Dream Eyes

like that. It’s tuned to my energy patterns, not yours.”
    The ghosts of Evelyn and Louise appeared in two of the open doorways.
    “About time you brought him here,” Evelyn said. “We’ve been waiting.”
    “Sorry it took me so long,” Gwen said. “Things got complicated.”
    “But you always knew that there was some piece of the puzzle missing, didn’t you?” Evelyn asked.
    “Yes,” she said. “I did.”
    “I thought no one could kill the demon,” Louise said.
    “He’s gone now,” Gwen said.
    “I told you that you were a witch like me,” Louise said. “But I was wrong. You are stronger, much stronger.”
    “What’s going on?” Riley demanded. “Who are you talking to?”
    “The ghosts of Evelyn and Louise,” she said. “Don’t you see them?”
    “No.” Riley was sweating now. “But there’s something out there. What is it?”
    “Hard to say. You’re seeing images from your own nightmares. I don’t know exactly how they appear to you, but to me your dreamscape is a hall of open doorways floating in midair above an ocean of fog. The jagged peaks of crystal mountains are visible in the mist.”
    “Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I’m seeing now.”
    “Excellent. That means I’ve got good control of your hallucinations. This engine really is amazing.”
    “Make it all go away.”
    “No,” she said. “If I do, you’ll murder me.”
    “No, I won’t hurt you, I swear it.”
    “Zander said that, too. But he was a liar. Like you. Runs in the family, I guess. The only way for you to escape is to run. That’s what Zander did.”
    “Where?”
    She waved a hand. “Pick a doorway, any doorway.”
    “No,” Riley screamed.
    “Your choice. There’s no other way out of here. I’m leaving now. This dreamscape is yours.”
    She stepped through the nearest doorway—back into the reality of the lab and straight into Judson’s arms. Well, into one of his arms, she thought. He had his gun in his other hand.
    She felt the brush of fur against her legs. Max bolted past her into the mirror maze. She never knew what the wildly hallucinating Riley saw when he saw Max, but she knew it must have been terrible.
    Riley started to scream.
    “What did you do to him?” Judson asked. He looked into the mirror engine.
    She turned in the circle of his arm and looked into the glittering, sparking maze of mirrors. Riley had disappeared into the labyrinth of energy-infused glass.
    “I put him into a dreamscape and I left him there,” she whispered. “The same thing I did to Zander Taylor. The only difference this time is that Riley ran into the heart of the engine, not outside into the river.”
    “He was running from Max.”
    Riley continued to scream for what seemed like forever. A shot rang out. The screaming stopped.
    She heard the first sharp crack a heartbeat later. The hot mirrors started to shiver as though an earthquake had struck.
    “Max,” Gwen shouted. “Max, come here. Please. You have to get out of there.”
    To her surprise and overwhelming relief, Max trotted back out of the maze.
    “Thank goodness.” Gwen scooped him up into her arms.
    The tremors grew stronger and increasingly violent. The sound of splintering glass echoed from the heart of the engine.
    Judson drew Gwen and Max away from the rainstorm of shattered mirrors. They watched the engine destroy itself.
    And then it was over.
    The body of Riley Duncan lay in a pool of blood in the middle of the pile of glittering shards.
    Only then did Gwen see the blood on Max’s paws.

Forty-three
    J udson closed the phone, rested one arm along the top of the mantel and looked at Gwen. “Oxley says the hospital told him that Lancaster has a mild concussion. They’re keeping him overnight for observation, but he will be released tomorrow. As for Riley Duncan, they’re calling it a suicide.”
    “It was the dreamscape,” Gwen said. Absently, she stroked Max. The dozing cat was stretched out alongside her in the chair. He purred steadily. Earlier, much to his annoyance, she had washed the blood from his fur. “Whatever Riley saw drove him mad. Just like it did Zander.”
    They were back in her cozy parlor room at the inn. It was late. A fire burned on the hearth. Judson had picked up takeout, pizza again. Mostly she was focusing on the glass of brandy that he had poured for her.
    The shaky, edgy sensation created by a combination of bone-deep exhaustion and the aftermath of the heavy adrenaline and psi-burn was still