Dream Killer: Book One in the Nadia Chronicles

Nadia had been wondering around Sergei’s maze-like castle for over a day and had eluded capture more than a half a dozen times. Finding the first secret passage way behind the tapestry made Nadia wonder how many more the castle had and if she could use them to her advantage. Since finding the first, she had found five more usable passages. Why would a dream castle need or have secret passage ways that Sergei seemed unaware of, Nadia thought.

With each passing minute, Nadia was growing more impatient and paranoid. She was desperate to get to the still imprisoned Prestarians. Nadia had not seen a guard or servant for over two hours when she finally stumbled upon a dungeon. She was almost positive it was not the original dungeon and it wasn’t guarded. She watched the entrance for twenty minutes or so before her need to act got the best of her. She tip-toed down the corridor, remaining in the shadows as she approached the dungeon’s entrance. Nadia nearly flew across the hallway afraid of being caught so close to her goal.

The prison hallway was dark and had a damp musty smell that was over powered by the smell of cleaning supplies. The first cells on both sides of the hall were empty and perfectly sterilized. Nadia had no time to worry about Serg’s house cleaning habits even though cell after cell was as clean as an operating room and completely empty. She stopped half way down the hallway when she heard a voice coming from furthest, darkest corner of the hallway.

“Is someone there?” the voice whispered in a harsh, little used voice. “Hello?” Nadia had melted into the darkness, but she felt compelled to let the suffering person know she was one of the good guys.

“Yes,” she whispered using as little volume as possible. “I’m here to help if I can, but please remain very quiet.”

“Who are you?” the voice questioned when Nadia was close enough to it to be seen.

“My name is Nadia,” she whispered. “And I want to get you out. What is your name?”

“Nadia?” the voice said with little understanding. “You are the one he has been screaming about all day?”

“Yes,” Nadia squinted into the darkness trying to see the owner of the voice. “Serg is really pissed I got away a couple of times. But we need to focus on getting you out. Is there a key to this door?” Nadia was searching the large, iron door for a key hole, a handle, a latch, anything that she could use to open the door, but as far as she could tell the door blended seamlessly with the wall.

“You are from Earth.” It was not a question.

“How could you know that?” Nadia asked, taken aback.

“I was a guardian once,” the voice said full of sadness. “But that is not important. You must not be here. You need to leave now. You are not ready for this place.”

“I have been here before, so how do you know I am not ready?” Nadia questioned stubbornly before adding, “Can I see you?” Nadia waited, but received no answer. “Do you know where the others are being held?”

“What others?” The voice said. Nadia could finally tell the voice was male.

“A few days ago, or so, I was captured on one of my trips to the dream world. Well, trips aren’t the best way to describe these dream walks or whatever,” Nadia began, confusing herself. “It doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that I found a prison with a lot of people being held captive. They are called the Prestarians. I was able to let out maybe thirty of them before Sergei conveniently reminded me of my injuries. He basically put me down for the count using only his words. How does he do that?”

“I have seen no other people in all the time I have been held,” the prisoner said in a hurried whisper. “And I have been here a long time. More importantly, do not say his name,” the man hissed from the dark. “He will hear you.”

“And find you.”

Nadia spun on the spot. Walking toward her from the end of the hall was the man she had been hiding from for over twenty-four hours. He was not alone. He had several men with him, one of which looked to be a doctor and another was carrying cleaning supplies.

“My friends have come to fix you Nadia,” Sergei said showing more teeth than was necessary as he grinned stupidly. “You will be comfortable in one of these cells for a long time.”

“Leave,” the voice whispered. “Get out of here now.”

“I can’t.” Nadia whispered back. “I need to free the others. I need to free you.”

“Nadia,” Sergei taunted. “There is nowhere for you to disappear to now. Come quietly and I will try to make this as pain free as I can.”

Nadia frantically searched the area, but knew Sergei was right. Where was she going to run to now? She thought about trying to pop into another part of the castle. She had done it before. She could do it again, right?

“Nadia, you can’t leave,” Sergei whispered in a cruel voice. “You are too tired, too weak to remain on your feet.

You don’t want to leave.” Nadia slipped down the door that held the man she was trying to free and landed softly on the floor. Her eyes fluttered.

“Nadia,” the voice was much closer. She turned and saw he was a man in his early thirties. He was tall, but his shoulders were hunched as if he held the weight of the world.

“You must leave now.”

“I can’t,” Nadia mouthed to him. Sergei laughed stopping twenty feet from Nadia. He snapped his fingers and the doctor began approaching Nadia slowly.

“NO!” The man screamed within his cell. The doctor jumped back as if he were punched in the face. “Get up Nadia. You don’t have to listen to Sergei. He can only control those that believe in the words he is saying. Listen to me and believe in me.”

“Oh, Godric, why are you always meddling in what you shouldn’t?” Sergei smirked trying to hide his irritation. Hearing Sergei’s irritation made Nadia want to throw a snarky comment back at him. That feeling empowered Nadia and she started to believe Godric’s words.

“Oh, Serg,” Nadia began. “You’ve been looking for me for over a day and yet you send your henchmen to lock me up. You don’t even have the guts to come over here yourself. Hey, Godric, I think he is afraid. What do you think?”

Sergei was trembling with barely controlled rage. “The first thing I am going to do to you is cut out your tongue,” Sergei said through clenched teeth.

“Oh, that is sweet,” Nadia said feigning happiness. She slowly rose to her feet. She leaned back against Godric’s cage for support

as well as to taunt Sergei, but Godric reached out and touched her shoulder.

“Do not come back here until you have learned everything you can from your guardian,” Godric whispered into her ear. “Then, and only then, will you be able to save those trapped here. Please go, but hurry back. We will be waiting.”

“No wait. Blast!” Nadia said, as she sat up in her tiny room. Dimitri was instantly by her side. “Dimitri, are you okay?” she asked. She had to give her head a little shake to get rid of the disorientation that came with being unwillingly flung from the dream realm.

“Yes. It was nothing. What about you?” Dimitri asked, relaxing a little, because she had no obvious marks or pain.

“Where is Kieran?” Nadia asked looking around.

“Why?” Dimitri was taken aback by her response.

“Because I’m pretty sure you’re lying, but he would know for sure,” she said with a grin as she looked up at Dimitri. “Now, what really happened to you?”

Dimitri sighed, sitting next to her. “I was hit hard on the back of my head. But it could not have been a fist. It had to have been a club of sorts; a really heavy, painful club. When I heard the puppet master’s voice, I was fighting to stay conscious. I woke here only a few hours ago. Upon waking I was told we had entered the dream realm together. Then after only a few minutes I was ejected, but you remained. Astrid told me I had been asleep for more than a day and you have been alone in the dream realm for just as long. You ejected me, didn’t you?”

“Yep,” Nadia simply said. “I knew you were in trouble and felt you would be safer on the outside.”

“But why didn’t you follow?” Dimitri asked taking one of her hands. “Were you captured? Are you sure you’re okay?” he scrutinized her up and down.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, a little embarrassed. “I was not captured. I just didn’t want to leave so soon.”

“What?” he asked becoming angry. “Why? Do you know how dangerous that is?”

“Dimitri, please calm down,” Nadia said, kindly placing her hand on his forearm. “I want, no I need to save the Prestarians, but I didn’t find them and was abruptly ejected myself. We need to go back there and soon.”

“And you will, I have no doubt,” Astrid said, walking in. “But not right now. Please eat. Then feel free to wash up while I talk with Dimitri.” Dimitri shot Nadia a look that clearly said, ‘we are not done talking about this’, before leaving the room with Astrid.

Nadia’s ankle felt great and her head seemed to be all right as well. A big stretch told her that there must still be some deep bruising around her ribs. All in all, she felt like she could hold her own in a fight. She found fresh water on the work station and washed her face and ran her wet hands through her tangled hair. Nadia looked through her bag to find her brush and started to work on straightening her messy curls before she brushed her filmy teeth.

Nadia was restless from all the sleeping she had done. She was also getting cabin fever from only seeing the inside of her little room. She wanted to walk around, see the village and meet more of Astrid’s people. Nadia had been anxious to meet the Prestarian people, hungry for information and full of curiosity. She crossed to the door to leave, but noticed a thin layer of herbs and what she guessed was salt spread in front of her door. Nadia stooped to tie her shoes and to smell the herbs. Nothing stood out to her, so she let it fall back to the ground without a second thought. she opened the door, stepped over the line, and fell back into her room. She looked out the door, not understanding what she had just seen and heard. There had to have been twenty or more people all talking to her at once. They were all gathered just outside the door. But as Nadia sat on the floor within her room she saw nothing but an empty hallway.

“No way,” she whispered to herself. “Salt line at the door, no way, no way,” she finished lamely. Dimitri found her ten minutes later sitting on the floor staring out the open door.

“Nadia?” He ran to her. “Are you okay?

“Ghosts, Dimitri?” she said more shocked than alarmed. “I can see ghosts?”