“Cat! Cat!”

Someone was calling. Someone from the other world. Her world. Cat felt the other worldly presence slip away, distracted by something else entirely.

She took her chance, and snapped herself back awake. She found herself looking up at the worried face of Amanda.

Cat sighed. “Hi.”

Amanda moved away so Cat could sit up. “How’d it go?”

“I think they’re awake. Hard to say.”

“They? You got both of them?”

Cat got to her feet with a grunt. “Yup.”

THUMP!

“What is that?” Cat asked, as the fairies made their presence known once more.

“Fairies,” Indi answered.

“Fairies?”

“Grrrr.” Indi bared her teeth and nails in demonstration of what the fairies looked like.

Cat raised a bewildered eyebrow.

Amanda ignored the fairy conversation. “Did you find where they are?” she pressed Cat.

Cat nodded.

“Alright, can someone help me up?” Wolf raised an arm, in the direction of Indi and Amanda.

Amanda stared down at him doubtfully with her hands on her hips.

“I was running on it before,” Wolf remarked. “Before I ran into Cat, quite literally might I add, so whatever damage might be done by walking on this, it’s already been done.”

Amanda still didn’t look happy about it.

It satisfied Indi though, who helped Wolf to his feet and then gave him a shoulder to lean on.

“Thank you Indi.”

She smiled at the thanks.

“Now where?” Coal asked Cat.

She nodded in the direction of the main entrance and the south-west wing, just as the fairy door banged again.

Cat glanced at it. “I thought fairies were just stories parents made up to make kids brush their teeth.”

“Oh, trust me,” Coal said with a serious look, “Fairies are very real.”

“They were were really creepy,” Indi added.

“I mean yeah, of course they’re creepy, what kind of creature likes to collect children’s teeth,” Zephyr remarked.

“What! They actually collect teeth. I thought those were fairy tales?” Indi exclaimed.

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“Oh yeah, one got in my room as a child once. Ripped a tooth right out. This one.” He opened his mouth and pointed at one of his front side teeth. “A healer fixed it right up though.”

Indi was staring at him with horror. Cat also had her moth half open. Evidently this was news to her as well.

“Wait, they rip the teeth out?” Indi asked.

“Well,...” Zephyr paused, suddenly aware that maybe this was the wrong time to bring up the horrors of fairies.

“They mostly go for kids,” Amanda said. She eyed the closed door and then looked to Coal.

He smiled back. Not worried then.

Amanda turned to the others. “Come on, we need to keep moving.”

“As if that makes it any better,” Cat mumbled in reply to Amanda’s comment about the fairies and kids. But she rolled her eyes, picked up Wolf’s dropped axe, and started off along the hall, Amanda following close behind.

Coal waited until the others had all passed by, Indi helping a hobbling Wolf, then he took up the rear position.

“You guys good?” Zephyr asked Indi and Wolf, who were in front of him.

“Yup,” Indi smiled.

Wolf gave a nod.

The group turned a corner leaving the hallway behind them empty.

They did not see the door shake once more. Nor did they see the small crack which appeared, and started to widen.

“What was it like? In the dreamworld?” Indi interrogated Wolf as they walked.

“Wait, you didn’t fall asleep?” Zephyr asked from behind Indi.

She glanced back over her shoulder and shook her head.

“So the powder, the dreamskeep, it worked on you but not on me?”

“’I did say the dosage is hard to get right. That means both directions,” Coal replied.

“Technically I told him that,” Amanda reminded him.

“Hmm,” Zephyr thought about that. “So, I didn’t take enough?”

“It’s somewhat specific to each person, and hard to predict other than by trial and error,” Coal explained.

“What makes someone more susceptible to being pulled in?” Indi asked.

Zephyr frowned. He didn’t like being called ‘susceptible.’

“I just said it was hard to predict,” Coal replied.

“Right,” Indi persisted, “But there must be some theories. Like creativity, or magical ability, or...”

“Drowsiness,” Cat interrupted.

Indi frowned. “That’s a boring answer, but I suppose it makes sense.”

“Except she’s wrong,” Wolf replied. “I knew a guy once, who had been awake for three days straight. Must have been pretty drowsy by that point. He took a small amount of dreamskeep, less than Zeph did, and when he realised he’d fucked up and forgotten to get an antidote he still couldn’t be put to sleep by a dreamwalker.”

“Shitty dreamwalker then,” Cat replied.

“As if you could do it,” Wolf retorted.

“Wait,” Indi interrupted. “So, he stayed awake for three days and then he took dreamskeep, why?”

“Because he was an idiot,” Wolf replied. “Anyway, he’s dead now, that’s beside the point. The point is...”

But he never got to finish explaining his point, for at that moment the sound of a thousand wings flapping, buzzing, purring, filled the hallway, as the fairies, finally broke through the door.

One smacked right into the back of Coal’s head. Another brushed the skin of Indi’s cheek as it flew between her and Wolf. Zephyr gave a yelp and managed to strategically dodge a three-pronged attack.

“Arrrgh,” Cat growled and waved her arm as one of them sunk it’s sharp teeth in.

Amanda turned, fists clenched, furious expression on her face. She strode a few quick paces through the flying chaotic mass to end back of the group, where thousands more were coming. She barely raised her hands.

A fireball swept the entire hallway behind them, burning everything in it’s path but leaving the aging wallpaper and other furnishings untouched. The dust was barely singed.

Only the small number of fairies that had been at the front and encircled the group remained now, and they were easy enough to be picked off one by one.

Coal smacked one into the wall. Zephyr dodged them. Cat even managed to shoot one. Wolf pulled Indi in close then winced as one of the damn things bit his injured leg. Amanda picked them off with fire. Soon there were none left alive.

“Really Cat?” Amanda remarked at the gun in her hand as she returned to near the front of the group.

“What? You’re carrying.”

“I’m not shooting tiny creatures in a enclosed space with lots of people.”

Cat shrugged. “There was nobody standing that way.”

They set off again, each with a cursory glance over the shoulder, just in case.

No one noticed, but beneath the edges of the carpet, thick vines started to wriggle their way out and up. The whole house creaked and groaned as empty crevices and cracks filled with with luscious growing greenery. Never before had the plant had such power to feed on. Tiny black and red flowers sprouted from electrical sockets and light fittings.