Leah tapped out the beat and they started to play. However, on their first song they realized they were still in the dream and that something was still wrong with how they were playing. They played a few songs until Isabella cut the set short and they all dashed backstage.
“This is all wrong,” Maryann said. “Something's wrong with the music. It's too draining to play. I'm getting tired and I'm supposed to be resting.”
“What could be doing this?” Leah asked.
“Well, it could be almost anything,” Isabella answered. “A god, a demon, a fairy, or some other kind of spirit. There's really no way to know.”
“What about your spirit sight?” Nora asked.
She shook her head. “I can't trust it. I won't know if I'm seeing what I want to see or expect to see.”
“Can we stop whatever it is?”
“I don't know. We've already encountered a few... entities, I guess, out there that are more powerful than we really are.”
“What do we do?” Maryann asked.
“I have an idea,” Isabella said. “Give me your guitars.” The guitars were handed over and she stuck the evil spirit charm on the back. “Nora, put this on the drum when you get out there. Let's see if we can get whatever's put us in this dream to show itself.”
“Will this even work?” Nora asked.
“I don't know. But even if we're under some kind of spell, we should still have some power. This is a dream, after all. Don't forget that, whatever happens.”
There was a knock on the door. “Ladies, time for the second set,” said an unfamiliar female voice.
“I'm not changing,” Leah said. “I really like this get-up. It's all vampire-slay-y and stuff.”
“Is that a word?” Nora asked snidely.
“It is now.”
They scurried back to the stage and started up the second set. With Isabella's charms stuck to the instruments, they didn't feel that wrongness in their music and the show they'd felt before. Within two songs, they got a reaction.
“Enough!” said a female voice.
The stage abruptly disappeared although their instruments remained. The phantom concert venue disappeared and was replaced by a throne room. The room was made of black and white shiny stone with impossibly high vaulted ceilings and gold everywhere. At the opposite end of the room from the band was a throne, and there was a woman sitting in it who resembled the one who had knocked on their door in the last part of the dream. She was thin with a very pale complexion and an odd, heart-shaped face, and thick black hair that pooled around her feet on the floor. She was wearing a large gold crown, a black dress with gold accents, and her large eyes were gold with slit pupils.
“What is she?” Maryann whispered.
“I have no idea,” Isabella answered.
“Well, well,” the woman said. “I thought you were enjoying the dream. You have fame and fortune and everything you want, right?”
“Who are you?” Nora demanded.
“I am the dream-like Empress,” she answered.
“Empress of what?”
“The Empress of my realm, which you are guests in right now,” she replied, smiling unpleasantly. “I brought you here because I like your music. And I gave you all you wanted. So many dreams of fame and fortune go unrealized. I can give you all of that. All you have to do is play.”
“We'd rather take our chances in the real world,” Nora retorted.
She laughed, which was just as unpleasant as her smile. “Real world? This world is real.”
“It's a dream.”
“This is my world, and it is as real as yours, especially while you are here. You want to play. I want to listen. This seems like a mutually acceptable arrangement.”
“We want to play in our world,” Maryann said. “We don't mind doing shows for people, but we're not going to stay and play just for one audience forever.”
“I'm not asking you to play forever,” the Empress said. “But I want you to play some more. I haven't finished listening to all your music.”
“Well, it's nice to have a fan and all, but we're pretty tired and would like to get some useful sleep before we have to get up in the morning,” Leah replied.
“Oh, don't worry about that. So, what do you want to keep playing? A bigger audience? Better costumes? Better instruments? Whatever you want, I can make it happen.”
The band members looked at each other.
“We really appreciate the attention,” Isabella responded, “but we're going to opt out here. Maybe another time.”
The Empress stood up, showing that she was quite tall, and took a few steps toward them. Or, at least, she moved towards them. Her dress was so long it hid her feet and she glided across the floor rather than stepped. “There may not be another time. Do you want to give up everything you wanted?”
“This isn't what I want,” Nora snapped. “This is a dream. There's no substance. We didn't earn our fame and fortune here. You gave it to us. I want us to succeed or fail on our own merits.”
“You know the odds are not in your favor?”
“We all knew that when we started down this road,” Maryann replied. “But we believe our dreams can come true in our own world.”
“Then they can. But first, play here, for me, now,” the Empress said, moving forward.
Isabella strummed a chord on her guitar.
The Empress winced and stopped.
“Listen, we're trying to be polite,” Isabella said. “This is your world and all, but we don't want to stay here, and we don't appreciate you trying to force us to stay. So thanks again, but I think we'll be leaving now. Ladies, take the charms. You'll need them.”
They pulled the charms off the guitars and put them in their pockets.
The Empress's small mouth turned into a thin line. “But I want you to play,” she snapped, her gold eyes glowing slightly. “I need your dreams. I need them now!” She lunged forward at inhuman speed with her mouth open and fangs showing.
Isabella calmly stuck the evil spirit charm on her forehead.
The Empress halted in her tracks and screamed.
The four huddled together and Isabella pulled out another charm.
“What are you?” Nora snapped.
The Empress ripped the charm off, but it left a burn mark on her forehead. “Mortals,” she hissed. “I am the Empress. And I feed on dreams. Your dreams are sweet and potent and I want them. Play play play!”
“No,” Maryann snapped. “We aren't food!”
“Play!” she screamed and charged Maryann.
Maryann squealed and ducked, but Leah came to the rescue and smashed her guitar into the Empress's face. She fell to the floor, temporarily stunned.
“This is the part where we'd better get running,” Leah said.
“There's a door!” Nora said, pointing to a door past the throne. They ran towards the door as the Empress stood up.
“It's won't be that easy! You can't just run away!” she yelled. “You can't run away from your own nightmares!”
They yanked the door open and scrambled inside.
They found themselves inside an odd place, very unlike the Empress's throne room. Each band member recognized part of the place as a house they had once lived in, so the overall effect was both familiar and strange.
“Is she following us?” Maryann said in a low voice.
“I don't know and I don't want to find out,” Nora said. “But I think we're outside of her direct control. This looks kind of like my house.”
“Mine too.”
“Mine too,” said Isabella. “I sometimes have these dreams where I'm in my house but it's not really mine. This must be something like that.”
“But what if she comes after us?” Maryann asked.
“Then we'd better find an exit or wake up soon,” Leah said.
“Come on, and be careful,” Isabella said, and they started to explore the weird amalgam house.
>
“What if we do run into trouble?” Maryann asked.
“It's a dream. Control it,” Nora answered.
“Oh, I don't know,” Maryann replied. “I'm not good at lucid dreaming. Sometimes I try to fly, but usually I need a running start and I can't stay up, even if I'm not thinking, 'oh, I can't do this.'”
“Then you'd better hope the rest of us can do something,” she said.
“Not me. I told you I'm bad at this,” Leah said.
“I wish I knew whose dream this was,” Isabella said.
“Why would that help?” Nora asked. “We're all stuck here.”
“Yes, but I think the person whose dream we're actually in would have the most control.”
“Well, we'd better hope it's not Maryann's or Leah's.”
“Nora, be nice,” she sighed.
“No, it's fine. I don't want this to be my dream,” Maryann said.
They all heard a loud groaning sound and something strong started pounding on one of the doors.
“Okay, if this was my house, that would just be the bathroom,” Nora said.
“Are there usually people groaning in your bathroom like that?” she asked.
“Well, Dad has issues with spicy food, but not like that.”
The door splintered and a decaying hand in a tattered sleeve punched through.
“Ewww, zombies!” Maryann said.
“Damn it, I think this is my dream,” Leah said, as they backed away.
The zombie started to tear through the door.
Isabella pulled a charm out of her pocket and stuck it on the door.
They could now see the zombie bellow and part of its jaw fell off.
“Gross! You were reading sci-fi again,” Maryann said.
“I like sci-fi!”
“But you were reading about a zombie apocalypse! How many books about zombie apocalypses are there?” Nora asked.
“You'd be surprised,” Leah answered.
“That isn't going to hold,” Isabella said. “Run!” They scrambled away as the zombie kicked through the door. It was followed by several more.
“You and zombies!” Nora said.
“Just keep running!”
They dashed down the stairs.
“My dreams aren't like this,” Leah said. “There's something I'm missing.”
They ran through a kitchen with the zombies in pursuit.
“Right! We need a way out!” she said as they paused for Isabella to put a charm on the door.
“Oh, brilliant observation!” Nora snapped.
“No, look, let me think. This is my dream. They don't end like this.”
The zombies rattled the door.
“It's just not going to hold,” Isabella said.
“We need doors!” Leah said.
“You are just full of helpful observations today,” Nora retorted.
“Just follow me,” she said, and led them away from the kitchen through what looked at first to be a closet door.
They looked down a hallway of six doors; three on each side of the hallway.
“Which way is out?” Maryann asked.
“I have no idea,” Nora answered, “I'm not sure whose house this is anymore.”
“Pick any door and we'll try to find the exit,” Isabella said.
They split up and all picked a door and ran inside. Then they all ran out of an entirely different door.
“What the hell?” Nora asked.
The zombies burst through the door behind them.
“Oh no!” Maryann squealed.
“No, this is right. This is going to be okay. Just stay with me,” Leah said.
“Are you crazy?” Nora demanded.
“I always have dreams like this,” she answered, and yanked open a door. They all ran inside, followed by four zombies. They all ran out of different doors, each followed by a zombie. They criss-crossed each other's paths and at one point Maryann found herself chasing her zombie until she reversed course. Finally they all came out at once and nearly crashed into each other.
“I think I can help,” said a dark-haired man in a beige suit with wide-legged pants. “I'm an exterminator.”
“This guy looks familiar to me,” Maryann said.
He patted a canister on his back as the zombies moved forward. “Would you believe I have enough Zom-B-Gone in this canister to wipe out a whole horde of zombies?”
“No, I don't believe that,” Nora said.
“Okay, would you believe I have enough to wipe out these guys?”
“I believe that,” Leah said. “So do it.”
He turned on the sprayer and the whole hallway filled with green-yellow gas.
The band started coughing and when the gas cleared, there were no more zombies and no more exterminator.
“I feel like I should have known who that was,” Maryann said. “Some spy show my parents liked...”
“Oh, come on,” Nora said impatiently. “That's got to be the exit,” she said, pointing at a new door that had appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Are all your dreams like that?” Isabella asked Leah.
“Well, kind of. Bad dreams usually involve being chased by monsters,” she answered. “Normal dreams usually have silly chases, although usually there's a talking dog or a sniggering cat.”
“You are so weird,” Nora said.
The door did not lead to an exit, but it lead to what appeared to be a school or university.
“I don't think we're in my dream anymore,” Leah said.
“This may be mine,” Nora said. “This kind of reminds me of my high school.”
“Wow, you went to some high school,” Maryann replied, looking at the long, clean hallway.
She shrugged. “It was considered one of the best prep schools in the country.”
“So I'm chased by zombies through silly doors; what happens in your dreams?” Leah asked.
A middle-aged woman in a suit exited one of the classroom doors. “What are you doing out here? The test has already started! Hurry up and take your seat!” she ordered.
The band was so stunned they did as she said.
The classroom was empty except for four desks which all had a piece of paper on them. They sat down at each and turned over the paper.
“What is this?” Leah said. “I can't read any of this!”
“No talking!” the teacher said.
“I haven't studied!” Maryann wailed.
“I said, no talking!” she snapped.
“I don't even know what subject this is. How am I going to pass?” Isabella murmured.
Nora was just staring at her paper as the others struggled to answer questions written in gibberish.
“I can't stress how important this is,” the teacher continued. “If you fail, you won't get into a good college and you'll never make anything of your life.”
“I never took physics in high school,” Maryann muttered. “Or calculus! I barely got through algebra.”
“Oh, no, I haven't read any Voltaire. He was French, right?” Leah said in a low voice.
Nora hadn't written anything down.
“Your entire future depends on this test. And time is up!” the teacher called.
“Wait, I'm not finished,” Isabella cried.
The teacher pulled their papers away from them and quickly graded them. “Oh, I'm so sorry but you all have failed. You'll just have to take the test again until you pass.”
“Oh no!” Isabella said. “I don't fail tests!”
The teacher passed out another piece of paper. “Next time study more and try harder.”
Nora abruptly stood up. “No.”
“Excuse me?” the teacher asked rudely.
“I'm not in school anymore. I don't have to study. I don't have to take tests. I don't have to care what you think of the decisions I make in my life.” She walked over to the other desks and tore up the tests the others were working on.
“Now we'll never pass,” Maryann wailed.
“Maryann, stop it!” Nora snapped. “This is just a dream. This isn't even your high school. Now, let's get the heck out of here.”
The others slowly stood up. “You're right,” Isabella said. “I'm not in high school anymore. I'm in a band, and I'm stuck in a dream and I don't want to be here anymore.”
“You sit down this instance!” the teacher ordered. “Or you'll never make anything of yourself!”
“I don't have to prove myself to you,” Nora said, and marched out of the room. The other three quickly followed.
They were out of the high school and in a land of grey mists.
“So that's one of your nightmares?” Leah asked.
Nora sighed. “Yeah. There you go. My greatest fear is disappointing everyone who expected better of me.”
“I think I'd rather be chased by zombies,” Leah said sympathetically.
“Everyone hold hands,” Isabella said sharply.
“Um, what?”
“This is my nightmare. Hold hands or you'll get lost.”
They all obediently linked hands.
“So what exactly is this place?” Nora asked.
“A bad place. Let's walk.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the door,” Isabella answered. “There's got to be a door. We just have to find it.”
“And we're holding hands why?” Leah asked.
“You'll see,” she said, and started to walk.
They could start to see pale shapes converging in the distance. The shapes seemed to be people, but as they approached, they could see animals and even ghostly buildings. The mists hid most of the landscape. The people didn't seem to mind them at all as they went about what appeared to be the business of living. Details of the people, buildings, and animals were vague. However, even if they couldn't identify the individual people, the people seemed to recognize them. They waved at the band and some even said hello to Isabella in echoing voices.
“What is this place?” Maryann whispered.
“My nightmare,” Isabella answered grimly.
“Hello, Isabella!” called one of the ghosts.
“Wait, that sounds kind of like me,” Nora said.
“We need you on drums today,” the ghost continued.
“Oh my God, that is me. I think it's me. What is this?”
“Just keep walking,” Isabella replied, ignoring the ghost.
They passed the ghostly Nora and the mists closed in behind them, blocking their view of her. It was clear if any one of them hung back a few steps, they would get hopelessly lost.
“Isabella, come home,” said another ghost; this one resembled an older woman.
“That's not your mother, is it?” Maryann asked.
“No, it's not. Mom's still alive. But I think this is the way out,” she said, and lead them into the house where the ghost was standing.
“Why do you leave us for so long?” the ghost asked.
Isabella steadfastly did not answer, but she led the band through the ghostly house. Everything inside was white, wispy, and translucent. Even in the house, the mists rapidly closed behind them. Isabella put a charm on the door to her room, and then opened it.
Beyond was darkness.
“Um, is this an improvement?” Leah asked.
“Yes. Come on,” Isabella answered, and pulled them all through.
Now they were in a dark space, but they could all see each other.
“I'm sorry, Isabella,” Maryann said. “I guessed being a medium was awful, but I didn't realize how much it messed up your life. I mean, that is what we were seeing? Everything was dead except you, even people who weren't dead yet?”
She nodded. “I live with one foot in the grave. It causes some problems. But now we've gone through everyone's dreams except yours, Maryann. So, what are we going to find here?”
The ground started shaking slightly.
“Um...”
“'What did you do, Ray?'” Leah