Page 177 of Sweet Nightmare

He starts to ask more, but as soon as his concentration slips, the monster in front of him starts to break free.

“So what do we do now?” he asks as he jerks his attention back to the monsters he’s holding in thrall.

“I think we do what you did with the tapestry,” I tell him, because I’ve got no better ideas. “I think we unravel the monsters, one nightmare at a time.”

Jude’s shoulders droop a little at my words, and I think it’s because he’s figuring out that something is very wrong here. That even if we manage to vanquish the monsters, there’s a lot more to unpack here than just what’s happened today.

I place a comforting hand on his back—though the truth is I don’t know if it’s him or myself that I’m trying to comfort.

Jude nods and says, “Okay. Let’s try it.”

I glance over to see Simon is sitting by Ember. I’m glad to see someone is taking care of her. But everyone else steps forward to join us. Once everyone is in place, I ask Jude, “Ready?”

The look on his face says that he is not remotely ready. But then he gives me that tiny little grin of his, and I know he’s going to be okay.

He starts with the squid monster, loosening the nightmares wrapped around it but keeping them close if he needs them. But when he tries to unravel the monster like he did the tapestry, nothing happens.

He tries a second and a third time and still nothing.

“We could try stabbing them,” Izzy suggests with a shrug. “It worked with the chricklers.”

“I think I’ve got a better idea,” Jude tells us. “But you might want to get behind me.”

None of us has to be asked twice, not after what we’ve seen in the last forty-eight hours.

We angle ourselves to also provide cover for Simon and Ember, and when we’re all safe behind him, he closes his eyes. Takes a deep breath. And flings his arms out.

As he does, every nightmare in the room unravels—including the ones wrapped around the monsters. The second they’re free, they freak out and charge straight for us, blood in their eyes.

“Was this your big plan?” Luis asks skeptically. “Because I have to say I liked them better the other way.”

Jude ignores him as he pulls all the nightmares back to him with one clench of his fist. But the monsters are closing in, too, racing for us like their very existences depend on it—because they do.

“We should run,” Mozart says. “Right?”

“These aren’t enough,” Jude tells us, and for the first time he looks a little sick. “I need more.”

“There aren’t any more!” Luis tells him. “And if we wait much longer, those monsters are going to turn us into flesh spaghetti.”

“Take mine,” I tell him.

Jude turns shocked eyes to me. “What—”

“Take my nightmares!” I say again.

Remy joins in. “Take all of ours.”

Jude stares at us for a second, as if gauging our seriousness.

“What are you waiting for?” Luis demands. “We sure as shit don’t need them.”

Jude nods and then holds out both his hands and closes his eyes again, despite the fact that the monsters are bearing down on us.

“Hurry!” Mozart urges.

Jude nods, and then he starts to pull. He pulls and pulls and pulls, and I watch in wonder as nightmares flow out of us and into the glowing ball of nightmares he has spinning in front of him.

Even after everything that happened in the cellar, I’m still astonished at how beautiful the nightmares are. I assumed they would all be dark, scary shades. But they’re not. So many of them are brightly colored and shiny, and I realize that this is what Jude was talking about.

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