Dreamfire by Kit Alloway Page B

nightmare.
    â€œThere’s almost never enough warning. If the Dream shifts with you in it, ligamus no longer applies. The Veil vanishes and the archway can’t track you any longer.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œNobody knows. It’s another dream-theory mystery, and it happens pretty frequently. Chyman’s Dilemma is sort of the common cold of dream theory.” She put her hand back on the looking stone, and after an instant, a nightmare popped up. “If we trigger Chyman’s Dilemma, resolving a nightmare will no longer cue the Dream to release us. We have to open an exit in order to leave. That’s why you never, ever go into the Dream without your lighter and compact. Once you trigger Chyman’s Dilemma, they’re your only way out.”
    â€œWhat happens if you forget them and trigger Chyman’s Dilemma?” Will asked.
    From the guilty look on her face, Will understood that Josh had been hoping he wouldn’t ask that question. “Then the only way to get out of the Dream is to find another dream walker who can open an exit for you. But the Dream is vast. The chances of finding another dream walker are very small.”
    â€œSo if you get lost in the Dream … you die?”
    Josh nodded and glanced away. “You die in a nightmare you’re too tired to fight.”
    That is not good news, Will thought. He decided that remembering to take keys into the Dream was now the single most important thing in his life.
    â€œAnyway,” Josh said, obviously eager to change the subject, “if you do trigger Chyman’s Dilemma and then open an exit, there’s a small chance that the exit will lead to an archway other than this one, because ligamus no longer applies. But that pretty much only happens in cases of multiple shifts, and there’s sort of an unspoken rule of hospitality regarding lost dream walkers who come out of the wrong archway.”
    Will could just imagine the look on the face of a Pakistani dream walker if Will and Josh suddenly walked out of his archway. But he supposed it had happened before.
    Josh was staring through the archway at a nightmare in which an old man tried to crawl from his burning home. “By the way,” she said, her voice strained, “what are you afraid of?”
    Will blinked and wondered if he’d heard her right. “What?”
    She fiddled with the pendant she wore, clearly uncomfortable discussing something so personal. “I was talking to my grandma last night, and she pointed out that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to go rushing into any nightmares full of things you fear. We should stick to things that don’t freak you out too much, at least to start. So I thought I’d ask what you’re afraid of.”
    Will compiled a list in his head: Loneliness. Guilt. Being where I’m not wanted.
    Aloud, he said, “Drowning. You?”
    â€œBirds,” she replied immediately.
    They didn’t look at each other.
    After a long silence, Josh asked, “How do you feel about mobs?”
    â€œFine. Great. I love mobs.”
    â€œLet’s try this one, then.”
    Through the archway, Will saw a middle-aged woman running through a house. In each room, faces were pressed up against her windows; people were beating on the glass and screaming. The woman raced from one window to the next pulling curtains and blinds, but each opened up again as soon as she left the room.
    Lots of doors, Will thought, trying to remember what Josh had taught him. Plenty of easy exits.
    â€œHere’s the plan,” Josh said, speaking quickly. With one hand she touched her pocket to make sure she had her lighter and compact; Will doubted she was aware that she did it. “The dreamer’s afraid of the mob getting into the house. We can’t fight a whole mob, so we have to convince her that those people aren’t a threat. I’m going to reassure her that the house is sturdy