I stare at a thousand galaxies in the night sky. Some are big, but most are small, barely the size of the closest stars. A billion of those dot my view, colliding, expanding, dying.

The air is cold. Too cold. And yet, the cold doesn't seem to phase me. For all I know, frostbite is gnawing me away, and here I am, staring at the stars and galaxies that seem to float away, growing smaller by the minute.

Is it a minute? I can't tell. My perception of time is skewed. Maybe I'm standing there for an hour, soaking it all in. Maybe it's an eternity. Life has moved beyond me, and the world has died.

Maybe I'm in another nightmare.

It's the worst feeling knowing you're in a nightmare but not being able to do anything about it. Like knowing the plot to a horror movie and waiting for the merciless scene where the main character is murdered.

And right now, the plot tells me not to turn around. That the actual nightmare will begin as soon as I do. That I'll be faced with an endless void at the edge of the universe, and it will be horrifying.

And yet, my body forces me to turn, anyway.

An empty black nothingness. My hands aren't even in front of me. Time doesn't exist this far out. It has no need to.

And yet, despite the impossibly dark view in front of me, a shadowy figure appears. They take on my shape, my body, my face, and stare blankly back at me. She is me. Maybe I am her, too.

"Tes Simms," a voice to my left says. Both of me turn in sync to view the same figure I've met in my last two dreams. "I'm coming for you."

"My desires for her are far greater than yours," both me and my shadowy doppelgänger say, although it feels more like she says it twice.

"You're foolish to think I would let you get to her," the repeat figure says. Then he turns directly to me. "I will get to you first."

Like the last two times, I startle awake, but this time, Holly is already awake, too.

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"You good, Tes? I know you're trying to regain your voice and all, but saying 'my desires for her are far greater than yours' while you're dead asleep is more than a little haunting."

Sorry, I sign, but as dark as it is, I doubt she sees me.

"What was that about?"

Recurring nightmare. Sort of. Some strange figure threatening to kill me.

"Oh." For some reason, her voice sounds disappointed, but if she is, she doesn't let it linger long. "When did this start?"

Night one of being here.

"I wonder if that's a normal thing. Maybe we can ask Luna. I've been getting some strange dreams, too."

Like what?

"I'd rather not say out loud."

Morning comes quick, as Holly and I toss and turn restlessly in bed, and together we march to the meeting room where we know Luna will appear soon. When she does, coffee and donut in hand, she's visibly surprised to see us waiting.

"What, did you have a bad dream?" she jokes.

"Well, yes. A few, apparently."

She lowers her coffee and donut, the news clearly sparking something in her.

"Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Quick, get inside."

"Okay, this isn't making me feel very levelheaded right now," she says, mimicking my thoughts exactly.

"Hey, big guy," she says into her watch, "we've got a potential Lurker situation. Get down to the meeting room stat."

"Lurker?"

"Tell me, was it the same shadowy, blurry, distorted figure in multiple nightmares?"

Holly looks at me. I nod.

"That means it's—"

"The Lurker," Dwight finishes, bursting in through the door. "Evaded the Cadets for years. Hunts and kills in dreams. Used to have a modus operandi, now just goes for whomever the big brass Necromancers tell him to."

"You mean a serial killer who attacks through dreams?"

"Yeah. Looked it up once. Apparently the plot to a movie from the 1980s. Heard of Nightmare on Elm Street?"

"We're from 1972."

"So, no."

"What does this mean?"

"It likely means that Tes is next in line for being targeted for some reason. He saw her somewhere, and it was decided she was next. Never heard of him going for a Necromancer, though."

Holly is ready to say something, but before she can, Luna interjects. "We have a vested interest in keeping you alive. We will figure this out."

"We could always finally go after him," Dwight says, looking up at Luna. "It's been a while since you've gone head-to-head with a Necromancer leader. Might boost morale."

"Yeah. Plus, it's nearly a full moon. Now is better than waiting another month."

The two look at each other for a moment, before Luna turns to face us again. "We will discuss it more, but before we can get rid of the Lurker, we need you two to get rid of the neutralizing gun thing. Probably today. What do you think?"

Holly and I look at each other. Help them help us help them help us.

"I guess we're taking a trip to the museum," Holly says.