I hardly have enough time to register that Amahle had accidentally dragged Joy underwater. Joy! I think, as Suzy gasps, and Master Mind from the deck of Bonny’s Revenge exclaims “By my evil maker!” 

My mind registers too slowly that Amahle does not need to breathe in the Dream, while Joy does. Master Mind leaps off the deck, but even while he’s in the air, something even crazier happens. 

The top of Joy’s sword appears above the water. As it moves up, it brings with it Amahle’s back. The sword is coming out of Amahle’s back.

Another split-second and Joy’s head emerges. Both her hands are on the sword, which she had put right through Amahle’s stomach to come out of the back. 

Master Mind lands beside Joy as Joy takes another step then throws Amahle on the beach while letting go of the sword. 

“Ow!” Amahle lands. “What’s happening?” 

My jaw is on the floor. Inside the water, Joy managed to take out her sword and save herself by stabbing her friend, the Dreamer, who can’t be hurt in the Dream. And with her own strength she pulled herself and an adult woman out of the water. I can’t believe it!

Joy walks up to Amahle, reaches for her sword, and pulls it back out. 

“You’re okay, Amahle. You’ll be fine. Aren’t you fine now?” Joy sheathes the sword.

“What? I think so. What happened?” 

Joy sits by her side. “Take a minute to feel better. I don’t want you to die again.” 

“Die?” Amahle sits up. I see the wound in her back sealing up as if it had never existed. “What happened?” 

A year ago, when Justin and I walked into Amahle’s dream for the first time, Justin had to kill Amahle in the dream to protect Joy. Later we found that in the waking world she physically died, too, and that the hospital staff saved her. 

Did Joy have the wherewithal while underwater without a free hand and with no air to breathe - did she have the wherewithal to understand she shouldn’t put the sword through Amahle’s heart? Did she have time to understand that stabbing Amahle with a sword she had made permanent will hurt her but not kill her as long as Amahle didn’t see and know she’d been stabbed? 

Elvis, Amahle’s seeing eye dog, appears at her side. “Come here, you. Come here,” she pets him. “Joy, what happened?”

“Take a minute,” she says. “I’ll tell you in a minute.” 

Master Mind comes out of the water and stands next to Joy. He extends his robotic hand with an open palm towards Joy. Joy high fives him and smiles.

I can’t help but laugh. That girl!

—Told by Grampa Walt