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Alicia shrugged. “Suit yourself. Good night, Ghost Lady. Thanks for the ice cream.”
“You’re welcome.”
I brushed my teeth and washed my face in the downstairs bathroom so as not to disturb Alicia. I forgot to grab a pillow, but there was no way I was getting one now, so I rolled up the sweater I’d been wearing and stuffed it underneath my head. Pops hammered into me how necessary it was to be resourceful, that I never knew when I’d find myself in a difficult situation.
If he only knew how many times that advice had come in handy.
It took me a few minutes to get comfortable. Despite the sleeping bag, I could still feel the hardness of the floor beneath me. My back and neck would be sore tomorrow. Good thing I healed quickly.
I closed my eyes and emptied my thoughts. I needed a break from all the challenges I was currently facing. If I could craft a pleasant dream that involved puppies sliding down rainbows, that would be great. It should be simple enough for someone with my skills, but tonight I struggled. In the end, I settled for a relaxing tropical island dream. Reclining in my imaginary lounge chair, I listened to the waves crash against the shore as I sipped a cocktail beneath my oversized sunhat. I had the beach to myself, of course. I preferred a life of solitude even in my dreams.
As the sun warmed my skin, I felt a strange pressure along my sinuses. I set the glass in the sand and rubbed my forehead.
The pressure increased, and then I felt it. An unfamiliar presence.
I was no longer alone on the beach.
I bolted upright. This wasmydream. There shouldn’t have been anything unfamiliar or unwelcome in my headspace. It wasn’t possible.
My gaze ran along the shoreline. Nothing unusual there. I turned left and saw only palm trees.
Then I turned right.
The creature resembled a tapir, a primitive animal that people sometimes mistook for a relative of anteaters, except this creature was enormous. Maybe Officer Leo’s description of his strange dream had influenced my own. The creature seemed to be trying to suck the sand into its elongated nose and mouth.
Not just the sand, everything in its path. I watched in amazement as it inhaled slick black rocks from a nearby jetty, leaving only sand and water behind.
Despite the tropical sun, my body grew cold. No. There was no way I conjured this creature. What was happening?
I stared at the dream invader, deliberating my next move. If I let it keep sucking, I might disappear along with everything else in my mind.
I vacated the chair, knocking over the cocktail glass in the process. Dammit, that was the perfect paloma.
“I’d stop now if I were you,” I told the tapir.
The creature stopped sucking long enough to regard me with interest. I recalled Officer Leo’s mention of summoning a bazooka. I didn’t think that would be necessary.
“You picked the wrong head tonight, friend.”
The creature seemed to sense my power because it did an about-face and ran. I chased after it, uncertain whether it could be killed in a dream, or whether I had to track it down in the external world. I was willing to roll the dice.
The tapir was fast for an awkward chunky giant.
It made a sharp turn and splashed through the gentle waves. I wasn’t sure of its intention; it didn’t look like much of a swimmer. When it pivoted to face me, I realized its plan.
The creature unleashed all the water it had inhaled through its snout. It was basically like unloading a firehose on a person. I dodged the intense spray and fell on the sand. By the time I recovered my footing, the creature was nowhere to be seen; it had escaped the dream.
There was nothing left to do but wake myself up. Heart pounding, I pulled myself upright in the sleeping bag as my brain struggled to put the pieces together. Officer Leo didn’t dream about a giant anteater. It had been this tapir-like animal that tried to eat my dream.
It was called a baku.
Pops was the one who’d taught me about the supernatural creature that survives by eating dreams. He’d been determined to educate me on every possible monster I might encounter, beginning with the ones most connected to my powers. Although Pops was human, he’d become an expert on the supernatural world. I knew he’d cultivated that particular skill solely for my benefit. Before I was born, he’d been a Navy man, someone who worked with his hands. Academics hadn’t been one of his strengths. That all changed when I came along.
I wiggled out of the sleeping bag and searched the house for the baku. I wasn’t sure how it entered and exited its victims, whether it had a physical form at all. I checked on Alicia and Renee in the master bedroom. Alicia stirred at the sound of my footsteps, and I took that as a good sign.
I returned downstairs and went outside to walk the perimeter of the house under the watchful eye of the moon. There was no sign of the creature, nor evidence of its recent visit.
The baku had made a fatal error by trying to eat the dreams of the one supernatural in town that could defeat it.
