For weeks, Keegan kept me out of Soren’s world as much as possible. I almost always woke up there, but Keegan was always there to whisk me away as soon as I opened my eyes.

  Whenever I complained about it, he said that it was too dangerous to spend time in Wendellia. I agreed wholeheartedly that it was dangerous, but I couldn’t help feeling like a coward for abandoning Soren, who, after all, was only a little kid.

  Trying to keep my mind off of that fact, Keegan took me to all kinds of stunning dream worlds. In some we could fly, in others we could swim underwater with no oxygen. On one world we went floating through space past hundreds of brilliant stars and dozens of colorful planets. It seemed like there was a dream world for every adventure I could imagine, and Keegan always Shifted us away if it got too dangerous.

  One night I woke up in a world that seemed vaguely familiar. I was sure that I had seen the Dream before, but I couldn’t remember which one it was. Keegan appeared next to me a few moments later, ready to take me away to some exciting dream of my choosing.

  “Hang on for a minute,” I said. “I want to see what happens here.”

  “Here?” Keegan asked, looking around. We were standing on a deserted city street, lined with crumbling brick buildings and flickering lamplights. Some disaster had taken place, an earthquake or fire. I could hear a faint buzzing sound coming from somewhere in the distance. It seemed to come from overhead, and I looked up into the overcast sky, searching.

  Suddenly a siren split the air, and I remembered what this dream was.

  “Quick,” I screeched to Keegan, “we have to find cover.” I ran for the nearest building. Keegan chased after me.

  “Let’s get out of here!” he said, holding out his hand to me.

  I shook my head. “I know how this dream turns out,” I said. “It will be okay, and it will be fun.”

  Keegan looked warily around. “This does not look like fun,” he said.

  I made a face at him. “Just trust me, okay?”

  He shrugged, and we ventured further into the building.

  “Zzzzzip! Zzzzzzip! Zzzzzip!” We could hear the planes outside, fighting across the sky.

  “Get down!” I shouted to Keegan, and threw myself to the ground. Keegan wasn’t quick enough, and the force of the bomb threw him off his feet. The vibrations rocked through me, and adrenaline rushed through my veins making my heart pound.

  “Are you okay?” Keegan shouted over the noise of the low-flying planes.

  I laughed. “I’m fine,” I shouted back, getting to my feet, and brushing the dust off my knees. I reached out to help Keegan to his feet.

  “Let’s go,” said Keegan.

  I shook my head. “Trust me,” I said for the second time. I set off into the building once again, with Keegan following reluctantly behind.

  The walls of the room we entered were covered in blue wallpaper, stained yellow and peeling. Dusty gray light filtered in through a tall window in the left wall, and the air was still, dead. A cold fireplace was set into the right wall. On the mantle was an old-fashioned picture of a family. In the far wall was a wooden door.

  We walked through the first room into a second that looked exactly the same as the first, except that the wallpaper was pink and the picture over the fireplace was a painting of a tree. In the far wall was a white door.

  I quickly walked to it and pulled it open. Another room exactly the same, but green and with a vase of flowers and a black door.

  We walked on and on through rooms of all different colors with all sorts of things over the fireplace. After a while, it felt as though we had been in this same building for days, maybe even weeks. I began running, crashing through doorway after doorway.

  “It’s got to be here soon,” I muttered.

  “What exactly are we looking for?” Keegan asked. He hadn’t said a word as we ran along.

  “A door,” I replied.

  “We’ve gone through hundreds of doors,” he said, irritation creeping into his voice.

  I ignored him and pushed through yet another white door. On the opposite side of the room was a wooden door. A carving of a tree gleamed in its polished wood. Each leaf was individually carved and seemed to flutter in a nonexistent breeze. A tiny pool of water was carved at the base of the tree, the tree's roots reaching down and disappearing under its surface.

  “This is it!” I exclaimed, rushing across the room and throwing open the door. A rush of cold air swirled from the doorway. A stairway curved downwards, and I started down the stairs with Keegan following close behind me.

  As soon as he stepped onto the first step, the doorway slammed behind him, and the room went completely dark.

  I shivered in the cold, damp air, gingerly putting one foot in front of the other, slowly feeling my way down the stairs that spiraled around a center post.

  “This is the dragon dream,” I explained to Keegan.

  “What?” he asked, his voice sounding strangely loud in the darkness.

  I realized I had never told him about this particular dream. “I think this is the very first place that I Dreamwalked to,” I said. “I have to find this ring, and I’ll turn into a dragon.” I laughed, remembering the exhilaration I’d felt flying through the air, breathing fire.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “Okay…” said Keegan. “Where do we get this ring?”

  “Well, the last time I was here, I had to get it off of this wolf…” my voice trailed away.

  “And this is where we are headed now? To take on a wolf?”

  I shrugged, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “I’m not sure. I mean, if I had the ring last, what happened to it when I woke up?”

  “This is your dream world, not mine,” said Keegan. “I have no idea.”

  We walked down the stairs in silence, until we reached a level floor. I put my hand on the side of the tunnel and tried to hurry along, but it felt unnatural, rushing forward in the dark. Finally we could see a bit of light in the distance. I ran the last bit, anxious to get out of the darkness.

  The tunnel opened into another building. We were in an old parlor, with overstuffed chairs and sofa, and an upright piano in one corner and a china cabinet against the far wall.

  Next to me, Keegan gasped, and I turned to look at him. He was staring at something in the next room, and I swiveled to see what held his attention.

  The most beautiful woman I had ever seen sat on the edge of a bed, her head bent over, her dark, wavy hair falling around her face as she brushed it.

  Keegan watched her, transfixed, but a little suspicious. I walked hesitantly into the room where the woman was sitting. As I stepped through the doorway, sunlight blazed through the windows, transforming the space. It seemed as though we were in an ancient forest, trees growing to dizzying heights above us. The woman rose from her seat on the trunk of a fallen tree that lay on the ground.

  Light seemed to radiate from her skin, and her hair floated away from her face. Her ears grew pointed and her face took on the look of a wild thing. I felt suddenly very small and very afraid. I turned to Keegan and realized that he was not there anymore.

  “Look at me, child,” the woman said. Her voice was rich and deep and compelled obedience.

  I turned to face her once again. There was a slight, amused smile playing on her lips.

  “Here is what you are seeking,” she said, holding out her hand. In it was the ring, a simple circle of gold. “Take it,” she said.

  Once again, I was compelled to obey. I stepped forward and gingerly lifted the ring from the palm of her hand. As soon as the ring left her hand, the forest disappeared, and I was standing alone in the bedroom where we had first seen the lady.

  “Where did she go? What happened?” Keegan asked, looking around

  “Nothing. She gave me the ring,” I said, holding it out for him to see.

  He took it from me carefully and turned it over and over in his hands. “I’m not sure we should use this,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “I think she’s a bit dangerous,” Keegan said.

  “That’s what Soren said about you,” I pointed out. “Besides, I’ve worn it before and nothing happened. Come on, give it to me. It will be fun.”

  “I’m going to put it on first,” he said, “just to make sure nothing bad happens. What exactly does it do?”

  “You turn into an animal, but you still have your same mind,” I answered. “Let’s go outside, though. Who knows what you will turn out to be.”

  Keegan nodded and we searched for an exit. It was easy to find, and we stepped out onto a cobbled street. We were on the edge of the street that had just been bombed. The house we had just left was one of only two or three left standing on this side of the town. The center of the place was entirely destroyed.

  “Where are all the people?” Keegan asked.

  I shrugged. “The only people I ever saw here were the Nazis. And the person that was the wolf. And that lady we just saw.”

  He slipped the ring onto his finger. The air around him seemed to shimmer. His nose and mouth snouted out, and his ears moved towards the top of his head.

  He dropped heavily to all fours and shivered, his body growing large and powerful. The air flickered once more, and before me stood the largest bear I could imagine.

  He was a beautiful dark brown with terrifying claws and teeth, but his large brown eyes were twinkling. Keegan the bear raised himself up on his hind feet and roared at the sky.

  I clapped my hands over my ears, laughing. Keegan took off romping along the streets, swiping at things as he went by, sending them flying in pieces. Finally, he turned and loped back towards me. He stopped in front of me and held up a huge paw. The ring had expanded to encircle his front leg. I eased it over his paw. The instant it left his skin, the air shimmered around him and left Keegan crouching in front of me, hand in mine.

  “Amazing!” he said, looking at the ring in my hand that had shrunk back to its original size. “Humans really miss out on the smells of the world,” he said.

  I smiled, until sirens split the air once again. This time, the whole world seemed to shimmer and shift. The buildings disappeared, leaving us deep in a narrow valley. A dirt road wound along in front of us, steep cliffs rising up on either side of it. We both glanced up, but could only see a small patch of sky from where we were.

  “It sounds like a car, not planes,” Keegan said.

  “I’m going to look from up there,” I said, quickly scrambling up the side of the hill towards a ledge on the cliff face. Just as I reached it, I saw the long, sleek black car round a turn in the road, coming towards us. Swastikas were painted on the sides of the car and little flags bearing the symbol flapped at the front of the car.

  Four people sat in the car that careened along the road. All four were dressed in dark uniforms. One of the men riding in the front seat raised a pistol and pointed it at Keegan.

  I could see where the bullets hit the ground around Keegan as he zigzagged desperately up the hill. I pushed the ring onto my finger, leaping off the ledge as I did so.

  For a few moments, I fell as I shimmered, changing into a different shape. Then my wings caught the air, and I flew towards the car.

  But something was terribly wrong. I was definitely not a dragon. I glanced down and could see little birdie feet bobbing as I flew. I was some sort of white bird, swooping towards a car of Nazis.

  “Ria, come here!” Keegan shouted. I wheeled towards him, knowing he would Shift us out if I could just get to him in time.

  I felt the ring sliding away and tried to stop it, a moment too late. I shimmered in the air, turning back into myself, twenty feet off the ground.

  There were shouts of surprise as I hurtled towards the ground. Keegan ran, arms outstretched towards me. I was almost to him when I saw a bullet graze across his arm.

  Keegan shouted in surprise and pain, but held his arms steady, blood streaming down from the wound. As soon as I touched him, the world whisked away.

  I crashed to the ground amidst the thousands of twinkling orbs, my landing cushioned by the nothingness that made up this in-between place.

  Beside me, Keegan groaned and clutched his arm.

  “I am so sorry, Keegan,” I said. “I don’t know what happened.”

  “It’s not that bad,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’ve got to get out of here though, and take care of this in the real world.”

  “Go,” I said. “Just leave me here, I’ll be fine.”

  “Promise me you won’t go anywhere,” Keegan said.

  I was quiet for just a moment. I was sure I could find the orb to Soren’s world if I really wanted to. It would be a perfect chance for me to go.

  “Maria, promise me,” Keegan said. I could hear the pain in his voice.

  “I promise,” I said.

  Keegan seemed to shimmer and disappear. I sat in the in-between for a long time after he left, staring into the starry, dream-filled space.