Free Quicksilver Dreams (Dreamwalkers) by Danube Adele Page B

look up with my five-year-old eyes and see Ryder, large and protective, his intense green eyes full of concern, which is very addicting to be around. People don’t usually show concern for me. Anger? Yes. Disappointment? Yes. But not this concern that makes me feel warm inside.
    No one’s going to get you here. Look around.
    And I do. The fair is bright and colorful once again. It has lost the frightening dimensions. Families with kids are walking by, talking and smiling at each other. Ryder bends down and picks me up, so I ride his hip, and he shields me from the whirlwind of bodies and motion. We walk around the different booths. He grabs a cotton candy and hands it to me.
    Don’t we have to pay for that?
    It’s just a dream. Can you see that?
    A dream? Happily, I take bites of it, not really paying attention to what he says, but he stops walking, forcing me to listen.
    Does it still look scary? His deep voice has a surprising softness and patience to it that draws me in, allows me to trust him to help. I look around and see nothing amiss. No one is out to hurt me.
    No. It’s just people.
    So why are you so scared?
    I can’t find my mom. She’s going to be mad and tell me what a bad girl I am for not listening to her and staying right there on the wall. Then she’s going to make me live with Grandma , and I don’t want to live with Grandma. She’s mean , I confided.
    In dreams , we can do whatever we want , Taylor.
    We can?
    Are you really five years old right now?
    I think about it and suddenly remember that I’m not five. I’m nearly twenty-five.
    No. I’m not.
    When I look down at myself, I’m magically standing on my own two feet with my adult body. It’s amazing. I look around, in control of my dream fear for the first time ever.
    Wow.
    So what really happened?
    I stare at the wall, the beginning of the real-life nightmare I experienced that day, and shake my head. I’m not sure I’m ready to share yet.
    It was a misunderstanding.
    What happened to you?
    Miscommunication , I reply, though the truth of what really happened flashes through my brain.
    Eventually, the fair closed at ten o’clock, and the security guard took me to the police, who then tried to call my mother and grandmother. My grandmother picked me up, and when my mother got home, my grandmother tore into her. Here’s the kicker: my mother told my grandmother that I ran off and that she couldn’t find me.
    So this dream is about being lost and abandoned?
    Yeah. I’ll never forget that fear that I was never going to be found again.
    I found you.
    Thanks Ryder.
    He looks down at my hand, the one still holding the flower, with an expression of confusion. Where did you get that?
    This? I look down at the beautiful, iridescent bloom. It still has a glowing sheen to it. It was there next to me. Actually , it’s the first time I’ve seen it. It’s never been part of the dream in the past.
    Strange. It’s almost like he says this to himself.
    What is?
    Nothing. If you don’t wake up now , you’ll be late for work.

Chapter Four
    I sat up on the sofa with a gasp, looking around my apartment with frantic head swivels. After a few moments, I came back to my senses enough to recognize that I was home, safe and sound, and I was alone.
    How fucking weird was that?
    I took a deep, shaky breath and fell back on the overstuffed pillow on the sofa. The dream had felt so real, just like the sexual ones. My twisted psyche had dragged Ryder into this dream and made him a savior of some kind—therapeutically, that is. At least I hadn’t woken up from this particular dream crying, as I usually did.
    A glance at the clock on the wall in the kitchen had me scrambling. I’d been sleeping for hours! Shit, shit, shit. And I still hadn’t cleaned up the glass in my car!
    With barely any time to lose, I dragged on the black skirt from the previous night and grabbed a cap-sleeved white button-up that looked cute and complemented my figure. I had no time to