Chapter 19
Bouncing not too far away, the nearest bubble seemed to beckon them, because it pulsed purple so brightly. Lawrence willed the staff to fly them over there in dancing movements, pleasing Lucy so much she purred in excitement.
Inside this small bubble sat an old, sleepy cottage off a quiet, leafy lane. In the front room a woman lay asleep on a couch. Her antique clock read 4 am. Nothing happened for a few puzzling minutes. Shadows darkened inside. Her clock flicked to 4:05 when a mysterious light appeared from within her, hovering silently over her still sleeping body. Her golden spirit flickered into life, whilst her earthly eyes blinked furiously.
Seconds later her ghostly form passed out the window, walked through the two watchers and ran across the garden hedge. Even the staff struggled to keep up as she powered down the track, leaving tiny trails in the night’s hot dust.
Whizzing over moonlit fields, scenery changed from black to white, to night to day, to the gorgeous colours of autumn in a mighty forest. Lucy realised they weren’t in England anymore, but an equally beautiful country far across the sea.
Soon the spirit stopped at an old log cabin perched high in forested hills. When an older spirit greeted her they both dashed into the back garden and started digging furiously. From this moment on animals watched in wonder, trees creaked in the wind, sun rose and fell, and still they dug. In spite of these great efforts, nothing was found in the ground, and the staff showed nothing hidden below the holes either.
Night fell once more and still the two restless spirits dug, refusing to give up hope. Such tireless energy and grim determination was admirable and tremendously inspiring.
Suddenly a flashing shape flitted quickly between trees behind. Lawrence recognised it first as a man holding his stomach tightly as if in great pain. Sweat poured down his face like a mountain stream, and his eyes bulged in complete terror. His pulsing shoulder popped and fizzled, showing tiny portions from others dreams. Mumbling useless prayers, he plunged through a wide ditch of foul water that appeared in front. A tall, pulsing triangle crested the mud behind him, thrashing about wildly.
Fighting his way out and coughing wildly, he spun round, running straight through the cabin walls, bringing it down with a crashing thud. Wood splintered into thousands of tiny, fizzing planks, sinking into the ground to a horrible squelching. The hunted man sunk too, right up to his waist, yet still ploughed through the thick, churning mess, desperate to escape an unseen enemy. Neither Lawrence nor Lucy could see anything following him now.
“Save me!” he screamed loudly, glancing behind fearfully. The two workers heard, though didn’t seem to see him, so continued to dig. This was a very bad sign - people’s dreams were merging together now. The dream world was breaking up faster and faster; it may not last another night!
Lucy willed the staff down instantly, keen to fight the poor man’s terrible nightmare. Meanwhile the forest flooded with a thick, rolling syrup of moving colour, leaving dry pockets of random scenes scattered here and there, like tiny dream islands floating aimlessly in a vast, rising sea.
By now the haunted dreamer had escaped the evil mud and shot up a mighty pine, climbing frantically to the very top. While jumping recklessly to the next tree his feet buckled as if struck from below, sending him plummeting to the ground. Such was his fear, in a flash he’d scrambled half way up the tree again.
Lenora’s staff flew them past him, up to the highest tops, flashing along the tree line. On its way back it stuttered and slowed, dropping tiny bits of energy so the man could jump safely across the tops of trees. Only a dozen leaps later he vanished into a weird, blurry tear in the darkness that swallowed him whole. Lucy could only hope he’d escaped the invisible pursuer.
Wasting no time the friends looked a little closer at the other puzzle below, finding the ground draining, stretching and expanding in nervous, jerky waves. Soon it seemed so far away the two working spirits looked like twinkling ants. Small sections of the crazy scene lit up brighter and in far more detail, shifting up and down crazily. Some came so close they blurred, before blowing up further like a powerful microscope.
Ah, Lawrence thought - from this height the solution seemed so much simpler. Because of the dream world’s corruption, the spirits couldn’t see a tiny glow growing above a spot off in the woods not too far away. Lucy guided the staff over there, shrinking the world back to normal and marking the area brightly. Instantly the grateful spirits sensed this change, rushing over in a wild charge. Their dream faded, leaving Lawrence and Lucy back at the woman’s peaceful home watching her sleep again. Lawrence picked up a long, thin piece of bronze that dropped from the gutter, which vanished at his touch. Two black slithers shot through the window into the sky as well. Beautiful smiles lit the lady’s face, shooting the staff out the bubble with a triumphant whoosh.
“Well that was very weird Lucy. I wonder what they were looking for?” Lucy just purred - it was a mystery to her too.
After fixing that last dream Lawrence and Lucy vowed to do everything possible to finish tonight, since many other bubbles crept closer each trip. Still, it was a little sad their weird adventure must end so soon. Yet what better way to thank kind Lenora for helping them travel through time by completing this important task properly?