Eva and Lora walked across the tarmac with Sam. He fumbled with his phone, trying to find some music to help him stay relaxed. He gave up on the distraction. Behind them strode three big Guardians—a moving wall of muscle.
‘Any news on Alex or Tobias?’ Sam asked.
‘I’m sorry,’ Lora sighed. ‘We just can’t find them. It’s like they’ve both vanished.’
Sam nodded. He knew they were doing everything they could. He looked back over to the Guardians behind them. ‘And you’re sure we can trust them?’ he asked out of the side of his mouth as he fell into step with Lora.
‘I’m sure. Those traitors in New York were Egyptian Guardians,’ she replied. ‘The rest of the Guardians are beyond reproach.’
‘But—’
‘They’ll get to the bottom of why they turned,’ she explained. ‘We’ve got teams tracking them down and all the Guardians here are queuing up to punch them in the face when they do.’ Lora paused mid-stride and asked Sam, ‘Why are you walking funny?’
‘It’s these shoes, they’re uncomfortable,’ Sam replied. In the blink of an eye, Lora changed his shoes.
‘They’re made from that stealth fabric too?’ Sam asked in amazement.
The pilot signalled to Lora that the helicopter was ready for boarding. As they got in, the helicopter’s rotors started to turn slowly, winding up for take-off. A soft hum radiated out over the mountain top.
‘All the material used in your clothing is the same type,’ Lora said. ‘Once you learn how to control it, the possibilities are endless—and it sure saves on wardrobe space.’
‘I feel a bit underdressed,’ Sam said to them, looking at his friends in their cool outfits—Eva was dressed in something that looked like it came from a high-fashion runway—and then down at his own jeans and hoodie.
Eva leant over and whispered something to Lora, who laughed and nodded.
‘What’s so funny?’ Sam asked as he buckled in and the helicopter took off. ‘Argh!’ His clothes changed appearance. Eva held up her phone, showing a picture of an annoying teen movie star, whose outfit he now wore. ‘Really, that guy? Eurgh.’
‘Hey, he has better taste in clothes than you do,’ Eva said, chuckling.
Sam shuffled to get comfortable in his seat, nervously fingering the dreamcatcher strap around his neck. He’d managed to persuade the Professor to let him keep the key with him on his trip to Rome. ‘I don’t know why, but I just know I need it. I guess maybe its purpose is buried in my dream somewhere,’ he’d told the Professor.
Now with Guardians on either side of him, he hoped the key would be safe. His two friends and the third Guardian sat opposite. Before Sam could complain again, his shoes changed into a comfortable pair like those he would have worn back home. ‘Thanks, Eva. You’re really going to have to teach me how to do that.’
‘I will, but these don’t go with your outfit now,’ Eva said.
‘What!’ Sam mimed mock horror. ‘Yeah, well,’ he said, smiling down at his shoes, ‘whatcha gonna do?’
Sam’s shoes changed again, this time to some cool, black boots that actually fit fine.
‘Thanks for that, Lora,’ Sam said, ‘but please stop—both of you. I can’t believe I’m the only one who can’t do that yet and you’re fast becoming the two annoying sisters I never had.’
At Geneva airport, a small private jet was waiting on the tarmac.
Lora smiled to the pilots as they climbed aboard. The Guardians sat up front, silent and stony-faced, while the Dreamers sat together towards the rear of the plane.
‘How long’s the flight?’ Sam asked.
‘We’ll be in Rome before sundown,’ Lora replied.
Already the aircraft was moving fast down the runway.
‘And how am I getting into this party?’ Sam asked, thinking back to his dream, which began there.
‘Ta-da!’ Lora said, handing over an ID with Sam’s photo on it. ‘This is your press pass. You’ll be posing as a reporter, with backstage access to her concert. The Enterprise aren’t the only ones with ways and means of getting things done.’
‘Gabriella has a show tonight,’ Eva explained. ‘Her birthday’s something of an after-party.’
‘When you get backstage, you’ll have ten minutes after the gig to do a scheduled interview with Gabriella,’ Lora added.
‘So, let me get this straight,’ Sam said. ‘I have ten minutes to convince her that she’s going to have special dreams that will come true and that she’s part of a race in which she will help save the world?’
‘Yep.’
‘Great, OK,’ Sam said, looking at the press pass, and pocketing it with his phone, which was now in its special shock-proof, sand-proof casing thanks to Jedi. He looked over to Lora, who was studying maps of Rome with Eva.
‘You should look over these too,’ Lora said to him. ‘The more prepared you are, the better.’
Sam sat on the arm of Eva’s plush leather seat and looked at one of the maps. The route he and Gabriella took when fleeing the mansion was highlighted, mapped out from his earlier session in Jedi’s dream machine. The city is a maze of streets and alleyways, I doubt I can be sure to take the same route twice. Or avoid it.
‘It’s funny, seeing a route that you’re going to take in a snap decision while being chased,’ Eva said.
‘Just thinking about all this makes my head hurt,’ he said. ‘Anyone else hungry?’
‘In there,’ Lora said, pointing to some bags on an empty seat. ‘Can’t have you fading away on us.’
‘Thanks,’ Sam said, chomping through a sandwich.
He sat next to Eva and turned his attention back to the mission at hand.
‘OK, let’s figure this out,’ he said through a mouthful.
‘Gross,’ Eva said, watching him eat. ‘You’re like the always-eating annoying brother I never had.’