This dream is different. Jacob is himself, as he had been a year ago. No wings. No twitchy feelings from lack of sleep. Just himself, clear headed and fully aware of everything that's going on around him, the way he's supposed to. He feels like an assassin again, not just a jumble of skin and bones, too many limbs in one body.
Of course, being aware of his surroundings doesn't mean he knows where exactly he is. A beach somewhere. There's a forest farther inland. A mountain. It doesn't look like any place Jacob has ever seen before, but for some reason he's not worried. Maybe it's just because it's a dream, maybe it's something else, but Jacob just has this feeling, deep in his gut, like this is where he's supposed to be.
"Hey," someone calls behind him. "Jacob."
Jacob turns around, slowly, and sees a man standing there. He's an inch or two taller than Jacob, wearing dark blue robes. They've been cut open at the back to make room for the pair of magnificent wings at his back. They're a vivid shade of blue, like the sky on a summer day, and Jacob feels the muscles in his back tense on seeing them, wings he doesn't have any more readying to fly.
"Who are you?" Jacob asks. "Where is this?"
"Just hurry up," someone says, and Jacob shifts his attention to the woman standing next to the man with wings. Her hair is bright red and pulled back from her face, which is twisted in obvious effort. "He doesn't have a wizard, Arno, I'm not going to hold him here long."
"Hold me—what's going on here?" Jacob takes several steps toward the pair, eager at the thought of finally getting some kind of answer. "Seriously, who are you people?"
"Hurry, Arno," the woman says again.
"I know, I know—" he shoots her a worried look and then turns to Jacob. "Listen," he says. "You need to be here."
"Where's here?" Jacob asks, but he knows, the answer comes rising up and out of him before Arno has a chance to say it himself. "Avalon."
"Yea," Arno says. "So you know the name, do you know what it is?"
"No."
"It's where we live," Arno says.
"People with wings?" Jacob asks.
"Yea," Arno says. "And our wizards. And the dragons."
"They are real," Jacob says. "I knew it!"
"Yea," Arno says. "They're here, on the Island. Listen, Jacob, are you having the dreams?"
"I'm having nightmares," Jacob says. "Is that what you mean?"
Arno gives him a look of sympathetic understanding. "Yea," he says. "They start bad, but you need to get through them."
"They suck," Jacob says.
"And sleep deprivation doesn't?" Arno asks. "For your own health, Jacob, get some sleep. Get through the nightmares, I promise it gets better. And get yourself here."
"Bring your wizard, next time," his friend says.
"What does that even mean?" Jacob asks. "What's a wizard? How am I supposed to get here? And how do you know my name, anyway, why—"
"Finish the dreams," Arno says. "That's where you'll get all your answers from. The dreams aren't just nightmares, they're our history. They're the story of the dragons, the story of how we got wings, how we got here. It's not a good story, but it'll tell you everything you need to know about why you have your wings and what that's going to mean."
"But—"
"Just do it, Jacob," Arno says.
And then Jacob wakes up. He's on the floor of the train, curled up inside his wings. Evie and Henry are somewhere nearby, the low murmur of their voices a comforting, familiar sound. Jacob doesn't move, he tries to keep his breathing even. He doesn't want them to realize he's awake yet.
He's not sure if the dream he's just had has any truth to it at all. Maybe it's just his brain making stuff up, but—it doesn't feel like it. Feels like he'd really been there, on that island, talking to Arno and his friend.
Get through the nightmares, he'd said, and Jacob… trusts him. He's got wings too. He knows what it's like. And he really wants to be able to sleep again, he just wants all this to be over. And if there is an ending, that's okay. He can make it. As long as there's a light at the end of the tunnel, Jacob can manage whatever the dreams are going to throw at him.
He's so, so tired. It's not hard to fall asleep again, even with all the things running through his head and the fear of the nightmares. Jacob just closes his eyes and… drifts off. He plunges back into nightmares, and for hours after he dreams. Horrible, painful dreams like memories. But… they are telling him a story, just like Arno promised. And when he wakes up, he knows exactly what he has to do. It's the calmest he's felt for months, the most at peace he's been since growing wings. The sleep helps, definitely, but so does knowing.
Now he just has to tell Evie.
Hours have passed since Jacob last woke, and the train has gone dark around him. Jacob jumps to his feet, flashing to eagle vision and back in a split second, just long enough to find Evie. There she is, in her compartment, with Henry of course. Great, that's great—Jacob doesn't mind telling both of them but he doesn't want to tell the story twice. This makes everything easier.
He flies—not literally, there's no room—through the train until he gets to his sister and Henry. They both look exhausted, but Evie brightens when Jacob comes in.
"You look better," she says.
"Yea," Jacob says. "I slept, and I had this dream—well, two dreams, actually, but the first one's not as important right now." He'll tell them about Arno later, when there's more time. "Listen, I figured stuff out. About the dragons and everything. And I know where I need to go."
"Go?" Evie echoes.
"Yea," Jacob says. "Listen—"
And he begins to tell his story.