In Her Dreams

have to, and I’m supposed to understand that and let her and Joey just stay in perpetual danger. For what reason?”
“Because it’s what she wants,” Jerrek says softly. “And in the end, if you love her, you’ll do what she wants. Even if you don’t necessarily agree with it. Love is about compromise.”
I nod at him, already trying to figure out how to make up with Jen.
But I’m really hoping I can convince her to leave the human world.
Because I don’t see how we can compromise on this.

12
Jen
The train whistle blows, drawing my attention toward the dusty old station across the street from where I’m walking.
I’m not sure how I ended up in a dreamscape like something from an old Western novel, but here I am.
I guess I must have been reading one before bed.
The sun is high in the cloudless sky, beating down with heat that makes it hard to breathe in the constricting clothing I’m wearing.
A dress for traveling with undergarments and little buttoned boots and an old-fashioned hat on my head.
My hair is back in a low ponytail.
I look down at the suitcase in my hands, indicating that I must mean to travel.
Ignoring the blinding sun, I cross the road as the second train whistle sounds.
The dust crunches under my feet as I walk. Everything around me feels arid and dry, and just reaching the shade of the shabby old ticket office cools me.
I watch, almost in third-person, as I slide my money across the counter and am handed a ticket.
Is this a dreamscape Reve put on? I thought I told him not to show up.
Given, I felt bad right after we fought, but I still can’t believe the sheer arrogance of him, that he would think he knows what’s best for Joey and me when he only just met us.
When he couldn’t possibly already understand “our” world.
I climb up onto the train, given a hand by one of the operators, and take a seat in what looks like the middle of the train. I sit down on the hard wooden bench and look out the streaky window as the train begins to pull away from the station.
There’s a sense of loneliness but also of beauty as the wilderness flies by outside. Sparse grass covers wide-open plains, tumbleweeds fly by, and in the distance, rocky mountains rise, the tips still white with snow.
It’s a beautiful scene, one I could only have concocted in my mind I’m sure.
I lean on my armrest, thinking that everyone here looks normal and everything seems peaceful.
So it doesn’t seem to be like the nightmares I was having before Reve showed up.
I think I forgot what a normal dream felt like.
Usually, my nightmares are all manner of different things threatening me, often that I can’t fight.
But this is peaceful. No one is looking at me, and this ride seems to just go on forever.
Then I hear shouting break out and think maybe not.
People are moving to the side of the train to watch the windows, and I walk forward to see what’s going on.
My skirt swishes and brushes against other people as I try to push in on the edge of the crowd.
“It’s the Hedeger gang,” one man says. “Hide the women and children.”
I raise an eyebrow. Was that the gang in the book I was reading? I think I read three in a row before I finally fell asleep.
I think binge-reading is my talent.
I walk back to my seat because I can’t get close to any windows by the crowd. Peering through my window and as far forward as I can, I can see a cloud of dust near the front of the train.
Looking closer, I can see the heads of horses moving above the clouds of dust and men in hats above that.
Shit.
I sit back against my seat, closing my eyes. This should all be a dream. It’ll be over soon.
Wake up. Wake up.
I think of calling Reve, but I don’t even know how that works here.
I shouldn’t have yelled at him. I shouldn’t have told him to leave.
But I don’t see how I could just leave my life.
I miss having dreams with him. Usually, my dreams are just my subconscious trying to torture me. This might be like that.
My worst fears are confirmed when the train lets out a whistle and begins to stop, everything in the cabin heaving forward slightly, then back, as the train fully halts.
There’s a breath as the dust settles for a second, then whoops from the gang outside the train and yells from inside the car.
Even though I’m in a dream, it feels real, so I have concern for those around me, and my eyes dart around, searching for any kids.
When I see two with their mother, looking terrified, I can’t help going over to them and trying to usher them over to the door that leaves the train. Not that I know where they can go from here, but we aren’t that far from the town.
“Now wait just a second,” a voice booms out, and a tall man in a black cowboy hat enters our carriage. “No one needs to leave.”
“These are children,” I say, stepping in front of them and pushing them and their mother behind me.
Too bad this is just a dream manifested by my subconscious and not one I’m controlling, because I would just “poof” them out of here.
Maybe I should have Reve teach me just a bit more about being a dream fae.
Because though this is a dream, it’s frankly terrifying.
“Hm, aren’t you a pretty one?” the man says, walking forward in his dingy western wear. “I think this is what we’re here for.”
“What?” I squeak, trying to look for a place to run.
“You’re the mayor’s niece, right?”
I blink. “No.” God, please let me wake up now.
I smell gunpowder on the man as he walks up to me, and I cringe back, but he grabs me by the front ruffle on my dress and jerks me in.
I hate the