Zac and the Dream Stealers (9 page)

With all the distractions Zac had almost forgotten Mrs. Huggins was collecting Tinn's unfinished magical compass.

She turned and smiled at the little shop assistant. “Kind sir, would you mind keeping an eye on these three while I'm gone?”

The elf saluted proudly. “Not at all, madam,” he said. “Anything for a customer of Fontooly's.”

“Thank you,” she said, kissing her children on the forehead. “I won't be long.” She gave Zac's arm a little squeeze, and disappeared into the crowd.

“Where's she got to?” Tom fidgeted.

“Keep still. She won't be much longer,” replied Tilly shortly. “You saw how busy it was out there . . .”

Zac stepped out from behind a heavy velvet curtain wearing his new clothes. He stood in front of them, shuffling uncomfortably. Tom let out a low wolf whistle. Zac hung his head.

“Sir looks magnificent,” said the elf, scurrying around making sure the clothes fit perfectly.

The cashier was back on the ground floor. After paying for his new outfit with some of the disgusting teeth in his money pouch, Zac heard Tom and Tilly arguing again.

“Well,” huffed Tom, “I say we go and find her! She's been gone for almost an hour!”

“We're staying right here like she said, Thomas!” hissed Tilly, trying to keep her voice down. “We don't even know where she went.
And
you know how busy it is outside. I'm the oldest and I say we stay here.”

“You're only the oldest by a couple of minutes!”

The elf looked agitated. “I'm sure she'll be back soon,” he kept repeating under his breath.

“What do you think, Zac?” asked Tom, desperately. “We should go, shouldn't we?”

But before he could answer, Julius appeared on the crowded shop floor. He was obviously upset, and when he finally spotted Zac and the others, he hurried toward them.

“Children!” he panted. “Thank the stars you're safe!”

There were dark rings around his magnified eyes. Worry was etched into his face. Something was very wrong.

“What's happened?” Zac asked.

Julius turned to Tom and Tilly. “It's your mother” he managed to say.

Tom stepped back. “Mum?” he said loudly. “What's happened to Mum?”

Tilly said nothing. The color had drained from her face.

“She's . . . she's been attacked,” stuttered Julius. “She's alive, but she's in a bad way.”

“Where is she?” demanded Tom.

“In Sweet Dreams Hospital. Your father is already there.”

Tom began to run through the shop, banging into people as he went. Zac, Tilly, and Julius chased after him.

“Oh, dear!” squeaked the elf, as he watched them rush out into the crowded city square. “Please do come again!”

Noelle sat up stiffly and shook the fuzziness from her brain. There was something weighing down on her. Then she looked and realized her legs were completely buried under a ton of rubbish. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and peeled a rotting fish head from her arm.

Rumpous Tinn was nowhere to be seen.

“Mr. Tinn? Hello?”

A mound of garbage shook beside her and Rumpous Tinn emerged, blinking sleepily. He looked at Noelle and his eyes shone.

“Noelle!” he said. “You're awake.”

“Awake, yeah, and wondering why I'm buried in a pile of rancid leftovers,” she said.

Tinn seemed to find this amusing. “I found this refuse pit just off the staircase. Those garbage chutes lead to the kitchen.” He pointed to three large holes in the wall. “Putting aside the possibility that the smell might kill us, I thought this would be as safe a place as any to get some rest. These days, my magic is not as strong as it used to be. I needed to recharge my batteries after fighting those guards, and you were out cold. How are you feeling?”

“I'm fine,” she said, ignoring the pain in her leg as she stood.

Images of the fight played in her mind. She'd taken on a mountain troll! What had she been thinking?

“Mr. Tinn,” she said, “can I ask you something? Something about how you treated those Dream Stealers back there?”

“Of course,” Tinn said with a smile.

“Well,” began Noelle, “why did you leave 'em alive? They ain't nothin' but monsters. They tortured you, and they'd have done you in without a second thought. Why didn't you just use your magic to finish 'em off?”

“A good question,” replied Tinn. “I uphold the rules of the Knights of Nod. As such, I have sworn to use magic only for good. I will certainly defend myself — but no
good
can ever come of taking a life, especially if there is another option. Those guards were already beaten. I ask you, Noelle, would we have been any nearer escape if I'd killed them?”

“No,” said Noelle. “I suppose we wouldn't.”

“Then there is your answer.”

The old man struggled to his feet. It was unbelievable, Noelle thought, that he'd managed to defeat not one, but five Dream Stealers, and a mountain troll.

Maybe he
was
special. Maybe the Knights of Nod did exist. She shook her head. No. It'd take more than a couple of clever spells to change her mind. Let the old man get her out of this place;
then
she'd believe.

“We should get moving,” said Tinn. “I think it is safe to assume that the Dream Stealers built this hideout relatively close to the Dream Plains so they'd have somewhere to stop for food and rest after a busy night's work. If that is the case, then we can expect more company soon.”

“Mr. Tinn?”

“Yes?”

“You really think we'll get out, don't you?”

“I do,” he said, and then he did something extra-ordinary. He reached into his bushy beard, rummaged around for a moment, and pulled out a small copper device that looked like a pocket watch. He flicked open the lid and whispered something. A moment later Tinn smiled at the gadget as though it were an old friend.

“What's that?” said Noelle.

“This is what's going to help us escape.”

“Is it gonna fly us out over the Dream Stealer lake?” she said.

Tinn chuckled. “No, my dear girl. It is going to lead us to another way out.”

“But there ain't another way. I told you.”

“You are quite sure?”

She nodded.

“What about the goblins?” he said.

“What about 'em?”

“Well, you told me they sneak in and steal from the Dream Stealers.”

“So?”

Tinn chuckled again. Noelle scowled. He was beginning to annoy her.

“So,” he said patiently, “if they have a way in, they also have a way
out
.”

Noelle's heart began to race. He was right!

“But even if that's true,” she said. “How are we gonna find it?”

Tinn held up the copper gadget. “This is a locator compass,” he said. “It is one of only two ever made. And it's something I'm rather proud of.”

“What does it do?”

“It helps you find things,” said Tinn. “It leads you to anything you wish to locate, anywhere.”

Noelle's eyes fixed on the shining object in the old man's hand. She felt a rush of excitement. “Anything? How?”

“Well, you, or rather I — it will only work for me as I made it — simply ask it,” said Tinn. “And the dial will point me in the right direction. Look, I'll show you.” He reached back into his beard and pulled out a tiny gold button. “Throw this over your head.”

“What?”

“Throw it away.”

Noelle took the button and tossed it into the surrounding garbage.

Tinn held out the locator compass so she could see the dial.

“Lead us to the golden button,” he said.

Immediately, the dial began to spin. After a few moments, it came to rest. Tinn climbed through the garbage, and Noelle followed. After they'd taken six or seven steps, the dial began to glow.

“Ah,” said Tinn, looking around the garbage at his feet. “It should be here somewhere . . . yes, here we go.”

He leaned over and plucked something from the debris, then held out his open hand. The button was nestled in his palm.

“Wow,” said Noelle, “it really works!”

“It does. Now, enough of this, we'd better get a move on.” Tinn cleared his throat, and spoke directly to the compass. “Show us the way to the goblins' secret exit.”

The dial whirred into life again. This time, when it came to rest, it was pointing to the garbage chutes.

Noelle stared at the holes in the wall. Green slime was dripping from them.

“It must be broken,” she said.

“It is operational, I assure you,” said Tinn.

“So we've got to go up there?” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“It makes sense,” said Tinn. “You may be invisible, but I can't just walk up the stairs.”

He offered her his hand.

But in the blink of an eye, Noelle had disappeared.

The old man chuckled and climbed up into one of the chutes. It smelt of rotten cheese. “Are you still with me, Noelle?”

“You're enjoying this, ain't you?” she replied from out of thin air.

“Oh, it isn't so bad,” he said.

“Yeah. Just what I was thinking,” said Noelle with a sniff, and they began to climb.

Zac had seen many weird and wonderful things since his arrival in Nocturne, but as he stood on the edge of the moat around Slumber Mountain, it occurred to him that Sweet Dreams hospital might just be the strangest yet.

When they'd headed toward the bridge, he'd assumed the hospital was on the other side of the water. It never crossed his mind that it might actually be
on
the water. As it turned out, Sweet Dreams Hospital was a huge boat — an ocean liner to be precise — no doubt plucked from the dream of a Wakeling. It was painted deep purple and gold, and its enormous funnel was a giant cigar puffing out thick white smoke.

Julius led the children across the gangway onto the ship. Gray water lapped against the hull far below. Once on board, they headed along a gleaming deck and through the entrance.

The interior of Sweet Dreams was as different from the hospitals of the Waking World as the exterior had been. Everything looked cheerful and colorful and warm. As they navigated through a maze of passageways — each step cushioned by a fluffy purple carpet — Zac was reminded of the luxurious hotels he'd seen in old movies. They passed waiting rooms filled with squishy sofas, bellhops carting luggage, and even a waiter carrying a mountainous ice-cream sundae.

The air smelt of cinnamon and fresh baking, and it made Zac think that if more hospitals in the Waking World were like this one, then perhaps people wouldn't be so afraid of them. Doctors and nurses hurried past in brightly colored uniforms, and as he passed some of the rooms, Zac couldn't help glancing inside. Patients here suffered from the strangest conditions. One man seemed to be growing fluorescent orange carrots from his nose, and there was a woman whose acid yellow hair was growing so rapidly it filled the entire room while nurses rushed around her with scissors, trying to keep it under control.

At last, they reached Mrs. Huggins's room. Tom looked to his sister for support, then opened the door.

Inside, the Knights were crowded around a four-poster bed, each looking more tired and drawn than the last. Granny hugged Zac so tightly he thought he might end up in the next room as a patient.

“Mum!” whispered Tom and Tilly.

They rushed to the bed where Mrs. Huggins lay quite still. Her face was cut deeply down one side and her eye was swollen purple.

Mr. Huggins stood up quickly and embraced his children. “You can't wake her, kids,” he said gently to Tom and Tilly. “She's been given a sleep serum. She won't come around for a few days.”

“She's going to be OK, isn't she, Dad?” pleaded Tilly. Her eyes were streaming.

“Come on,” said Granny to the others. “Let's go outside and leave them.”

Zac followed his grandmother out into the corridor, where Julius joined them. Cornelius stayed in the room with his family.

“Granny,” whispered Zac, “what happened?”

“She was attacked by Dream Stealers,” said Granny quietly.

“Will she be all right?”

“We won't know that until she wakes up.”

“But why Mrs. Huggins?”

“They were after the locator compass,” said Granny. “And they took it.”

“They tried to kill her,” said Julius. He had turned a nasty shade of green and was trembling terribly. “But she managed to stagger out into a busy street, and the attackers fled.”

“Wait a minute,” said Zac. “How did the Dream Stealers find out about the compass? Cornelius told us that nobody other than the Knights knew anything about it.” His eyes widened as he began to understand. There
was
a spy in the Order! What other explanation could there be?

“We're still trying to figure that out, Zac,” said Julius.

Zac felt sick. Julius! Julius had left breakfast in a suspicious rush that morning. He'd known about the compass. Had he rushed away to tell the Dream Stealers? Had Gideon been right about him? If so, then Mrs. Huggins was lying in a hospital bed because of what he'd done.

“What's wrong, lad?” asked Granny.

“Nothing,” said Zac, his voice shaking. “I can't believe what's happened, that's all. Where did Mrs. Huggins collect the compass from?”

“The Guardian's Guild,” said Julius. “It's a maze of vaults. The doors and corridors keep changing places. If a person makes a deposit, only he or she will be able to find it again. Anyone else will only get lost. That's why Holly had to be the one to collect the compass. She was the one who left it there for Tinn in the first place.”

“So the Dream Stealers knew where she was going and what she was doing?”

“That seems to be the long and short of it,” said Granny.

Just then the door to Mrs. Huggins's room opened and the others came out to join them.

Tom's and Tilly's eyes were red and puffy, and Tom's freckled cheeks were still glistening with tears.

“Dad said the doctors think she'll get better,” said Tilly quietly. “She might be a bit jumpy for a while, but hopefully it'll pass.”

It had been decided that Mr. Huggins was to remain at Sweet Dreams with his wife, while the children went back to The Forty Winks and stayed with Barnaby. The attack on Mrs. Huggins hadn't changed the Knights' minds; it had just made them more determined to find Tinn. They'd be setting out at midnight.

As they left the hospital, Zac told Tom and Tilly what he'd learnt about the attack on their mother.

“Julius!” spat Tom. “The troll-dung-licking git!”

“He's going with them on the mission tonight!” said Tilly. “He's the one who's arranged the airship. What if it's a trap? What if he's leading them into danger?”

“We should tell them,” said Tom. “We have to —”

“Nobody will believe us,” said Zac. “Anyway, there's no actual proof that he's done anything wrong.”

“Well, we have to do something!” said Tilly.

“Wait a minute,” said Tom. “Zac, last night you had a dream that we'd meet a monster and kill it with a silver dagger, and it came true, right?”

“And?” said Tilly.

“Well, what if Zac could go to sleep and dream about what's going to happen next?” He looked at Zac, his face full of hope.

Zac's shoulders slumped. “I'm sorry, I don't think that's how it works,” he said. “People can't choose what they dream about before they go to sleep. I didn't choose to have the dream with the werewolf, although I had been reading about them.”

“But you can try, can't you?” said Tilly, clasping her hands together.

“Perhaps if I think about Dream Stealers just before I go to sleep . . . ,” said Zac. “But don't expect it to work. Last time was just a coincidence.”

“You're a star!” said Tilly, and she hugged him tightly. Zac felt as though his face was on fire.

“Look,” he said, breaking free, “whether your crazy dream idea works or not, we still need another plan.”

“I'm going with them,” said Tom.

“What?”

“Tonight. When Grandad and the others leave, I'm going, too.”

“Tom,” said Tilly, “there's no way Grandad'll let you —”

“I don't care,” said Tom matter-of-factly. “I'll stow away. You saw what the Dream Stealers did to Mum, Tilly. You saw her lying there, helpless. I'm going. I'll be on that airship.”

“Grandad will go bonkers,” Tilly said, putting her head in her hands for a minute.

Then she looked up at him determinedly. “Well, if you're going, so am I.”

“OK,” said Tom. “I just know we can help, sis. It doesn't matter how old we are, or how small.”

“What did you say?” said Zac.

“What?” said Tom, looking puzzled.

“What did you just say?”

Tom gave his sister a funny look. “I — I said it doesn't matter how old or small we are.”

“That's it!” said Zac excitedly.

“That's what?” said Tilly, raising an eyebrow.

“I've figured out a way for us to go along without anyone noticing.”

“Whoa!” said Tom. “What do you mean by ‘us'?”

“You're not going without me,” answered Zac.

“Zac,” said Tilly quietly, “it'll be dangerous.”

Zac folded his arms. “We're in this together,” he said.

Finally, Tom took a deep breath. “OK, you're in. Let's hear the plan.”

Zac paused. “Remember those potions in Aris Tinn's laboratory? I think we could put them to use . . .”

That night, Zac lay awake, his head buzzing. He couldn't do it. He couldn't control what he dreamed about. It was impossible. And the more he thought about it, the less he felt he'd be able to sleep at all. He glanced over at Tom's bed. Tom was breathing deeply, but Zac knew he was only pretending, that he was lying awake, too, hoping Zac would be able to dream up something on Julius and the Dream Stealers. Zac began to panic at the thought of letting his friends down. He squeezed his eyes tightly, willing his brain to switch off.

Please, let me sleep
, he thought.
Even just for a few minutes
.

It was no use.

He watched the flickering night-light and wished he knew how to do magic like everyone else here.

Tom snorted. He was still pretending to sleep. But it reminded Zac that
he
was the only person in the entire world of Nocturne who could dream. That had to mean something. Perhaps he was special? He thought about his grandmother and how she had always believed in him. She had always been there. Whatever lay ahead, he promised himself, he would find a way to protect her. Comforted, he found his eyes were growing heavy and his chin was sinking onto his chest. He slept . . .

Zac found himself in a shabby corridor. A flash of light half blinded him, and something slammed into the wall above his head. A scream pierced the darkness. Crouching low, he ran the length of the passage, flinching as more flashes blazed through the gloom. He reached a doorway. The door had been ripped from its hinges. He rushed into the room and saw something or someone standing over a crumpled heap. The heap stirred, and Zac saw a familiar wrinkled hand reaching up for help.

Granny! She was in terrible danger.