When the dust from the two fading projections disappeared completely, Ethan fell to his knees.

"What did you do?" Kara whispered.

"I... stopped him," said Ethan.

"You faded Neil!"

"He was strangling to death." Ethan spoke evenly while staring at the empty space on the floor where Neil and the dream man were standing moments ago. "He could have been killed. I... I couldn't hit the dream man. I just couldn't..."

He took a deep breath and looked at Kara. Her eyes were wide, wet, angry.

"He'll be okay," said Ethan. "Eventually."

Kara shook her head.

"You asshole. You have no idea what you're doing. Neil should have never let you have a fadeblade."
"And what the hell were you doing, Kara?" Ethan spat. She recoiled, taking a step back. "We would have been fine if you hadn't--"

"Oof," said Violet, stumbling sideways into her door frame. She looked the archway up and down before saying, "What happened to my door? And why are you guys shouting?"

"Ethan faded Neil," said Kara, voice dripping with venom.

"Who?"

Ethan and Kara looked at her. Then Kara said, "I don't have time for this," and disappeared.

"Good talk," muttered Ethan.

With Neil gone, Ethan didn't know what to do next. He was pretty sure the dream man wouldn't bother them again, but he didn't know if there were any more nightmares to worry about. Violet stumbled into her room, shaken up and with a minor cut on her ear, but otherwise fine.

Fading Neil without her witnessing it made her completely forget who Neil Edwards was, and fading the dream man made her forget about him, too. With so many blanks in her memory, she couldn't recall how and why she ended up in this Worldmind place at all.

With nothing else to do, Ethan rubbed his head and explained, from the beginning, who the dream man was, and what they were doing in the Worldmind. Strangely, she remembered the dream man only after fifteen or so minutes, but she couldn't be convinced that she had known this Neil person for years. She even had trouble remembering many of the Worldmind concepts that had previously been explained to her, probably because Neil was the one who taught her.

Over an hour passed before Ethan felt too tired to continue. It was late at night, and he wondered what his physical body was doing, given that it had been a good six or seven hours since he'd left it, standing in the middle of his bedroom.

But he couldn't just leave Violet stranded in the Worldmind. She would probably be pulled back into the real world in the morning by her parents or an alarm clock or something, but there was no telling whether or not there would be any more nightmare attacks.

Therefore, despite being exhausted, Ethan took the time to teach Violet how to retract her projection and return to the real world. It was a frustrating task, since Violet had forgotten so many essential concepts that Ethan had to re-explain. Any question that wasn't absolutely essential in helping her get back to her physical body was shot down, much to Violet's frustration.

"Just concentrate," Ethan said to her.

"I am."

"Open your eyes. It's easier that way."

Violet groaned, opening her eyes, fully aware that she had been told to do so three times already. They were each sitting on Violet's bedroom floor as Ethan coached her, to no avail.

"Just look around and try to imagine your room without all the shifting colors and weird floor-clothes slithering around. Oh, and your bed still in place. You were standing on it when you came into the Worldmind, so you might still be on it. Just imagine what your bed feels like. Soft. Cozy. Warm. Inviting."

Violet gave him a look, her cheeks flushing red.

"Er. Sorry," said Ethan, his heart pounding (or, at least, it felt like it was, even though it was just in his mind). "I'm tired, so I'm imagining being in my own bed, fast asleep."

"Sure, Mur-dock." She clicked her tongue on the last consonant, which, for some reason, made Ethan gulp.

"I am! I mean, I'm sure your bed is nice, but, ah..."

"Quench your mind of it, dude."
"Right. Quenching. Now, uh, let's get back to that... thing. The concentrating."

Violet rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"Fine. Concentrating. On my warm, cozy, inviting bed." She could barely finish the sentence before she rolled onto her back, laughing.

Ethan covered his red face with his hands, but he couldn't help laughing, too.

He didn't know how long they laughed for, but it felt like hours. They were "high on tired," as Ethan's dad used to say. Or was it Uncle Vic? Whatever the case, the laughter came easy, and soon enough they were clutching their sides in pain from laughing so hard. Ethan barely remembered his shoulder wound now, and as a result the bite mark and blood disappeared.

"Thanks for saving me from that clown," Violet said after they caught their breath. She was still lying on her back, her hands folded over her ribs. "God, I never thought I'd say that." She laughed some more.

"You're welcome. Thanks for saving me from the weird hand-hydra thing. Seriously, your siblings dream up some freaky stuff."
"Yeah, they're like me. Active imaginations. Love 'em, though."

Unexpectedly, she held out her hand, palm down, reaching for Ethan, who was still sitting across from her. Unsure what she was doing, Ethan clasped her fingers in his hand. She gripped it tight.

"Thanks," she said, no longer laughing.

"I already said you're welcome."

"I always wanted to be a part of some crazy adventure. Ever since I was little. Until you came along, I never thought it'd actually happen."

Technically, Neil was the one who introduced both of us to this whole thing, Ethan thought. But I guess she doesn't remember that...

"I know what you mean," said Ethan. "You go through childhood thinking that you're secretly some kind of chosen one, or a wizard, or a hero, or... special, in some way, in any way."

"Yeah."

"Then, I don't know, somewhere in junior high reality hits you and you realize you're just like everyone else."

"Until high school, when some mystery guy tells you you're--"

"Psychic," they both said together, and smiled.

"So," said Violet, blushing, still squeezing Ethan's hand, "thanks for... being that guy."

It was Neil. Neil was that guy. Not me. She's just filling in blanks where her memory is faded. This isn't right.

Ethan let go of her hand, thinned his lips, and pulled his eyes away from her.

"Okay," he said. "Time to get back to it. I really need to go home and sleep if I'm going to track down Alexander Cullen Westbrook tomorrow."

And just how do you plan on finding him? he wondered to himself. Violet and Ms. Stafford don't remember the dream man, Kara hates you, Pryce is generally unhelpful, and Neil's head is going to be empty. It's all up to you, now.

It was a sobering thought, which managed to get his hormones back in check.

Violet sat up, coughed awkwardly, and said, "Oh. Yeah. Sure thing. I'll give it another try right now."

It took about twenty minutes of Ethan coaching Violet before she managed to vanish from the Worldmind. When it finally happened, Ethan flinched in surprise. Then he sighed, smiled, and said, "Good work, Violet. You'll be safe, now. I'll text you tomorrow."

Too tired to wait for any reply from Violet's notepads, Ethan concentrated on his real body in the real world, and managed to return home with little effort.

He found himself face-down in a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor of his bedroom. He dimly remembered setting up a place to fall into in case he couldn't keep standing while his mind was elsewhere. Judging by the aching he felt in his ankles and knees, it seemed that he was standing for quite a while before he collapsed.

And he really needed to pee.

When he woke up the next morning, just for a minute, he forgot everything that happened the night before. He was comfy, content, and ready for a lazy Sunday.

Then his mind caught up with him.

Nightmare clowns, laughing like demons. A dream man, who was passive one minute and a mutant ninja assassin the next. Neil, whose memories and the memories of anyone who knew him were now faded into obscurity. Violet, who seemed to be showing misplaced affection for Ethan all of a sudden. Alexander Cullen Westbrook, a real person who Ethan had to find before he could kill any more latents. Oh, and no useful people who had one hundred percent of their memories intact to help him do so.

I miss just worrying about homework.

Rising from bed, his shoulder stung. When he examined it, he found no blood or bite marks, but pressing his finger to it made it tingle painfully. It's all in your head, Murdock. There's no injury. You weren't really bitten by a nightmare. God, it stings, though.

He knew he had to track down Westbrook by midnight, but he didn't know where to start for that. He would ask Neil, but Neil wouldn't remember who the dream man was--or who Ethan was. Or who Neil was, quite possibly. Still, Ethan felt obligated to pay Neil a visit. He didn't know his address, though. Maybe he'd answer a text.

hey, it's ethan.

He had no idea how to follow that up.

how are you feeling?

As though Neil simply had a cold. But to Ethan's surprise, there was a response shortly after.

Hello Ethan. Its Kara. Neil cant type very well right now. What do you want?

It was hard to tell how passive-aggressive someone was over text, but Kara was pretty good at it.

how is he? I was going to come by to check up on him, but I don't have his address.

To his surprise, Kara actually told him to see for himself, and texted him the location of Neil's house. Ethan said he would come over soon--in the real world (he felt he should clarify).

Of course the real world. Neil cant project at all right now.

Right.

Ethan then texted Violet, telling her that he'd be visiting Neil, and asking her how she was holding up (which he also felt silly for asking).

I was having a great time waking up and believing the last week was a dream. Your text ruined that.

sorry. :(

No worries, dude. Life is so much more interesting now.

That was one way to put it.

She went on:

So what's the plan? We've got to find that dream guy for real, right?

Ethan didn't know what to tell her. He didn't think he'd make a good leader, but it didn't seem he had a choice. If they were going to find Westbrook by the end of the day, they needed to get cracking. He knew he had to visit Neil, and considered asking Violet to come along, but he realized that would be awkward. He'd have to make first-introductions for the both of them. No, it would be better to get Violet searching for Westbrook during Ethan's visit.

He told her to put her journalistic skills to use and see if she could find any information on Alexander Cullen Westbrook. He mentioned that he was going to visit "another psychic" who might be able to help. Except he probably won't, but I need to try.

I'm on it. I'll text you anything I find.

thanks, violet.

After looking up a map to Neil's house and figuring out a bus route, Ethan descended the stairs and tried to leave the house, only to be spotted by Uncle Vic.

"Morning, little man."

Vic was in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and petting Pepper, who was uninterested in the attention and was padding across the kitchen counter to avoid Vic's hand.

"Oh. Hey, Uncle."

"How was studying last night? I knocked on your door and checked in on you at about nine, but you were lying in a pile of pillows and blankets on your floor. I guess you fell asleep a little early, huh?"

Scratching the back of his neck nervously, Ethan said, "Oh, uh. Yeah, I used to, you know, make a little spot on the floor to study at my old place. Old habit, I guess. I think I fell asleep for a bit, but I woke up again later and did more homework."

Vic hummed and sipped his coffee.

"So," Ethan continued, breaking the awkward silence, "I'm going to a friend's place now."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Just someone I hang out with at school."

"That girl you like?"

"Uh. No. Another friend."

"Ah."

Ethan didn't know why he felt so nervous. He tried to keep his lies as truthful as possible, but he still felt bad. He'd been living with Uncle Vic for less than a week, and he was acting like a cliche secret-keeping teenager who was sneaking out to party and do drugs or something. But he couldn't tell him the truth without sounding like a lunatic. There was no way to prove it, anyway, so there would be no point.

Still, keeping things from Vic, who went out of his way to offer Ethan a place to live, didn't make him feel good.

"I was thinking we could go somewhere for supper," said Vic. "Just chat about stuff, you know. Feels like we haven't talked much about how life has been since we last saw each other. Before you moved in, I mean."

Ethan didn't think he had time for it. He didn't know how long it would take him to find Westbrook but he guessed he wouldn't be able to spend a bunch of time with Vic if he wanted to get things done. It was a Sunday, which meant that he couldn't be out too late without raising suspicion. He could project, sure, but there were only so many things he could do in the Worldmind, and finding the real Westbrook wasn't one of them.

"Could we do that tomorrow instead?" Ethan asked. Assuming tomorrow I'm not just as busy. And still alive. "It's just, I made plans."

Vic nodded, but looked disappointed. "Sure, kid. It was short notice, I guess."

"No worries. Tomorrow, then?"

"Sure. Do you need a ride to your friend's? I'm not doing anything."

Ethan was about to say no, but he reconsidered. Vic's just trying to be a part of my life. He has that right--he's family, and he's my guardian or whatever. The least I could do is let him feel helpful.

"Okay, sure, if you don't mind."

"Nah, not at all." Vic grinned and emptied the rest of his coffee into the sink. "Let's roll."