With the cathedral’s grand main doors creaking to a close behind her, the groaning cries of the dead priest’s faithful disappeared into silence.

Strangely numb, Zoe glanced down at the steak knife still clutched in her right hand, blade stained black with foul, rot-scented condensate. In the aftermath of her capture and escape, it was all she could seem to focus on.

How could she have given up like that? She’d already proven she could will objects into being, so why hadn’t it even occurred to her to try and fight back until she’d seen someone else try the same?

‘Come on.’ The gentle voice to her side was enough to make her jump, absorbed fully in her thoughts as she was. ‘We should get away from the steps.’

Zoe just nodded, following the figure down to a vast, yet empty stone plaza in front of the cathedral, and then off to one side as he ducked into a well-concealed alleyway.

The two of them appeared to have emerged into a dark, starlit city dominated by a distinctly Victorian architecture.

Although there were plenty of cities in England that retained a pleasingly pre-modern look, this place seemed devoid of anything even halfway modern at all. No cars, no phone booths or ATMs… Even the warm orange glow of the ornate streetlamps flickered in a way that heavily implied they were burning gas, or perhaps even candles.

‘I see you met the Reverend Joseph, then?’

Zoe blinked slowly, the shock of her close call finally starting to die back. She took a second to savour the crisp night air before glancing to the boy stood across the alley from her and properly examining him for the first time.

He was about average height, lean of frame, and quite strikingly handsome in his features. Not in an overly masculine way, nor in a manner that suggested androgyny, but somewhere happily in between that just naturally made him quite pleasant to look at.

Black, wavy hair framed the fair skin of his face, and his thin lips were slightly parted as he continued to catch his breath after the fight. He looked like he was probably somewhere roughly around Zoe’s age. Or maybe Kit’s. Give or take.

‘Sorry,’ the young man added after the silence between them had lingered just a little too long, ‘are you all right?’ He gave her an apologetic smile.

‘…Yeah…’ Zoe replied, sparing a brief frown for the beautifully ethereal white butterfly that had just come to rest on the drainpipe at the end of the alley. The boy didn’t seem bothered by its presence, so she dismissed it as a threat for now, instead reaching behind her to where that far more alarming creature had sliced into her back. ‘Thank you…’

‘Try not to focus on the pain,’ the boy suggested as he watched her check her wounds. ‘It won’t actually “heal” per se, but it’ll go away, just so long as you’re not too exhausted to ignore it.’

‘Thanks…’ she nodded, frown deepening as she let her hand drop back down to her side. ‘You’re um… from around here…?’ She couldn’t be entirely sure who or what she was talking to. It’s not like she’d never seen people in her dreams before, but at the same time, they weren’t exactly people people.

‘What? No, not at all,’ the boy replied, folding his arms and shaking his head. ‘Why would you say that…?’

‘Well, sure, you’re… human,’ Zoe replied, also folding her arms before nodding to his attire, ‘but you do kind of look like you’d fit in better here than anywhere else…’

The boy’s clothes were outdated to say the least. A grey-blue frock coat over a waistcoat and shirt, complete with a dishevelled black cravat and a simple silver cross necklace resting on top. The only thing missing was a stovepipe hat.

‘Oh, this​​?’ the boy asked, gesturing down to himself and shaking his head. ‘No. This just makes it simpler to get around. The better you fit in, the easier it is to get by the constructs.’

‘Con… structs…?’ Zoe queried, but the boy just shook his head again.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ he answered. ‘Much more importantly: how did you get here…? Actually, never mind that: how did you even know how to get here?’

Zoe frowned at the boy for a few moments before deciding his having just saved her life should earn him at least a little trust.

‘You’re real, aren’t you…’ she stated, feeling that they really needed to be sure of that before they went any further.

‘Real as you are,’ the boy nodded, extending his hand for her to shake. ‘Dorian.’

‘Dorian…?’ Zoe asked, trying not to smile at just how well the boy’s name fit his clothing. ‘What, as in—’

‘Dorian Chase,’ the boy interjected, the corner of his smile twitching slightly at the no doubt familiar reaction.

‘Sorry,’ Zoe smiled, taking the boy’s hand and giving it a gentle shake. ‘Zoe. Uhh, Zoe Lucas… How um… How did you get here…?’

Dorian inhaled deeply, glancing over to the plaza past the alley as he considered the question.

‘Honestly?’ he replied, looking her up and down for a moment before finally seeming to commit to his answer. ‘I’m about ninety percent sure I’m in a coma. That… probably sounds kind of far fetched, huh.’

‘You’d… be surprised what doesn’t sound far fetched right now…’ Zoe remarked, wincing at the uncomfortably familiar theory. ‘You’re from Holmstowe?’ Dorian nodded.

There weren’t any other patients currently at Sacks with Kit’s symptoms, but Zoe knew full well there were plenty of reasons why someone might end up at a larger hospital instead.

‘They must have transferred you over to West Cumberland or something…’ she muttered, silently considering how best she could practically verify that in the waking world.

‘You’re not, though,’ Dorian pointed out, getting back a querying look from Zoe. ‘In a coma, that is. I saw the dream you came here from. It’s not tied to the City, it just connects to the dream version of Holmstowe up above, on the surface.’

‘Well,’ Zoe replied, a tinge of worry creeping into her voice as she recalled her current inability to awaken, ‘I wasn’t when I got here, but… right now I’m not so sure…’ Dorian shook his head.

‘The City’s just not so easy to get out of, is all,’ he told her. ‘There are a few ways, though. Like the lighthouse you came in by.’ He gave her an unconcerned shrug. ‘Given I found your dream up on the surface, you’ll probably wake up just fine as soon as you’re out of here.’ Zoe closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto the brickwork behind her.

‘You’ve… no idea how much I needed to hear that right now…’ she sighed. ‘Wait… you can see into other people’s dreams…?’ She rolled her head down to frown his way.

‘Anyone in Holmstowe,’ Dorian shrugged. ‘Although some are better hidden than others. Yours was quite hard to find, actually.’

‘So… you’ve been up to the surface, then?’ she asked, to which Dorian nodded. ‘And… you still couldn’t wake up…’ Her mind had already wandered back to her brother. Even if she could find him here, what good would that do if she couldn’t take him back with her?

‘Well,’ the boy said, ‘I hadn’t considered it until you suggested that I might have been sent to a hospital in another town, but…’ He glanced up to the skyline of steeples and Gothic spires. ‘This place is heavily tied to Holmstowe, for whatever reason. Maybe… if my real body’s not in Holmstowe any more, then that’s why I can’t wake up. Nowhere for me to “go” when I do.’

Another wave of relief, although Zoe couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for this one, given it came at her new acquaintance's expense.

‘Although,’ Dorian continued, his gaze shifting sceptically back down to Zoe, ‘why would you even think to suggest that in the first place…?’

‘My… brother,’ Zoe answered, wincing under the boy’s sudden scrutiny, ‘he’s… in the same… “situation” as you. That’s… why I’m here.’ She nodded to one side and took a deep breath. ‘He’s in the cottage hospital in Holmstowe, but he’s the only one there with his condition.’ She shrugged, trying not to seem dismissive. ‘So they must have taken you somewhere else, or I’d have heard of you.’

‘Oh,’ Dorian nodded, lifting his chin, ‘yes, your brother. Kit, right? Little guy. Blond hair, big smile.’ He put his hand out to his waist height. ‘About yea big?’

‘Um… no…?’ Zoe frowned. ‘I mean, yes, but… he’s seventeen for a start…?’

‘Ah,’ Dorian chuckled, ‘the memory from that dream must have been quite old, then.’

‘You haven’t seen him around here then, I take it…?’

‘No,’ the boy answered, ‘but hey. It’s a big city…’ He paused in thought, staring down at the uneven cobble below before glancing back up to Zoe.

‘Tell you what,’ he said, ‘I’ll make you a deal: I’ll help you find your brother, but you’ve got to do something for me too.’

Zoe’s eyes widened, and she found herself nodding even before she’d consciously decided to accept.

‘Once we’ve got him back to the surface,’ Dorian explained, ‘I’d only ask you help me do the same: find out what hospital I’m at, and find a way to get me back to Holmstowe.’

Technically speaking, it was quite the ask. God only knew how she’d be able to get an unrelated coma patient out of a hospital without raising any suspicion. If that was the price for finding her brother, though, she could only say she’d damn well find a way, or get herself arrested trying.

‘Deal,’ she agreed. ‘Although, for now, I really do need to find a way out of here before morning…’ She tilted her head back towards the cathedral. ‘You said the lighthouse…?’

‘I wouldn’t,’ Dorian replied. ‘The Keepers don’t seem to mind things coming in, but they can be a bit… aggressive about things getting out…’

Zoe grimaced, remembering just how glad she’d been that the gargoyles in the tower had remained immobile.

‘No,’ he continued, ‘passages out seem to connect to old, meaningful sites in the town above. Closest’s probably those old tunnels in the northern cliffs I sometimes see the creatures here using, but…’ He bit his lip as he thought. ‘Getting through them without bumping into anything can be a little…’

The boy seemed to consider something before shaking his head and giving Zoe a disarming smile.

‘You know what,’ he said, ‘we’re friends, right?’ Zoe blinked.

‘You… saved my life,’ she reasoned, ‘and you’ve offered to help find my brother, so… yeah. I mean, we just met, but I’d say we’re on pretty good track.’

‘Heh, good,’ Dorian chuckled, seemingly quite pleased to hear it. ‘Meet me back here tomorrow night. For now, I’ll show you a trick to get back that I don’t think even any of the monsters know.’

‘Uhh, sure,’ Zoe nodded, inwardly a little uncertain, but glad for any way to bypass the route she’d just taken tonight. ‘Might bring a gun next time,’ she added, ‘rather than a knife…’

‘Don’t bother,’ Dorian replied, pushing away from the wall and stepping over to stand beside her. ‘Technology doesn’t really behave properly here. As far as tools go, the simpler the better, especially when it comes to weapons you might need to rely on.’

Gently taking Zoe’s shoulder, the boy cocked his head to the side to better align their perspectives before pointing his new friend’s attention up and towards the full moon looming in the sky above. The luminous butterfly resting on the drainpipe chose that moment to flutter up and into the air, almost seeming to circle where Dorian was pointing before flitting away again and out of sight.

‘What’s old,’ he mumbled, ‘meaningful, and exists both here and in the waking world?’

Zoe followed his finger and took in the view, quickly realising what it was that he meant. If she ignored what was around her and focused, then the moon in the sky here looked exactly the same as it had on the beach.

‘See you tomorrow, Zoe,’ Dorian said, his voice falling away even as his hand on her shoulder fell away with it.

She blinked and looked back down, feeling a rush of elation as she found herself standing on the sand by Drey Island. The scene quickly gave way to sparkling morning light streaming in through her bedroom window as she finally opened her eyes and found them to be filled with tears.