She doesn’t look as shocked as I expected.
“That’s cool,” is all she says. “Are you hearing me do the same?”
Pom giggles. “You’re still talking out loud.”
“I was trying something,” Rowan says defensively. “How about you tell me what to do?”
“Try to have a dream where you can talk to me telepathically,” I say. “I’ll help you.”
She strains until her face turns red, and Pom helpfully informs her that she looks like someone dreaming about pooping rather than speaking mind-to-mind.
How about now? Rowan asks mentally.
There you go, I reply in kind. In dreams, the impossible becomes possible.
I was the first to get this to work, Pom chimes in.
You were. I tickle his paw. But you’re going to stay silent the whole time we’re in Exozar’s dreams, or you have to stay behind. Okay?
Deal. Pom hops over onto my other shoulder.
I grab Rowan’s hand, make all of us invisible, and touch Exozar’s forehead.
A moment later, we’re in the necromancer’s dream.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Eek. Exozar is having a wet dream.
This isn’t scary, but I’m out, Pom informs me, and I can no longer feel his paws on my shoulder.
Well, this is awkward, Rowan announces.
No kidding. The woman bent over in front of Exozar is none other than Rowan herself.
She must notice that bit only now because she adds, This never actually happened, but it does put a new spin on the phrase ‘in your dreams.’
Yep. I can confirm this isn’t a memory.
Since Exozar’s attention is on the naked Rowan, I change the environment from that of a bedroom to a shady warehouse.
Maybe he’s dreaming this because you were the last person he saw before falling asleep? I ask.
I think he’s fancied me for a while. That’s why he opened the door so readily for us. And it’s partly why Keyser was so jealous when he walked in on us on that fateful day. He must’ve passed Exozar on the street and guessed where he was coming from.
I ignore what she says next because Exozar grunts in pleasure, pulls away from his lover, and starts to dress.
When he’s looking away from the naked and blissed-out dream Rowan, I swap her for a broken wooden mannequin.
I can’t believe he hasn’t noticed that switch, the real Rowan complains. Maybe he doesn’t like me as much as I thought.
This is just the way dreams work, I reassure her.
I wait a few beats, but Exozar’s subconscious doesn’t fill in any details. If he had shady conversations with Icelus, it didn’t happen in a place like this.
Then something occurs to me. Unlike with Rowan, I actually know one place where Exozar would’ve had to meet Icelus at least once. Smiling in anticipation, I change the surroundings to the Necronia hub—canyon, zombies, and all.
Now for the tricky part.
To really jar Exozar’s subconscious, I make a figure step out of the gate we came from. I don’t give this mystery person any distinct facial features or anything—the hope is that Exozar will.
Eureka. The newcomer suddenly develops a pale thin face, a pointy chin, and pitch-black eyes.
Another person follows him out of the gate, then a bunch more.
All are dressed in black leather outfits, and all look relieved when Exozar approaches them.
“Percival,” Exozar says to the pointy-chinned one and follows it with a Necronian phrase.
Percival must be that guy’s name, Rowan translates. Exozar is happy to see him ‘again.’
Percival takes a backpack off his shoulders and rummages inside. Taking out a gallon-sized flask, he hands it to Exozar with a few words in Necronian.
Percival’s accent is barely noticeable, Rowan comments. He says the flask contains vampire blood, and that Percival has to drink a glass per day to keep the virus at bay.
Huh. Could this Icelus cell be vampires? I ask, eyeing the flask warily.
I doubt a vampire would show up on this world, especially if they’re trying to stay incognito, Rowan replies mentally. Any necromancer worth the title would feel them from a mile away. Not to mention how much vampires fear our ability to take them over and make them do our bidding. There’s a reason they made sure we’re unwelcome on worlds like Earth.
Exozar takes the flask and says something.
He’s asking if vampire blood is how the rest of Percival’s team will keep themselves alive while they infect people, Rowan translates.
Carrying on in Necronian, Percival continues to rummage in his backpack.
He says his team are all pre-vamps, Rowan says. Their immune systems can keep this virus at bay indefinitely, which is why they’ve been chosen to spread it.
Pre-vamps. I wasn’t that far off. I examine the pale faces of the arrivals. I take it your kind can’t detect or take control of one of them.
Nope, Rowan replies. Only once they turn.
Percival hands Exozar something that looks like a cross between a syringe and a throwing dart. After the necromancer examines the device, Percival pulls out a heap more of them and they have a brief conversation.