Canto IX: A Third Path Folks often speak as if sleeping and waking are black and white But in faery land, they join to form a third way   We dress in nightgowns left in the room “Good night, Laura,” Bailey yawns   I don’t remember laying my head down instead the scene cut away to something new   Bailey and I sit on a beach watching the waves as they tickled our toes We are still dressed in the white nightgowns “Is it just me or is this a little strange? I NEVER wear the same clothes when I’m dreaming”   Bailey laughs “Who cares? It’s a beach! Oh, I’ve missed the sun!” She runs into the waves   I join her The waves roll over our heads crashing into the sea I cough—but the water is breathable. “It’s the emerald lake!”   Slowly, the wave retreats, revealing an empty, abandoned palace Pointed windows like serpants’ eyes glare down down at us from tight-bound stone walls “This is strange”   Bailey looks down at her outfit “We aren’t even wet But the sky is purple… that’s just creepy”   “Wait a minute.” I stare at her “This is a dream”   “Yes”   “Then why are you in my dream?” I ask   “I was about to ask why you’re in mine as you actually are”   “Maybe it’s like Benjiah and Rhulalin”   “But who is whom? Maybe it’s like Nightmare’s Edge --oops, you haven’t read it” Bailey shrugs “Trust me, I’ve been in weirder situations Huh…” She kneels down “Popcorn. A whole pile of it. What’s that doing here?”   Moonbeams paint the world in silver streaks of grey I can make out the shadows of each blade of grass One seems darker “Bailey…you mentioned shadows ‘Count the shadows’ you said Why?”   “Vashta Nerada, ‘the shadows that melt the flesh’ They look like dust mites but they can strip you like piranhas” She scoops up a handful of popcorn “Maybe I should test.”   “Test what? And with popcorn?”   She tosses it into the air. Not a single burnt kernel or puffy cluster falls to the ground  “Vashta Nerada?” I repeat slowly   Bailey turns to me her eyes wild in the moonlight “Vashta Nerada Run. Just run.”   “Run where? We’re in a dream, it can’t hurt us”    “Ahhhh!” A scream pierced the night   “Someone’s hurt” I look at the castle “I think it came from there”   “It’s the Vashta Nerada, they can strip you in less than a heartbeat,” Bailey gulps   “We’d be safer inside”   “Or trapped The whole Library was gone, and I doubt we’d be saved by a supercomputer”   I ignore her babbling “Come on, let’s go” Something like mosquitoes nibbles my big toes I run, lungs aching calves burning chest heaving Bailey stumbles along   “Ahh!” I look back Blood drips from her left eyelid like tears “Keep going” she pants   The castle gate looms wide open We stagger in blinking from vivid firelight  Purple and yellow spots speckle my vision   “Laura!” Someone yells   I recognize that voice “Sarah Kilbourne?”   “Laura help… the shadows…”   I turn around someone is running towards the gateway As I watch, the figure trips and shadows swarm “I’m coming!”   “No!” Bailey grabs my arm “Reaching safety and turning back will end in death!”   “It’s Sarah! And who says?”   “It’s on the list. Rules of Narrative Suspense #48 And you don’t even have a weapon!”   “It’s a dream, It won’t hurt me!”   “Then it won’t hurt her!” Bailey pressed a hand against her eyelid “And who says this is the dream?”   “Laura!”   I run out into the shadows