‹ Prequel: Chasing Imagination
Sequel: Martyr's Run

Hurricane Heart

Cornered

Hurricane

How the hell did all of this work? It was too damn confusing! Destiny wasn’t written like this. Things weren’t ‘meant to be’ in the way they sometimes were in movies. Psychics didn’t exist. Premonitions didn’t exist. Sure, Nightshade was an exception, but even she couldn’t just ‘predict the future.’ It was only a general idea of what could be; far from accurate. That was all it was: an idea.

So what had happened to Arjan? One did not merely dream of war and revolution, and then it just happened. Life was not like that.

And how did the Soulless know what he was dreaming? They couldn’t read minds.

A light came on in my head. It was so confusing, but I was getting there, sorting out this puzzle as I briskly strode through the empty, dark streets.

Maybe his ideas came around in a roundabout way. Maybe he wasn’t dreaming of war and revolution before he met me; maybe he was just...dreaming.

This was getting exciting.

What if, the Soulless just wanted him for dreaming? They found out—and I had no idea how—that he dreamt more than the average person, so they followed him and wanted to hunt him down. And then I found them. I saw a Soulless go into the hotel room of a non-Dreamer, and just assumed that this guy, Arjan, must be important. As it happened, he dreamt more than the average person, but that was the only important thing about him. His dreams were just innocent dreams. Maybe the Soulless were trying to round up lots of non-Dreamer dreamers for whatever reason.

So I took him away, wanting to keep him safe from the Soulless, wanting to protect him, assuming they needed him for something. And I told him about the Dreamers, and about imagination, and about freedom, and everything that was associated with it all. And, being particularly perceptive towards dreams, Arjan began to dream about what I told him. He began to dream about Dreamers and Soulless and war and revolution and freedom because I had been talking about it, and because I had been teaching him to be more open-minded. He had just taken open-mindedness to the extreme, and something better than any of us had hoped for had happened. And then he had passed the idea of war and revolution on to me.

I was kind of responsible for him now being Germany’s most wanted, but in a good way. Without me, he would have never had any ‘big’ dreams, because no one had explained the idea to him.

It was dead confusing, but damn! I was clever!

***

I turned into another road. Someone was coming out of the underground.

‘Carl!’ I cried, as soon as I could be sure that the face coming into view was, indeed, who I hoped it was.

And he wasn’t alone, either.

Five Dreamers followed him, including Jonas, despite being the betrayer hater, and, even more shockingly, Tobias.

‘You got Tobias to come?’ was the first thing I said as we reached each other, standing inappropriately in the middle of the road. I had to admit; I was genuinely impressed.

‘I told him about the Soulless,’ Carl said in an almost comedy-style whisper. ‘I didn’t actually mention you.’

I shrugged. ‘That makes more sense.’ I couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened. ‘Was five all that you managed to persuade?’

Carl shook his head, his ego expanding to the size of a hot air balloon, even though five out of around a hundred and fifty really wasn’t much of an achievement.

‘Nope,’ he said. ‘Emilie’s bringing a car, and that’s full, and I think Anke might be driving too, although I think she’s only brought Mark—no one else—and then if I’m right, quite a few others who’re just finishing something off for the Master are coming on the metro.'

Now I was a little more satisfied.

‘Not bad going,’ I said. ‘For you.’

‘Always so generous with the compliments,’ he replied, sarcastic but friendly.

Since last seeing any of the Dreamers, I had come to the conclusion that Arjan and I had the power to save the world. Naturally, because of this, I was in a better mood than last time I spoke to Carl, but he still edged around me, treading on broken glass the whole time.

I had no idea whether to tell him. For convenience, I decided not to right now, although the excitement and the adrenaline and the fear were all so great that I had a hard time containing them. Maybe all this new-found emotion was making up for lost time.

It was only for tonight though.

‘Hurricane!’ As I looked up, seemingly from out of nowhere, Jonas appeared.

‘I have to go,’ I said hastily.

‘Nice to see you too,’ Jonas joked. ‘Are you angry with me or something?’

I rolled my eyes. We Dreamers were a self-centred lot. ‘No, actually,’ I told both of them. ‘It’s not about you at all. I’ve got to go and find Arjan, and fast.’

‘You haven’t found him yet?’ Carl asked. Jonas looked slightly less anxious—Arjan was only a betrayer as far as he was concerned.

‘No I have, but I left him and said I’d be back in ten minutes.’

‘That was stupid.’

‘Piss off.’ I laughed slightly, but I was uneasy. The very mention of Arjan conjured up memories of my father.

‘Have you got the right drugs?’ Jonas asked. I had to hold back a little laughter—of course Casper had told him that I was only coming back to drug Arjan and make him forget all about the Dreamers. I assumed that Carl figured differently; he was a little more perceptive towards me, but I didn’t know.

‘Yeah,’ I lied briskly. Without another word, I turned and departed as swiftly as I had arrived.

I had not been away from the other Dreamers for five minutes before I turned a corner and practically ran into Scarrus.

‘Hurricane!’ he said, as shocked at me bolting round the corner into this little, office-lined road as I was to see him round there. ‘It’s...good...to see you again.’

‘You too,’ I muttered in an offhand way. Unfortunately, though, he had a gun, and it was drawn, and there was no getting out of this quickly. Arjan would have to accept another load of my pathetic sounding but actually very reasonable apologies.

I reached for my gun but an ominous sounding click made me freeze.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Scarrus, light, but with an air of threat hidden beneath. Without hesitation, his gun was pointed into my face.

‘You do realise that there are about twenty of us out here now,’ I said, keeping my tone cool and emotionless.

‘And you do realise that there are about forty of us, don’t you?’ he said in way of reply.

‘It’s gone up since I last heard; did you need backup?’ I smirked, knowing that pride was one of Scarrus’s weaknesses. ‘One boy proving too much trouble for only thirty of you?’

‘Very funny,’ he muttered. ‘I always admire those who are able to greet death with humour.’

If my eyesight was just a little bit superhuman, I would have been able to see the markings on his gun. Sadly, though, whatever else I had trained my body to do, I couldn’t really exaggerate my vision, so I was stuck with wondering which gun Scarrus had as opposed to knowing.

I decided to opt for being straight-out.

‘You’re not going to kill me,’ I said.

‘Oh really?’ he challenged.

‘Not tonight.’ I raised my eyebrows, daring him.

He fired his gun.

I screamed as the agony hit me, feeling pain shoot through every vein and every limb of my body as I staggered back and into the wall, my head crashing against it, remembering unfortunately how this was how Heiko died—this office building even had the same shiny, black exterior as the one his blood was smeared across in a road not so far away.

But the pain was electric. As the worst of it ravaged my body, I screamed and convulsed, but eventually I began to breathe over it and study it. Yes, it had hit me squarely in the chest, but there was no blood; no wounds of any kind.

I smiled up from where I was slumped against the building, rubbing the back of my head, which had hit the stone hard, and preparing my shaky legs to stand up.

‘I always knew you were a liar.’

‘I always knew you were one too,’ Scarrus replied. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve told Arjan your name yet?’

‘It’s hardly the most important thing, is it?’ I said, using the wall to help me to my feet as I stood, swaying slightly. The comment had caught me off guard, but I didn’t let it faze me, no matter how true it may be.

Scarrus raised his eyebrows slyly so that they appeared over the top of his black leather mask.

‘It’s about trust, though,’ he said. ‘I know your idea is for the boy to trust you, but it’s not as easy as just blackmailing him with secrets and stories.’

‘How do you know what I told him?’ I hissed menacingly, taking a large stride forward.

‘I have many men in the area,’ he replied.

‘Then why didn’t they show themselves?’

‘Because that wasn’t the intention,’ Scarrus said. ‘To be honest, it’s actually a little inconvenient, killing you tonight. We want to wait until the boy can do the maximum amount of damage with what he knows. And every little story you tell him is a little bit more that he can blab to us. I think I once heard you yourself say that ‘every piece of knowledge we have is a weapon we can use against you.’’

‘Shut up,’ I said, sounding threatening, but actually just going to my last resort. ‘Shut up’ really meant that I had nothing better to say. ‘Arjan isn’t going to betray me. Surely the fact that he shot your bitch Elize, even when she was clinging to him like a limpet, shows whose side he’s really on.’

‘You’d be surprised,’ Scarrus said. He lowered his gun slightly and took a step closer to talk to me. ‘He holds no allegiances. And lone rangers can be incredibly easy to persuade and influence.’

The lowering of his gun was all I needed. I had known all along that Scarrus loved to talk. Keep him talking, and I could win in the end.

With a hammering heart and the speed of lightning, I whipped my gun from the little belt holder round my waist and fired at him.

It was a clumsy shot, and, in my haste, I missed.

There was nothing for it.

I turned and ran.

The chase was on. I sprinted back round the corner and down the road at full pace. I considered going back to the Dreamers, but that involved too many long, straight roads which Scarrus could shoot down, and they might have moved anyway. Instead, I took a right turn down a smaller road, and another, and another. My sides burned and I could barely catch my breath, but this was all I could do. Arjan would have to wait. I would have to provide an excuse.