For a while, things were quiet.Not the scary kind of quiet. The good kind. The kind where you wake up and make coffee and go to work and come home and everything is just... normal.Leo and Chloe went back to their office. Suits and meetings and emails. People had been weird when they first showed up again. Questions about where they'd been. Rumors about the company falling apart. But they handled it. Put out fires. Showed faces. Slowly, things went back to how they were.Iden went back to his job at the station. His coworkers asked about his health. He'd been out sick, they'd heard. He just nodded and said he was better now. No one pushed. Sarah's desk stayed empty. No one talked about it. Just another person who moved on.Bella didn't go back to anything. She had a new job now. Training.Every day, she worked on her powers. The dreamer abilities she'd barely used. She read books. Old ones from the library. New ones Chloe found online. She practiced going under. Staying under. Contro

The morning light came through the boarded windows. Thin lines of sun cut across the room. Leo woke up first. His hands still burned. Not as bad as before, but the feeling was there. A low heat under his skin.He looked at his hands. Moved his fingers. They looked normal. Same hands he'd always had. But something felt different. Wrong. Or maybe not wrong. Just new. Like they weren't quite his anymore.Chloe moved next to him. Opened her eyes. Saw him staring at his hands."What's wrong?""Nothing." He put his hands down. "Just that burning thing again. From last night."She sat up. Looked worried. "Still? Maybe you should see a doctor.""It's probably nothing. I ate too much spicy food. You know how I get."Chloe laughed. "You say that every time and every time you eat the same amount." She kissed his shoulder. "Come on. Let's make breakfast. I'm hungry."They got up. Put on clothes. Walked to the kitchen.Bella was already there. Making coffee. Iden sat at the table, reading one of h

The bedroom was dark. Leo sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his hands. They still burned. Low and constant. Like a secret his body was keeping from him.The door opened. Chloe walked in.She looked tired. Hair messy. Shoulders slumped. But she smiled when she saw him."Hey," she said. "You okay?"Leo pulled himself together. Forced a smile. "Yeah. Just tired."She came closer. Started unbuttoning her work shirt. Normal routine. End of day stuff."How was your day?" he asked.She sighed. "Long. Meetings. People asking questions. The usual."He watched her. And something strange happened.Images floated into his mind. Not his memories. Hers. He saw a conference room. Saw her sitting at a table. Saw a man in a suit talking. Heard his voice."We need to address the productivity gap in Q3."He saw her eat lunch. Alone at her desk. A sandwich. Tuna. She'd spilled mayo on her notes.He saw her drop her phone in the parking lot. Cracked the screen protector. Cursed under her breath.He b

"What do you mean she's here but she's not here?" Maria asked. Her hand was already moving toward her gun. Old habit. She didn't even think about it anymore.Bella shook her head. She was still trying to catch her breath. "I don't know how to explain it. She's in dreams. Like, she lives there. I saw her. I just closed my eyes for a second and there she was. Standing in the dark. Watching me.""In dreams?" Chloe stepped closer. "Like you? She's a dreamer too?""Not like me. Different. Wrong." Bella shivered. "She knew I was there. She smiled at me. Then I woke up."Iden moved from the wall. His face had changed. The relaxed morning look was gone. Replaced by something sharp. Focused. Alert."Sarah is a dream walker," he said.Everyone looked at him."A what?" Leo asked."A dream walker. There are people who see dreams. We call them Dreamers." He looked at Bella. "You see what comes. Visions. Warnings. That is your gift. But there are others who can walk into dreams. Enter them. Move th

Iden stood by the window, staring out at the street. His face was tight. Thinking. The others waited."We cannot just go after Sarah without knowing what we are doing," he said finally. "She is a dream walker now. Stronger than before. If we rush in, she will trap us. Kill us. Use us."Chloe nodded. "So what do you suggest?""The library. The old section. There are books there about dream walking. About dreamers and walkers. About how to fight them." He turned to face them. "We need knowledge before we need weapons."Bella agreed. "He's right. I've been practicing but I don't know everything. There's so much I haven't learned."Leo looked at his arm. At the covered mark. "I need to understand too. What I am. What this means."Maria checked her watch. "I have to get back to the station. Missing person cases aren't going to solve themselves. Call me if you find something."She left. The rest of them grabbed coats and headed out.****The library was cold. Old building. High ceilings. Du