The Dream Sanctum: Beyond The End Read Online Free Page B

whether he was as similar to his Sanctum self as Kwin was.
    Confronted by this imminent meeting with his friend and tutor, Kai spent
more time focusing on his old training techniques. Ever since the battle with
the Nightmares he chose to relax, knowing that even something as perfect as the
Sanctum wasn’t something he could take for granted.
    He also didn’t want to appear out of practice in front of the man who
taught him nearly everything he knew. Despite the fact that they would be
meeting in the real world, he wanted to be ready on the off chance Alastor
asked how his training was going. After all, if they were going to explore
regions of the Sanctum no other dreamer had ever been to, they had to be
prepared for anything. Kai wasn’t even sure how they were supposed to travel to
the mysterious borders of the map in the first place, but he expected that
either Kwin or Alastor would know more about logistics.
    At noon on Friday, Kwin, Lindsay and Kai met in front of Lindsay’s house,
waiting for their ride. As Kawamari was too busy to drive them anywhere,
Alastor had offered to take care of it.
    One minute after noon, Lindsay glanced impatiently at her phone.
    “Do you think he got lost? I wonder if he wrote down the address
correctly… what’s taking so long?” she sighed, looking slightly worried.
    “Is she always like this?” Kwin asked Kai quietly from his side.
    “Oh yeah,” Kai replied. “She’s big on punctuality.”
    Kwin rolled her eyes in a way that very clearly stated, that’s an understatement .
    At two minutes after noon, a sleek black car with tinted windows rolled
smoothly up to the curb in front of Lindsay’s house. The engine shut off and
the driver’s door opened, revealing a rather stout, middle-aged man who wore a
pillbox hat to match his black suit. He had a round face and round-framed
glasses that made his eyes appear comically large. When he spoke, it was in a
slight English accent, and he sounded as though he suffered from a perpetually
stuffy nose.
    “Ah, you must be the dreamers then!” the man said, giving a deep, quick
bow. “My name is Frederick, and I work for Alastor. Are we ready to go?”
    “You work for Alastor?” Lindsay asked, looking confused, yet slightly
impressed.
    “Yes ma’am,” he replied simply. “Come along, come along, we’ll get caught
in traffic if we don’t get started soon.”
    Frederick opened the doors to the back of the car for them, then quickly
took their bags from their hands, stuffing them quickly in the trunk and
slamming it closed. He then wiped his hands on a handkerchief pulled from his
coat pocket before sitting back in the driver’s seat. The others shared a look,
then got into the car.
    The interior of the car was surprisingly spacious and elegantly
furnished. The seats were covered in fine, cream-colored leather to match the
suede interior. On the back of the two front seats were flat screen displays
that were currently blank. The center console of the car had a slightly smaller
screen that turned on automatically as the car started, displaying a map.
    “Driving directions back to the mansion,” Frederick spoke, and the screen
flickered in response.
    “Coordinates set and route on display. Estimated time of arrival is 1:12 PM
based on current traffic,” a digital female voice replied.
    “Not if I can help it,” Frederick muttered, and with a sudden screech of
tires, the car shot away from the curb and toward the main road.
    Kai turned to face Kwin, who looked as though she had expected all of
this.
    “Who is Alastor, really? What’s with all this?”
    “Alastor and his family are… financially blessed. There is not really
anything more to it than that,” Kwin replied. “However, I am as interested as
you to see where he lives. For as long as he was my tutor, he always visited
me.”
    Kai turned back to watch the road, thinking it strange for them to be on
equal footing in that regard. He had always assumed that Alastor