CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
"Because it's coming,"
As soon as the words left Jet's mouth, the crows that were outside the hospital started making noises as a deafening thunder shook the sky. The birds were obviously frightened as they kept cawing and wouldn't settle down.
The four of them turned towards the window and saw the storm brewing over the horizon. And it was unlike any they've seen before. The night kept getting lit up by continuous lightning; violet, blue, white, red, and yellow colored the sky—showing how violent and furious the clouds were. All the air left their lungs as trepidation dominated the room.
"Fucking hell," Clinton cussed as he stared at the night sky. "What is happening?"
"It's coming," Jet answered. "Whatever the hell Alice warned me about; it's here,"
Ronnie walked towards Alec; all his sleepiness gone. "But what the hell is it? And if it's already here, what happened to Alice?"
~oOo~
Despite the doctor's adamant refusal to discharge Jet from the hospital, Clinton pulled all the strings he needed to get him out of there. Since the crows were obviously following him, the hospital was the last place they wanted to be in when whatever was coming found them.
"We can use The Agency system to see what is happening out there from here," Clinton said as they entered his office, pointing to his computers.
Ronnie quickly took the seat in front of the monitors and opened up every camera he could commandeer to see. Despite the continuous lightning and thunder, there was no rain. And they also quickly found out that whatever was making the storm was only affecting their city. Outside the boundaries, the sky was peaceful—as if there was a glitch in the matrix.
"Alice said that you shouldn't be there," Alec started as he paced around the room. "There, what? In the dream? But what is in your dream?"
Clinton disagreed. "Or she was simply saying that he shouldn't be dreaming and that he needs to wake up because something is coming?"
"No," Jet interrupted. "I think Alec is right. I mean—that other shadow, he took Alice. What if—what if whatever this is came from there?"
"There's no way to make sure unless you go back there since you're our only connection to Alice," Clinton argued and then snapped his fingers as if he thought of a great idea. "Should I punch you out cold?"
"Haha," Jet laughed sarcastically as he rolled his eyes at the older man and Ao cawed at Clinton as if taking Jet's side. "If you're ever serious about that let me just tell you it doesn't work that way,"
Clinton shrugged. "Too bad. I thought that was my chance,"
Alec glared at the two of them and they quickly shut up. Clinton stood up and walked towards Ronnie who was busy watching the screen and Jet darted away from his gaze. With a sigh, Alec walked towards the coffee maker at the corner of the room and started the machine.
There was silence between the four of them as Alec counted the drops of water in front of him. And when the coffee was done, he poured four cups of it. Putting the cups in the tray, he gave each of them a cup. Ronnie and Clinton accepted it with thanks while Jet completely ignored him as the younger man had his head looking at the floor while gripping it with both of his hands in deep thought.
Ao fluttered down from Jet's head to the table. She walked around as if she couldn't calm down just like what Alec had been doing a few moments ago. He sat down at the couch opposite of Jet's. He knew everyone was worried and was thinking of ways to find Alice but he couldn't help the nerve. He already lost her once. And he'll walk the fires of hell barefoot if it meant finding her.
"Wait—" Ronnie suddenly started as he spun in his chair to face Alec and Jet. "What if that shadow left Alice in the dream world? I mean let's say she was stopping him from getting out of there; if he's already here there's really only one place to look for Alice,"
"The dream world," Jet answered as he raised his head and Ronnie nodded.
"According to you, Alice said it wasn't your fight. She was there and she knew all about it, giving you warnings and such; it could mean that it's hers. She's the one fighting this war," Ronnie added. "If it's possible that the dream world is his prison, it's also possible that he locked Alice there as well,"
Clinton leaned on the table as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That actually sounded plausible,"
Ronnie shrugged. "You got to understand though that this is all just a theory of mine. It's also possible that the dream world is his realm and he just decided to expand on it,"
Alec sucked in a deep breath. "I'm willing to find out. But do you know of a way to get to the dream world?"
Ronnie rolled his eyes at Alec as he raised both of his arms in the air in a confident manner. "Mate, have you forgotten? Dimensional Manipulation? The dream world is technically still a dimension,"
Alec and Jet jumped up to their feet at his statement, their eyes shining in obvious hope. Jet walked briskly towards the older man and grabbed him in the collars. "Can you or can you not?"
Ronnie raised his hand in surrender as Clinton and Alec told him to calm down. "Mate, I can. I just need the right channel and opening a portal to it will be a piece of cake,"
Jet frowned at him. "What do you mean by the right channel?"
"First off, get your hands off me, mate," Ronnie started and Jet quickly apologized as he let him go. He sat back down on his chair. "Well, it's just like the television, mate. If she's locked on channel 8 and we went to channel 9 there's no way we'll see her no matter how much we look. I need to know whose dream she's in,"
"Mine?" Jet guessed. "She was there, right?"
Ronnie shook his head. "She most definitely wasn't,"
"What do you mean?" Alec asked. "She appeared in his dreams right?"
"No. A part of her appeared in your dream," Ronnie answered. "If she was fully in there, you would have seen her entire image. But you said it was just a shadow. Besides, you said another shadow took her away," his voice trailed off as he caressed his chin between his fingers. "But that could be her signal. It can work like WiFi. Appearing in your dreams like that would leave a footprint. We can use that signal of hers to trace where she really is,"
Clinton stared at him, deep in thought as well. "How can we get access to her signal?"
Ronnie looked up at Jet. "The signal is at Jet's mind. We can enter his dreams first and look for any trails Alice might have left. We'll have to take a tour in Jet's crazy mind though,"
Clinton stood up straight and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Well, we can try that instead of nothing. But—somehow has to stay here and guard. To see if either Alice comes back or," then he glanced at the monitors. "Or that something might start attacking,"