The Dream Crafter(19)
Merc flipped through the memories of their time together, revisiting every moment spent with her in the dreams. The beach, both under sun and moon. His favorite park. His hotel room.
Wait.
In that first dream, when she had touched him and he had spun to face her, she had been sitting on a low wall in front of an apartment building, the numbers on a brass plaque mounted to the small gate in front. The street had been a residential one, kids playing on the sidewalk and a corner café that had old men in high-waisted pants entering, followed by two arguing women, their age difference and similar coloring suggesting mother and daughter.
There had been nothing special or memorable about that street, and nothing in her attitude suggested it was special to her in the way the beach was. No, that street was boring, predictable…home.
It was her home. It was where she lived now. It was nothing special to her – probably where she was living until something changed where she could make a move to where she’d rather be. That’s why she didn’t protect it. That’s why it was there.
Firing up his computer, he did what he always did – what he was good at. He hunted, using the hundreds of small details from his mind that most people would overlook, inputting them into the machine before him in ways he’d perfected over the years, matching electronic inputs and keystrokes to memories and topography.
There it was, waiting after several batches of longer and more complicated searches. Right there on the screen, a picture of exactly what he had seen in the dream, and close enough he could reach her today.
It was time to meet his dream woman.
Chapter Ten
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“We’ve managed to collect fifteen items, a list I’ve forwarded you in your mail. Another thirty-six we are aware of who has them. That list is with Kyo, awaiting his orders.” As Tec spoke about the current status of the search for the vault items, images of different items floated around them, illustrating on-screen the genius’s words.
Fallon watched as the pictures changed, making mental notes of which ones she was most interested in, the magic items that would cause the most damage. “And the gargoyles?”
“Expect one of Terak’s lieutenants at the end of the week to be an honorary member of the Guild. How did you convince him of the wisdom in this summer exchange program?”
Before Fallon could answer, Laire came zooming into the console room without looking where she was going. Only Tec’s quick reflexes stopped her from tripping and falling on her butt, and only luck explained how Laire managed to not take out either Tec or his beloved gadgetry while trying to right herself.
After a quick nod of thanks to Tec and a quick swipe of hand over outfit to make sure the red and black dress was in place, Laire grabbed Fallon’s wrist. “Come on, it’s about to get good if you don’t make me miss it.”
Fallon blinked twice before pulling her wrist away. “And hello to you too. Strangely enough, I might want to finish my conversation before being pulled away. There’s this little thing called work I do around here.” Tec, being the smart guy he was, snorted but otherwise kept quiet.
“You only hang around here because it’s an acceptable place to showcase your aggressive and hostile nature,” Laire shot back, but then switched tactics with whiplash speed, bringing her hand up to study her nails with an oh-so-casual manner. “It’s only that the Master of Monsters is here and Wulver is in the building and word is they’re being forced to work together. You know, no biggie at all.”
“Later, Tec.” Fallon waved a quick goodbye before grabbing onto Laire and forcing the mage to get in step with her.
“You might want to stop the high school dramatics sometime,” he called after them, the British accent giving the words a superiority he may or may not have meant.
Laire turned to him, hand on hip in pure attitude even as she was being pulled along like a toddler. “All life is high school. For example, how late did you stay up playing video games last night?”
The last sight of him before they turned the corner included blush stained cheeks and a quick ducking of his head. Laire giggled. “I love geeks. They’re so easy.”
“Just be careful. We can’t afford for you to break him.”
They made their way to the main floor of the building. This area was a large circular room, with only a few offices connected to it. Here was for waiting for missions to begin, or the occasional downtime where large groups would hang together. Weapons and training were below, while work areas, meeting rooms, and a few apartments for temporary stays were above.
This time Aislynn was there, talking in easy, calm tones to a woman. The woman was taller than the elf and slender as a reed, dressed in a shirt and pants of midnight blue, her outfit and bearing reminiscent of the glamour of old movies, where women clothed their power in silks and sharp silhouettes. Her straight black hair shone like the night sky that was touched by the faintest hint of moonlight. Her skin looked like it had never seen the sun, and at their approach, eyes so light blue they almost merged into the surrounding white met theirs. Rule, the Master of Monsters, was indeed here.