Free Burned by Dean Murray Page B

yourself just minutes
ago."
    I shook my
head. "You've never seen Puppeteer, and neither has Adri, but
she told me the first time we met that she'd watched Kaleb inside of
one of her first dream walks. That makes it easier, right? We need to
start with someone we know we can pull into my dreams, and there is
every reason to go after the single most important person we can
manage.
    "You can't
guarantee that Adri will be able to connect with Puppeteer, and
Oblivion is much more dangerous than Kaleb will ever be in a
one-on-one situation. If my powers work inside of a dream, then
there's a chance that Oblivion's will too.
    "Besides,
I've met Oblivion before and I'm not sure that he has to be our
enemy. It's too soon to tell, but if there's a way to salvage him we
should. Regardless of who wins this rebellion we've committed
ourselves to, we're still going to have to do damage control where it
comes to keeping the humans in the dark about our existence. Nobody
is better at that than Oblivion.
    "It has to
be Kaleb, he has to be first or he'll see it coming and start
changing up his sleep schedule in order to make it harder for us to
trap him here."
    I could see
that Taggart agreed with the logic behind my words, but he either
wanted to spare me from having to kill my father, or he didn't trust
that I would actually go through with it. I hoped it was the former.
    "It
doesn't have to be like that, Alec. I've already considered the fact
that our enemies will eventually start changing up their sleeping
schedules. Once we've confirmed that your power works inside of
dreams, you and Adri won't need me there as backup. I'll be able to
instead spend my sleeping time tracking down and identifying targets
for the two of you."
    "No,
Taggart, it does have to be like that. We can't risk Kaleb being
alerted to what's coming or everything will get much tougher. What is
it they say? The best way to kill a snake is by cutting off the head.
The Coun'hij is more like a hydra than a snake, but the principle is
the same. If you want my help then you're going to have to help me
kill Kaleb first of all."
    We stood there
in silence, neither willing to back down for several seconds before
Taggart shrugged. "This is a pointless discussion until we know
if your ability will be effective under these circumstances. Let's
test it out."
    I opened up the
black hole that I now carried around inside of me at all times. I
focused it on Taggart, and opened my imaginary fist up wider and
wider. It took longer than it should have—either Taggart was
even more powerful than I'd expected, or my ability wasn't as
effective here as it was in the real world—but as I hit my
maximum rate of absorption he dropped to his knees and I knew the
matter was settled.
    My gift worked
here and we were going to kill Kaleb before we went after anyone
else.
     
     

Chapter 4
    Alec Graves
Highway 12
Western Montana
    The drive from
our hotel to the rendezvous spot in Montana only took a few hours.
Brindi and I usually passed our drive time in companionable silence,
but this time it was even quieter than normal because I'd decided we
needed to make an extra early start.
    It was only
possible because I needed so much less sleep than humans did. I'd
been pushing things on the first leg of the drive back from Chicago,
which meant that Brindi had fallen asleep in the car before we'd made
it to the hotel. I'd helped her stumble from the car to the hotel
room where she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep even before I
got her tucked in under the covers.
    I wasn't really
surprised that she was still sleeping when I finished showering a few
minutes after five a.m. I carried our bags back out to the SUV, and
then once it was warmed up enough to be comfortable, I carried Brindi
outside and buckled her into the vehicle.
    I'd been
expecting the journey through the cold morning air to wake her up
despite all of my precautions, but she just burrowed down deeper into
my arms without ever opening