Author's Note: Read and Review!

Chapter 44: Night Mares

Once the boys and Piper were outside of the swampy forest, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They wouldn't have to watch out for spurting fire traps, giant rat monsters, or patches of quicksand. On this side of the swampy forest was more mountainous valley, but this was a much wider valley than the narrow one they'd previously been in. Mike realized they'd probably just passed two of the tests Charon told them about and briefly wondered how many they'd have to face. And if they would continue to get worse or not. Mike felt a little sore from having been tackled by the rat-bear, as Davy called it. And from having been walking for hours, so he decided that now would be a good time to rest.

"Hey, guys, maybe we should rest for a bit," Mike suggested sitting down and leaning against a rock. "This place seems safer than in there and we've been walking for hours."

"Agreed," Micky said sitting against a rock next to Mike. Davy and Peter nodded and sat down against a rock across from Mike.

"Let me take a look at that burn," Piper said kneeling in front of Peter. He lifted up his shirt and Mike could see the redness was already going down.

"It doesn't hurt anymore since you put that burn cream on it," Peter said.

"That's good," Piper said. "I'm glad it doesn't hurt anymore."

"How much more do you think we'll have to deal with?" Davy asked as Piper moved to sit down next to Micky.

"I don't know, but I hope it's not much," Mike answered. They sat for a while and Mike slowly started to feel better. After a little while, they got up and decided to continue on. They finally reached another wall spanning the length of the valley after a while, but this time there was nothing guarding it. Davy reached out to try and turn the handle, but nothing happened.

"It's locked," Davy said.

"Maybe we need to find a key," Peter said.

"Yeah, cause that's gonna be easy," Micky said sarcastically. "This valley is huge. Could be buried anywhere for all we know. We could spend all day digging and come up with nothing." Just as soon as he spoke, Mike felt the ground rumble a little beneath his feet.

"What was that?" Peter said.

"Felt like horses," Davy said. "But I don't see any."

"Neither do I," Mike said. Suddenly something invisible ran past him. Mike squinted trying to see what had run past and slowly he was able to make out a black outline of a horse, but it seemed a little different than most normal horses.

"What the heck?" Davy asked. The others had started seeing what he was seeing, too. Slowly the form took shape and Mike could see it was a black horse with wings. It was just as skinny as Charon had been; you could count its ribs underneath its skin. And its skin looked like it was coated in slick, black oil.

"That doesn't look like a normal horse," Peter said.

"What the heck is that?!" Micky asked.

"I think they might be…but that's not…" Piper mumbled.

"What?" Mike asked as they watched the horse run around the valley.

"Well, the origin of the word "nightmare" has been highly confused," Piper answered. "From what I've read about mythology, people think that a "nightmare" was a black horse that caused people to have bad things happen when they dreamed. Kind of the opposite of the sandman. The word "mare" describes, of course, a horse. But in actuality, in Germanic folklore, a mare was really a goblin-like creature that sat on people's chests while they slept that brings the bad dreams; not a horse."

"Well that definitely looks like a nightmare," Davy mumbled.

"It's possible that this creature has always existed, but has just been confused over time because of the modern use of the word "mare"," Piper said.

"Either way, what it is doing here?" Micky asked.

"It has the key," Peter answered.

"What?" Mike asked. "How do you know that?"

"His sight is enhanced because of the crossbow, remember?" Piper said.

"Yeah," Mike answered looking at the horse and now suddenly seeing a slight glint from something around the horse's neck.

"I can see the key," Peter said. "It's around his neck on a chain."

"Ok, so we have to try and catch it somehow," Micky said taking off after the horse.

"Micky, wait!" Davy called. "You aren't going to catch that! Horses are faster than humans!" Micky was indeed running very fast, but Davy was right; the horse was faster. As soon as it realized it was being chased, it took off running faster.

"That isn't going to work," Mike said. "So what do we do? Do we kill it?"

"I don't think we can," Piper said. "If that thing is the horse version of a Nightmare, it's already a spirit. Spirits cannot be killed. Let me try something." Piper waved her hand at the horse, but nothing happened. "It's moving too fast and too far away for my powers to work. I can't freeze it or move the key."

"So how do we get the key?" Mike asked.

"I think I know how," Davy said pointing at another horse that Mike hadn't noticed off in the distance standing still. "I ride that one and chase it. Like a horse race."

"Are you sure?" Mike asked. "It doesn't exactly look safe. There's no helmet or saddle or anything."

"What other choice do we have?" Davy asked. Before Mike could say anything else, he started walking toward the other horse. Mike followed him knowing that Davy would need help getting on the horse as he was so short. The second horse didn't move as Davy approached it which only confirmed to Mike that this was what needed to be done to pass the test.

"Let me help you up," Mike said as he moved to lift Davy up. Once Davy was sitting on the horse, he leaned forward on it. Within a second, the horse took off and nearly knocked Mike over. He watched Davy steer the horse and make it speed up toward the one with the key. Davy looked like he was barely even sitting on the horse as he raced after the first horse. A few times it looked as though Davy were going to slide off and fall and Mike's heart skipped a beat several times. Micky realized what Davy was doing and quickly backed off and rejoined Mike, Peter and Piper. Finally, Davy reached the first horse and carefully reached out for the key dangling around the horse's neck. He couldn't quite reach it and the horse took an unexpected turn startling Davy and causing him to fall off.

"Davy!" The three boys exclaimed. Piper immediately threw up her hands, but Davy didn't freeze. He did, however, slow down so at least when he hit the ground it wasn't as hard as it would have been. All four rushed over to see if Davy was ok. Mike kneeled down on the ground next to Davy who was moaning a little, but awake. The horse had stopped right next to Davy.

"Davy, are you ok?" Mike asked.

"My head," Davy moaned.

"Just take it easy," Piper said.

"I'm ok," Davy said trying to get up. "Just a headache."

"Relax," Peter said. "That was a rough fall."

"Not as rough as it could have been," Micky said. "Thank you so much, Piper."

"I tried to freeze him all the way," Piper answered. "I'm sorry I couldn't do better."

"Don't worry about it," Davy answered rubbing the back of his head. "At least I didn't crack my skull open. You did warn us your powers would be a little off down here."

"Ok," Mike said. "Why don't I try and get the key this time?"

"No," Davy said. "I'm better on horses than any of you. I just got the wind knocked out on me a little. I'll try again."

"Davy-" Mike started.

"I'll be fine," Davy said. "I'll try again."

"I don't know, Davy," Mike said.

"Don't worry," Davy argued. "I'll be fine. I promise. We all know I'm the only one that can race that horse fast enough to catch it. Just help me get back on the horse."

"Ok, but be more careful this time," Mike said reluctantly.

"I think I know how to get it," Davy said.

"How?" Micky asked.

"Just help me back on," Davy said. Micky sighed and lifted Davy back on the horse this time.

"Please be careful," Peter said.

"I will," Davy said as he rushed off again on the horse. Another few minutes passed while Mike waited with bated breath for something to happen. Davy reached the other horse again and rode alongside it for several seconds. Mike suddenly realized that Davy was trying to stand up on the horse as they galloped at enormous speeds. Mike was about to call out to Davy not to do what he was about to do, but Davy had already done it. Davy leapt from his horse to the one with the key almost seamlessly.

"Did he really just do that!?" Micky exclaimed. "He could have killed himself!" Mike released his breath as he watched Davy reach forward and get the key off the horse.

"Now how is he supposed to get off?" Peter asked. "That thing isn't slowing down. He can't jump off without killing himself."

"I really don't know, but I hope he does," Mike admitted. As soon as the horse realized that Davy had taken the key off him, the horse reared back and Davy struggled to keep hold. The boys ran up and were able to reach Davy just seconds before he slipped off and hit the ground. Davy hit them with a thud and all four tumbled to the ground in a jumbled mess. Mike felt pain rush through his stomach as he felt Davy's elbow hit him, but he was just glad Davy was alive.

"You guys ok?" Davy asked crawling off them.

"Yes," Mike answered as they all slowly got up. "And for the record: that was really, really stupid and dangerous."

"But I got the key!" Davy argued holding it up.

"Just don't ever do anything stupid like that again, ok, Tiny?" Mike said pulling Davy into a hug. "You had us all scared half to death."

"Got it," Davy answered with a satisfied smile. "Now let's go unlock that door." As they walked, both horses trotted around a little and then took off into the sky.

"They fly!?" Peter exclaimed looking at them in awe.

"Well did you think their wings were decoration?" Micky asked.

"I dunno," Peter answered. "Penguins are birds and they can't fly."

"They don't have wings," Micky laughed. "They have flippers."

"Ok, but emu's, ostriches, and chickens have wings and they don't fly," Peter argued back.

"Ok, so noted," Micky laughed. "You win."