The Soldiers of Halla

Chapter 31

Now I was the one who needed answers.

I ran after Courtney. Boon and Kasha were right behind me, with the other gars keeping pace.

“Nevva told you about Solara?” I asked, incredulous. “How? When?”

“Wait until we get to my house,” she cautioned. “I have a lot to tell you.”

She had that right. I couldn’t imagine any situation, or possibility, or opportunity, or reason that could have explained how Nevva Winter told Courtney about Solara. That was impossible. Yet Courtney knew, and she wasn’t one to make something like that up. She may have grown up a little, but she was still Courtney. I had all that I could do to stay calm and wait until we had the chance to talk.

We descended along the slope that led down to the village. It was a route I had taken before and was familiar with, only this time we reached the first ring of structures much sooner. As I said, the size of the village had tripled to accommodate the exiles. The first ring of houses weren’t houses at all. They were larger than the other log-cabin homes and had no personal touches of any kind.

“Defensive structures,” Courtney explained. “Like I said, we’re ready.”

I didn’t know what kind of defense these wooden huts offered. I didn’t think they would do much against a dado-klee army, but it wasn’t the time to point that out. That would come soon enough. As we walked toward the center of the village, the structures became smaller and looked more like homes. I saw kids in the street playing catch, riding skateboards on paved roads, and generally running around. I could almost imagine this to be a suburban street back on Second Earth. The lineup of homes with front yards looked right out of suburbia. The idea that this quiet, hyper normal community was about to be under siege was almost too much to comprehend.

“These outer rings are where the Yanks settled and made their homes,” Courtney explained.

“Yanks?” I asked.

“That’s what they call themselves. I was more of a Mets fan myself, but considering how they got here, I guess the name fits. They’ve become an important part of the Black Water community. There are people here with all sorts of skills. Carpenters, teachers, plumbers, farmers. This isn’t the Black Water you remember.”

I looked around at the new structures. Though the general style was the same as when I had last been to Black Water, there were subtle differences that showed the hands of skilled craftsmen. Black Water had improved. You could even say it evolved. I had mixed feelings about it.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Courtney said. “We’re not supposed to mix the territories. Get over it. That ship sailed a long time ago, thanks to our demon friend.”

She was right. Halla was in shambles. It was no longer what it should have been, thanks to Saint Dane’s Convergence. I figured that at this point, any positive move was a good one, even if it meant mixing technology and know-how from one territory with another’s.

Many people called out a friendly “Hi!” to Courtney. She was well-known and liked. Of course, that was quickly followed by a sudden change in attitude when they saw two klees walking with us. It’s not like they ran into their homes and slammed the doors or anything. But I could read the confusion on their faces. Klees had become the hated enemy once again.

We arrived at one of the small cabins in the outer ring of what was the old village. The huts beyond seemed older and crude. This was the dividing line between the old Black Water and the ring of new cabins that the exiles helped build. The Yanks. Incredible.

“Wait here,” Courtney ordered.

Boon, Kasha, and I did as we were told as she went to talk with the gars who had been escorting us. After a few words they cast us dark, worried looks, then reluctantly backed away and left us alone.

Courtney returned and spoke to Boon and Kasha. “Don’t take it personally. They just don’t want to be eaten.”

“Understood,” Kasha said.

Courtney opened the front door and motioned for us to enter. “This is my home. It’s small, but it’s strange.”

We entered to find a two-room home. The first room had a living area with some rough chairs and tables. Across from it was a sink and a fireplace. The door beyond led to a small bedroom.

“Not exactly like what you’d find in Stony Brook,”

Courtney said. “But it’s all I need. Who’s hungry?”

As much as I wanted to eat, I had other more pressing things to worry about. “Uh, you do get that the klee army is on the way, right?” I asked.

“I told you, we’re ready,” she answered. “How do you think you were shot out of the sky?”

“Yes, how did you do that?” Boon asked.

“We developed a weapon that fires a short, intense burst of radio waves,” she explained. “Some of the Yank geeks used the link radio technology that the gars developed and found a way to direct and control it. Don’t ask me to get more technical than that. It doesn’t affect living things, only mechanical devices.”

“So it’ll shoot a gig out of the sky, but it won’t stop a living klee?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” Courtney answered.

“What about a dado klee?”

Courtney gave me a dark look. I had finally given her a bit of information she didn’t already know. “You’re kidding, right? Dados?”

“I wish.”

“You mean that klee army on the way here might be dados?”

“Sorry to give you the bad news,” I said. “Bad news? That’s the best news I’ve gotten in forever!”

“Uh, it is?”

“Eat first, business later.”

Courtney set out a meal of fresh fruit that was harvested from the farms that circled the village. She even grilled some fish from the stream. Boon and Kasha preferred to eat their fish raw, which was kind of disgusting, but who am

I to judge? I’m not a cat. Or a sushi guy. Courtney was all sorts of bubbly as she worked. Giving her the news about the dados seemed to energize her. How weird was that? I couldn’t speak for my klee friends, but I was starving. I was dying to hear Courtney’s story, but after all that had happened, I didn’t think it would hurt to eat a little. Or a lot. We didn’t speak much while Courtney busied herself cooking, but once we sat down to enjoy the meal, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You’re killing me here, you know,” I said.

Courtney put her food down and looked off to nowhere in particular. It felt like she was winding her thoughts back. From the hard look in her eyes, it was clear that she wasn’t bringing up happy memories. Her light attitude was gone. When she spoke, she rarely made eye contact with us, as if she weren’t really in the room, but drifting through the past.

“When the Ravinians threw us into the flume, I wasn’t scared. Not at first, anyway. I’d been through the flume before. The only thing strange about it was that I was flying along with other people.”

“Were they the people Naymeer chose from outside the conclave?” I asked.

“I guess. They were terrified. That much was for sure. I tried to calm them down and tell them that everything was going to be okay, though I wasn’t so sure about that myself. I figured the flume would send us to some territory that I knew about through your journals. That’s what I kept telling myself. It was going to be okay. I spent most of the journey trying to refresh my memory about all the various territories I’d read about.”

“Did you see Mark?” I asked.

Courtney shook her head. “The last I saw him was when he was trying to reach me in the crowd outside of the flume.” She sighed and continued. “We flew for a long time. Longer than the other flume journies I’d taken. Slowly the people I was traveling with separated. Some shot ahead faster. Others lagged behind. It wasn’t like we had a choice. We were totally at the mercy of the flume. It wasn’t long before I was alone. That’s when things started getting scary. Outside the crystal walls, the images of Halla were everywhere. It was like the entire universe was out there, jumbled together, looking at me. I saw a light far ahead in the flume. I thought I was nearing the end, but realized that the light was moving. Toward me. It seemed as if we were going to collide and that would be the end of the trip, and me. I covered my head, but the thing streaked by me in a blur of light and music. I looked back to see it disappear behind me. It was followed by another, then another. Some came from ahead of me, others caught up with me from behind and shot past. After a while I got used to it. No, I looked forward to it. Those streaks of light were the only things that kept me company and broke up the monotony.”

“What do you think they were?” Kasha asked.

Courtney shrugged. “All I can figure is that they were other people traveling through the flumes.”

“They might have been,” I offered. “The Ravinians were sending people all over Halla.”

“I lost track of time,” Courtney continued. “I know this sounds weird, but I can’t say how long I was in there. It could have been hours or months. I truly don’t know. It was like I was suspended in time and space. I’d never experienced that kind of loneliness before. I kept expecting to be dumped at a gate, but it never happened.”

“But it did, when you arrived here,” Boon offered.

“Well, sort of. When things started happening, it was dramatic. The flume started to shake. It was definitely a new sensation, and it didn’t feel right. I heard this deep rumble, like an earthquake. The tunnel must have moved, because I was thrown against the side wall and spun around. It didn’t hurt, but I was sent tumbling. I was terrified. It felt like the flume was falling apart, almost like what happened here on Eelong.”

Courtney threw a pained look to Kasha. Kasha knew what she was talking about all too well. We all did.

“I had no control. Up until that moment the ride through the flume was like floating on a warm cushion of air. Suddenly it felt like I was being tumbled inside of a washing machine. I kept getting glimpses out beyond the crystal walls and began to see stars, which meant the images of Halla were disappearing. I won’t lie. I thought it was the end of Halla right then and there. It felt like everything was coming apart.”

I knew what Courtney was experiencing. I had witnessed the destruction of the flumes myself. As horrifying a sight as that was, I never thought that there might have been people traveling inside them when it happened.

“Then everything went white, and I was floating again,” Courtney continued. “I thought I had been killed. I really did. I even thought I heard the voice of an angel. It was a voice I recognized. A woman. My mind was still flying fast, and it took a while for me to focus on her words. I heard her trying to calm me down by saying things like ‘relax’ and ‘you’re going to be okay.’ I kind of hoped she’d say ‘welcome to heaven,’ but that didn’t happen. Then I saw her face.”

Courtney looked right at me and said, “It was Nevva Winter.”

I didn’t react. How could I? I had no clue as to how that could have happened.

“Where were you?” Kasha asked.

“I didn’t know. At least not at first. I felt the pull of gravity again, so I knew I was no longer moving through the flume. I think I was lying on my back. All I saw was Nevva’s face looking down at me. Under any other circumstances I would have jumped up and slugged her, but I couldn’t move. And besides, hers was the first face I’d seen since I was separated from those people in the flume. As much as I hated her, I was happy to see her. I would have been happy to see anybody.”

“Did she say anything else?” I asked.

“Oh yeah. She said that she had given us a gift. All of us. I didn’t know who the heck she was talking about. She promised that the territory wouldn’t be touched. As much as she believed in the new vision for Halla, she also believed that there was good in the old way. And for that, she was protecting Eelong.”

“Protecting Eelong,” Kasha repeated.

Courtney nodded. “She said we should build a new life and make the best of what we had. She also asked that we not judge her too harshly. That was it. She was gone. I lay there for a while, trying to understand what had happened. Slowly my physical senses returned. I realized that I wasn’t surrounded by white; I had been staring up into the sky. The first thing I recognized was the sunbelt. I knew then that I was definitely on Eelong.”

I hadn’t touched a bite of food while Courtney told us her story. After hearing about Nevva, my hunger was gone for good. I stood up. My mind was racing too fast to let me sit still. What had Nevva done? And when had she done it?

Did this happen before I brought Elli to Third Earth? Was it possible that Nevva had always questioned Saint Dane and his quest?

“What are you thinking, Pendragon?” Kasha asked.

“On Third Earth, Nevva panicked when I told her that Saint Dane was going to attack the exiles with an army of dados.”

It was Courtney’s turn to jump to her feet.

“Whoa! I thought that was a klee army headed this way. I didn’t know Saint Dane was behind it.”

“I’m not sure he is,” I replied. “At least, not directly. The Ravinians brought dados here, so it’s not like Saint Dane had nothing to do with it. But I don’t think he planned this attack.”

Courtney frowned. “But you said Saint Dane was going to attack with a dado army.”

“He is. I saw thousands of dados on Third Earth that Saint Dane said would be used against the exiles. Nevva said he was going to create a flume to move them. But he didn’t know that the exiles were here until recently. So I don’t think the army that’s on the way here has anything to do with the dados from Third Earth. I think this attack would have happened anyway.”

“Oh. Swell. That means there’s going to be another attack after this one?” Courtney cried.

“Unless the klee army does Saint Dane’s dirty work for him. However it happens, Saint Dane wants the exiles dead.”

“But Nevva didn’t,” Kasha said.

I said, “Strange as it may seem, it’s looking like Nevva did what she could to try and preserve one of the original territories of Halla. Why she picked Eelong, I have no idea, but that was her plan, and it looks like she somehow directed the exiles to be sent here to help keep the territory alive.”

Kasha added, “And it cost her her life.”

We all let that sink in for a moment, then Courtney said softly, “So if not for Nevva Winter, the battle for Halla would already be over.”

I smiled. “For what it’s worth, in the end, she did her job as a Traveler.”

“What about the exiles?” Boon asked. “When did they get here?”

We all looked to Courtney. She sat down and turned her thoughts back to the day she had arrived on Eelong.

“Once Nevva left, I collected my thoughts and realized I had to figure out exactly where I was on Eelong. I sat up, hoping to see something familiar. What I saw instead seemed impossible.”

She stopped talking, letting her mind drift back. Whatever it was that Courtney had seen, she was seeing it again in her mind’s eye and judging by the look on her face, it wasn’t a happy memory.

“I saw that I was lying in a huge, open area… along with thousands of other people.”

“What!” I blurted out.

“It’s true,” she continued. “I couldn’t breathe. There were bodies everywhere. Ail lying down. Some had their faces turned to the sunbelt, others were facedown. Many were in the fetal position. They all looked like they were sleeping, or dead. Right next to me was an old guy in jeans and a plaid shirt. On my other side were two kids. Twins. A woman who was probably their mother was at my feet. It was a sea of people. I can’t even describe the numb feeling it gave me. The sight of this many people was staggering, but the idea that they might all be dead put me into brain lock.”

“The exiles?” Kasha asked.

Courtney nodded. “Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I sat there for a few seconds, dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to do. I truly thought I was going to lose my mind. That’s when the guy in the flannel shirt moved. I was so surprised that I yelped. But I saw him reach for his eyes and rub them. That little, natural movement was enough to calm me down. This guy was coming around the exact same way I had. Then the twins moved. All around me I saw the beginnings of this giant mass of humanity come to life like some giant creature. I hadn’t yet heard about what happened at Yankee Stadium, so the idea of this many people suddenly dropping in on Eelong still didn’t make sense, but I was glad to know I wasn’t in corpseworld.”

“It must have been an incredible relief,” Kasha said.

Courtney’s expression turned dark. “It didn’t last. I was lying near one edge of the mass of people. I’d guess I was about fifty people away from the outer edge. Being there saved my life.”

The klees and I exchanged nervous looks.

“How?” Boon asked, hanging on her every word.

“We were being stalked. I think when the people started to move, it was like a cue. As soon as the mass of humanity began to stir, the attack began.”

“Klees?” I asked.

“Tangs. They must have been stalking through the jungle, growing closer. When they saw that their prey was coming alive-”

Courtney closed her eyes. The memory was a bad one.

“The screams came first. I jumped up and saw three tangs pounce on the people who were closest to the edge of the clearing. Not far from me. If I had been lying a little bit closer to the edge…” She didn’t finish that sentence. “Those poor people didn’t have a chance. It was brutal. More tangs jumped from cover and picked off the first people they came to. Those closest could see what was going on and panicked. The fear spread like a wave. The screaming was unbearable. I didn’t know which screams came from fear, and which came from the people being mauled by those monsters.” I couldn’t imagine the horror.

“Some people jumped in and tried to pull the tangs off. They paid for it. The beasts were on a bloody rampage. With all the people jostling me, I could only make out fleeting images. Maybe that was a good thing. I kept seeing talons flashing and the horror and pain on the faces of the poor people. I could even smell the tangs. And the blood. It was a frenzy feed. I kept getting knocked around by people who were desperate to escape. At first I went with the crowd, but I was afraid I’d get crushed. I looked around for any other way to go. That’s when I saw the waterfalls and realized that we were in the valley that led into Black Water. As soon as I saw those falls, I knew what I had to do. I had to get into Black Water and find Gunny and Spader. I pushed my way through the crowd, going against the flow. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I broke out of the stampede. Now it was just me and the group of tangs about twenty yards away who were bent down over their prey.” She closed her eyes and added, “Feeding.”

I tried not to imagine it.

“I ran for the falls and didn’t look back. I couldn’t. I don’t know how many people were killed that day. When I talked to people about it later, they told me the tangs simply disappeared into the jungle… once they had gotten their fill.” I winced.

“I kept running, heading for the waterfall. I hit the runoff and splashed through, not daring to stop. When I got into the tunnel, I kept going, sprinting the whole way. I didn’t stop to rest until I reached the far side. Looking down the slope, I saw that the village in Black Water was just as I remembered it. It wasn’t the village you see here today. It was the same village that we saved from the klee attack five years ago.”

“Five years,” I echoed. “Black Water has grown this much in five years?”

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” she said. “I found Aron, the gar leader, and begged him to take me to Gunny and Spader. But he said they had disappeared. Nobody knew where they had gone.”

“I’m sure they went to Solara when the flumes exploded, just as I did,” I offered.

“I told Aron about the people outside. I said they were gars. What else was I supposed to say? And they were, sort of. Aron immediately gathered a team of gars with weapons and set out to bring the people back.”

“That wasn’t a small job,” I said.

Courtney snickered. “Tell me about it. Do you know how hard it is to gather seventy thousand people? Especially people who are confused and scared that they might be eaten by hungry dinosaurs?”

“Can’t say that I do,” I answered.

“I’m not going to bore you with all the details of what followed, because you see the results all around you. It was awkward and confusing and impossible, but the gars accepted the newcomers and gave them a home. In return, the Yanks helped Black Water to grow and prosper. It’s been a perfect partnership.”

“What about language?” I asked. “How did the gars understand the Yanks?”

“Good question. It was never an issue,” Courtney answered. “Like when Mark and I first came here. For whatever strange reason, the two groups could understand each other from the get-go. As far as I can tell, everybody’s speaking English, but that makes no sense.”

“It must have to do with the boundaries between territories breaking down. It’s like Veego and LaBerge. They’re from Veelox, yet they understood everyone on Quillan. And vice versa. Something must happen to people when they go through the flume. It’s like they become part of the combined Halla. Or something like that. I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t seem right, but it is kind of convenient,” Courtney said sheepishly.

“A fringe benefit of letting Ravinia run the universe. Kind of a big price to pay for not having to learn a new language.”

“Ravinia. Yeah. By the time I got here those guys had already gotten a toehold on the territory. I guess Nevva couldn’t stop that. Or didn’t want to. I found out that whatever cooperation had existed between the klees and the gars was gone.”

“You know the klees finally repealed Edict Forty-six?” I asked.

“Yeah. Great, huh? We’re officially food. But the gars saw it coming. That’s why they developed weapons and worked to create defenses around Black Water. The Yanks had a lot to do with that.”

“They accepted and understood the fact that they were on a different territory?” I asked.

“They didn’t have a choice” was Courtney’s answer. “And it didn’t happen overnight. I was the one person who knew it all, so I kind of became the ambassador between the gars and the Yanks. They’re my people, after all. I gotta tell you, I’m proud of them. They became teachers and mentors to the gars. Now there are times when I’m talking to somebody that I don’t think of them as being a gar or a Yank. They’re just… a person. Maybe that’s what Nevva hoped would happen.”

“It makes sense. If Nevva dropped seventy thousand people anywhere else in Halla, they would have been crushed by the Ravinians along with whatever culture they found themselves in. But here on Eelong, the gars were considered a lower form of life. They lived in isolation, protected by the mountains. The Ravinians first had to weed through the klees to determine who was worthy of joining them. They didn’t bother much with the gars in Black Water.”

“Until now,” Kasha said softly.

“Yeah, until now,” I repeated.

Kasha asked, “Do you really think they will be able to repel a klee attack?”

Courtney smiled. “No guarantees, but I can tell you, they’ve been training. Lots of the Yanks were former military on Second Earth. We’re organized, and we’re smart. I think the klees are going to be in for a surprise if they attack.”

“When they attack,” I corrected.

With that grim reality put out there, we went back to eating. I wasn’t hungry, but we needed fuel. As we silently devoured the food Courtney had prepared, I thought to the challenges ahead. Were the gars and exiles of Black Water capable of defending themselves against the klee army? Courtney seemed confident, but I wasn’t so sure. Worse than that, even if they somehow managed to repel the klees, would they be able to do the same against Saint Dane’s army of dados? The future was looking dark, which didn’t do much for my appetite.

“They won’t attack at night,” Courtney announced. “We should rest.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Boon asked.

“We’ll know long before they get close to the valley” was Courtney’s answer. “We have eyes everywhere. Get some sleep. Before the sunbelt rises, I’ll get us all up, and I’ll show you why I think the klees are in trouble.”

I didn’t doubt her.

Courtney told us to make ourselves at home. She left to meet with the gar defenders to tell them of the possibility that the oncoming army might be partly mechanical. She promised to be back shortly.

Kasha and Boon made themselves comfortable in the outer room next to the fireplace. There was a large chair in Courtney’s bedroom that I claimed. Soon after I settled in, Courtney returned and crawled into her own bed.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“It took a while to convince them that the klees might be mechanical, but they were willing to listen. If our radio cannons work on the dados, it’ll give us one more little advantage. Obviously, we need all we can get.”

I didn’t argue.

Before long I heard the steady breathing of Kasha and Boon as they slept. It was almost like purring. Or maybe it was exactly like purring. They were out and I was glad. The next day was going to be a tough one for them. If all went the way we expected, they would witness their own people-klees-going to war. Though I suspected that the majority of the advancing army was made up of dado klees, I had to believe that there were also plenty of living klees on the way. Somebody had to tell the dados what to do. I knew which side Kasha was on, but it would be tough for her to see the klees going to battle. I trusted Boon as well, but it was going to be hard for him, too. I made my mind up that I would ask Boon to stay away. It would be unfair to ask him to fight his own kind, no matter how right or important it was.

I was so incredibly proud of Courtney. From all that I heard, she was the one who held the exiles together and helped create a community with the gars. When she first became my acolyte so long ago, I knew that I could rely on her. I had no idea that she would be pushed to such extremes, but wasn’t surprised that she had risen to every challenge. As did Mark. I loved those guys.

“Bobby?” Courtney called from her bed. “You awake?”

“What do you think?” I replied.

She snickered. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“What do you think is the way it was meant to be?” “That’s, like, a huge question,” I answered. “Where do I begin to answer that?” “Begin with us.”

I froze. I wasn’t sure what she meant. “Do you remember the night you first left home?” she asked.

“How could I forget?”

“Do you remember what I said to you when I came to your house that night?”

I debated about being cool, or telling the truth. I chose the truth.

“You said that you had this feeling about me, and that if you didn’t tell me that night, you were afraid that you’d never get the chance again. Then you kissed me.”

“I guess that would be a yes. You remember.”

“Every second of it.”

“So do you ever wonder what would have happened if not for the whole Traveler thing?” “You mean that night?”

“No,” she laughed. “I mean with us. If we’d had the chance to live our lives out the way they were supposed to be lived.”

“Who says what happened isn’t the way it was supposed to be?” I said, ducking the question. “I do,” Courtney said flatly. That shut me up.

She continued, “Do you think we would have gotten together and, like, had a life?”

“Courtney,” I said, “believe it or not, I’ve wondered that same thing more times than I can count.”

“And what did you come up with?” she asked.

“You mean what did I think would happen, or what do I wish would have happened?”

Courtney hesitated a moment, debating about the answer.

“What do you wish?” she finally asked.

This was it. The big answer.

“I wish we could have had the chance to find out.” “Yeah, me too.”

I don’t know why I did what I did, but it would have been wrong not to. I got out of the chair and lay down on the bed next to Courtney. I got down on my side behind her and put my arm around her. She hugged my arm around her waist. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Or awkward. It was just… right. I could smell her hair. Whatever she used to wash it on that primitive territory made it smell like flowers from home. Lying there with her made me feel vulnerable, because I was letting my guard down. Not my physical guard, my emotional guard. I had become a badass. I was a warrior. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have survived. Holding Courtney like that was like admitting I needed the touch of another human. I’d put any thoughts of companionship out of my head, because I knew it wasn’t possible. I had once opened myself up to Loor, and she pointed out that letting down our guard and allowing ourselves normal emotions would be dangerous. She was right. But at that moment, lying with Courtney, I didn’t care.

“I don’t regret anything that happened, Bobby,” she whispered. “If I had to do it over again, I would.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” I said. “But I think I would too. Except that I wouldn’t involve you and Mark. It’s the only regret I have.”

“And that would have been a mistake, because without us you wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

I laughed. “You’re right.”

“Just promise me one thing,” she said.

“What?”

“When this is over, remember me.”

It seemed like such a simple request. A dumb one, even. How could I ever forget the glorious Courtney Chetwynde? I was about to say something to that effect, but stopped. For a brief moment I had forgotten the truth. I forgot that I wasn’t really Bobby Pendragon from Second Earth. I was a spirit from a place called Solara. When this was over, no matter how it came out, where would I end up? What kind of person

… what kind of being would I be? I suppose it was a very real possibility that when it was over, I wouldn’t remember Courtney. What she was asking for was a promise I couldn’t make. So I did the only thing that made sense. I lied.

“Of course I promise,” I said. “What a dumb thing to ask.”

I hugged her tighter and kissed her on the back of the head.

“I knew you would,” she said. “I just wanted to hear it.”

I stopped talking. I wanted to experience the simple joy of holding Courtney Chetwynde without the added baggage of worrying about the future. We fell asleep that way, as close to each other as possible, in every sense of the word.

I can’t say how long we rested, but the next thing I knew, I was dreaming about being on board a submarine. Not a submarine from Cloral, either. This was right out of some old World War II movie, complete with sailors. We were diving. I knew that because the steady whoop sound of the dive horn was sounding. I’d never actually been aboard that kind of submarine, but I’d seen plenty of movies. This was just like that. It was one of those dreams where you stepped out of yourself and looked back on what was happening, because you knew it was a dream. I was floating somewhere near the periscope as the whooping horn continued, wondering why I was dreaming about movie submarines.

The answer came quickly. I felt Courtney bolt away from me and jump to her feet. It jostled me out of my dream and back to reality, sort of. I figured I was still half in my dream, because I was still hearing the whoop of the dive horn.

Of course, it wasn’t a dive horn. It wasn’t a dream.

Courtney knew that and was on her feet before I could tell the difference between dreamland and Black Water.

“Get up,” she commanded.

“Why? What’s going on?” I mumbled.

“It’s the warning alarm,” she answered quickly.

“Warning? Warning for what?”

“Two guesses,” she said, and headed for the bedroom door.

I didn’t need the second guess. I was finally awake enough to understand what was happening, and it had nothing to do with submarines. Or dreams.

The battle for Black Water was about to begin.