Chapter Seven: Dreamquake

"So Karen," Melanie said, "if all of your power is draining away, then how do you think we can design this dream?"

"I'm only going to be designing the structure of it all," Karen explained. "Even if something's warping the Wizardry in this part of the Galaxy, the Speech is still the same."

Melanie was quiet for the next few minutes while her cousin flipped through the pages of her manual. Something weird was going on, she was certain of that. But she felt as though she was missing something important, something crucial. It felt like it was dangling just beyond reach…

"Okay," Karen said. "This should be pretty straight-forward. "I'm going to put you to sleep – by suggesting it to your mind – and give your mind a simple set of instructions that should point it towards the source of your dream. Now, there is a big choice you have to make here. I could instruct your brain to make you finish the dream before you wake up – otherwise it might just wake you up at the point where it usually does. And that's fine, except that we really don't have any idea how far this goes on. And the longer your mind is unconscious, the harder it will be for you to wake…" she trailed off.

"What is it Karen?" asked Melanie, sensing from experience that her cousin was holding something back.

"Well, when I say that it could be hard for you to wake up; I mean that we might have to go in after you to make you wake up."

Melanie whistled. Wizards didn't interfere with another's mind unless there was no alternative. "But there have to be benefits, otherwise you wouldn't have suggested it," she pointed out.

"It may be the only way to ensure that you find out what this is all really about. It's clear to me from what you said before about when you wake up in a dream, that the dream is – sorry – making it hard for you to get to its end. Even after suggesting it, it may not let you see its finish…"

Melanie bit her lip. She wasn't really scared of being caught in the dream. The consequences didn't seem too bad… except that her parents would ask her what was going on and she definitely didn't want that.

"If I don't wake up for a while, can you cover for me?" but she knew it was a terrible question. Asking her cousin to lie would make the Universe die faster, and her cousin was a Wizard… so she wasn't surprised to see her cousin looking uneasy.

"If you decide to do this," Karen said, but Melanie cut her off.

"I want to see the dream to its end," she said.

Karen took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "Then in that case, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. You might want to get dressed for bed and stuff. I'll get this ready."

Melanie grabbed her bag and walked the short distance to the Bathroom. There, she quickly brushed her teeth and pulled on her white jammie pants and nightgown. She ran her brush through her hair a couple of times. Then she stared at herself hard, attempting to psych herself up. It didn't work. Contrary to what she had said the Karen, she was absolutely scared to death.

Taking a deep breath, she left the bathroom after gathering up her cloths and went back into Karen's room. Her face was blank, not showing any fear.

Karen looked up from the chain of glowing Speech letters she was checking. "Nearly finished," she said. "I've included lucidity in this, so you should be able to think normally."

"Thanks," Melanie said mechanically.

"That's fine," Karen said. "Listen, if you aren't – don't bite my head off – awake in three days then I'm coming in after you whether you like it or not."

Melanie nodded, alarmed that her cousin thought it might take that long – or that it was even possible. Then she remembered comas and how long people had been known to stay in those and felt slightly sick. She reminded herself that that wasn't going to happen and asked, "What do I have to do?"

"You lie down and make yourself comfortable," Karen said. Then she paused until Melanie had finished doing this. "Okay, now, you ready?"

Melanie nodded.

Karen slowly and carefully laid the Speech characters in a circle on Melanie's forehead. Melanie felt herself become drowsy and then everything went black.

Melanie was alone in that grayish landscape she had been coming to know so well. She listened hard, readying herself to hear that voice. The one that had spoken to her last time.

Hello again Melanie, so, you're back to discover what you want to know?

"Yes," Melanie said.

Then Follow me.