tree. She also saw a badger, a raccoon, and several rabbits. A few of the rabbits were wearing clothes, including top hats and gowns that stopped at their fluffy tails.