I knew at once that I was dreaming. There was no other reason why I should be hovering several feet above the surface of the ocean with nothing holding me up and no land in sight. That knowledge is what saved me from panicking. I looked around, searching for any detail that might explain why my subconscious mind had conjured up this scene. It was night, and the planet's solitary moon sat on the horizon. Below me, the endless expanse of waves rose and fell in a steady rythm.

I could make out a faint shape beneath the water - it was round, but I could discern no more detail than that. I felt like I should know what it was, but the answer eluded me. Suddenly, I fell out of the air, landed in the water, and began sinking. Somehow, it did not affect my ability to breathe. Then a voice began to echo inside my head.

There is not much time, it said, Find me. Find me!

In a futile attempt to pull myself back to the surface, I swung my arms wildly through the water. One swing threw me off-balance, and I almost fell out of the tree.

I opened my eyes. The dream was over, and I was 30 feet above the ground, safely perched in the fork of a large tree. Well, mostly safe. If my tail hadn't been curled around the trunk of the tree, my flailing arms would have caused me to fall. I wasn't worried, though. I was designed to live in trees.

We Hork-Bajir are roughly humanoid, with feet similar to a hawk's talons, muscular tails, and long, serpentine necks. We also have a number of blades that grow at our wrists, elbows, knees, and heads (two head blades for females, three for males). We use these blades for harvesting tree bark - our primary food source. But those same blades are also the reason my people were enslaved by the Yeerks. They look at us, and instead of seeing sentient beings with their own unique culture and lifestyle, they see only weapons.

I regained my balance, and climbed down to the ground. It was still night, and I couldn't see very well, but after a dream like that, I was in no danger of resuming sleep. I needed to walk around to calm down. I probably wouldn't admit it to anyone, but being surrounded by so much water - even if it was only a dream - had frightened me.

I stumbled around in the dark, tripping over unseen rocks and tree roots.

(Is that you, Toby?)

Another voice in my head. But at least this time I knew who it was and where it came from.

"Yes," I replied. I heard feathers rustling, and then a shape moved out of the gloom and landed on a low-hanging branch nearby. I could barely see it, but I knew it was Tobias. It was Tobias who'd escaped with me through the tunnel out of the Yeerk Pool, and guided me to the forest. To honor everything they had done for me, I renamed myself after them.

(So, you can't sleep tonight, either?)

"I can. But I do not wish to."

(Bad dreams?) he said.

"Yes. Falling into the ocean and sinking. It was dreadful."

(The ocean, huh?)

I nodded my head, then realized that Tobias probably couldn't see it.

"Yes. I have never dreamed of it before, and do not know what prompted it now, but I hope this experience does not repeat itself."

Did you hear a voice in your dream?) they asked.

"A voice? Yes, it was saying-"

(Find me?)

"How do you know this?"

(I just came back from Cassie's house. Would you believe that she couldn't sleep, either? Go ahead and guess what kind of strange dreams she and I both had tonight...)