Chapter 75: Good News

A quick call to information located a Hilton Hotel just off the airport property. It was a damn good thing that my little trip through dreamspace to heal myself had come with dry cleaning or I probably would have been spending the night somewhere decidedly less comfortable; just one more item on my 'WTF' list of things to worry about later.

Looking back I probably should have called first. After all, it was late and I didn't have a reservation. Naturally, the only room they had available was a suite; would that be okay?

"Does it have a bathtub?"

"Oh, yes sir!" she assured me. "Actually, the room has a small spa."

"Perfect," I said.

The rate was only mildly extortionate and I didn't really care anyway. As long as there was enough hot water to fill the tub I was good to go. No luggage, of course. I should have planned better. Granted, I wasn't sure I was going to survive my encounter with Rene's dark side, but still, it would have been nice to have a change of clothes. For a brief moment I considered going to the apartment and picking something up but then I realized that Rod already knew I didn't have any luggage.

Note to self: Always take at least one bag. It doesn't matter what's in it, they'll just assume that whatever they didn't see originally came from the bag.

It was well past midnight before I settled back into the tub. The last step was calling Rod to let him know where I was. Then I closed my eyes, and went to spread the good news. I could feel Lizzy and Amber waiting for me. They were both in Lizzy's bed, but neither was sleeping. Lizzy was restless and Amber was feeling her anxiety and doing her best to be patient. Allison was in her glade, worried. I debated bringing them in all at once or one at a time and decided that one at a time would be best. I moved to the cabana and converted the little sunken pool in the floor to a hot tub for the night so I could continue my soak.

"Elizabeth," I called softly, and watched her lift her head from the pillow, smile, and sigh before relaxing into sleep. Amber's reaction was to smile and spoon closer up against her. I had no doubt that she would be ready to join us shortly.

Lizzy faded in across from me and hesitated just long enough to recognize the setting before she launched herself into my arms, kissing me repeatedly as tears started running down her cheeks. The only way to catch my breath was to hug her so close she couldn't reach my face.

"Hi," I said. "I missed you too."

"Oh, Jimmy," she whispered softly through the sobs. "I love you so much. Are you okay?"

I pulled her back and kissed her forehead and said, "That seems like an odd question coming from you. Can't you tell?"

"I hadn't really tried. It takes a lot to look closely at you. You look a little dim, if you know what I mean, like your energy is down, but not like it was with Shannon. This is more like you did something major and need to recharge. How's Jamie? She didn't come out to meet me or even share the kiss. Is she all right?"

Jamie decided to answer for herself and slid out into the space next to us. Lizzy immediately shifted the hug from me to her, pulling her in close and showering her neck and shoulder with kisses. I couldn't be sure, but for a second it looked like Jamie might actually be tearing up. Nah, must have been my imagination. Finally, Lizzy released her and pulled back.

"You look like hell," she said. "I've never seen your energy so low; are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Jamie replied, then she hugged my arm and added, "Thanks to big brother here. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I was too weak to get back and he was too busted up to reach me."

"Oh my God!" Lizzy exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Nothing serious," I said. "Just a little one-on-one death-match with the Sandman."

"You did what?" Allison's angry voice said as she faded in standing over the tub glaring down at us. "You went after the Sandman without even telling me!"

Oh yeah, she was pissed! As far as I could see, I had two choices, suck up or die. I turned so I was kneeling in my seat and reached for her hand.

"I'm sorry, Allison. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I knew you would be worried and then mom would freak out, and it had to be done one way or the other so ... mostly I just didn't want to see you cry. Please forgive me, but I couldn't think of anything I could say to you that wouldn't have sounded like goodbye, and I don't ever want to say goodbye to you."

She sighed, took my hand, and stepped down into the tub with us, then turned and hugged me.

"That was pretty good," she said. "I'm still mad at you, but that was pretty good. You're okay? It sounded like Jamie said you got your ass kicked."

"We did," I said. "If it hadn't been for Jamie we'd probably be dead right now."

"If it hadn't been for him we would be dead," Jamie countered.

"So how bad is it, what are you hiding?" Allison asked. "Are you at a hospital somewhere?"

"No, but we're going in the morning. Rebecca is picking you up and then I'm going to meet you both at the hospital. She's going to introduce us to Amy.

"We're going to Amy's hospital?"

"Not exactly. You see, the reason this all came up is that sometime early Monday morning the Sandman kidnapped Amy as bait to get Rebecca to come to him. Rod called me yesterday afternoon while I was in the attorney's office and..." I stopped and said. "Do you mind if I save that story for later? I'm going to have to tell it to Bob and Rebecca and that way you can all hear it at once. Right now, there's something I want to do. Jamie? Are you staying out for this?"

"No, I don't think so," she said, then slid over to Allison. "I don't think now is the best time to introduce me. Kiss me and we'll talk later, okay? He really did want to tell you."

"I know," Allison said, kissing her lightly, just a sisterly kiss on the lips. "I'm going to hold you to that later thing too."

"Mmmm! Can't wait!" Jamie said. The next kiss wasn't sisterly and then Jamie disappeared.

"So, what now?" Allison asked. "It must be important if you're putting everything else on hold and risking me beating you to death to get you to talk."

I just smiled my best Cheshire Cat grin and said, "Allison, this is going to be a day of surprises; one I think you will remember fondly for the rest of your life. Amber!"

Instantly she was kneeling on the floor next to the hot tub, perfectly poised, eyes downcast, her bearing straight and erect, demure but somehow radiating pride at being there.

"Yes my Master."

"Take off your collar."

Her head came up and she met my eyes questioningly as she reached and removed the collar.

"Does removing your collar change who you are?" I asked when she had it off.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "It changes my name, gives me different options depending on the situation, but it does not change who I am."

She looked at each of us — that alone said a lot; as Amber she would never look to another when asked a question by her Master. Lizzy and Allison were both doing their best to keep their emotions hidden and their faces blank even though both had figured out what I was doing.

I stood and stepped out of the pool, reaching for her hand as I did and pulling her to her feet. Behind me I heard Lizzy and Allison stand as well.

"Angela," I said, looking into her eyes. "I have some good news for you."

"What?" she asked in an uncertain voice.

"He's dead."

She stared at me, looking even more confused. "What? Who's dead? I don't..." Suddenly her eyes got wide and she said, "No, you don't ... you can't mean..." She looked at the girls who were both smiling and nodding and she froze. "I ... oh god..."

Her hands came up to her face and she collapsed to her knees, not in her slave pose but as a girl whose legs just couldn't support her. Lizzy and Allison went down next to her, hugging her and stroking her back and arms. Soon the relief turned to joy as she screamed, "Oh my God! Thank you, Jesus, he's DEAD! Yes!"

Suddenly she bounced to her feet and hugged me, almost knocking me down in the process. "I love you I love you I love you! Oh God, I love you." She pulled back and looked me in the eye.

"Jimmy?" she started then paused, biting her lip before continuing. "Jimmy? Can I see it? Please?"

"Are you sure you want to?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said, nodding emphatically. "Oh yeah, I want to ... Jimmy, I need to."

"Okay," I said. "I can't show you all of it because I didn't see the end, but trust me, he's dead."

I could see all of them wanting to ask the obvious question, so I held up my hand and said, "You'll understand when you see it."

I took her hand and turned us toward the open area, the room was replaced with a view of the warehouse and I ran the scene from just after him tying up Rebecca and opening the back door to the van, all the way through until Jamie took him over and I put him on the ground. That wasn't how he actually died, but I didn't think the method was as important as the fact, so I let the scene fade.

Apparently it conveyed the right message as Angela said, "Yes! Finally!" in an excited whisper.

"That was intense!" Allison said.

Lizzy wasn't saying anything, just nodding her head.

I returned us to the cabana. "Feel better?" I asked.

Angela just looked up at the ceiling, shook her head from side to side, and said, "You just don't know."

Reaching up, I put my hand on her cheek, stared into her eyes when she looked down at me, and said, "Yes, Angela, I do."

As she stared back into my face I could see fresh tears forming and she leaned into my hand, her lips pressed tight together and trembling for a moment before she said, "Yeah, you do," in a voice made husky by the sudden tightness in her chest.

Then she reached for me and I slid into her arms as she wept against my shoulder and whispered, "Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome," I answered, and then the girls descended on us for another group hug.

"Make love to me Jimmy," Angela whispered softly. "Please?"

"Any time, Angels -- anytime, anywhere; I will always be here for you. Girls, if you will excuse us for a while?"

"Can I come too?" Jamie asked.

"I think that's a wonderful idea. I think we should make this just as special as we possibly can."

"How special?" she asked. "Me kissing you from inside of her special?"

"No," I answered with a chuckle. "I think that's a special you need actual skin for to truly appreciate. We'll save that for our honeymoon; just to make sure she knows how much a part of our lives she really is. But you're welcome to come if you still want to... ?"

"Duh! Of course I want to, don't be stupid." She blew kisses to Allison and Easy and we took Angela off to the big bed in the Bellagio. Well, the dream version anyway. Jamie stopped off at the Hilton to move us from the hot tub to the bed so we didn't turn into a giant prune, and then joined us for a little quality time together. Okay, a lot of quality time, but dream time is very subjective and what seemed like hours actually didn't take up that much time, which was good because Lizzy and Allison still wanted explanations. These were explanations that neither Angela nor Amber, or anyone else for that matter, would ever have so, even though it was about time for Lizzy to get up, she stayed behind so we could talk. I sent Amber back with instructions to do as much as she could to make sure that Lizzy could be ready quickly when she returned.

Then it was time to face the girls for some hard questions and answers so I gathered us back in the cabana. Allison of course started in on me as soon as I got back.

"Okay," she began. "Let's start with the obvious. You were getting the shit beat out of you, for real, not in a dream. Now, I'm guessing Jamie did something at the end there that saved you but now you're here, looking like you never broke a sweat and..."

"Allison!" Lizzy interrupted. "Jeez girlfriend, slow down, we get the picture, he left stuff out. Okay, so let him explain."

Allison blushed and said softly, "Sorry."

I recreated the scene at the point where I was laying helpless on the floor watching Jamie die just out of reach. I let them hear the unspoken audio as well. The voice came from off screen and I saw Allison stiffen when she heard it. Then I called Walter and he rescued Jamie for me. I stopped everything at the point that I put the keys in Rebecca's hand.

"Holy ... Shit!" Allison said. "All this time it was her sending you notes?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Fuck! And now you can... ," she was shaking her head, still unable to get a grip on what she had just seen. "You healed yourself, in dreamspace ... and when you came back your physical body was healed. Jimmy, how is that possible?"

My first thought was that I had no idea but that I wasn't going to look the proverbial gift-horse in the mouth.

Lizzy answered before I had a chance, "She said it — Walter said something about it before too, but he didn't have it all. Walter said he walked in both worlds, but there's more to it than that. Apparently, he somehow exists in both worlds and what he does here affects, or can affect him, there as well. How, I don't know, but apparently it's true because he's here and let me tell you, he's not hiding anything that I can see. You're not are you?"

I shook my head and answered, "No, I promise, what you just saw is what really happened."

"Then there is a lot more to all this than we ever even suspected," she said. "You just moved, physically, into a world that we have all assumed was strictly a subconscious projection. It explains why your energy is down too. I'm guessing you used up quite a bit healing yourself. Not to mention whatever it takes to cross a dimensional barrier like that, twice. No, three times, you used it to go back to Amy too. You need to keep that in mind because it means that there is, or at least there may be, a limit. Who is the girl?"

"Oh, you are not even going to believe that part!" Allison exclaimed.

Lizzy just looked at her questioningly.

"That," Allison continued, "Is Antoinette Elizabeth Soleil-Montes, and a very long time ago I found out, the hard way, that you don't ever want to call her that. Trust me, don't go there, if you should ever find yourself in a room with her, call her Brandiy, just like it sounds but with an I-Y at the end. Don't ask, because I have no idea how I know the spelling or why she spells it that way, just trust me. And it may have to be a really big room because she normally looks like this."

Suddenly the wall disappeared and a very large silver and pink dragon was lying on the beach outside.

"You're kidding?" Lizzy said.

"No, seriously, when I was a little girl ... oh man," she looked at me for confirmation, "four, maybe five?" I just shrugged and she went on, "Anyway, when I was little, she held me captive one night in the tower of her castle and Jimmy came to rescue me. That's how I found out about the whole name thing. Anyway, we all ended up having tea together after Jimmy wrecked her flower garden storming the castle. Then we didn't see her again until last year, the night my parents almost died. Jimmy took Shannon and me to see her for a little R&R. All I can think is that she's like Walter; she started out as someone else's dream character, in this case mine, but then Jimmy made her real. Apparently very real, because I think she's been the one sending him those notes all this time. You know; the ones in the really neat handwriting, signed with just an 'E'? Jimmy?"

"Yeah, but I think it's even weirder than that, sis. I don't think I made her. I think she's real."

"What do you mean real?" Allison asked skeptically. "Jimmy, she can't be real, she's a dragon."

"So what?" I answered. "In this environment, any of us could be one if we wanted to."

"You mean you think she's like you?" Allison said. "That she can do all the same stuff you can?"

"Apparently more, or where were the notes coming from? They weren't guesses; they were answers to specific questions or problems. She knew what I was thinking about and that the answers she was sending were the right ones."

"Too weird," Allison said.

"Then that was her the night Shannon died," Lizzy said.

"What about the night Shannon died?" Allison asked.

"He never told you?" Lizzy replied, looking surprised. "Jimmy told me that the night Shannon died I helped him. He said he started out in the dream just walking across a big empty plain, and that he ended up in a castle, where he met someone, or thinks he did, only he couldn't remember who, and then he walked under a pool and into a maze, and he ended up in a hall of mirrors. Whoever it was he met had told him that he would need help to free Shannon, but that in order to know the right person he had to know his strengths, because only by knowing his strengths could he know what kind of help he needed, or something like that. Anyway, in the mirrors were people from his life, each representing something to him. He had to choose one of us, the right one of us, to help him. He ended up choosing me and from there we went into this dark place and then all hell broke loose. Apparently there was something in the darkness and it attacked him. Eventually, Jimmy did his dream thing and shed a little light on the whole thing, and he was about to kill the creature that had attacked him only now that I could see — which is weird too because normally I see people just fine in the dark. Anyway, now that I could see I realized that it wasn't some dark, evil beast he was fighting but something else, and stopped him from killing it by tackling him and knocking us both back into the hall of mirrors. Then I somehow let him use my gift — which was a big hint that it wasn't me because I didn't even know it was possible, let alone how to do it. Anyway, he used my gift to see the truth and he went back and found this, thing, that was keeping Shannon alive, saw that it wasn't a beast or monster but something more like a small child and convinced it to let her go, they cried together and then he kissed it and it grew into Jamie and, well, you know pretty much everything that happened after that. Jimmy, do you think it was really her you met in the castle?"

"Yes," I said. "I recognized the castle as soon as I saw it but it didn't really trigger any memories or anything, and when I got inside the layout was different."

"Maybe it wasn't really the same castle," Allison suggested. "Maybe she made it look just familiar enough that you would recognize and be comfortable with it, and the reason you didn't remember her was..."

"It wasn't her," I said, interrupting. "At least not physically. I remember now, there was a piece of parchment floating in the air, and a silver pen that wrote on it in response to my questions, even if I didn't ask them out loud. The handwriting was the same as on all the notes though." The pieces slid together in my head and suddenly four and three made seven. "You're right about the rest though; all this time 'E' was for Elizabeth, not Edward."

"She could have been standing there invisibly, writing the answers all along and you just didn't see her," Allison said.

"But how?" I asked. "I always see everyone. Even when one of you is invisible I still see you."

"True," she replied, "but in those cases it's you that made us invisible so maybe you were unconsciously making it possible to keep track of everyone."

"Or maybe," Lizzy said, "she didn't want you to see her. Jimmy, this girl, woman, dragon, whatever; seems to be able to do what you do. She also seems to know more about what you can do than even you do. Isn't it conceivable that she could hide from you if she wanted to?"

I thought about it for a second before answering.

"Yes," I said finally. "At the end, before she disappeared and I came back to free Rebecca and finish things here, I had been trying to ask more questions, but she said she couldn't answer. I threatened to force her and she all be laughed it off. She said that there was only one person who could overrule me here. I gathered by what she said that whoever that someone is, he or she is who sent her to help me and that they would protect her. So unless she was making that up to keep me from trying, then conceivably there is someone out there even more powerful than me, and if that someone didn't want me to see her, I wouldn't have."