Dreamside - By Graham Joyce Page 0,5

knew where all this was leading and he didn't like it. Ella had that manic cast to her eye. She wasn't going to be shifted.

"So what do we do?" she said.

"You're the one with all the plans."

"So it appears. Listen, it's simple. You're going to have to go after one of them; I'm going to have to go after the other. No, don't look like that. Neither of us wants to do it, but neither of us wants this thing opened up again either. You know where it can all lead, and you're just as afraid of that as I am. You also know that one of the others must be responsible for starting it up again. There can't be any other explanation. We'll have to track them down and find out what's going on."

"How the hell are we going to find them?"

"Just like I found you. We're going to use a little bit of intelligence and a little bit of insight. You'll have to take a break from selling washing powder or whatever important thing it is you do."

"I can't take time off from work! What will I tell them?"

"Tell them you're ill! Tell them you're mentally disturbed! That's something like the truth, isn't it? Our hold on reality is a little tenuous at the moment, isn't it? What do I care what you tell them?"

"Are you getting angry with me?"

"I'm just trying to give you a sense of urgency, though God knows why. This morning when I phoned you were hardly able to speak."

“I don't need reminding."

"Lee, we could simply do nothing about it. We could just forget it. Until tomorrow morning, that is, when you're going out of your mind because you don't know if you're awake or you're dreaming. Until you want to scream, and then you open your mouth and wake up. Or think you've woken up, so you want to scream again. Yes, we could do that. Then you could wonder if this conversation was all a dream."

"You can see right into my mind, can't you, Ella Innes?"

Ella softened. "Remember that psychological test the professor gave us? You're walking through the woods? You see a bear. What do you do? You always go around it. I always approach it."

"Sometimes to get a mauling."

"That's life," said Ella. "But sometimes the bear turns into a prince. You need me here, Lee. To push you on. To make you face up."

"Thanks all the same but I never had any use for a prince."

"Only for a princess, eh?"

He hated the way she reasserted her position so easily. She always seemed able to guess his thoughts. More seriously, she was already in the driving seat. He had planned not to let that happen.

He looked at her as she gazed into the grate, her skin reflecting the firelight. Yes, the years had left their mark here and there. Her face was touched with faint runes, lines of personal history he wanted to read but couldn't. As for himself, he had stopped pretending. These few hours with Ella had stripped him bare. The scaling-over of the years had been uncovered, old feelings made new, leaving him exposed, inferior, in love with her. How did she do that?

He leaned forward and kissed her neck. He felt her stiffen, but she didn't pull away.

"What are you doing, Lee?"

"I'm kissing you."

She turned around. "Let's not add confusion to a bad situation, eh?"

It seemed to Lee that he had been, on the contrary, trying to straighten things out. He said nothing. Ella closed the issue by standing up.

"I'm very tired. Can we say that it's settled? You go after one of them, I go after the other? "

Lee shrugged.

"As of tomorrow?"

"As of tomorrow." He looked unhappy.

"Dreams won't wait, Lee."

"No; they won't, will they?"

"I think it would be better if I went for her. I can talk with her. You go after him."

"You make it sound like a bounty hunt."

"It won't be as easy as that. Now, show me my room. It's late."

T H R E E

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams

—W. B. Yeats

She had to move fast to be on time for the ferry. With about twenty minutes to spare she drove the Midget on to the boat at Stranraer, and was glad to get out to stretch her legs. After spending the night at Lee's flat she had driven back to her house in Cumbria, had a second bad night's sleep before driving hard to