The next day we reached Lake Vesnice. The lake was long and narrow, and it would take a full day’s walk to reach the village of Vesnice. The village lay on the west side of the lake about halfway between the southern and northern ends. A road went along the shore, and it was along this that we traveled.

  By now we were traveling with an almost constant stream of people. Severak had more people than anywhere else we had been. Farmers tended crops, merchants traveled with goods, soldiers marched along the road. We attracted less attention with so many other people out and about, so the only danger now was Changelings, and we hadn’t come across any of them so far.

  The day was pleasant, almost too warm except for a slight breeze. The lake was a beautiful blue with white ripples breaking along the shore. The east side was visible from where we were, but the water stretched out to the north as far as I could see.

  The village of Vesnice came into sight just as the sun began to set. Emilia said it was unsafe to spend the night on the road. Another of Emilia’s images had found a place for us to stay in the village. Someplace where no one would pay attention to four travelers.

  A tall wooden wall surrounded the village, and we entered through a gateway just before the doors were pushed shut. It made me feel a bit claustrophobic to be shut up inside the village. The wooden houses were wedged close together with narrow cobblestone streets running between them. Lights shone out of most of the windows, and although the streets were not busy, we could hear many voices coming from homes.

  Emilia led us down a narrow side street to an inn that was wedged in between two houses. It had a sign above the door that read The Tinker’s Inn. As we walked through the door into the common room, the wonderful smell of dinner hit us. Next to me, I heard Keegan’s stomach grumble, and I laughed quietly. The room was full of people crowded around tables, eating. Two serving girls carried plates to and from the customers and filled jars with a frothy drink.

  Emilia walked to the bar. “I reserved a room earlier today,” she said to the short, balding man behind it.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, bobbing his head politely. “Yes, ma’am. Here is your key. It is the room at the end of the hallway upstairs, just as you requested, ma’am.”

  “Thank you,” said Emilia, handing him several golden coins.

  “Will you be wanting dinner?” he asked.

  “Yes. We will eat here,” she said.

  I was surprised that she was letting us eat with everyone else. I asked her about it as we climbed the narrow staircase to the floor above.

  “If we took our meal in our room, it would raise curiosity, and you can be sure that someone would attempt to listen at our door,” she explained.

  At the top of the stairs we walked in single file down a long, narrow hallway with doors on both sides. Emilia unlocked the last door and led us into a cramped room with two beds and a small wash stand. We placed our near-empty packs on the floor, each washed our hands, and headed downstairs.

  The innkeeper had had a table cleared for us, and he showed us to it himself, calling over one of the serving girls.

  “This is my daughter, Lissette,” he said. “She will get you anything you need, ma’am.”

  The girl, who looked about my age, gave a slight curtsy, her light brown hair falling gently around her shoulders.

  “What can I be getting you?” she asked.

  “We will all have dinner,” Emilia said. “And some of your finest cider.”

  The girl nodded and hurried away, and I noticed that she walked with a slight limp.

  “The cider here is famous,” explained Emilia. “They serve it cold. It is wonderful.”

  Soon the girl came back, bringing a steaming tureen of soup and four bowls. The other serving girl followed her carrying a tray of bread and cheese and four mugs of cold cider.

  We ate in a tired silence, listening to the talk around us. Mostly it was about Cyrus and the war that was starting to spread through the world. The village of Vesnice had always served Cyrus in the past. Most people were hopeful that he would leave them in peace if they offered to feed his army.

  Others were still worried. They had heard rumors that Cyrus was growing more ruthless than ever, and many people were thinking of leaving. A lot of the visitors in the inn were from further north and west, on their way south, trying to stay ahead of the destruction that Cyrus had already been causing in Severak.

  We listened for news of Soren, but no one said anything about him. Emilia whispered that this probably meant that he was still in Berul. Finally the talk began to quiet, and people started calling for a song.

  As the calls grew louder, Lissette picked up an instrument that looked like a small guitar. She sat on a chair at the front of the room and began to play softly. The tune was a wistful one, and when she began to sing, the room seemed to disappear.

  Her voice was beautiful and sad as she sang about a woman who was in love with a man who was unaware of her feelings. She was too afraid to approach him, and when he finally realized that she loved him and that he returned her feelings, he was commanded into war by a king. He fought valiantly and sent her many letters declaring his love for her, but he was killed before he returned.

  When she finished, the crowd was silent for a long time. I could feel the emotions in the air, worry and fear and thoughtfulness. I was sure that many of these people had families, people that they loved and were worried about. After a while, the talk picked up once again, and soon the people were calling for another song.

  This time a man got up from a nearby table and, without musical accompaniment, sang a rather bawdy song about a Dreamer who had five different Dreamer lovers, who eventually found out about each other. The five women came up with a plan to get revenge, and the man did not have a happy ending.

  The atmosphere lightened considerably as the people listened to the man’s song. After he sat down, Lissette once again began to play and sing. The song seemed familiar to me. At first I couldn’t remember where I had heard it. Then it dawned on me that it was the song that Soren had sung to me so long ago on one of my first visits to Wendellia.

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  Lissette’s voice was filled with longing as she sang,

  Deep darkness covers all the land

  Men have lost the joy of life

  Courage melts away like sand

  As soon as she began, Emilia pushed her chair back from the table.

  “Come! now!” she commanded.

  We all looked at her, startled. Several people had turned to look at us, but Lissette did not stop singing,

  The world is filled with war and strife.

  Little dove come fly to me

  Soaring through the sparkling sea

  Sing to me of hope and peace

  Your song will make all troubles cease

  “Now!” Emilia repeated, her voice stern.

  We all stood up, and awkwardly followed her out of the room. A few people watched us leave, but most were paying attention to Lissette’s song. I could hear it as we climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway.

  Rivers, valleys, mountains, trees

  Watch the world go flashing by

  The wind will blow if he please

  Flames will reach into the sky

  Emilia closed the door firmly behind us, blocking out the sound of the song.

  “Emilia, what is it?” Donavan asked.

  “You should get some sleep,” she said, gesturing to the beds. “I must also get some sleep tonight. The three of you will have to keep watch. Make sure that one of you stays awake.”

  She disappeared.

  The three of us looked at each other, unsure of what had just happened.

  “Was it the song?” I asked quietly.

  Keegan shrugged.

  “I bet it’s about the prophecy. You know, the one that Robert was telling us about,” I said.

  “You mean the one you made him tell us about,” said Keegan.

  I looked away, still feeling a little guilty at what I had done.

  “Hey, I would have done the same thing,” said Keegan, yawning.

  “I’ll stay awake first, if you two want,” I said. “I’m really not that tired.”

  “I have a better idea.” Keegan grabbed my hand and Donavan’s, and before either of us could ask, the room was gone, replaced by thousands of sparkling spheres.

  “This is amazing,” Donavan said, voice filled with awe.

  “Keegan, what are you doing?” I asked.

  “Letting all of us get a good night’s sleep,” he replied, sounding pleased with himself. It startled me for a moment when I realized that I could not feel his emotions anymore. “Ummm, just a minute.” The dream worlds swirled by as Keegan searched. “Here we go.” He reached out and touched one of the orbs and soon a room was rotating to a stop around us.

  It was a long hallway, filled with doors. And not only at floor level. Little doors climbed the walls for three stories, stacked on top of one another. There were ladders on rollers that led to the higher ones.

  “What is this place?” Donavan asked, looking around.

  “It’s a dream just for sleeping.”

  “We couldn’t sleep in Wendellia?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Keegan said, “but this way we will all get a full night of sleep. Plus, we’ll be safe here.”

  “What about the time difference?” I asked. “How much time will go by in Wendellia?”

  “Only a few seconds,” replied Keegan. “You could spend decades in here in one real night. Here, help me look for a door that has a green light next to it.” As soon as Keegan said it, I realized that all of the doors had little lights next to them. Most of them were red, but I spotted a green one a short ways away, and on ground level.

  “There,” I said, pointing.

  We all walked to the door. When we reached it, Keegan touched the green light. A small screen appeared and Keegan touched it three times. The light turned red and the door clicked open. Keegan pushed the door and we all ducked inside.

  The room was huge with three of the most comfortable looking beds I had ever seen. Next to each one was hanging a set of pajamas. I could see a bathroom with a huge bathtub through a doorway.

  “Okay, this is awesome,” I said. “But I still don’t get why someone would make a dream like this.”

  Keegan shrugged. “Anyone care if I use the bathroom first?”

  Donavan and I shook our heads. “Take your time,” I said.

  “Okay, I’m going to clean up,” he said. He grabbed a set of pajamas and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. A few seconds later, he walked back out, in his pajamas and his hair wet.

  “You have got to try out that bath,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

  “You took a bath that fast?”

  “What do you mean? It felt like I took an hour. I thought you two would be in bed.”

  “You just walked in there,” I said.

  “Whoa, time must run differently in there than out here.”

  “Okay, whoever made this place was really strange,” I said, laughing.

  Donovan nodded. “Go ahead, Maria. I’ll wait for you to finish.”

  I walked into the bathroom and smiled in delight. It was enormous, with a tub the size of a small pool on one side and a toilet, sink and large mirror on the other.

  I looked at myself in the mirror for the first time in days and saw that I looked exactly like I did in the real world. I turned on the sink and made sure the water was warm before scrubbing my face. When I looked up, I felt the tattoos on my eyes and arm flared to life.

  In the mirror my image flickered and changed. One second I looked like myself. The next I had long, bright purple hair, and the leafy tattoo on my arm had spread across the rest of my body. Then my hair turned dark red, my face was speckled with blue dots, and I looked distinctly like Emilia had in the cave.

  I turned deliberately away from the mirror and decided that I needed a very long soak.

  When I walked out of the bathroom, Keegan and Donavan were both standing exactly where I had left them.

  Keegan and I each climbed into a bed as Donavan walked into the bathroom. He walked back out in just a few seconds, hair wet, looking funny in his pajamas.

  I giggled from my bed.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I’ve just never seen you looking so…normal world, I guess.”

  He laughed and settled into the third bed. Within minutes I could hear both his and Keegan’s breathing slow and knew they were both asleep. Keegan was right; this was much better than sleeping in Wendellia. I felt peaceful for the first time in days. No emotions battered at my brain, and I wasn’t worried about Changelings bursting in and finding me. I fell asleep wishing that Wendellia was just a dream and nothing more.