:Perfectly normal? Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around.:

Marshall should have been more worried about not hearing from Jack, but for some reason, it seemed like it wasn’t a big deal. Marshall closed his eyes, and the thrumming intensified, making it difficult to think.

:Addy, I think you should get back here.:

:Are you okay?:

:Perfectly normal.:

:I’ll be right there.:

Marshall leaned against the wall of the inner bailey, and the rhythmic vibrations became so strong he could feel his teeth rattle. He let his body slide slowly to the ground, needing a minute to rest and gather his strength.

That wasn’t right.

He put a hand against the stone floor and tried to lever himself back to standing with limited success.

A dreamwalker didn’t get tired in the Dreamscape—the source of all their power literally flowed all around them, continuously creating reality. The only time a dreamwalker got tired was in the Real after using too much magic.

Panting, he forced himself up and held out a hand, for the first time in his life calling out for power in the ’Scape. All he felt was the thrumming sensation growing stronger. What if he wasn’t the only one this was happening to?

:Jack! Report!: Marshall tried to sense him but was getting too much interference from whatever was affecting him.

“Marshall, I don’t feel so well.” Adelle walked to him slowly, looking wan and bleary-eyed.

“Same here.”

“It’s perfectly normal, though… right?”

“Yeah.” Marshall’s eyes fought him for their right to close shop early, but he forced them to stay open.

Pain. Tentacles coiling around his body. Trapped. Cruel eyes behind a sharp beak. Too many, too close…

“Jack!”

A massive pulse of rainbow energy battered Marshall's senses, and his vision dimmed as the world spun around him. Adelle's sharp nails dug into his arms as she held him up, helping him to focus.

Marshall braced himself and pushed her away. “Addy, get out of here, I have to find Jack.”

Adelle smiled a weak but sarcastic smile. “It’s funny you think that’s going to happen. It’s all of us or none of us, brother dear. Besides, I’m a better finder than you are.”

He glared at her and huffed out a sigh that would have ruffled his bangs if he hadn’t spelled his hair earlier. “Fine. Take us to Jack.”

Adelle touched the pendant at her neck and closed her eyes, immediately turning to point to the looming, wooden doors of the keep. Before either of them could take more than a step, the doors swung open as Jack burst out of the entrance, shouting, “There’s an assload of perfectly normal nightmares right behind me!”

Fear clogged up his throat as Marshall took stock of his resources. His internal well of magic was nearly dry—something that shouldn’t be possible in the ’Scape. One look at his sister told him she was doing no better.

He had various magical items ferreted all over his body, but without access to the Source, fighting a hoard of nightmares was certain death. He only had one option.

“Fall back!”

If they could get outside the colony, the three of them could convince the place that it didn’t exist, and make it pop like a bubble. Then everything in the colony would vanish, including the nightmares.

When Jack reached them, Adelle held out her hands to catch him and swing him around to steal the momentum he had built up from running down the steps of the keep.

As soon as he stopped, Marshall grabbed him and tried to take them away, but the effort took far more power than it should have and threw his mind into chaos.

Synesthetic overload shocked his system, and he fought to remain upright as the hands in his grasp began to taste sharp and metallic. He felt his essence begin to unravel in lazy, freesia-scented bursts.

“My generator…” The words spilled greasily from his mouth, and he felt himself slide toward the ground, knowing when he landed, he would explode in a burst of colors.

Hands halted his descent, and his stomach turned over as it struggled to figure out which way was up. Just as he was about to melt through the hands holding him upright, he felt someone thrust something into his hands. It was cold and smooth and rightness radiated from it, racing up his arm, chasing away the sensation of dissolving into nothingness.

Marshall’s eyes fought to refocus on the scene before him, and he became aware of his sister’s arms around him, holding him up. He reached out to stroke Adelle’s cheek and said, “I’m back… I think.”

Hesitantly, he pulled away to stand on his own, feeling loose and buoyant.

Adelle clung to his shirt as if fearful he would vanish on her. “Gods’ sake! Don’t ever do that again.” Finger by finger, she forced her shaking hands to release him.

The power boost from his personal generator had left him feeling giddy, and he bounced up and down on his feet. He was fortunate that past-him had siphoned so much of the Source into it.

“It wasn’t intentional,” he said quietly, fighting to bring his being back into balance. Over his sister’s shoulder, he saw Jack standing between his teammates and the nightmares that had followed him out.

“So…” Jack said in a tone that was probably supposed to be casual but was tight with tension around the edges. “How’s Marshall?”

“You know what? I’ve been better.” Marshall came to stand beside his friend. “Why aren’t they attacking?”

“Maybe no one wants to be first.” Jack feinted a lunge toward the crowd of assembled horrors, and they all slithered back in fear. “Yeah, that’s what I thought!”

“Don’t taunt them, you overgrown orangutan!” Adelle snapped.

Jack looked at Adelle and gave her a have you met me? look and then turned his attention back to Marshall. “What happened when you tried to shift us out? It looked like you were fading, but… that isn’t possible in the ’Scape. Didn’t anyone tell you?” Jack’s levity wasn’t reflected in his eyes. Their impossible color swirled anxiously.

“I was. If Adelle hadn’t found my generator and shoved it into my hands, I’d be nothing more than a pattern of pretty lights in the air.” Marshall clutched the stone in his hand.

While awake in the Real, a dreamwalker couldn’t directly access the Dreamscape and had to rely on stored magic alone. Once they were tapped out, not only would they be unable to use magic, but their bodies would slowly begin to unravel without the magic of the Dreamscape to support them.

It was because of this danger that each dreamwalker carried a stone that could serve as a backup source until they could make it back to the Dreamscape to tank up once more. He never imagined that the first time he’d needed to use one would be in the Dreamscape itself.

On a good day, Marshall was brimming with more magic than most guardians ever dreamed of—it was one of the reasons he was being scouted for the position of praetor. But he had used a lot over the past day, and like a fool, he hadn’t bothered to fill up again once inside the ’Scape.

Before now, he’d never needed to. Once inside the Dreamscape, his soul naturally called the wild magic of the universe to itself until its reserves were awash with power. Until that happened, Marshall could draw from the ’Scape itself for anything he needed.

He thought about how weak he’d felt when he touched the walls of the inner bailey earlier. “I think the walls are spelled to draw magic from our bodies. Can you feel it?”

“I can. It’s like they’re vibrating, though that’s perfectly normal.” Adelle’s voice had grown ragged. “I’m going to have to tap my generator soon.”

“What about you?” he asked Jack.