Discouraged and nervous, I flop down on the bed next to Zoë. At 11:00 on the dot, the cell phone rings. ‘Incoming call’ it says, mockingly. I take a deep breath before I manage to squeak out, “hello?”
“Emma?”
I breathe a huge sigh of relief. “Dad, thank God it’s you.”
“Of course its me. Who else would it be?”
If I tell him that I received another phone call from an unknown male voice, he will worry more than he has to. There is nothing he can do to help right now. I stammer out my response. “Nobody, I’m just happy to hear your voice.”
“We have a lot to talk about, Emma. And not a lot of time. Have you begun reading the journals?”
“I have. I’m about halfway through the first one. They’re… intense.”
He hesitates before speaking again. “Emma, have you noticed that you share the same name as the young girl in the journal?”
“Yeah,” I answer suspiciously.
“It’s not a coincidence. You and she are more connected than you know. More than I can logically explain.”
“Try.” I practically order him.
“The journals…they’re the story of how walkers came to be. They encompass everything we are. They hold the key for understanding everything you need to know. What part of the story have you read to?”
“He just woke up from his first night in the walk.”
“Emma, are you wearing the pendant?”
“I was. I took it off when I showered. It’s on the bathroom counter.”
“Listen to me. Put the pendant on and leave it on. Never take it off, not to sleep, not to shower, not to show anybody. It stays on your body at all times. Do you understand?”
The intensity of his tone makes me nervous. “Yeah, Dad, I hear you. But why?”
“The next part of the story in the journal will explain the pendant. It will keep you safe; keep you connected. It never leaves your body. Go get it now and put it back on.”
“Okay. I’m going.” I walk into the bathroom, slide the pendant off the counter and put it around my neck again. “There. Back on. Never coming off again.”
He continues, “Emma, put me on speaker phone so I can talk to you both at the same time.” I do as he says.
“Have you looked through any of the other journals yet?” he asks us.
“Zoë has the journal with the drawings in it. I looked at a few, but for the most part, I’m leaving that one up to her.”
“There are very important things in there that you need to know. You both need to look at the drawings and you both need to understand the dangers that you will be facing.”
“Why haven’t I heard any of this before now?” I ask him, with slight disappointment in my tone.
He sighs heavily. “It’s complicated. Those journals are the story of not only our family history, but also the history of all dreamwalkers. You and I are more than just regular people. This isn’t something I have shared with you because I just wanted you to be yourself, be a kid. I didn’t want you worrying about the significance of who we are or what that means until you absolutely had to; until you were really ready to move forward with it.”
“Dad, what are you talking about?”
“You and I… this is not our first… go at it.”
“Go at what?”
“Life. Living in this world.”
“You aren’t making any sense.”
“The story that you are reading, I wrote it. The drawings in the journals, I made them. You were there. We were there. Together. The curse was put on us. A curse of the immortal soul trapped in a world of darkness. We were the only two members of our family who managed to find our way out, so to speak. Your mother and sisters were not as lucky.
“Now that you’re wearing the pendant, your walks will change. You will begin to remember and relive events that have happened in the past. To you, but a different version of you. Because we survived that night and many others, we didn’t succumb to the curse. We didn’t fall victim to the caligo, as was intended for us. The curse lives on and it has the ability to capture any dreamwalker, anywhere, anytime. Until you and I are defeated by it, or until we can break it.”
I'm speechless. I try to formulate words but they only come out as broken sounds.
He continues. “Your mother and I found each other again. I don’t know how