Page 14 of Buried Secret 295

The taffy-like material extends from the ceiling, flipping me around as it places my feet on the floor before it pulls away from me. “Sorry, I had to take a pinch of DNA to compare.” Her voice doesn’t sound sorry in the least bit.

“Was that the squeeze that I felt at the end?” I say as I stretch, feeling a little out of sorts from hanging out upside down.

Her eyes narrow on me. Somehow, I feel like a weird gold-digger meeting the family who nobody approves of. “Yes. This will assure the others when I inform them of your stay.”

“Please alert the others that my daughter has arrived. She isn’t a snack or someone to be devoured.” Constantine nods his head before looking at me and smiling. “Shall we?”

I nod as we walk away, yet I look back several times to see if that thing will follow me. “I am pretty certain she wants to devour me.”

Constantine laughs and shakes his head. “Well, of course she wants to. She won’t now.” He taps the side of his head. “Everyone has confirmed that any nightmares that wander here will not eat or harm you. Most will keep their distance from you.” He scrunches his face as he looks at me. “They are not exactly great with people or conversations. With that out of the way, welcome to The Realm Of Dreams, where nightmares are our specialty.”

“Is that seriously your catchphrase for this place? Because, not going to lie, it’s pretty catchy.” This place is dark yet mysterious,with stacks and stacks of books. It seems like the place is changing as we move through it. “How are you doing that?”

“This place responds to my needs. It will respond the same way to you. You walk, and it leads you to where you want to go. There is no beginning, middle, or end here. It just simply is. You can create your space simply by thinking about what you want and need. This place is from dreams. If it exists, we can make it happen.”

“That is equally helpful and not at all,” I tell him. “It makes little sense to me.”

Constantine shrugs. “If you need anything in particular, it will even lead you to a nightmare or me.” He pauses and shrugs. “It will lead you to a helpful nightmare. They will be happy to help you with anything you need. A few designated rooms are the same no matter what imagination you have going on. That is the library, my study, and the main lobby, which we just left. If you need anything else, make it what you want.

“Do the nightmares just wander about?” I ask, not understanding exactly how this works.

“Each one of them has their purpose. They affect people’s dreams, leaving a small piece of themselves behind, attaching the person to their web of dreams. Just like a spider that wraps up an insect within their web, they feed a little at a time, except they don’t kill them. They easily could. Each nightmare is feeding from people and powering me and this world. Powerful emotions like anger, fear, or excitement...” Constantine explains, shrugging. “…a lot of sex. The important part is that it all comes from dreams, and that’s how I feed. Different demons have different ways of going about it. Now, the Nightmares here will only seek you out if instructed to bring you to me. They tend to enjoy the library, so you will probably see them there.”

“Well, she is utterly terrifying.” Nightmare is a perfect description for her. Nothing seems to make sense when you look at her.

“Ohhh, just wait until you meet Peter.” He waves his finger at me while a slight smile appears on his lips. “He is one of my best. I don’t remember exactly what happened when I made him, but wow. Have no fear. They are all extensions of me, so they won’t ever hurt you—not now that I have given them the instructions. You are safe here. As you have seen firsthand, our security measures are in place.”

“Yeah, I’m good with never testing that out again. It felt like it licked me, and I don’t know how that is even possible. Whoever created that, bravo.” I say with a slight shiver.

“Monica and Peter. See, this is why they are my top two. It’s their mixture of a spider and a snake’s death. They ran with the idea and it didn’t disappoint.” Constantine stops at a set of doors, opens one, and motions me to enter.

I pause and shake my head while narrowing my eyes at him. “What the hell is happening?”

He tilts his head, giving me an odd look of confusion. “What is happening with what, exactly?” When I don’t move or speak, he gestures inside the room. “Can you at least come inside so we can talk like civilized people? Why does this feel so awkward right now?” He moves his hand over and over, motioning to enter.

I don’t move. He throws his hands up before he stops holding the door like a gentleman and leaving it open. He walks inside, and I follow behind, closing the large ornate door that looks hand-crafted. The room looks like a small library. An enormous stone fireplace sits in the center of the room. Chairs sit in a small half-moon shape in front of the fireplace. A large desk with bookcases sitting around it sits on the right. “See...” I motion to the room. “…this seems like a library, but I am half convincedthis might be your ‘study.’” I use air quotes on the word the study. The world isn’t like what I remember it being once.

Constantine shoots me an unimpressed look. “This is a study. It just contains my personal books in a system that suits me. The library is for everyone and follows library rules for filing. This place is attuned to me and me alone. Everything is how I want it.” He motions around him. “My space.”

“But isn’t everything from here how you want it? Since you made it?” I inquired, wondering how he ever got anything done.

He plops down on one of the high-back ornate chairs. A drink appears at his fingertips, and he swirls the ice in his glass. “Yes, and no? My nightmares are part of me because I created them, and they have certain programming, but I assure you they each have their own personalities. This world is theirs, too. I want them to enjoy the aspects that are suitable for their needs. I also want you to access this world whenever you’re ready. You will discover I am not a hard person to get along with…” He hums with his mouth. “Okay, maybe I am, but give me a chance. I am learning here.”

He motions me to sit down. I sit across from him and study him. Nothing in my life has been free. It hasn’t worked this way. This strange man shares my DNA and embraces it entirely, or at least seems to. “I don’t understand how this is supposed to work?”

“Why do we have to have a plan?” He throws his head back as if exhausted. His hand wipes down his face, and he grumbles as he levels his eyes on me with an unamused look. “If you want a plan, let me present one.” He waves his hand, and a table appears between us. A large paper unravels. “Step one, get through all the bullshit of getting you and I linked. That way, Marcus cannot legally touch you.” The paper writes as he talks, the words appearing on the paper with elegant penmanship. “Train you to be prepared for the Academy. All while teachingyou how to feed yourself. That is how far I have gotten. We have a lot of other things that I will have to jump through, but that’s for me to worry about.” He motions to what is written down between us. “This is the only shit you need to worry about.”

I lean back in my chair and let out a breath. “Why are you even doing this in the first place? It’s a lot, and you seem oddly okay with it.”

He clears his throat. “Do you need a drink because I feel like this is something we talk about over drinks?”

I tilt my head and give him a perplexed look. “I don’t know. Not sure I am technically allowed?”

“Rules are meant to be broken.” He shrugs as a frozen red drink appears in my hand. “Strawberry daiquiri?”

I raise my glass and take a sip. “Is this when you say you’re not a normal dad but a cool one?”

Constantine scoffs, “I am cool.” Then the mood around him shifts, almost feeling like relief. Is this going to become the norm? Feeling people’s emotions before they happen? “I know you. It makes little sense, but when your shadows collided with mine, it told me what I needed to know. You are my daughter. I am happy to be in your life in whatever capacity you allow. Life has a way of showing who is supposed to be important in your life. Trust me when I say I am loyal when I swear it, and this is me swearing it. People can say what they like about a man like me. You’re under my protection. I will get everything sorted legally so you can be listed as my heir. It will give you protection.”

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