The Children of Hypnos

Chapter 34: The Storm

A funnel cloud turned over Fenhallow Academy. Lightning flashed in its depths, bright but silent. The eye at its center sat directly above the statue of Iltani and Fabian Fenhallow, and through it the green moon looked down, casting a sickly spotlight on the quad.

Emery spilled out of the conference room window, tumbled through the bushes, and scrambled up to hobble around the building. The moonlight and the lightning had turned the campus nearly as bright as day, yet there was no one around; they were all at the manor for Fenhalloween. The Dream pressed down all around her, raising her hairs, but she couldn't sense any nightmares.

Yet.

She needed to get to the Underground. That was where Wes was, that was probably where they'd taken Jacqueline, and Klaus was definitely still there, falling asleep. Morrigan would have to wait, and Emery would have to trust that Grandpa Al would keep Edgar safe. If Klaus's nightmares broke out, the whole campus was in trouble.

She needed to warn someone who wouldn't just lock her up again. She needed keys. And she needed waking water.

The answer, as always, was Lana. The Sleep Research Center, though mostly empty, was still open this time of night, the lights in the lobby on but the hallways mostly dark. Lana generally didn't do Fenhalloween; she didn't do anything unless it was research related. Emery hurried down to Lana's office and pounded on the door.

"Whoa, whoa," Lana's voice, slower than normal, came from inside. "Come in, the door's unlocked. Unless this is some kind of Halloween prank, and then go away, cretin."

Emery threw the door open. Lana sat at her desk, cheeks red, cradling a tumbler. Sarah Stainer joined her, sprawled in one of Lana's stiff office chairs, with another tumbler. An empty bottle of tequila and a half-full bottle of Goldschläger sat on the table between them.

"Hey, Emery Ashworth," Stainer slurred, raising her glass. "Look, this stuff has little gold flakes. I mean, I knew it had little gold flakes, that's the whole point, right, but I never actually drank it before. Love it. Amazing. Truly the drink of champions."

Emery ignored her. "Lana, have you looked outside?"

Lana frowned into the vague distance. "No. Why?"

"I think Klaus is falling asleep."

Stainer hiccupped. "Klaus? Like Klaus Warwick? I haven't seen that guy in years—is he here? I thought he was dead."

Lana focused on Emery. "Why do you say that?"

"Come outside with me."

Lana and Stainer both followed her back outside. There were still no nightmares, but Lana's face went paler than Emery had ever seen it.

"Hypnos, you evil bastard," Stainer said, looking ill.

Lana turned around and went right back inside the research center.

Emery chased on her heels. "He is falling asleep, right? We need to go down to the Underground and wake him up."

"He's not falling asleep. He's already there," Lana said, voice back to its quick sober clip. "We need waking water. He'll be asleep for a long time without it. When did this start? Did the clouds move in or did they form over the campus? Have you noticed any nightmares yet?"

"I don't know, I don't know, and not that I've seen." Emery ducked after Lana into one of the labs. "How did this happen? I thought he was being given waking water?"

Lana dialed open a lock on a safe inside one of the cabinets and removed Klaus's own supplies; a small pouch of sand, a burner, a cup, and his vials and droppers. As she sorted through it, her expression twisted into disgust. "Ares Montgomery. He thought the best way to get Klaus to talk was to withhold his drugs for as long as possible. Well, guess what—when you wait till the last minute to do the thing, and something else comes up that you have to handle, you might forget to do the thing." This time, instead of putting it in the dropper, she handed Emery the whole vial. Then she pulled the keys off the arm of her chair and shoved them at Emery. "Here. You can get down there faster than I can, and they're going to need me up here for this nightmare-palooza that's about to happen."