Amanda knew instantly this time what had happened and she thought back to Coal’s offer of dreamskeep with some regret. She didn’t panic too much though. Cat was there this time after all, she would wake them. Instead she felt a glimmer of hope. This was the same place Sirius had fallen asleep. Maybe she could find him?

She set her whole mind on him with ferocious determination. On the real him, not a dream him. The goal consumed her every thought without distraction or doubt. This was something she had to do. There was no other path.

She found herself on a country road. Long grass grew up between old well-worn tyre tracks. They looked like they’d been used consistently for some time and then abandoned to the wild, and yet the grass had not reclaimed them. Overhead large acorn trees shaded the track and shifted in the wind. Pretty wildflowers, yellow and white waved their head at her.

She paid no mind to any of it. She started her long walk down the tracks. Tall grass brushed by her knees and stroked her calves. She fingered her wedding ring. Her thoughts never wavered from her goal.

The road went on for sometime, and while everything in the scene felt like it was moving, it never seemed to change. Amanda didn’t pause. She knew it would come to an end eventually, and at that end would be Sirius. She believed it with all her heart because she had to.

But there must have been some doubt in her mind somewhere. Doubt that she’d hidden, pushed down, drowned and out of sight, because when she rounded a bend in the road and actually saw him standing there her heart skipped a beat and she paused in disbelief.

But was it really him? How could she tell?

As she walked closer, the country road faded into the darkness, disappeared into non-existence.

He stood in the midst of nothing, surrounded by people. By Kass, by Cat, and... by herself?

Amanda hesitated. Well that was certainly not the real her. The imaginary her summoned a fireball and took a step toward Sirius.

Amanda’s breath caught in her throat. She summoned her own fireball. Dare she use it? She had done so in dreams before but she knew it was risky. There was a chance the fire didn’t stay in the dream world. She snuffed out her own hand and instead used some combination of magic and imagination. With Cat’s help she had some small experience with summoning fire in the dream world. It required a mix of imagining fire and summoning a real fire. There was a crossover in the thought process there somewhere but it was a delicate balance to get right and this was as much Sirius’s dream as it was hers. But dreamweavers would suck thoughts from a dreamers head, grant them their wishes sometimes. They were not evil creatures and they liked variety.

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Amanda imagined this other Amanda disappearing, vanishing into the air eaten by a translucent fire. Not real but close, an imitation, just like the fake Amanda herself.

It worked and as Amanda approached the other two woman disappeared as well. Only Sirius remained.

He looked around confused and then his eyes landed on Amanda. There was a flash of fear, then a hint of confusion.

She stopped several feet from him. “Sirius?” she asked. She still wasn’t sure herself. Not until she saw his eyes light up, his shoulders sag from relief. And yet, he did not run to her immediately.

“Is it you? Is it really you?”

She shrugged and gave him a half smile.

He was next to her in an instant, wrapping her in a hug. “I thought I’d lost you.”

She allowed herself a moment. One precious moment to feel the love in those arms and to give it back. The she pulled back and looked up at his green eyes. “Sirius, I don’t know where you are, where you and Kass have gone. Cat pulled me out but I had to leave and then when we got back you’d both been moved.”

They still held each other close. Sirius did not plan on letting go now that he’d found her.He looked back down at her. Saw the fear and the worry in her wide brown eyes, the tremble on her lips, and he wanted to kiss her and make it all better. Thinking back on how guilty he’d felt for losing her before he replied, “It’s fine, we’re here now. Where’s Cat?”

“Coming, I hope. But I don’t know where you are in our world. If she pulls you out. I’m not sure where you’ll end up.”

“I have to be somewhere though. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” he replied.

She nodded with some relief but the worry did not leave her face completely. She glanced around nervously. Her fingers fiddled with the fabric of his sleeves.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The others got pulled in here too, Wolf, maybe Zeph, Indi and Coal, I’m not sure...”

“Coal’s here?”

Amanda nodded. “I don’t know what he’s here for but he’s been helpful so far.”

Sirius nodded. “We should find them then.”

“I don’t know what’s easier for Cat.” She gripped the fabric of his sleeve tighter. She didn’t want to let him go. But if they were to find the others and get out of here she would have to at some point.

Sirius noticed this and he pulled his hand back along her forearms until he held her smaller hands in his. He squeezed them gently. “A group is probably easier to find.”

“If we don’t find them then we might just be walking away from Cat, making it harder.”

“How did you find me?”

She glanced down sadly then. Her voice trembled. “I don’t know, I’m still not sure, I...”

“Hey.” He clasped her chin gently with one hand and raised it so she was meeting his eyes. “It’s me, I’m real,” he told her.

Amanda nodded and some of that determined look he was so familiar with returned.

He smiled.

She nodded. “Okay.”

They walked, hand in hand back down the unreal country road.

“Who first?” Sirius asked.

“Zephyr,” Amanda answered, picking the one she thought would need the most help.