Chapter 6

Safe Harbour

Lily gazed across the water, her eyes trying to find any sign of land. She was floating in the ocean, the technicolor clouds above her tumbling about like cotton candy in a dryer. She was unable to get enough lift out of the water to fly, and the dark depths below shifted as if alive. She was in the Dreamscape, of that she was certain.

“Lily...” It was Dana’s voice, but it sounded impossibly far away. She had been hearing Dana for a couple of days now. At first she had tried swimming toward the sound of her voice, hoping to escape the dream she was stuck in, but to no avail. The last thing she remembered was getting into a car with Dana, her mind a jumbled mess.

Looking inside of the dreams of the beast in the pit had been a terrible mistake. It had been like trying to swallow the ocean in one big gulp, an apt metaphor considering her current situation.

But oh, the things she had seen there! Terrible cities buoyed up by shadows that sat high in the clouds. Oceans of darkness filled with stars, strange ships made of the bones of long dead behemoths; it had been a visual cornucopia of madness itself.

And then they had found her. Her mind had crumbled when they came for her, and then she had awoken. Somehow, despite being far away, the thing had kept whispering to her even after they were disconnected, whispers that made it difficult to think.

Sitting in the car next to Dana, silence had finally come, and with it the sleep of the Damned. Quite literally, because Lily was fairly certain the Dreamscape she was in was her own.

Which should have been impossible. She could pop in and out of someone elses Dreamscape with no trouble, but having a Dreamscape meant having a soul capable of generating one, which she certainly did not. And while she was, in fact, in possession of many souls, those had been devoured and were now a part of her, incapable of dreaming.

And so she swam. Time had no meaning here, either, and she would occasionally hear Dana above the roar of the waves. Lily knew that they were heading to Oregon, but that was about it. Mike had property in Oregon, and Lily hoped that his land in Oregon was magically protected much like his home was.

Mike.

Now there was an enigma. It wasn’t just the fact that her new master was kind to her, or that a piece of her now lived inside of him. No, it was the fact that she wanted to hate him, but couldn’t come up with a good reason why.

She touched the necklace on her chest. When she had fought with Cyrus, he must have gotten it off of her. The fact that it was in here with her now meant that she was probably wearing it in the real world. She took a break from paddling to tread water and look at the clouds.

There was a splash behind her, and when she turned around, she was surprised to see a figure swimming her way. She waited for the figure to approach and was surprised to see that it was, in fact, Mike.

“Okay, Romeo, this is a surprise,” she said, but he got close enough to grab her by the wrist and then pulled. As he yanked on her body, she felt the whole world shift and split apart, revealing a small island with an old Victorian home on it. The house was only ten feet tall and looked like it would be better suited for a miniature golf course than habitation.

She swam with him and the two of them crawled onto the beach. Mike helped her stand, and she could only gaze at him in awe.

“We’re ... is this your dream?” she asked. “Like, you’re standing in front of me, but I don’t feel like that’s really you.”

“No idea. Been stuck here for a bit though. It’s kind of peaceful. Watched you swim around the island for a few hours so figured you might be stuck.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “If I’m being honest, I think it’s your dream.”

“It can’t be my dream. Demons don’t dream.”

“But you weren’t always a demon, were you?” Mike had pulled a child’s bucket and a shovel from behind his back and was now busy building something out of sand. “In fact, you used to have dreams, once upon a time.”

Lily grabbed him by the collar and turned him around. “How the fuck do you know that?”

“You’ve been dreaming about it.” He smacked her hand with his shovel and she dropped him. “I know everything that goes on in here, you know.”

“How?” She tried to grab him again, but he moved just out of reach to scoop up some sand in his bucket.

“I have a theory about it, actually.” He flipped the bucket upside down on the sand and then lifted it. The resulting cylinder was almost six feet tall, and the bucket shriveled up like a used balloon. “Wanna hear?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“It’s your dream. Well...” he looked around. “Kind of.” He pulled a squirt gun out of his pocket and sprayed down the sand with a continuous stream, making it nice and wet. “Humans dream. Demons don’t.”

“Ugh. If I’m going to start having dreams, I would rather they don’t become lectures.” She watched as he tossed the squirt gun, and then started manipulating the sand with his hands.

“Better than the nightmares you have been having.” He was moving quickly now, and she frowned. The figure he was making looked exactly like Aladdin’s princess, and she didn’t like where this was going. “You started as a human. A wish turned you into a demon. So, what would that look like?”

“A lot of screaming and being on fire.” She said it casually, but shivered inside. When she looked at Mike, it felt like it was really him, but not quite. Almost like an echo.

“Yes, well, I confess I don’t know what demons are made of. However, fire it is.” He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit it, then held it to the sand. The flames caught, and the princess was consumed. When the flames vanished, the sand had turned into black glass, and she saw a perfect likeness of herself standing there. “Your soul became the demon you are today.”

“Is this a shitty, low-budget remake of my rebirth?” She tried to force herself awake, but was stuck. Damn.

He sighed. “Maybe if someone hadn’t blown the entire budget on trying to mind-meld with Cthulhu’s asshole cousin, I could show you something better.”

Lily scowled. “Oh, that’s real clever.”

“Yes, it was. Now shut up.” He stepped aside and pointed to the dark figure. “You used to be someone else. Maybe she was even a nice person, who knows? If so, it certainly didn’t carry over.”

“Ass.”

“Anyway, I wish I had a clever metaphor for what happens when you eat souls, but I’m afraid I have no idea what that looks like.” He put his hands on his waist and regarded the figure before him. “I forgot where I was going with this.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” She dug her fingers into the sand and willed a stone to appear. The size of a softball, she lobbed the stone at the sand sculpture.

Instead of falling apart, it shattered like glass. Beneath was the sandy visage of the princess, looking out at both of them.

“Oh, I remember now!” Mike approached the figure and tapped the glassy exterior. “A foreign element has been introduced. Think of it as an extra line of code that interacts with the original operating system.”

“Oh, please, kill me.” She summoned a noose and pretended to hang herself, her feet dangling a foot above the sand.

“Hear me out.” He picked up a piece of glass and held it up to his face. It was her left eye and forehead, and it lined up perfectly on his face. “Why did you see yourself in Mike’s head?”

She let go of the noose and fell onto the sand. “So, you admit you’re not Mike?”

“I never said I was. At least, not all of him, but I need you to focus.” He pressed the glass into his face where it merged with his features. Part of his face was now her own. “You’re a succubus that eats souls, but a tiny piece of you is in him. What if something slid in to fill that gap?”

She narrowed her eyes, contemplating the entity that stood before her. It was Mike, but it also wasn’t. It was like a small copy of him, but incomplete.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. “You’re a piece of his soul?”

“I think so. A part of you lives in him, but a part of him now lives in you as well. And now that you have this tiny little piece of soul, you’ve started dreaming again.” He turned and looked at the house behind him. “It was weird, at first. I dreamt I was a princess, and that I was marrying Aladdin of all people. How weird and fucked up is that? I kept thinking I would wake up at home and in my bed, but no. You were part of that dream, so I thought you had trapped me here, but you seemed just as confused as I am. It seems that while the soul is technically mine, I get to have your dreams for you.”

“That’s unheard of. Impossible even.”

“Maybe for a true succubus. But you used to be a human, remember? Your soul was destroyed and made into something else, but maybe, deep down, it still remembers.” He smirked. “Besides, while you were busy drifting in and out of consciousness, I caught some weird details about going back in time? So don’t lecture me about impossible.”

“So how does this help me? Or you?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But for someone who has complete control over the dreams of others, why are you so disconnected in here, your own head?”

“It’s my dream, but you’re having it for me.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Romeo, what am I going to do with you?”

“I can think of one thing.” He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her in close. His breath was hot against her skin, and her eyes widened in surprise as he looked deep into her eyes.

“OW!” He had pinched her ass, and she shoved him away. Rubbing her butt, she glared at him. “What the fuck?”

“Thought maybe if I pinched you, you’d wake up.” He chuckled and held out his arm. “Guess it’s your turn. I’ve tried it on myself, but nothing happens.”

She grabbed a handful of his flesh and dug her nails in. She half expected his skin to tear, but it held strong beneath the sharp grasp of her fingernails and even stretched like putty.

He sighed. “Nope. I thought that might do it. Damn.” He placed his hands on his waist. “There’s got to be something we’re missing here.”

They circled the island for a couple of hours. It was much smaller than the one in Mike’s head, and when they went in the house, the furniture had been painted on the wall like a dollhouse. They gave up and went out onto the beach where they summoned up a pair of beach chairs and just watched the water for a while.

Every now and then, Lily got a flash of the real world, but all she saw was a forest trail. These glimpses were brief, but when she returned, sometimes hours had passed for Mike. They kept each other company on the shore and watched as the stars moved across the night sky.

Out in the water, dark shadows moved about, breaking free of the surface and keening to the night sky.

“What are those?” Mike had asked her after the first time.

“I have no fucking idea,” she replied, but recognized their predatory nature at once. She had seen many mysterious things in the Dreamscape, and it would seem that her fledgling soul-piece was being hunted. “Promise me you’ll stay out of the water.”

He agreed, and they waited until dawn. When the sun came up, Lily watched as the dark shapes vanished beneath the waves. She squinted into the sunrise, putting up her hands to provide shade.

The sounds of the ocean disappeared, and she found herself sitting on a beach chair on the cool, imperial marble tile of the palace. Startled, she fell out of her chair and reached for Mike. Her hand slid into his and she squeezed hard and then pulled him in.

They helped each other stand without breaking contact, and Lily found herself in Aladdin’s throne room. They were surrounded by servants and dignitaries who patiently awaited orders from the newly crowned king. The throne next to his was currently empty, and the scene was completely still.

“Did someone hit pause?” Mike asked, then moved toward one of the nearby nobles. He put his hand on the man’s face and gave it a push. “No reaction. Ideas?”

“Just one.” She walked up to the throne and climbed the steps to the other chair. “It’s another memory, but it’s missing something.”

“Oh.” Mike shivered. “Can’t be much worse than that one where I burned up, so let’s get started.” He jogged up to the empty throne and got ready to sit, but Lily stopped him.

“These are my memories, Romeo. You shouldn’t have to live with them.”

One side of his mouth curled up into a crooked grin, and he took her hand in his own.

“I’ll still be me when it’s over, don’t you worry.” He sat down in the throne and his visage immediately changed into Lily’s. This version of her was wearing the thick kimono style that was becoming popular in the East and her face had been painted elaborately. The princess had been reported murdered by a neighboring kingdom some decades back, so Aladdin had taken a consort to keep him company.

The dream flowed into motion, the men and women of the court now milling about, and Lily stood next to Mike and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You have failed me,” Aladdin muttered under his breath so that only she could hear it.

“I have,” Mike responded in Lily’s voice. “It should have been easy, but the leader of the Han is protected by powerful magic. I couldn’t even get close enough to him to see into his dreams.”

“I see.” Aladdin stroked the small beard he had grown. He was much older now, but Lily knew it was a deception. Aladdin himself had stopped aging mere years after he got the lamp. Immortality was an easy thing to wish for, but she often wondered what price he had paid. Truthfully, she wondered if that was when his humanity had fled him. After all, a man who could not die would never see another mortal as his peer. “But I suppose that makes sense. The Han dynasty has expanded at an unprecedented rate. If the emperor has magical help ... well, we both know that hastens the process.”

“Yes, my lord.” They sat through the proceedings as Aladdin gave advice to the farmers who were suffering drought, orders to the army who protected the western borders, and then passed a royal decree regarding taxes from the middle class. He had no need for such money, not with an infinite wealth of riches to pull from, but it was all about controlling the populace. He wanted his kingdom to be run a specific way, and his will was absolute.

Once the room had emptied, he dismissed his guards and servants. It was now just him, Lily, and Mike, and they sat in silence for a long time.

Aladdin pulled the lamp from beneath a silk scarf on his throne and gave it a rub. The djinn inside made a grand entrance from the dark smoke that gathered, and crossed his arms in anticipation.

“Master,” said the djinn, his eyes glittering like gemstones.

“I have need of your counsel,” said Aladdin, and he slid free of his throne. “I sent the succubus to kill the emperor and she failed because my target was protected. I wonder what you might know of this?”

The djinn grinned, showing all of his teeth. “This man would rule China. He will conquer many tribes, and his kingdom shall become part of a far greater legacy. He is surrounded by powerful warriors, both magical and divine. This destiny is one that shall reverberate through time.”

“Does he have a djinn as well?”

The djinn nodded. “He does. It is a greater djinn like myself, and capable of granting his heart’s desire once a day.”

“So why can’t I wish that he fails?” Aladdin summoned an image of his kingdom, which floated in the air before him. He had wished to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, and such a spell was but a mere thought to him. “In such a manner that cannot be traced to us, that is.”

The djinn thought about this for a minute before speaking. “You could wish that he fails, and I could set events in motion to make it so. A wish of that magnitude would surely be noticed by the djinn who accompanies him. It would be within his power to learn your identity, and I fear they would come here to attack you. Thus, your wish would likely be wasted, and we would be exposed.”

Aladdin scowled. “And I assume that I can’t wish him dead? Or wish the djinn destroyed?”

The djinn nodded. “A djinn can bend the universe to his will, but death cannot be commanded. I would be forced to dispatch him through ordinary means, and in this, I believe I would fail. He is far too well protected. As for destroying the djinn ... you could wish his vessel destroyed. This is death for our kind, and it would bring the wrath of all my kind down on you. One wish a day would not be enough to protect you, Master.”

“Could you empower her?” Aladdin gestured at Mike. “Maybe grant her the ability to get close enough? Teleport her into the man’s bedroom?”

“Again, I could do so, but I doubt she would survive. It is likely that they already know such an attempt was made.”

“I don’t care if she survives, I can make another.”

“She would not succeed either.” The djinn’s eyes flickered gold and blue. “This man’s destiny is divine. He will succeed no matter what we throw at him, this I assure you. Fighting one of my own kind would be difficult enough, but his warriors are fierce and possess magic of their own. He will come here and your kingdom will fall, and you will be forced to flee, but where others shall die of old age and become dust, you will have the chance to reclaim what is yours, if you are patient.”

“I am not.” Aladdin looked at Mike, then back at the djinn. “What would you have me do? Wait a hundred years in the shadows like a rat and then start over? And how do you know that this man hasn’t wished for immortality like myself.”

The djinn grinned. “You wished for immortality, and this I granted you, but it came at a cost. It’s one of the few wishes that requires one. This man was not willing to pay the price.”

“Interesting.” Aladdin grinned. “Then again, how many would?”

“Too many, I wager,” the djinn responded.

“I wonder,” said Mike in Lily’s voice. “Could their djinn be countered if my master could make more than one wish a day?”

The djinn ignored the question, but Aladdin took notice.

“What are you implying?” he asked.

“You are allowed to make one wish a day. It occurs to me that the djinn could grant you more than one wish if he chose. He implies that these rules have him bound, but what would he be capable of if he could grant more than one?”

The djinn scowled. “I cannot kill another, nor can I grant more wishes. A wish is a powerful thing, and even one a day threatens the fabric of reality. You know this already, cursed one.”

“Where are you going with this?” asked Aladdin.

Mike smirked and looked at Aladdin. “There will always be someone more powerful than you. Think about it. This emperor is aided by magical beings and a djinn of his own, so maybe you lay low until he passes through the world. But then what? What if destiny strikes again and someone else seeks to strip you of power in two hundred years? Or a thousand? The world is constantly changing, and though you are immensely powerful, can you hope to keep up with only a wish a day?”

Lily jumped out of the way as Aladdin opened the palm of his hand and blasted Mike with lightning, knocking him out of the throne. “I can do this with but a thought.”

“Yes, but...” Mike stood and laughed. “Could such power defeat an army? Are you even the most powerful sorcerer in the world anymore? Surely someone has surpassed you.”

“Nobody can surpass me,” he said, then opened his hand to summon lightning once again.

“Actually,” the djinn interjected. “You are no longer the most powerful sorcerer in the world.”

“What?” Aladdin whirled around on the djinn. “Explain!”

“The pursuit of power is never ending. You may wish to be the most powerful sorcerer today, but it may no longer be true tomorrow.”

“And what if I wished to be the most powerful sorcerer to ever exist?”

“A djinn cannot see through time. We can see what is to come, but never know the specifics. Such a wish would be wasted, for somebody could wish to surpass you and then it would be granted.”

“Damn.” He got ready to throw lightning again, but paused. “Succubus. You were going somewhere with your inquiries.”

Mike chuckled and stood, unharmed. “I remember the djinn telling you once upon a time that the many tribes of the djinn could have no children. They have all been created, yes?”

Aladdin looked at the djinn expectedly.

“This is true,” said the djinn. “My race was created in the beginning and we do not breed, nor are we born. As the years turn, all we can do is hope for our freedom or be destroyed.”

“Yet you have knowledge. You can read the fabric of reality, yes? So much knowledge and power. Yet if our master could surpass you, surely he could avoid the calamities of the future.”

The djinn looked shocked, and he eyed Aladdin with uncertainty. “I cannot simply give him a djinn’s knowledge. He is still human, and his body cannot contain such power. It would be like putting lightning in a bottle, and would destroy him.”

“And yet there are other djinn, right? What if somebody wished for him to lose his powers, or what if you were stolen away? What then? Not only could he be surpassed, but he could be reduced to nothing, turned back into an ordinary peasant.” Mike laughed. “Do you not see, Master, what I suggest? You should wish to become the most powerful djinn in the world. Such a thing should not be beyond his power, and then you could grant your own wishes, know snippets of the future, and become a being that cannot be stopped. No djinn could undo this wish, and you could rule as a god over all of China, if not the world!”

Aladdin was stunned, and he looked at the djinn. “Is such a thing possible?”

The djinn uncrossed his arms and looked at Aladdin. “I ... can grant such a wish, but I beg you not to make it. This is a big wish, and it will grab the attention of every kind of divine being who will seek to undo it. A djinn cannot be omnipotent in the face of an angry god, and they would come and smite you from existence.”

“But I would see them coming.” Aladdin grinned and picked up his lamp, his eyes on Mike. “And you would have that, yes? A master who can never be defeated?”

Mike nodded. “And I could remain by your side forever.”

“Slave, hear my wish and grant it.” Aladdin looked at the djinn, then back at Mike.

“Here it comes,” muttered Lily.

“I wish that the vessel of every djinn powerful enough to undo any of my wishes or defeat me with magic be destroyed immediately.”

“What?” cried Mike.

The djinn let out a shriek of rage as his body lit from within with magical power. The room filled with pressure as the lamp in Aladdin’s hands cracked and turned to dust.

The djinn exploded, creating a shockwave that blasted all the windows out of their frames. Broken glass crashed onto the floor as molten hot motes of light blazed their way across the marble as if trying to hide. Each one flickered out of existence, leaving behind a series of ominous fractals that had been scorched into the floor.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” asked Aladdin. “If I had become a djinn, I, too, would have been bound by their laws.” He summoned the lightning again and blasted Mike across the room.

Mike laid on the floor and Lily knelt down by his side. Even though he looked like her right now, he was still experiencing the agony that accompanied each magical blast. Aladdin turned his back on the two of them and stared at the palace door.

“Maybe I will be surpassed, but that’s okay. There are other means of achieving power, and I have the rest of time to do it. The djinn has made me soft, and you were right. It would only be a matter of time before someone used his power against me.” He looked at the door of the palace, then looked down at the ring on his hand that contained a minor djinn inside. “We leave tonight for a brand new world, you and I. The Han can have their dynasty, for when I return to reclaim my rightful place, they will be naught but dust in the ground. Tonight is the night I leave the good king Aladdin behind and aspire to something greater. As for you? Well, you did just cost me a servant, so you will be punished.” He laughed and summoned the lightning once again. Mike screamed and the dream crumbled into sand around them, leaving just him and Lily on the cold shores of the Dreamscape.

Dana pushed the wheelchair across the dusty parking lot of the trailhead until she was up onto the pavement underneath the map display. She grabbed one of the maps and tucked it into the back pocket of the wheelchair before heading onto the trail. A couple of hikers who saw her gave her funny looks, but she ignored them and soldiered forward.

Lily giggled, her gaze on something she couldn’t see. She had stopped randomly shapeshifting sometime this morning, which meant this part of the trip shouldn’t draw too much attention. However, the stolen car she had left behind already had, and she was a fair way into the forest when she looked over her shoulders and caught the faint glimpse of red and blue lights flashing in the parking lot.

The car they had taken from Butte hadn’t lasted long. It was running low on gas by the time she made Spokane, so she had pulled into the parking lot of a nicer hotel and scoured it for a car that had a full tank of gas. With Tick Tock’s help, she had broken into a nice rental and had loaded the disoriented succubus inside. As the miles ticked by, she was eventually able to get directions from Lily, though those moments were few and far between.

“Birds!” Lily shouted, then pointed at a nearby rock.

“Shhh.” Dana shoved the wheelchair up a steep hill and was grateful when Tick Tock extended arms to help her push. She probably could have carried the succubus over one shoulder, but she kept squirming about and kicking her legs, and this was the best idea she had.

The vegetation was thick, but she could smell the thickening presence of people in the parking lot. Her best bet was that the rental car had a GPS tracker inside, but it was too late to worry about things like that now. She closed her eyes and summoned a mental image of the map she had looked at and compared it to what Lily had told her during one of her fever dreams.

There was a trail on the map that dead-ended with a cute little loop on the end. Apparently there was an unmarked trail from there that could be followed. Lily had mentioned something about a road that they could drive on, but she had been unable to get clear directions from her past that. They were a little northwest of Bend, Oregon and headed for the border between Deschutes and Willamette National Forest. If what Lily had said was right, they could be on the edge of Mike’s property in just over half an hour.

The trail had split off in a couple of places already, and Dana was already pushing the wheelchair as fast as it would go along a trail that had been largely overtaken by vegetation. It was probably an old hunting trail, or maybe even a path to a secret place where the locals smoked dope, she had no way of knowing. However, the wheelchair kept catching and she groaned in frustration.

“I’ll go this way.” It was a man’s voice, and Dana looked over her shoulder and scowled. That’s what she got for stealing a rental. She felt the handles of the wheelchair shift in her hands and when she turned around, Tick Tock had transformed into a large dolly with Lily strapped to it. It made her think of Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs.

“Try to stay standing,” she told the succubus and pushed her faster now.

“Mike?” Lily tilted her head and followed a small bush as they passed it by. “Like, you’re standing in front of me, but I don’t feel like that’s really you.”

“It’s a bush, now shut up.” She wished she had a roll of duct tape or something to silence Lily. The succubus was now engaging in conversation with someone but was slipping from one language to another. Dana recognized Italian, then Japanese, and then a little French. At one point, Lily was spouting Latin, and Dana heard rustling a ways back and turned around, and spotting a couple of rangers pushing through the brush. They were too far away to be heard, but if Dana could see them, then they could see her.

“Hey!” one of them called, and she broke into a run. It was difficult keeping the dolly going straight, but Tick Tock helped as best as he could by using his arms to keep her steady.

“Oh!” Lily sprouted horns and her eyes went black.

“Oh, come the fuck on,” Dana swore, then swerved off the trail. “This would be so much easier if you would wake up, even for ten minutes.”

It reminded her of a time when one of the girls in her dorm had gotten so drunk that they had to take shifts making sure she was okay throughout the night. However, that girl had gotten better after puking after breakfast, whereas Lily’s post Elder-God hangover was going to keep fucking them both. She wondered if she would be able to fight off the people chasing her by herself? What if Lily transformed in front of them?

The path thinned out and then merged with a bigger trail, which made it easier for Dana to run. It was all uphill, but she wasn’t going to tire anytime soon, so she just plowed forward as quick as she could. When they reached the top of the hill, the dodollyllie twisted out of her hands and she hopped on. Tick Tock lowered an extra pair of wheels to the ground and she rode down the trail on the dolly like a make-shift Segway while Lily burst into a raucous rendition of “She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain”.