Mom gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. I only just managed to suppress a loud groan. One false move, and Mia would fall out of the window. Yes, we were only on the second floor of the house, but falling twelve feet to a paved path would be dangerous enough. The question was, what could we do now? If we spoke to her, or actually touched her, she might wake at just the wrong moment.
While various horror scenarios shot through my mind within the fraction of a second, all featuring a lifeless Mia in a pool of blood among the frozen flower beds, Ernest shot past us, simply picked Mia up in both his arms, and pulled her back into the room. I’d never have expected him to act so fast and so energetically.
I breathed out. And then in, and then out again. Suddenly everything in the room seemed to me brighter and warmer, although of course nothing had changed. The only real light came from the streetlamp outside the house.
Ernest, who must surely have been a firefighter in an earlier life, carried Mia to her bed and laid her carefully down on it. Mom was with her in a moment, clinging to her like a sumo wrestler. Unmoved, her eyes completely empty, Mia stared past her and up at the ceiling.
“What’s going on?” Florence, who had been the last to arrive, was standing in the doorway behind Lottie, Buttercup, and Grayson, rubbing her eyes. “It sounded like the house was falling down.” Intrigued, she looked at all the saucepan lids scattered around the room, and the string still tied to Mia’s ankle. Buttercup began barking excitedly—thank goodness she’d left it until now—and Lottie asked, “Should I fetch the thermometer and take her temperature?”
Grayson cast me a long and very eloquent glance, to which I replied only with a shrug of my shoulders. He went over to the window and closed it firmly.
In Mom’s convulsive embrace, Mia was fighting for air. At last her eyelids began opening and closing again. Then she shook her head, obviously confused. “Mom?”
“It’s all right, darling, we’re here with you,” said Mom, loosening her clasp slightly.
“Did I … did I walk in my sleep again?” Mia sat up. “I can’t even remember my dream.”
“Never mind, your alarm system worked brilliantly,” I said, switching on her bedside lamp.
“Try to remember your dream,” said Grayson, urgently and without a lot of sympathy.
Mia still looked as if she were only half awake. “There … there was the sea,” she murmured. “And a landing. I sat on it and dangled my legs in the water.…” She inspected her saucepan lids. “Was it really loud enough?”
“Oh yes.” Lottie was rubbing her arms. “I thought a garbage truck had rammed the house.”
“But it didn’t wake me. There’s something wrong with me.” Mia sank back on her pillows.
“It’s been a day full of surprises.” Mom stroked Mia’s forehead, looking at Ernest. “When a child’s mother plans to remarry, it can come as rather a shock,” she whispered to him, although at room-filling volume. Then she turned back to Mia. “I’m going to sleep here with you tonight, mousie, okay?”
Mia looked at me. I knew what she was thinking. We hadn’t had a shock this evening—all that was way behind us, months ago, when Mom and Ernest had told us they were moving in together. At the time, yes, that had in fact been a shock—but while the proposal of marriage could be called a surprise, it was a nice one.
All the same, it was fine by me if Mom slept with Mia tonight. She was already snuggling down under the quilt with her, one arm around her waist.
“Mom, it’s all right,” said Mia. “I’m glad you and Ernest are getting married. The wedding will be sensational! Just think of the meeting between Great-Aunt Gertrude and Mrs. Spencer…”
“Not forgetting your great-aunt Virginia,” added Lottie.
“I have a kind of gloomy foreboding,” murmured Florence, and Mom and Mia both chuckled.
“Sleep well, then, both of you.” Ernest looked very relieved when he left the room with us, closing the door behind him. “It’s all right,” he added, repeating Mia’s own words.
But of course it wasn’t. Nothing was all right. But for her alarm system, my little sister might well have jumped out of the window tonight.
I sensed Grayson’s eyes resting on me, but I didn’t respond. Instead I went straight back into my room with a murmured, “Good night.”
To my surprise, I dropped off to sleep again easily, and when I went through my dream door into the corridor, it was as if I’d never been away, although it baffled me to find that Henry’s door was still right opposite it and hadn’t changed at all. Elegant, black, and forbidding, with a fierce lion’s head as a door knocker.
I quickly looked away, and instead examined my own door—I’d really expected it to be rather run-down, like me, paint peeling off, a few notches in it, maybe a different color, one that matched my state of mind better than its cheerful mint green. But my door was in excellent condition. The lizard winked at me before coiling up again into a shining doorknob.
Mia’s door was on the right of mine, and there was no sign of Mr. Wu anywhere. Instead, as I was about to take hold of the handle, someone else came out of the doorway.
“Mom?”
Mom put her forefinger to her lips. “Shh! Mia needs to rest,” she whispered.
I looked at her with mixed feelings. How sweet of Mia to show her confidence in Mom by posting her to protect her dreams—and how useless. I realized that when she opened the door a little wider and beckoned me in. “But of course you’re welcome, Liv darling. If you keep quiet and lie down with us. We were just counting sheep.”
“No, no, that’s not the way to do it. How do you know that I’m the real Liv?”
Dream-Mom shook her head with an indulgent smile. “The real Liv? What nonsense you’re talking, darling! As if I wouldn’t know my own daughter. Oh, there’s Grayson.”
I turned around. Sure enough, Grayson was standing in the corridor behind me. His door latched quietly behind him.
“Grayson dear,” said Mom with a touch of reproof in her voice. “This is January. We don’t want you catching a chill, going about bare-chested like that.”
Grayson was staring at me suspiciously. “Is that Mia’s door?” he asked.
I nodded. What was he doing here? Hadn’t he said he was never going into this corridor again?
“Grayson, have you—?”
He interrupted me. “I know what you’re thinking. And I’m still sure we ought to leave all this alone. But your sister very nearly jumped out of the window just now, and I wanted to…” He shook his head, and suddenly looked embarrassed.
“You wanted to do what?”
“I think I wanted to stand guard. Somehow or other.”
A warm feeling spread through me. Touched, I grinned at him.
“It’s so drafty here!” Mom clicked her tongue impatiently. “How about it, Liv? In or out? It’s Herdwicks we’re counting, very cute little sheep.…”
“Maybe later,” I said. “You can shut the door—that’s okay.”
And Mom did shut it, although not without advising Grayson once again to put on something warm, with the result that he was now wearing his quilted anorak.
“That was neat,” I said appreciatively. “Particularly as you’re right out of practice.”
However, when Grayson looked down at himself, shaking his head, I assumed that he had really been trying to imagine something different.
“Didn’t you say you’d installed a security system outside her door?” he said with a look of disapproval. “It doesn’t look very secure to me.”
Oh, the Mr. Wu system had been very secure indeed, but obviously I couldn’t rely on it indefinitely.
“This way anyone can just walk into Mia’s dreams,” Grayson went on. He peered down the corridor in the dim light, clearly feeling uncomfortable.
I sighed. Unfortunately he was right. On the other hand, while I respected his idea of standing guard outside Mia’s door, it couldn’t be done in practice. So there was only o
ne thing for it.
“I’m afraid there’s no alternative to telling Mia about all this,” I said.
“No, Liv! You can’t drag her into it too.”
“She may know about it already by now. And she’ll have to protect her own door. That’s the only way she can prevent anyone from getting into her dreams and making her walk in her sleep and do terrible things.”
“If we only knew—” But Grayson never finished his sentence, because at that moment we heard a man’s voice.
“Stop right there, you stupid brat, or you’ll be sorry!” it thundered around the next bend in the corridor. “Stop this minute!”
That voice was not unknown to me. Unfortunately.
A figure turned the corner and came toward us at breakneck speed. A slender, graceful figure moving with great elegance in spite of her obvious haste.
It was Anabel.
I didn’t have much time to stare at her and overcome my surprise, because she was making straight for us. Senator Tod was close behind her in his flowing cloak and his slouch hat, calling her names nonstop.
By this time, Anabel had reached us, and I acted instinctively. I let her go by and then barred Senator Tod’s way, standing protectively between the two of them.
He stopped, gasping for breath.
“You again!” he growled. “I’ve had about enough of you kids!”
“The feeling’s mutual,” I assured him. Only now did I realize that I had raised my hand, like a traffic cop. No idea what I thought I was doing. Unobtrusively, I lowered it again, but without taking my eyes off Senator Tod.
Anabel was standing behind me, and when she suddenly began to laugh, I realized, all at once, how ridiculous my attempted rescue had been. Anabel was the last person to need support in a dream. At the same time, I felt a little relieved to see her here. The idea of her in that hospital, helpless in the hands of Senator Tod with his medical methods, had troubled me in spite of myself, as I’d been ready to admit.
“Laugh all you like, you … you little devil,” said Senator Tod. “I’ll soon find out which door is yours. And then…” Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Grayson. “Who’s this newcomer?”
“Oh, do give up, Doctor dear.” Anabel moved to my side. Her voice sounded as sweet and innocent as ever, and it sent a shiver down my spine. Should I really be relieved to see her? Anabel Scott was far and away the craziest, most dangerous person who had ever crossed my path—how could I have forgotten that? She hadn’t changed her appearance; she still looked like a reincarnation of Botticelli’s Venus, even in plain jeans and a T-shirt. Her golden blond hair fell over her shoulders in soft waves, going all the way down to her waist, and her huge turquoise-green eyes could cast a spell over you at once. She was so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her. In that respect, she’d really been a perfect match for Arthur.
“How are you, Liv?” she said in friendly tones, and then beamed at Grayson. “Hi, Grayson. To be honest, I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you’d given up all this.”
“Aha. Aha.” Senator Tod nodded. “Grayson Spencer, is it? The stupid, vain, naïve, good-natured member of the group.”
“No, you genius. That one is Jasper Grant,” Anabel set him right. “Grayson is the cautious, sensible, responsible, unimaginative one. Henry is the one with the authority problem, and Arthur is the good-looking guy with the giant ego.” She cast Grayson a glance, with her eyes twinkling. “Sorry, he’s not so good at remembering names.”
So far Grayson hadn’t said a word. He was just looking from Anabel to me and then to Senator Tod, with a baffled expression on his face.
Anabel’s smile widened. “As usual, your face tells me exactly what you’re feeling, Grayson. It’s a while since you came here—maybe we ought to update you. Okay, so while you stayed in your own dreams like a good boy, trying to forget about setting a demon free, Liv, Arthur, and Henry got to know my psychiatrist out here. Let me introduce Dr. Otto Anderson. Not the brightest spark in his field, I’m afraid, but just the man for my purposes.”
“This is…” Senator Tod looked as if he’d explode with fury any moment now. Before too long, he’d be hurling thunderbolts. “I’ve never for a second let you manipulate me! I saw through you right away!”
Anabel tilted her head on one side. “Just the man!” she repeated gently.
“I don’t understand a word of this,” said Grayson. “What does it have to do with Mia? Why are you doing this to her? To revenge yourself on Liv?”
“Mia?” Anabel raised an eyebrow. “Liv’s little sister?”
“Yes, damn it, Liv’s little sister,” said Grayson. “And I want you to leave her alone. My God, Anabel, you’ve done enough harm already.”
Anabel looked genuinely confused. “Can someone tell me what he’s talking about? Maybe you, Henry?”
I was about to spin around, but managed to turn and look without haste. Sure enough, there was Henry leaning against his door, arms folded and one knee slightly bent, as if he’d been standing there all the time.
He was the only one of us who managed to return Anabel’s smile.
“Good to see you,” he said. “We were anxious about you.”
Anabel nodded. “I know. My father told me you’d phoned. So sweet of you. Did you really think the good doctor here had put me out of action with sleeping tablets?” She uttered a tinkling laugh.
Senator Tod looked as if he were grinding his teeth.
“Well, you haven’t been here for some time,” I pointed out.
“Are you so sure of that?”
Oh, damn it. Of course not. Arthur had been right: Anabel was too clever for Senator Tod. And for me, too, I’m afraid. She was the best of us all at managing her dreams. Nothing was easier for her than to roam around the corridors without any of us noticing. And she wasn’t to be underestimated in the real world either. Idiot that I was, I’d phoned her father because I felt sorry for her, while she’d presumably been tricking the entire hospital.
Although I really didn’t want to, I glanced at Henry, only to find that his eyes were resting on me. That in itself was enough to make my heart contract painfully again.
“How nice it is to see you all!” Anabel went on in a conversational tone. “All we need is Arthur, and it would be like the old days.” With a contented sigh, she leaned back on the wall beside Henry’s door. “You learn an amazing amount when you’re invisible, but it’s kind of boring.” She grinned at me. “Sorry if I scared you, Liv, but I really couldn’t resist! A little rustling, and you felt sure the devil was after you.”
“And so he was.” Only now did I notice that the pupils of Anabel’s eyes were tiny, as if she were looking at a bright light. Even though it had turned quite dark around us. And colder. I felt fairly sure that she’d soon be conjuring up her demon.
But for now Anabel was aiming at subtler effects. “You’ve no idea how boring it is in the hospital—without the dreams I’d probably be dead of sheer tedium. No, I wasn’t about to give them up. I just wanted the good doctor to think so while I was studying his weaknesses at my leisure. You have a good many weaknesses, don’t you, Otto?”
“If you think you can blackmail me, you greatly overestimate the credibility of a mentally ill patient,” said Senator Tod. “No one would believe someone like you. And what’s more, I’ve never broken any laws.…”
Anabel laughed again. “Blackmail! I’m far beyond such childish, laborious methods now. No—I have something special in mind for you. Don’t worry, you’ll like it.”
At that moment the electronic alarm that we’d heard before went off. “The beeper,” said Anabel, while Senator Tod turned pale, and the next second disappeared entirely. “The patient in room 207 is a friend of mine—I give her my dessert, and in return she rings for the doctor every night he’s on emergency duty and gets him out of bed. I bet he goes racing straight to my room.” She yawned. “A shame. It’s so nice here with you, I could stand around chatting for hours, particularly
as the story of your little sister sounds really interesting, Liv.”
“What’s happened to Mia?” Henry looked inquiringly at me.
I was intently studying my feet.
“Hasn’t Liv told you?” asked Grayson. “Mia has been sleepwalking.”
“No, Liv hasn’t told me anything about it,” said Henry. He sounded annoyed.
I raised my head to give him a look of even more annoyance. If anyone had no right to complain that I wasn’t telling him enough, then it was Henry.
“I’ve no idea how she fixes it,” said Grayson, stationing himself in front of Anabel, “but Anabel is making Mia do dangerous things in her sleep. A few days ago, she was trying to smother Liv with a cushion, and tonight she almost jumped out of her bedroom window.”
Henry looked dismayed. “When did this start?”
“A couple of weeks ago. I can’t think why Liv didn’t tell you.”
“Nor can I,” said Henry. “But now I understand what Mr. Wu was doing.”
“You can’t think why I didn’t tell you?” I tried my best not to sound shrill, but I wasn’t sure whether I really succeeded. “Probably because you always tell me everything, don’t you? So I’m sure you automatically expect other people to do the same. Apart from the fact that we’re not a couple anymore, and I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“What?” cried Grayson. “You’re not a couple now? Since when?”
“Oh, didn’t Henry tell you?” I asked sarcastically. “I expect that was because he didn’t think it was very important.”
“Those things have nothing to do with each other.” Henry moved away from his door. The casual expression had entirely disappeared from his face. “If Anabel is manipulating Mia’s dreams, you ought to have told me.”
“Now, now, my dears.” Anabel, of all people, was intervening. “I for one have nothing to do with it.”