Chapter One
A CRY FOR HELP
"Don't stay up too late!" David sighed as his mom's voice echoed down the hallway with its familiar refrain. He laid the book he was reading onto his chest and shuddered at the thought of going to sleep. He spent every night trying to avoid closing his eyes, but every night he eventually lost the battle. He knew that as soon as he fell asleep, the nightmare would begin again. He picked up his book and immersed himself in the story, but before too long his eyelids grew heavy and the book fell backward onto his blanket with a gentle thud. The warm glow of the reading lamp vanished as if a black curtain had dropped over his eyes, and the dream began.
The sound of his own heart grew louder in his ears. Its steady thump lulled him into a deeper sleep; but just as his breathing slowed, the black curtain in front of him lifted, revealing the back of what appeared to be a very tall, very large man. Long white hair cascaded down his back, almost to his waist. The man was wearing a dark gray robe, tied in the middle, with billowing sleeves that hinted at massive arms. Swirling glitter floated up and down in an endless, mesmerizing dance around him. Dark streamers of smoke wafted across the sky.
The thumping of David's heart grew louder and faster as the figure began to turn. Then a voice filled David's head, drowning out the beating of his heart. The voice was deep and gravelly, almost a growl. "I can feel your fear. It fills me. Soon, I will be the true master of dreams and all will tremble before me."
David began to sweat. The dream continued.
David didn't want to look but he couldn't turn away. As the figure spoke, it finished turning toward David. The boy flinched as the full face appeared. The creature's skin was gray and shiny, with a high forehead topped by white hair that was swept straight back and caught the light of the glitter that continued swirling around. Its nose and mouth were set in a smooth muzzle that jutted slightly from the face. The nostrils were large and black, and flared as the creature exhaled. The ears were small and round, set close to the head but slightly higher than David was used to seeing. Its eyes were closed and it seemed to be meditating. There was a slight smile on its face.
As David gazed at the creature, he noticed that its massive hands held a cylindrical piece of glass mounted on a wooden rod with a gold handle. The glass revolved slowly, reflecting a rainbow of colors, seemingly pulled from the glittering air. A wisp of dark smoke wafted up from the glass.
David was so fascinated with the scene that he forgot to be scared. But this sense of calm was suddenly shattered when the eyes of the creature snapped open. If David had been awake, he'd have screamed. The eyes were black. Completely black. Dark pools looked like empty eye sockets, but David could see a shiny film covering the eyes and could feel them boring right into his head. The thumping of his heart returned and now it was beating a rapid staccato.
David could see the reflection of light against dazzling white canine teeth. The growling voice continued, "No one can help you. He can't help you. He is lost forever. Wizard or not, he can't escape his fate. The world is mine to control." With a swirl of gray, and a tumble of glitter, the figure whirled and the curtain of black returned.
David woke up, shivering and damp. "Dad! Mom!" he yelled in panic. A few minutes later his dad arrived looking rumpled and tired. "Dad, I had the dream again. And it seemed so real this time!"
His dad sat on the edge of the bed and stroked his son's hair as David told him about the dream. "Why do I keep having these dreams, Dad? Is there something wrong with me?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with you, and you aren't alone," his dad replied. "There was an article in the newspaper today talking about an epidemic of bad dreams. It seems people around the world are having a rash of nightmares. Here, let me get it." He retrieved the article and handed it to David.
Worldwide Complaints of Nightmares and Restlessness
Sleep specialists around the world are puzzled by the rapid rise in patients who report that they are having trouble sleeping, and that when they do get to sleep their dreams are more likely to be characterized as nightmares. Dr. Red Knight, of the North American Sleep Institute, believes that the answer lies in the way people view the world situation. "When the world is at peace people sleep soundly, but when there are troubles in the world, like the recent terrorist attacks and war, then people become nervous and jumpy, and their sleep patterns are disrupted."
Others attribute the strange dream states to less scientific solutions, like unhappy spirits, retribution from God for perceived misdeeds, or even the work of the devil.
The studies done so far indicate that children are encountering this problem in much larger numbers than adults. Knight believes that the reason for this is that "Children are highly imaginative and this ability to suspend disbelief and conjure all sorts of incredible visions magnifies the problem."
He added, "We continue to search for answers and right now we ask everybody to curl up with a good book, drink some hot chocolate, listen to some of your favorite music, or take a warm bath before bed. Anything that relaxes you will help you sleep."
David glanced up from the article as he finished reading it. Instead of being relieved to find that others were experiencing the same thing, he was deeply troubled by the idea that nightmares and sleeplessness were common all over the world. "Dad, are there really evil spirits? Have I done something wrong to cause my bad dreams?"
David's dad sighed. "David, the whole idea of evil spirits is an attempt to describe something that can't be explained using science. Many years ago, when people who were sick acted strange, evil spirits were blamed because doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with them. There is probably a scientific, logical explanation for this. Doctors just haven't found it yet."
He patted his son's shoulder. "Now go back to sleep. Don't forget we're collecting monarch butterfly eggs in the morning!" He straightened the covers, then returned to his own bed to try to get another hour of sleep.
As the sun rose, so did David's spirits. He forgot about his nightmare in the excitement of the expedition to hunt for monarch eggs. For the second year in a row, he and his parents would be observing the whole cycle of life, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and then to butterfly. his year they were going to tag the butterflies that would migrate south to Mexico.
They walked through a field near their house, searching for the milkweed plants that represented the sole food source for the monarch caterpillar. David was a tall, thin eleven-year-old boy with light brown hair. He was constantly in motion and today was no exception. As the family looked at the leaves, he ran from one spot to another, humming to himself and trying to absorb everything. His eyes were striking. Light blue with flecks of green, they were always moving, examining the surrounding world, trying to take it all in.
David's father looked up as a brilliant orange butterfly suddenly fluttered in front of his face. "David, look!" he whispered excitedly and together they watched as the butterfly hovered over the nearby plants and then settled on the bottom of a leaf. They waited in silence until the butterfly moved away and then ran over to inspect the leaf. David saw it right away-a tiny football shaped white egg attached to the bottom of the leaf.
"We found one!" David shouted and together they removed the leaf from the plant and placed it in the plastic bowl they had brought, on top of a damp paper towel. They continued to look at leaves, and in a very short time had collected several more eggs.
As they walked home, David's parents had to run to catch up with him. He was bouncing from toe to toe and spinning in a circle waiting to cross the street to continue the journey home.
Back at the house, they carefully placed the leaves in an empty pretzel barrel. As evening approached, David again began to dread going to bed. He thought that maybe if he concentrated hard enough he could stop time, but sadly no power in the world could do that. All too soon it was time to go to sleep, and once again the black curtain dropped. Again, he heard his heart beating and again the strange creature with the black eyes appeared. The black eyes were pools of darkness. David hated darkness. As he watched, the black eyes grew larger and larger until they enveloped David and he was falling, falling through darkness, drowning in it. He woke up to darkness. The lights were out and the room was pitch black. Shivering uncontrollably, David fumbled for the lamp until he finally found the knob and turned it on, flooding the room with light.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and thought about what he had seen. It wasn't real. It seemed real but he had never seen anything like that, so he knew it was only a dream. But what did it mean? He climbed out of bed, wrapped a blanket around himself and sat on the floor of his room thinking hard.
"Help me."
David jerked his head up and looked around. There was no one there. David's cat, Cutie skidded into the room. David smiled. "Did you say that?"
The gray striped tabby cat stared and meowed loudly. David giggled. "Well if what I heard was, 'Feed me,' then it could have been you. I must have imagined it."
By this time the early morning sun was beginning to peek in through the window. David stood up and headed for the kitchen with Cutie rubbing against his leg and meowing the whole way. As soon as he opened the cat food can, the meowing grew louder and more desperate. "You'd think that we never feed you." He dumped the food into two bowls and ruffled the fur on Cutie's head as the cat began to gobble it down. A gray and white cat suddenly appeared in the doorway. He didn't make a sound but strolled slowly to the other bowl, sniffed it with disdain, and walked away with his tail in the air. David laughed at how different the two cats were. "Spud, you'd better eat up because Cutie will eat all your food too."
As David left the kitchen, he passed the big plastic pretzel barrel that contained the milkweed leaves and monarch butterfly eggs. He stopped to examine the eggs. One had a black spot on top, which indicated that it would hatch soon. That one must have been laid earlier. The black spot was the tiny caterpillar developing inside, too small to see without a microscope. Soon he would be able to watch the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly again. It was something he never tired of seeing.
As he headed back toward his room, he heard the words again: "Help me."
This time the voice was louder. It had a gravelly quality to it but it was not the voice from his dream. This voice sounded muffled. David shook his head and looked around. He didn't see anyone. The nightmare must be affecting his mind.
He decided to watch some TV to help him forget the nightmare and the strange voice, and soon he was laughing at the mindless entertainment.
The day went by quickly. David played with his friends, creating an imaginary game in which he was the wizard who had to save the world from the bad guy. Later, he had a mock battle with his dad, a tradition that they called a "wrestle fight," in which ordinary household objects could be used as weapons or magical artifacts.
All too soon, evening approached. As David was getting ready for bed, he heard it again.
"Help me."
He looked around but didn't see anyone except his dad, sitting in the recliner with his nose buried in the newspaper. The voice definitely hadn't been his dad's voice.
Even though David dreaded going to sleep, he soon found himself in bed again with heavy eyes. This time when he woke up he didn't remember his dream. He wasn't even sure he had been dreaming at all. He stumbled out of bed and began the cat feeding ritual again.
When lunchtime arrived, David noticed that one of the white eggs was gone. He picked up the leaf and looked underneath it. Scooting around on the underside of the leaf was a tiny caterpillar. "Mom, Dad, we've got our first caterpillar!"
They all looked at the caterpillar under a microscope. David's parents exchanged worried glances as they looked at the tiny wriggling insect. His father muttered, "Something's wrong. It doesn't look right and those funny brown spots around the middle look like tumors. I don't think this one's going to make it." David's mother agreed, but David wanted to believe that it would be OK.
Another afternoon flew by and soon the sun was setting, bringing an eerie silence to the house. As bedtime approached, David suddenly heard it again.
"Help me."
This time the voice was clear and insistent. David glanced around his room and then wandered into the dining room.
"Help me!"
The voice was so loud now that David was sure his parents could hear it too, but they seemed totally oblivious to the sound. David headed for his room to try and escape the voice and that's when it suddenly dawned on him to look at the caterpillars. One of them was perched on a leaf, standing almost straight up with tiny front feet against the plastic. David stared at the caterpillar, which began to shake violently.
"Can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me!"
David glanced at his mother and father, leaned close to the plastic and whispered, "Yes, I can hear you. Who are you?"
The effect on the caterpillar was electric. David could have sworn that the little worm did a complete somersault. Then it settled down and said, "I'm a little wizard in big trouble."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Dark Dreamweaverby Nick Ruth Copyright © 2004 by Nick Ruth. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.