Matthias held his hand out to Gaby, and she took it. He did not speak, or give any sign that he recognized her, except that his eyes remained steadily on hers, and he gripped her hand tightly for a moment before letting it go. Gaby kept looking at him as he shook hands with Nick and Julia, trying to think what it could mean that he was here. She had forgotten that dream, with everything that had happened since; now she wanted to ask him a dozen questions, but was held back by his silence. Did he have some reason for not wanting his uncle to know they’d met before?
Mr. Delacroix motioned them to a large rust-colored sofa, and they sat down. He sat in an armchair opposite, and Matthias stepped back to stand against the wall. Mr. Delacroix glanced over at him once, then apparently decided to ignore him.
“So,” he began, “you are the brother and sister of William Colven, who came here yesterday?”
“That’s right,” said Julia.
“And you,” he turned to Gaby, “are the friend he spoke of, the young lady who shares our qualities?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I wish I could say that I am pleased to meet you. Before yesterday, it had been many years since I met with any of our kind. That was by my choice. I would not have met with William either, but he caught me in a weak moment. Did he tell you how to get here?”
“In a roundabout way,” said Gaby. “He didn’t break his promise –no one else could have found it out.”
“You are someone,” he said. “But it does not matter, now.”
“Will never came back from here,” said Gaby. “Do you know what happened to him?”
Mr. Delacroix shook his head slowly. “He left this house safely. I have no knowledge of what happened next. But my home is watched. He made himself vulnerable by coming here. You have, too.”
By the wall Matthias shifted suddenly. Gaby, Nick, and Julia all looked at him, but he kept his eyes on his uncle. Mr. Delacroix went on as if he hadn’t noticed. “You should take care when you leave here. Shadows are not the only threats to you.”
“Who is, then?” Gaby asked. “Or what? We don’t know anything—if you talked to Will, you know that. We don’t even know who our enemies are.”
“Yes. You don’t even know who you are. Or what you can do.” His gaze flickered to the kitchen doorway, and a moment later a rust-colored cushion drifted casually through the doorway, over his shoulder, and onto Julia’s lap. Julia started back, holding her hands away from it and staring. Mr. Delacroix looked at it, as placidly as if he had just carried it by hand. “Matthias and I are rather careless about tidying up. His mother, my sister, would never have stood for it.” He looked sharply at Gaby. “I don’t suppose you could do that?”
“I wouldn’t even know how to try,” she said.
“But you have, on occasion, seen your thoughts affect your surroundings?”
“I suppose so. Usually when I’m angry or upset.”
“Yes. It is the same principle, only practiced and controlled. You and young William chose to practice other skills. He tells me you developed a full language of your own.”
“Well, yes. But we didn’t see that as practicing anything. It was just something to do. And a useful way of carrying messages without his brothers and sisters knowing.” She cast a little, half-apologetic grin at Nick and Julia.
“For me, growing up, it was useful to control objects. I lived alone with my mother and sister, and I could keep them safe before I was old enough to go to school. If men were coming to harass us, I gave them bad dreams. If they still came, I frightened them away with my tricks. I did not know anybody else like me, but I was glad for the gifts I was given.
“When I was eighteen I went to university, and there was a teacher there who was a dreamwalker too. He knew me at once, and began to teach me, things I did not know I could do. He told me that there are many of us, all over the world. We see and know things that our brothers and sisters do not. Tales of gods and monsters have more truth than any scholar would believe. Some of them are people like us, using their gifts for good or ill. Some are darker, stranger creatures, preying on humanity in secret. We who see these things work to protect the blind sleepers from them, and from those of our own kind who use their gifts to harm others.
“My teacher told me that there was once a great alliance of us, stretching all across the world and speaking to each other in dreams. We would come to each other’s aid when needed, and together we were powerful for many hundreds of years. We kept the dark things at bay, and humanity has grown and flourished. So it was, too, in the days of the ancient Greeks and Roman, and in other great ages of humanity: the dreamwalkers were strong in alliance, and they drove out the monsters, and the people thrived. What happened to that alliance we do not know; what happened to this alliance is still in living memory.
“Over half a century ago, there was a great and bitter war, and the evil that rose there was a purely human evil. The alliance of dreamwalkers had a rule against interfering in human affairs: human heroes could deal with human evils. But this evil was so great, killing so many and threatening the peace and justice of the whole world, that at last we decided we must throw in our lot with humanity, and fight alongside them. And so many fought, and so many died, that the alliance fell apart, and the few living dreamwalkers that remained retreated and hid, unable to stand alone against the strength of their enemies.
“My teacher was one of those who had fought, and survived, and hidden. He told me that our enemies, too, had suffered casualties in that war, but they were growing strong again, and more quickly than we were; some of our enemies do not die. He had been waiting these twenty years, waiting for more of us to be born and come of age. He and I worked together for many months, making plans to rebuild the alliance. We were going to travel together that summer, and find more of us. But that holiday, when I was a hundred miles away, my teacher was attacked and killed.
“I knew who had done it, no matter what the police report said. I wanted to seek revenge, but I knew that simply finding the ones who had done it and killing them was too small a goal. He had left all his money to me, and with it I took my mother and my sister, and began traveling, just as he and I had planned.
“I went first to the places where I knew there were others of us, and I found them, but it did us little good. Every time I made a contact we were attacked, hunted. It seemed that someone was watching us, trying to keep us isolated, alone. Of all the contacts I made, only two live to this day, and we do not speak to one another.
“After many years of traveling I came here, to America, and I settled my mother and sister here. My sister married and had a son, and moved here, away from me, knowing I was a danger to her family. I stayed away from them, and thought I was keeping them safe by doing so, but when Matthias was thirteen, they were attacked, and my mother and my sister were killed.
“I moved here to Atlanta, and with the money I had saved to keep traveling and help our efforts, I bought this house. We have lived here in peace ever since. The first disturbance was when William came into my dream, a few days ago.”
Mr. Delacroix paused, sat up straighter, and looked directly at Gaby. “I will tell you now what I told your friend. I am glad and sorry that you found me. My greatest wish, when I was a young man, was to create an alliance such as we had before the war. But I am old now, and I do not wish to fight. I have chosen my blood over my gifts; I wish only to care for my sister’s son, and someday his children. I am old, and I am tired. I have told you all I know; I have told you what it cost me to fight. I have nothing more to say to you, and I do not wish to see you after today.”
He stood up slowly and extended his hand to them. Julia cried, “But what about the enemies? What about getting revenge for your teacher? Don’t you care anymore?”
He looked at her heavily. “Yes, I care. When I have the energy, I care very much. But I care for other things more.”
Julia looked ready for another outburst, but Gaby laid a hand on her arm to quiet her. “It’s all right,” she said. “I understand. Thank you for what you’ve told us.” She shook his hand, and then he dropped it and turned away, retreating to the kitchen.
The three of them stood there uncertainly. “Is that it?” Julia asked.
Matthias stepped forward. “If he says that’s it, then that’s it. I’ll see you out.”
He followed them out the front door and closed it behind him. Nick and Julia started down the path, but Gaby said, “Wait,” and looked to Matthias. He met her eyes and nodded.
“I’ve had a lot of bad dreams lately. You helped me in one of them. I’ve heard everything Uncle James just told you, and I understand why my mother and grandmother died, but I don’t see why that should stop me from doing the right thing. So you should know that there’s something he didn’t tell you.”
He stepped closer to Gaby, and Nick and Julia drew in. He went on in a low, rushed voice. “Two days ago, the day before your friend came, a woman came to our house. She was wearing a veil; I never saw her face or heard her name, but she spoke with Uncle James for a long time. When she’d gone, he told me to pack a suitcase; we were going on vacation. I learned a long time ago not to ask questions when he gets that look on his face. We were going to leave for the airport at noon tomorrow, but your friend showed up before then. Uncle James didn’t want to let him in, but he insisted.
“The minute he came into the house, my head felt like someone was slicing it in half. I had come to the kitchen door to see who was there, and it just had me, right in the doorway. I couldn’t talk or cry out or anything, it was so bad; I just sat there on the floor of the kitchen, curled up and hoping I would die soon. If your friend and Uncle James noticed, they didn’t do anything. I couldn’t even hear what they were saying, all there was was the pain in my head. I’ve been sick and I’ve been hurt before, but I’ve never been through anything like that. I hope I never will again, either, but… anyway, as soon as your friend left, the pain was gone. Just gone, like it had never happened. Uncle James came over to me and helped me up, didn’t ask what was wrong or anything, just said that it was over now and he’d made sure it would never happen again. I think he was crying.
“I may not be like him or you, but I’m not stupid. I heard everything he told you today, and I’ve heard parts of it before, and I’m pretty sure I know what happened. I think that woman came and threatened him, and told him if he helped your friend she’d hurt me. So maybe he lied to your friend, or maybe he sent him off somewhere where they could get to him. My Uncle James is no coward, but you heard what he said: he’s decided his blood is more important than helping your people. But he never asked me.”
Gaby, Nick, and Julia exchanged glances. “Do we go back in and try to make him tell us?” Nick asked.
Gaby shook her head. “I don’t think he would. He’s made his choice.”
“He wouldn’t,” Matthias confirmed. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.”
“You didn’t have to tell us anything,” said Gaby. “Thank you.”
He gave a little shrug. “I couldn’t do anything else, and still respect myself.”
“What’s going to happen to you?” Julia asked.
“I guess we’ll find out. Maybe nothing. Maybe she got what she wanted, and she’ll leave us alone.”
“Oh!” cried Julia, turning to Gaby, “isn’t there something we can do?”
“Not your problem,” said Matthias. “Mine. You go find your friend.”
There was no trace of the despair that had dulled his eyes in the dream. Gaby nodded. “Thank you,” she said again, and began walking away.
Nick shook Matthias’s hand firmly, and followed Gaby; Julia hovered for a minute, then whispered, “I hope you’ll be all right,” before breaking away. Matthias stood on the front step until they got into the van, then he went back into the house and closed the door.
