We are stumped.

I guess I’m speaking first, then. 

“Needless to say,” I begin, “there is no evidence that I am aware of back in the waking world that this can happen. Sleep, as far as we know, is simply neurons firing.” 

“Except it turns out that isn’t the truth,” Suzy says. “The Dream is a place. The Dream is where we all go when we sleep. The Dream…” 

“Oh, shit,” Justin says. “We didn’t count everything she can do.” 

I search my brain for another of Joy’s abilities and can’t remember one. 

Justin looks back at the deck of Bonny’s Revenge. Joy has not come out of her cabin yet. “Joy doesn’t know this,” he says. “But back in the angel Chrysalis’ dream, when she was dead…The Dream…” he closes his eyes at the terrible memory. “When I was trying to get her back and do CPR…Back then…The Dream…The Dream screamed.” 

“The Dream screamed?” Suzy asks, leaning forward. 

“It screamed. There’s no other way to say it.”

I shake my head. “That is insane. That can’t be.” 

Justin gives me a tired look. “Master Mind, you were.” 

“I was buried under walls of strawberries at the time,” Master Mind says. “I could not see what was happening. I could not explain the sound or the force that hit me multiple times. I conjectured that it was you who was making that sound.” 

“That was not me,” Justin shakes his head. “That thing stopped me.” 

“The Dream screamed?” Suzy asks again. 

“It screamed. It literally screamed. When Joy was dead. It was…” he looks down and exhales slowly. “I was…At the time I took it as if the Dream wants Joy there. That Joy is important to the Dream.”

“I still find it hard to believe,” I say. 

“You’re surrounded by crazy things!” Justin snaps at me. “Look at you. You’re here all the time. You’re not really real, you’re not you. That’s impossible, isn’t it?” 

“I know. I understand. It’s hard to believe,” I try to explain rationally, “because nothing in my experience has led me to think the Dream is an entity. But!” I say quickly as I see Justin about to react. “I am surrounded by things previously and currently thought impossible. I accept your eyewitness testimony. Both of yours.” 

“Wait,” Suzy taps her finger on her knee, a sign that she’s thinking hard. “The Dream is an entity?” 

We look around at each other in silence. We are stumped. 

(To be continued…) 

—Told by Grampa Walt