Master Mind, the killer robot who had been sewn back together, had been standing silently all this time near at the helm of Bonny’s Revenge. He observed silently when Justin appeared, when the kids asked to go on a quest to find Dreamer children, and when Justin had a bad reaction to it. 

Now he stands next to Justin, and I hadn’t even noticed that he moved. 

“Pirate,” he says. “You have clearly observed a danger in the Dream. I have seen nothing. What stimuli prompted your fear?”

Justin looks aside. Joy is standing next to him, eyes fixed on her father, tense. 

The three of them - Justin, Master Mind, and Joy - are in ‘adventure mode’. Justin has sensed a danger and now they are adventurers. 

Justin puts the fingers of his right hand to his temple. “There’s a memory I can’t touch. There’s…. It’s a feeling of deja vu every time I go out of the dream. Like there’s a creature outside, a creature who wants to find Joy, who wants to kill Joy.” 

Joy crosses her arms. “What creature?” 

Justin shakes his head. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I got that first time I went out the tunnels to find you when you ran away. And ever since, I think what I remember is the feeling of deja vu and not an actual memory. But… But it’s a really scary feeling, Joy. I don’t know.”

“Dad, if you don’t remember, then it’s not real. We’ve been outside two million times. There’s nothing there!” 

He nods. “Still. What Charlie said about missing children. What if the creature wasn’t looking for you? What if it was looking for kids?”

We all look at him. “Are you saying,” Suzy breaks the silence. “That you think there are creatures who stay in the Dream and who prey on kids in the Dream?” 

Justin nods. He’s clearly frightened. 

“That’s absurd--” Suzy says, when a bat-like creature as big as the ship descends on Bonny’s Revenge behind Justin. 

Many things happen at once: “Duck!” Joy yells, rolling on the deck in the direction of the weapons cabinet. Master Mind fires a rocket at the creature’s body, even as its talons try to grab Justin’s shoulders. Charlie screams in fright. Suzy grabs me by the hand as she ducks, pulling me down .

The creature is staggered, but a few flaps of its wings and it is aright again. Behind it, ten more creatures appear just like it. Justin, who has fallen forward, finally turns to see them. “It’s them! They’re here!” he shouts in terror. 

(To be continued... )

—Told by Grampa Walt