CHAPTER 24

"Lily?" He called into the house, walking through it carefully. So far, none of his encounters with the shadow had become violent, but the fact that it had even made an appearance was a bit of a surprise. "Lily, where are you?"

"Upstairs." He followed the sound of her voice and stepped into the upper hallway. Lily emerged from his bedroom and shrugged. She was now dressed in a purple dress with a green scarf. Her tights were a near match for the headband in her now entirely red hair.

"Nice touch," he told her.

"There's a mystery to solve." She dramatically revealed a large magnifying glass, then winked at him through it.

"Do you think he's still here?"

"I do." She lowered the magnifying glass and looked over her shoulder. "When I am in your head, I can sense your presence, easy peasy. But something definitely feels off right now. You ever have a scary dream where you know something is watching you but can't see it?"

He shuddered. "Who doesn't?"

"Well, sometimes, something else really is watching you. I've been in someone's head when that happens, you know. Feels like sinus pressure before a storm, that's the best way I can explain it. And right now, my nose is going nuts. The shadow is still here, and he's close." She looked down the hall, then held a finger to her lips and then pointed at the door to Beth's room.

Mike nodded, but Lily pointed to his mouth and rolled her finger in a circle, telling him to keep talking.

"What kind of things watch people when they dream?" Mike asked, his eyes on Beth's door.

"Truthfully? I don't really know. I've run across some beings that feed on dreams, or other demons, whatever. World's a big place, I've seen my share of interesting creatures. But there's a part of the Dreamscape that even I won't go to, and you shouldn't either, not if you can help it."

"Wait, what? You've never told me about this." He opened the door to Beth's room and looked inside. "If there's somewhere I shouldn't go, then why haven't you warned me?"

"I don't need to. If you ever encounter it, you'll know right away. A sense of fear comes over you, the same kind that you might wake up from screaming."

"Like night terrors?"

"One and the same. Science will tell you that they typically have nothing to do with our dreams, but we know better now, don't we?"

"These things cause night terrors?"

"Night terrors can be caused by many things, but they are the primary culprit. You wake up in a cold sweat, unable to move because they are still feeding on your psyche, and refuse to let go. You ever hear of bathophobia?"

"Fear of... baths?" He grimaced, knowing it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fear of depths. Imagine swimming in the ocean and then going out over a dark patch, watching the ground fall away into the pitch black of the depths below."

Mike shivered.

"Exactly. Typically these things lurk in the dark and deep parts of your dreams. People who encounter them rarely remember the dream itself, but bring their fears back to the waking world. It's also why some people are afraid of deep water, and even holes. That's where I typically find them inside of dreams. Bet if we swam far enough into the ocean, we could sink to the bottom and come across one. If the terror of the encounter doesn't wake you right away, they can take a piece of your mind with you when they go." Lily crossed Beth's room and opened the closet. "Nothing here."

"Sounds a lot like the Old Ones." He and Ratu had destroyed a piece of an Old One. The task had been difficult and had nearly cost him his life.

"Perhaps. There's a theory that the Old Ones aren't gone, just asleep. Perhaps these encounters are simply their dreams bleeding over into our world. Either way, I've been known to bail on a dream if I encounter anything I don't recognize." Lily got on her hands and knees to look under the bed, revealing that she wore a pair of crotchless purple panties.

Mike laughed. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"Hmm?" Lily looked over her shoulder and wiggled her ass back and forth for him. "Oh, is there a problem? Did you spot a clue?"

He couldn't help it. He walked up behind her and gave her ass a playful slap. "Maybe. But we're looking for the shadow, remember?"

"Oh, I know." She stood up and grabbed him by the front of the shirt. "But we both know it's just going to be old man Jenkins or some shit, using light and shadows to scare the locals, right?"

"Lily, I—" She kissed him hard, then slid her hand down the front of his pants, stroking his shaft through the fabric. When she broke the kiss, she licked the side of his neck, then bit down on the lobe of his ear.

"It's watching us," she whispered quickly, then slid a hand beneath his shirt, dragging her long nails across his chest. "C'mon, Romeo, we never seem to have any time anymore. All we do is drive around in that stuffy old van all day, sniffing dog farts."

"There's no time for this right now." Mike winked at her, playing along. "We need to focus and solve the mystery of the missing shadow. And I think I spotted a clue."

"Where?" Lily turned dramatically, her hair flaring out like her skirt.

"Under the bed!" He pointed where she had been looking, and she immediately got on all fours, her skirt sliding up to reveal her ass.

"I don't see anything." She pulled out her magnifying glass.

"You need to look deeper." He scanned the room but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Lily must have sensed the shadow watching, but from where?

"Ah, nuts." Lily's had squeezed her upper half beneath the bed, her full bottom now folded over perfectly to give it a wishbone shape. "I think I'm stuck."

"Um... okay." Every time Lily jerked her hips, her skirt rode up higher, and he was having a tough time looking anywhere else. "Do you... need a hand?"

"Yes, please. Just grab me by the hips and pull." She wiggled her butt back and forth, which sealed the deal. He was now rock hard, and when he got behind her to pull, his cock pressed up against the puffy lips of her labia through his pants.