Dreamer School

Molly stopped at the doorway and Rebecca walked in without her. Molly was going to ask him something, anything, her whole body felt like a white flag, nervously thrown at his feet.

He stopped in front of her and raised his eyebrows, Molly found herself blocking the door.

He stared through her as Molly clutched her journal to her chest, she was about to introduce herself, when a strange, beautiful, horrible woman with ink black eyes, white skin, and long black braid emerged from the shadowy shimmer like a snake pouring out an envelope and pushed her aside with fingers tipped in nails like obsidian daggers.

Molly was so surprised, she yelped and froze as he walked by and the ghost of a woman glared at her with frightening eyes the color of the deepest voids before disappearing back into the shadow around him.

The man took his seat in the front row.

Molly caught her breath and slowly entered the class and found her seat without looking at him, she felt so embarrassed. What was that? What was going on in this place?

She stared into the back of his curly dark head and all she saw was the inky shadow floating around him. What was that woman? Where did she come from, where did she go?

Molly sighed, there was so much she didn't know. What was she thinking introducing herself to a guy? She looked at the clock on the wall above the chalkboard slowly creep towards nine. She looked at the back of his head again, then back at the red second hand gliding around the familiar white circle, she tapped her fingers on her journal and rested her head on her other hand, pushing her glasses a little askew. There was something about him that attracted her, made her want to introduce herself for example, find out his name. Molly tried to remember the last time she felt like that about a guy, but only that brief boyfriend in highschool surfaced, and she didn't really like him that much, he was just the first of a rarity of boys that showed interest in her. It was definitely not like this.

The clock said it was nine on the dot and there was no Patricia to be found. Molly looked around and saw everyone gazing towards Patricia's desk in the front of the room. There was her book laying on the desk, but no Patricia.

Molly watched the clock circle towards a minute after, then two minutes after when there was some movement.

The red book on the desk unfurled in a fan of pages and Patricia appeared next to it in a slow flashing shimmer. She picked up the book and peered out into the class then up at the clock.

"Sorry I am late everyone," Patricia said, "but we all know how hard it is to keep time with our conditions."

The class laughed and even Molly chuckled to herself. It was true, all the configurations of her room she went through, not once did she think to put a clock in the room and the hours flew by.

"Now, we have a new student with us," Patricia said, looking at Molly, "so I want to run over the basics as a quick review for everyone."

Patricia walked over to the chalkboard and picked up a stick of fresh, mint-green chalk.

"Who can tell me the extent of our journals' domain?" Patricia asked the class.

Molly looked around and saw handful people raising their hands.

Patricia pointed to a young man in the back behind Molly with brown hair and a blue-grey t-shirt that said, "this sucks!" in an pink graffiti-styled font.

"Within our houses, bodies, and minds."

Patricia began writing on the board, "correct, these are the limits of what we have control over. Can anyone tell me what happens to our journals if they are destroyed?"

"They can't be destroyed, only remade, we are eternal through our journal," the class around Molly said in a lazy unison. She cringed from the corny phrase.

Patricia smiled at the corny chorus, "yes, yes, perfect."

She wrote out the phrase in the gritty click-clacking of the chalk on the slate board in curly letters the color of mint chocolate chip. She dropped the chalk down in the metal base of the board with a ping and walked over to sit on the corner of her desk.

"And the only rule of this school is, don't go beyond the walls of its grounds," Patricia said.

"What happens if you do?" Some girl asked on Molly's right.

"Thank for asking, Andrea," Patricia said, leaning back on her arms a little, "there are two reasons. One, much of the forest is a mystery, anything could happen out there in the dark chaotic sea of trees. And two, we share these lands with other Lunar creatures. They have their own rules, powers, and settlements. If you find yourself wandering into their territory, it might mess you up. At least until you find your footing in what you are."

"Maybe you can like, have one visit, so we understand," a girl said, "like a vampire or something?" She was part of the small group of three girls who were friends and they all giggled.

Patricia smiled, "he would eat you girls alive. He's a parasite that would use you in anyway he could, and if he couldn't use you, he would find someone that could."

This didn't seem to quiet the girls' interest in the mysterious vampires that somehow lurked out in the forbidden forest all around them.

The conversation was so casual it took a minute before Molly's mouth dropped, were they joking, vampires aren't real are they?

"Now, let's start, does anyone have anything they need help with?" Patricia asked.

Several hands went up and Patricia called on them one by one.

"I am having trouble controlling three or more men," a short girl asked, "when I create them, they are fine in the beginning, but after awhile they always begin to fight each other and I have to unread them."

"What are they fighting over? If I may ask?" Patricia said, raising one eyebrow and gesturing with her hand.

The young woman blushed and Patricia laughed.

"Well Sarah, if you don't want them to fight each other, you have to write more detail about who and what they are and your relation to each of them in a way they would never fight each other no matter what you do. Or you could make a magick device that controlled their actions when they start to go off the rails. There's infinite options, be creative Sarah. What do I always say?"

"The right way is in the way you write it," Sarah squeaked out, blushing.

Patricia smiled and called on another hand.

It was the man in front with the green eyes and shadow bodyguard. Molly sat up, fixed her glasses, and focused her ears intently on what he was asking.

"Let's say I copy what's in my journal into another's journal, would I then exist in both journals?" The man asked in a matter of fact way, "and let's say that if I had a bond that was connected to my current journal, would it carry over to the other journal?"

Patricia stared at him, "yes, you would exist in both journals... but it would be highly experimental, and I don't know if the bond would carry over or not because it wouldn't technically be your journal. Though, I don't think you would be able to find any female willing to do that with you. If what I know about you already is correct, you would need a female Dreamer to offer up her pages to you for that to work. You would be living inside her."

Molly's eyes widened at his question and Patricia's answer. You can write things in other people's journals? The idea of having him write something in her journal made Molly hot, she crossed her legs.

She heard the girls around her talking excitedly too.

"Wait, so guys can write what they want in our journals if we let them?" Andrea asked, urged on by her two other friends. Which Molly was starting to notice looked a lot like Andrea herself.

Patricia looked up from the man in black towards Andrea. Changing her worried glare into a warm smile.

"Well, I was going to save it for much later in your careers, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now thanks to Mr. Sea here," Patricia said, crossing her arms. "You see when two books fall in love... the way they share intimacy most deeply is by having the male write his own fantasies into the female's journal. It's a very pleasurable experience for them both. But, you should only ever do it with one person, so you have to choose your mate wisely."

"Why only one?" Andrea asked. Or was it her friend, Molly realized they all looked the same. Were they triplets or something?

"Because it hands over part of the control of the journal to the male, the female is offering a part of her being to be permanently bonded with him because he has something she wants, but can't reproduce on her own, and she wants it inside of her, to keep and protect. What Mr. Sea here is asking the female to do, is basically give herself up entirely to him and share her house for the rest of eternity," Patricia continued, "I would warn all of you against doing such a thing."

Patricia finished her lecture and studied Sea while fingering the pages of her red, cloth covered journal.

There was a pause in the classroom questions and Molly heard the three girls next to her whispering excitedly, the old man was gently dozing on her left, everyone else was either writing in their book or looking out the window, and Rebecca was...

Molly looked around, Rebecca wasn't in class. Didn't she walk in with her?

"Okay, any other questions?" Patricia tried to continue, but the rest of the class seemed distracted by the unexpected sex-ed talk.

Molly raised her hand and surprised herself.

Patricia smiled, "Yes, Molly?"

"Uh... well, I was just wondering..." Molly said, looking down into her desk.

"Yes?" Patricia urged her on.

"Is it okay to give into dark urges while working with your journal?" Molly said all at once and glanced up at Patricia with burning ears and cheeks.

Sea turned around and looked at Molly, she held his eyes for as long as she could. Why was he looking at her now? He hadn't turned around for any of the other questions.

"What you do with your journal and your creations is up to you," Patricia said, "just make sure you don't lose yourself in the process. A part of absolute power is learning to find a balance that sustains you. So maybe just take it slow and wade gently into that darkness of yours."

Molly nodded at Patricia and then glanced at Sea. He was studying her, calculating something about her. Molly felt her heart swimming and her hands squirming on her lap. His glare was terribly frightening and wonderfully intoxicating. She swiped her hair around her ear and stole another look into the jade swirl of his eyes, she was hoping he would use them to do whatever it was he had done to her before.

He turned back around. Molly sighed and wondered what he had seen.

Patricia walked over towards Sea and tried to get as close as she could to him, the beautiful woman who lived in the shadow around him peeked out slightly if Patricia stepped too close. She was trying to whisper something to Sea, but couldn't get near enough to do so, so Molly heard her say, "come see me in my office after class." Sea nodded and Patricia returned to sitting on her desk.

"Okay, now then for a little history. We all exist in the book or books of The First Dreamer, it is within him we gain our power and from within him we all sprung into form..." Patricia began giving a history lesson about their class of minds and Molly found it hard to concentrate.

She kept thinking about Sea and that shadow floating around him.

Patricia went over several things the next few hours, some of which Molly understood and retained, and some of which she did not. Patricia finally snapped her book closed with the last bit of her lecture and dismissed the class.

Her ruby heels clicked as she walked over towards Molly and sat on her desk, "how's your homework coming?"

"I don't know how to do it, I've tried everything to increase the size of my room but nothing's worked so far," Molly said.

"Well, keep at it, you'll figure it out," Patricia patted her on the shoulder and stood to go.

"What about Rebecca?" Molly asked.

Patricia looked down at her and furrowed her brows, "what do you mean?"

"She wasn't in class today, even though I walked here with her," Molly said.

"You walked to class with Rebecca?" Patricia said, "strange, she doesn't like leaving the library."

Sea stood to leave and Patricia turned her head and watched him leave the room, "I have something I need to do, if you want to talk to Rebecca, you can probably find her in the library."

Patricia straightened her blouse and skirt and followed out after Sea down the hall.

Molly didn't understand the Rebecca thing, but the way Patricia followed out after Sea distracted her terribly.

"There those two go again," Andrea said to one of her clones.

"What do you mean?" Molly asked, turning towards the three girls.

"I think she has the hots for Sea," Andrea said, "he's always in her office after class. We're Andrea by the way, nice to meet you."

"I'm Molly, nice to meet you," Molly said quickly.

Molly jerked her head back towards the door. She stood up calmly with her journal and made an exit herself.

Rebecca was there. Molly jumped. The missing girl unglued herself from the wall and smiled.

"Hey, how was class?" Rebecca asked. The scent of rose and jasmine threatened to take Molly behind a palm tree and show her a good time.

"Where were you? I thought I saw you enter the class and then you were gone?" Molly asked, holding her own against the girl's heady scent.

"I had some things I needed to study in the library, what are you up to?" Rebecca brushed her off and placed a hand on Molly's shoulder. Molly looked her in the eyes and the blue waves of the ocean started crashing around her and she heard gulls in the sky hovering in circles, a pod of turquoise dolphin fins circled around the deep end of her Rebecca's gaping pupils and Molly almost went for a dive into the warm waters of her sunny soul.

Molly thought about Sea and Patricia, she shook her head, "I have some things I have to do too. Let's hang out another time."

"Sure, sure," Rebecca said, "there's something I want to show you still, outside the walls of the school."

"We aren't allowed to go outside the walls of the school," Molly said, puzzled.

"That's just what they say, we'll be fine trust me, how about we meet up tonight?" Rebecca said, stepping a bit closer with her warm smile.

Molly felt like Rebecca was pushing her into doing something she didn't want to, Molly hated breaking the rules, "let me think about it, I really have to go now though."

Molly smiled and waved past Rebecca. Something was off about that walking hallucinogen, Molly rubbed her goosebumped arms as she clutched her journal and made her way down to the first floor.

She crept quietly up to Patricia's office door. There was no one in sight and the door was open just enough for Molly to listen in. This surprised Molly as she sat down on the bench just outside the door. She focused her hearing and could barely make out what they were saying:

"Those earthly girls,

with feet like roots

dug into the ground

my talons clutch their silky whorls

and tug their thoughts like shoots

aloft into the sky of sound

in a day or two

they're clouds

filled with dew

and loudly down they pound

towards the ground again

like rain," Molly heard Sea recite.

"So you're here because you gave up 'earthly girls?'" Patricia asked.

"I'm here," Sea said, laughing to himself a little, "because I'm an introverted pervert like the rest of us."

"And you're telling me there's no interruption in her contact with you?" Patricia asked.

"No, she's always here with me, I've already told you that," Sea said, calmly.

"Well, I don't buy it," Patricia said, "I know for a fact from everything that I've read, there is no pact with a Goddess of her level, intentionally or unintentionally, without some kind of interval of interruption."

"Well, if there is one, I haven't felt it yet," Sea said.

"There's has to be some way around it," Patricia said distantly.

"I've tried everything, she is beyond me, she's always ahead of me, and her grip on my soul is absolute," Sea said, sounding a little tired, "and why are you so interested in helping me anyway?"

There was a brief hesitation before Patricia responded, "I just want to help my students, that's all, It's my role to guide them and help them prosper. And there's a lot to learn from studying you two as well. If only I could get closer to you... I-I mean closer to understanding the pact."

"Why don't you let me write myself in your journal then?" Sea said, "then we can be much closer, and you can even ask her yourself."

"Why, why I could never!" Patricia said in a voice that sounded more like a question.

"Come on, you know the only way out of this school is to pair off," Sea said, "what have you been waiting for all these years? I promise to fill you up with more than just myself. I'll make your dreams come true. Let me give you just a taste of me, let me write one short sentence inside you, I think you'd come to enjoy the possibilities. Think of all the things you could learn in the process."

There was a long pause. Molly's heart was beating, she didn't like the silence.

"No." Patricia finally said in a breathy sigh, "I know you'll overtake me, I can feel it."

"Well I tried," Sea said without a change in his voice, "I'll let you know if I notice any interruptions with her connection to me, but I wouldn't hold your breath."

Molly heard a chair move suddenly and someone approaching the door, she froze, she didn't think of what she would do if they came out the office.

"Wait," Patricia said, "what would the sentence be? I mean if I were to let you do it?"

"It doesn't work like that," Sea said and walked out the door, "you can't have your cake and eat it too."

His eyes glanced over at Molly on the bench as left the office. He walked by her and she gazed up at him and fingered the edges of her journal. He looked down at it and Molly saw his eyes widen briefly before turning away.

Molly looked down at her journal trying to see what he saw, but only the cover of it was facing him.

"Molly..." Patricia said, leaning against her office door, "how can I help you?" She smiled.

Molly thought quickly on her feet, "Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to know, when you came out of your book today during class, how did you do that?"

"I can tell you are going to be a wonderful student," Patricia said, "you'll learn about that next year, first just focus on mastering your room, the rest will come naturally. You've only been here a short time. Now, shoo, go have some fun. I'll see you in a couple days."

Patricia smiled, looked down the hall at Sea's back, bit her lip, and disappeared into her office.

Molly walked back to her room, deep in thought. What the hell was she now? She looked down at the journal pressed into her breasts, was she this book or something? The "M" scratched into the mauve cover gazed up at her.

~~~

Molly spent the rest of the night and the next few days in her room experimenting with her appearance. She found out that class didn't take place everyday, but only a couple times a week, since most of the real "learning" was done by themselves in their room with their journal.

She stared at her nails, they were longer, stronger, and came to a point. Writing her nails differently obsessed Molly at the moment. For now, she settled with this set of naturally colored, long and sharp nails. They felt good.

Over the past few days, Molly found her entire way of thinking changing. She kept her room in her favorite configuration with the canopy bed in the middle of the forest cube. She realized she didn't need to follow the laws of reality that she was used to. Anything she wrote within the limits of the nine foot cube came out pretty much as she wrote it down and read it back to herself.