Farmer's face grew serious, his eyebrows squeezing together. “A glorified dream? Jimmy, you really are lost if you look at this place in that way. The Yumeka is as real as anything in your waking world, I can assure you. It's a melding of dreams and reality, and they both affect the other.”

  “So how would they destroy the world?”

  “By destroying the Yumeka for your world.”

  “But how?”

  “They would destroy it's mind.”

  “It's mind?”

  “Yes. Jimmy, every world is alive—living and breathing as you are. And its mind and heart, or what some might call its soul, is trapped in the Stomper's clutches just as much as you and everyone else.”

  “Well, it's just me, now.”

  Farmer tilted his head like what I said wasn't totally true. “That, too, is not so crystal clear. Their real freedom is dependent on you defeating the Stompers.”

  “Okay, so tell me what I need to do to prevent them from blowing up earth.”

  Farmer laughed. “Oh, they won't blow it up. They'll just make it die.”

  “How do I stop it?”

  “You must find the soul of your world before they do.”

  “Find it? How do you find a soul?”

  “In the Yumeka it will be something symbolic that only you will understand. Unfortunately, I don't know what that is. But in the end, it will be you against them, trying to find it.”

  “Why am I not surprised that you don't know what it is?”

  “Because you're getting smarter and smarter. You're catching on.”

  “Very funny. What else do I need to know to beat them?”

  “After you win—not if, after—we will meet again. But for now, that's it.”

  “Can't you tell me more about the Power?”

  “It really has no limits, Jimmy. You'll figure it out.” Farmer sighed and then rubbed his chin. “Now, one last thing before I go. I have to tell you something, now—something that isn't going to be easy for you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Farmer's eyes dropped and any trace of a smile vanished. “I've been telling you for a long time that the biggest surprise of all was still in your future.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, my curiosity killing me.

  “Well, it's time for you to know everything. All of it.”

  “Good, it's about time.” I'd always felt in the dark on so many things.

  Farmer frowned. “When I'm done, you'll long for the days when you didn't know what I'm about to tell you.” He rubbed his eyes and face with his hands, and sighed. “It's about the Layers. Where you are, right now, is only another Layer of the Stomper's horrors. The Second Layer.”

  He leaned forward and his eyes narrowed.

  “Jimmy, you have been inside the Yumeka for longer than you think—since before we even met. Since before the door in the woods.”

  “What?” I asked. Panic filled me as the first glimpses of understanding settled in.

  “Please, hear me out. You know it in your heart, so don't fight it.” He leaned back. “You and your family were captured and imprisoned by the Stompers almost a year ago. That was the First Layer, where you were subjected to all kinds of terrors and nightmares. It was in the recent months that the Stompers decided to go to the next Layer, the Second Layer. Your memories were wiped clean up to the point where they first invaded your world, and in your minds, inside the Yumeka, inside the clutches of the Stompers, you started all over.”

  My jaw dropped farther to the ground with every word out of his mouth. Bile rose up from my stomach, and I had to swallow it back down.

  “Soon your memories will return,” he continued. “You'll realize how different it was when they vanquished your world the first time. You see, the Blackness is not a gateway between physical planets, it is a gateway connecting the many worlds of the Yumeka. Yours and countless others. The only reason you were spared for so long is because of the lack of an actual iron gateway to Earth. In the end, the Black Curtain was the only way to get here. And that is the one mystery we may never understand.”

  “But,” I said, my mind spinning, trying to come up with the right questions. “But, the Shadow Ka …”

  “You would never have seen the Ka in their hideous form in your physical world. They came through the Ripping of the Curtain, entered the minds of those they could most easily conquer—people like Custer Bleak. They became Shadow Ka themselves, taking control of the Yumeka for your people, one by one using their power to pull people into the Black Coma.

  “What you witnessed then was a blackening of the skies, people running around in chaos, holding their heads, fighting the song of the Shadow Ka in their minds and dreams. But eventually you lost, all of you, every last human sucked into the Black Coma and taken to the Stompers inside the Yumeka. Those humans possessed by the Ka have spent their lives since taking care of your bodies—literally feeding them and keeping them alive.

  “When you finally win this war, your people will wake up, finding a world that is decayed and rotting. It will take many years to rebuild, but recover they will.

  “But until then, your real bodies will remain in that coma, lying wherever they may be in the physical world. Yours is probably getting very hungry since you sent the Ka through the Black Curtain. You must get back soon before you starve to death.”

  As Farmer spoke and shattered my whole perception of the life I'd lived and the world around me, my mind grew numb and my stomach ill. It was way too much information to process fully, but the gist of it had hit home, and hit hard. Everything I'd done—the Doors, the battles, the rescues—all of it had been done within the confines of the Yumeka, inside the fabricated world of the Stompers.

  “So … this past year has been a dream?” I asked, staring at an empty spot in the gray distance.

  “A dream?” asked Farmer. “My dear boy, this is not a dream. I've told you before, the Yumeka is just as real as the physical world. It's just … different.”

  “Why didn't you tell me before?” I asked.

  “I couldn't. Believe me when I tell you that it was difficult. But I couldn't. The whole essence of your battle with the Shadow Ka in the First Layer was defeating them within what their masters had created. It could not have worked any other way. We spent centuries looking and planning for such an opportunity. And you did it, Jimmy—you did it. And now that you are in the Second Layer, you are ready for the truth.”

  My head sunk toward the soggy ground. It was almost too much to handle. In the real world I was lying somewhere in a coma? I'd been trapped within the Yumeka for a year? It was just too much.

  “But …” was all I could get out.

  “Jimmy, this changes nothing but your perception of the past. The future is still in your hands. If you defeat the Stompers in any Layer, you win. You'll wake up inside the Yumeka, free from your enemy, tell your loved ones the truth, and then everyone will be ready to wake up in the real world. Yes, you'll be a little older than you think, but what does that matter? You'll have won, and it will be over.”

  “What does it matter?” I asked, tears welling up in my eyes. “To be told that you're living a lie? That the past year of your memory is something planted there by evil creatures? To know that my real body is lying on some stone bed somewhere, hoping to one day wake up? I think it matters a lot.”

  “I know, it's hard to accept,” Farmer said. “But when it's over, and you do get your life back, I promise you—all will be right in the world.”

  I fell to the ground, mud and water soaking me instantly, and put my head in my hands. “Just leave me alone,” I said. “I need to think.”

  “Okay, Jimmy. Take your time, but remember what you must still do.” He walked away to a nearby tree and leaned against it. “I won't leave,” he yelled through the rain, “until you are ready to move ahead. Think on things, and come to terms with it.”

  My mind spun trying to take it all in. Everything I could remember of the past year was part of the nightmares of the Stompers—a plan to put me in a position where they could suck the fear out of me from the very beginning all over again. I knew nothing about the real world and what awaited me there if I was able to get back. It made me hurt inside, and for a long time I sat and pondered Farmer's revelation.

  I finally stood up, and told him to come back. He walked over.

  “Just tell me one thing,” I said, “and I want the truth.”

  “Anything.”

  “Is my family, and my home, and all that—is that just made up?”

  “No, Jimmy, no. The Stompers can only do so much. The basic structure of your lives before they came—especially your families—are all duplicated here. Back in your real life, there is your mom and dad, and Rusty. There is Duluth, Georgia. Most of your memories are real—up until the day the Shadow Ka came. That I promise you.”

  “Then I'm ready.”

  Farmer pointed to the lamp post. “Good. You have much to accomplish.”

  “Thanks for the help.” I didn't disguise my sarcasm at all. “All I have to do is go through a bunch of nightmares within one big nightmare that I've been living for a year and then find the soul of a whole planet before the bad guys do. No problem. See ya.”

  “Wait,” Farmer said. “Jimmy, wait.” He paused for a minute. “I want you to know that everything has been for a purpose. I'm glad it's you here, at this time, when everything comes to an end. If I could do this for you …”

  “Farmer, don't worry about it, I mean it. I can do this. Don't worry about me.”

  “I know you can do it, Jimmy. I know it. Now go.”

  Without another word, he reached behind him and grabbed at the air. A Ripping of the Black Curtain opened up, although I couldn't see what was on the other side. He winked, stepped through, and was gone. With its usual sound of static electricity and ripping paper, the opening closed.

  Soaked to the bone and miserable, still shocked from all that Farmer had told me, I turned to the lamp post and touched it.

  The same swirling chaos of color and terrifying images consumed me, and I spun out of that place. The nausea and fear crept back into my system, and I tried my best to close my eyes. But it did no good. I could still see everything.

  I couldn't do this every time. It was driving me insane. I called upon the Power with my mind, reaching out to the madness around me and trying to make it stop. Nothing happened. There was only spinning color and blackness and images of the dead. Not specific enough, I thought. I tried again, this time telling it to stop spinning. It stopped. Everything was still the same, but there was no motion. It was a start.

  I didn't have much time to enjoy it, because it all went away a few seconds later, and I entered the next nightmare of the Stompers.

  This time I was in a big lake.

  It was huge, so that I could hardly see the banks on both sides of me. I treaded water right in the middle, the dark brown water surrounding me like dirty chocolate milk. It looked and felt filthy, and I began swimming. I didn't know where I was going or why, but I had to get moving.

  Something whipped past my leg, bumping it.

  I cried out and kicked underneath the water. It connected with something solid that swam away. Shuddering at the thought of what could be under there, I swam a little faster. I tried my best to keep the water out of my mouth, but bits of it kept trickling in. Nausea had been my constant friend lately, and it came back in full force. The water tasted foul.

  I swam on.

  Another thing bumped my leg. Then another. I kicked out both times and kept swimming. The shore wasn't getting any closer.

  Something sharp nicked my leg. Then a big mouth closed around my right shoe, teeth digging into my flesh. I kicked my foot out and thrashed my legs in every direction, panic beginning to overwhelm me. The water churned all around me as more of the creatures came to play.

  I couldn't take it anymore. Calling upon the Power, I threw my thoughts into pushing the things away. Water swirled as the Gift pushed the creatures away from me, displacing large chunks of the lake, only to have it fill right back up. I couldn't get a good look at the creatures, but slimy bodies kept bumping and nipping me. I concentrated on the Power as I swam, and everything became difficult to manage.

  Still not sure what I was doing, I told the Power to pick me up and take me to shore. I flew out of the water and bumped along the top of it as some unseen force dragged me across the lake. I tried to bring it under control but my mind couldn't focus. Slapping and skimming the lake's surface, I flew toward shore, leaving the things far behind. But my body got decorated with bruises as I went.

  When I reached the shore, the force threw me off the lake. I tumbled along the sand until I smashed into a tree. I rolled over onto my back and groaned. Every inch hurt, and my head spun. I had a lot to learn about using the Power.

  A hundred yards or so down the shore of the lake was another lamp post. With all of my heart I wanted to stop—it sickened me to think of going through more of these nightmares. But I pushed forward, knowing there was no other choice. I had to do this, and do it until something changed. My one hope was the Power. Once I got it under control, things would get easier.

  As I neared the post, I almost laughed thinking of Farmer and his lessons where he made me raise my arms. We hadn't gotten that far this last time, and maybe that was why it was so difficult.

  Thoughts of his revelation about the last year of my life sobered me right up.

  I made it to the post, and without hesitating, touched it.

  From there I went to an insane asylum where some crazed killers chased me around until I figured out I could just flick them away with the Power every time they got close to me. It didn't take long to find another lamp post.

  Then it was a school bus, out of control, driving down the wrong side of the freeway. I sat in the back, and there wasn't any sign of a driver or passengers. I fought myself, pushing away the panic, and turned to the back door of the bus. I opened it, and jumped out, using the Power to make me land nice and easy. I ran to the side of the road and found a lamp post. That one had been way too easy, I thought, and figured it was because I didn't do what it expected—stay on the bus and freak out the whole time.

  I touched the post.

  From there it went on and on.

  Burning buildings, bank robberies, trapped in a buried coffin. Each time, I learned more and more about the Power and how to use it. Earthquakes, tornadoes, exploding volcanoes. Meteors, hurricanes, and tidal waves. Nightmare after nightmare, the Stompers went for my fear.

  But each time, I won.

  And then the next phase began.

  Something was different about this new place. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something very different.

  I stood on a long paved driveway, with huge trees lined along its edges. The season was late fall because the trees had lost most of their leaves and they covered the ground. It was daytime, but there's wasn't much light, and the sky was cloudy and gray. A soft breeze blew leaves up and around me, their crinkling sound reminding me so much of fall evenings with my family.

  The driveway led to an old house, at least eighty feet away from where I stood. It looked like an old plantation—its huge porch with pillars welcoming me for a visit. The house had once been white, but years of neglect had left it gray and ugly. Shutters were torn, debris was everywhere, and a couple of windows were broken. It looked for all the world like a haunted house.

  Which meant I was supposed to enter it.

  Now that I had more confidence in the Fourth Gift, and didn't want to waste any more time, I walked toward the house.

  Crunch, crunch, crunch went the leaves with every step as I got closer to the steps leading to the porch. Except for the breeze and the leaves, there was no sign of movement or life anywhere.

  I scanned the area as I walked, trying to anticipate things jumping out at me or whatever. But nothing happened.

  I reached the steps, climbed them, and walked up to the front door. The porch was empty—not even a chair or wind chimes or anything. Definitely a haunted house, I thought. The door was old and pockmarked, with its paint long gone, replaced by dirt and grime. The handle was rusted and bent to the side. I grabbed it and gave the door a push.

  It swung inward with a loud creak.

  Come on, people, I thought. Come up with something original.

  The inside was very dark, but I could make out the shadows of a staircase and some furniture. From somewhere in the back, a light shone. I walked toward it, every step letting out a loud, wooden groan. Maybe this nightmare was a simple case of falling through rotting wood and being attacked by rats. But the floor held up under my weight.

  I went down a small hallway, around a couple of bends, and then saw the room where the light came from. It flickered against the walls of the hallway, so I knew it must be some kind of fire. How cozy.

  Bracing myself mentally, readying my mind to use the Power at any moment, I entered the room.

  This one differed from the rest of the house in every way. There was no dust, no cobwebs, no worn-out furniture—everything looked in pristine condition. There were a fancy couch and chairs, elaborate drapes on the window, paintings of old people on the walls, and a nice roaring fire in a stone fireplace. The carpet was thick and plush, and one wall was covered by a bookcase, filled with leather-bound books. It was the sitting room straight out of those movies my mom liked.

  Except for one small difference.

  In the chair by the fireplace sat a monster.

  I barely had time to register what the thing looked like. It was green, with horns, and there was something very strange about its feet. But then it shifted into something else—a big hairy thing that looked like Bigfoot. Seconds later it changed again—this time into a slimy alien with two humongous eyes. Then it was a skeleton, then a mummy, then a witch, then a big blob of red goo. When it turned into a Stormtrooper, I'd had enough.