Chapter Two

Chapter Summary: Two ghosts and a witch's familiar get into the Dreaming...and find someone very familiar
Warning(s): Spoilers for season one of Dead Boy Detectives; spoilers for season one of The Sandman; AU; references to violence and canon character death; very strong, foul language for a small portion

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“We didn't get as far as figuring out how to get into the Dreaming yet," Charles said to Monty. "I don't suppose you have any suggestions, given you're a witch's familiar and all?"

"I was a witch's familiar," Monty corrected. "Esther is gone now and I'm just...." His voice trailed off and he shrugged. Looking at Edwin, he continued speaking. "The Cat King was alive when I saw him, but the thing that took his shape took one of his lives. He wasn't in good shape when he was dragged away, but he was still breathing."

Still breathing...but maybe not conscious. And just because he still had more lives left when Monty had seen him, that didn't mean he hadn't lost more; that he wouldn't have lost more by the time they found him. But the creature Edwin had glimpsed under the mask had had black eyes, not yellow. Or golden. "Crystal said that she saw someone with golden eyes when she tried to read you. The shifter's eyes were black."

"The shifter had a master," Monty replied. "I don't know who, or what. All I saw were the golden eyes. And a voice. When I heard the voice, I...." He hesitated. "I wanted to do anything the voice told me to. If the shifter's master had spoken to me, I think I would have done anything they asked of me."

"Is that sort of thing in one of your books?" Charles asked Edwin quietly.

"It sounds like a siren," Edwin said. "But they're normally found in the ocean, luring sailors or other unwary travellers to their deaths. I've never heard of one coming onto land before. Or enslaving a shifter." Not that he'd heard of a shifter, either. But it was the name Monty called it, so he decided to use the same name.

"Why did you come here?" Crystal asked Juniper. "You said you needed our help, and that it involves someone in the Dreaming. Who are we rescuing?"

"I don't know anything more about her than her name," Juniper admitted.

A tiny frown crossed Charles' face and he cast a glance at Edwin before looking at Juniper. "Then why do you want us to rescue her, if all you know about her is her name?"

"Because I can't sleep," Juniper replied. "Every time I close my eyes, it's the only thing I can hear. Her name. Someone telling me, over and over and over again to get her out of the Dreaming. It's been like this for months."

"You haven't been able to sleep in months?" Edwin asked.

"An hour. Maybe two, if I'm lucky," Juniper answered. "But it's been getting worse. The only reason I'm standing here now is because of coffee and energy drinks." She rubbed a hand over her face wearily. "I just want to sleep."

"Why you?" Crystal asked. "You're not the only witch. And you said you're not even a practicing one anymore. So why is someone asking you for help?"

Juniper shrugged. "For all I know, everyone like me is hearing her. It's not like there's a Facebook group for witches. I tried to ignore it for as long as I could, but as I said. I can't sleep. So I need help. And when I asked around, when I used my contacts, I found this place. The Dead Boy Detective Agency."

"You said that you only know her name," Edwin said. "What is it?"

"Unity," Juniper answered. "Unity Kincaid."

Charles and Edwin looked at each other, then Charles shrugged. "Don't know about you, mate, but I've never heard that name before."

"I haven't looked into anything to do with the Dreaming, outside of knowing it exists as another plane of existence like the afterlife," Edwin said. "That name means nothing to me."

"I've heard it before," Crystal said quietly.

Edwin and Charles both looked at her.

"I told you that my parents didn't even realise that I was missing," Crystal said quietly. "It's because they were so centred on their own lives. My family is rich, so I guess that's why the person I was before was so...well, awful. But I remember hearing about Unity Kincaid. Not when I went back to see them, but before I met you both. She was pretty famous, even in the circles my parents run in."

Charles had moved towards Crystal's side while she spoke and now, he reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing lightly, though he didn't say anything.

Crystal took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting her head rest gently against Charles' hand for a second or two before she opened her eyes again. "In 1916, there was a sleeping sickness that swept through humanity. Many people couldn't fall asleep, no matter how tired they were. People who could fall asleep often didn't wake up. They were in comas for as long as the sickness lasted. Unity Kincaid was one of those people. I met her, once, but I didn't care enough to ask anything about her."

"Is she dead?" Edwin looked towards Juniper. He could only assume that she was, but the Dreaming wasn't an afterlife. If Unity Kincaid was trapped inside the Dreaming and reaching out for help...or someone was reaching out for help on her behalf...she might not be truly dead at all. The trouble was, they didn't have any answers. They only knew that Juniper wanted their help to find Unity Kincaid in the Dreaming; and if the witch was to be believed, she had no personal connections to Unity.

"I assume so." Juniper shrugged. "I didn't research her, because I was intending to ignore her voice and name until they both went away. But instead of fading out, she's just got louder and stronger."

"It might not be her talking to you," Monty muttered.

Edwin turned, eyes widening a fraction as he saw Monty had sunk into his chair again. There was a trickle of blood escaping from his nose, and Edwin quickly moved over to his side. "Your nose is bleeding."

"Yes. I noticed that," Monty replied.

Edwin paused, slightly taken aback by the tone. It was slightly caustic, like the question had irritated Monty. He moved his hand to Monty's face, letting his fingers travel over the other's skin...although he wasn't sure what he was looking for. Some kind of injury? "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No. I'm fine." Monty shifted, pulling his head away from Edwin's touch.

The movement could have been accidental...or it could have been deliberate. Either way, Edwin assumed it meant that Monty didn't want to be touched. He didn't try again, instead directing, "Let me know if you start feeling any pain or get anymore nosebleeds." Juniper's words about there being a price to pay rang in his mind. Was a nosebleed normal after this kind of spell? Or was it a sign there was something wrong?

Deciding he was going to keep a watch over Monty, to see if the other showed any other signs that something was wrong, Edwin didn't comment again on the nosebleed. Instead, he asked, "What do you mean, it might not be her talking to Juniper?"

"It could be another shifter, using her voice. The same as the shifter who took on the Cat King's form." Monty shrugged. "I don't know anything about Unity Kincaid, but I was around during the Sleeping Sickness. It was during that time I first became Esther's familiar."

"What do you know about shifters?" Charles asked. "Specifically, how can they be killed?"

"The rules might be different in the Dreaming, but the best way to kill a shifter is by using silver," Monty explained. "That would take care of the one wearing the Cat King's form. If there is one in the Dreaming, we might need more than just silver." He shrugged.

"Okay. We have a way to kill the shifter, if we need one," Charles said. "Pretty sure I have something made of pure silver in my pack. Do you think we can bring it into the Dreaming with us?" he asked Edwin.

"We can try." Edwin turned to Crystal. "Can you tell us anything else about Unity Kincaid? 

"I can look her up," Crystal offered. "I guess I can call my parents, though since they didn't even notice I was missing. they probably won't have any clue what's happened to her."

Charles gently squeezed her shoulder. "You don't have to get in contact with your parents. Right, Edwin?" He looked up.

"Of course," Edwin replied. "But any information you can find out would be helpful." He hesitated, glancing at Monty again. The blood was gone and there was no sign of another nosebleed, but he was still worried. There was nothing he could do for Monty right now, though, so he needed to focus on getting them into the Dreaming so they could save Thomas. "I'm going to talk to the Night Nurse," he said finally.

"You think she'll help us?" Charles asked. "I know she's capable of opening those interdimensional doors, but she definitely wasn't happy about opening one up so I could rescue you from Hell."

"Unless anyone has any other ideas, I can't see what other choice we have," Edwin answered. "I'll go and speak to her. She might be more likely to listen if just one person asks her, so that she doesn't feel like we're all confronting her." And the Night Nurse had healed the scratch he'd got from one of the cats, so he thought she might be willing to agree if he asked her.

"Okay." Charles nodded. "I'll stay here. In case anything happens."

"Thank you." Edwin walked over to his friend and paused close to him. "Keep watch over Monty," he murmured. "His nose was bleeding. I think there might be something wrong with him."

"Got it." Charles patted his shoulder. "I'll let you know if anything else happens."

"Thank you." Edwin walked through the wall.

It wasn't hard to find the Night Nurse's location. When she wasn't 'supervising their work', she tended to stay in her own room. And most of the time, Edwin was willing to leave her to her peace.

But this was a different situation, and they needed her help. Still, Edwin wasn't just going to walk into her personal space. He solidfied his hand and then raised it, knocking lightly on her door.

After a few seconds, the door was opened and the Night Nurse stared out at him before she sighed. "Let me guess. You want me to open a portal into the Dreaming." She shook her head. "You boys have been giving me so much trouble."

"I'm truly very sorry for that," Edwin replied, deciding not to antagonise her by pointing out that she could have just ignored them. They'd only drawn her attention after Charles had taken over Esther's body, after all. Instead of pointing that out and potentially getting into an argument, he asked, "Will you help us?"

"You know that opening interdimensional portals is not in fact my job, don't you?"

"I know. But making sure people are in the places they're supposed to be is part of your job," Edwin said. "And the Cat King is not where he's supposed to be."

"I'm in charge of the dead," she said. "Beings like the Cat King are not dead."

"But he's still not in the place he should be," Edwin said. "I know you need people to stay where they belong. It makes you feel better, doesn't it?"

"I know what you're doing. You must think you're so very clever, manipulating me like this." She sighed heavily and shook her head. "I can't keep doing this, you know. I was sent here only to observe. I'm risking my job, my very existence, every time I help you."

"And I am grateful. Truly." Though he wondered what she meant by her existence being at risk. Would she be sent on to her own afterlife, if she broke too many rules? What kind of afterlife was there for interdimensional beings like her? For that matter, what kind of an afterlife existed for Thomas, when and if he finally died? Shaking his head to clear it, knowing that he was getting distracted, Edwin asked, "Will you help us?" He couldn't keep the hopeful note out of his voice.

"I suppose I'd better. Who knows what kind of trouble you'll get into if I don't?" She slipped out of the room and pulled the door closed behind her with a soft click. "Tell me you're not all planning to go."

"Charles and I are going. So is Monty." He began walking back towards the office.

"Monty."

"The crow. The witch's familiar. But he's not her familiar anymore." Edwin wasn't sure what Monty was now. Did Monty? Perhaps they could talk about that once he'd found the Cat King.

"I can't send a crow into the Dreaming. He'll be eaten alive."

"Then it's fortunate he's no longer a crow."

That brought her up short. "What?"

He turned to face her. "The human you answered the door to isn't a human. She's a witch. She said that she's not a practicing one, but she needs our help. So she turned Monty into a human."

"Edwin, that type of magic..."

"It comes with a price. I know." He looked away from her, hesitating before he admitted quietly, "His nose was bleeding." He didn't know why he was telling her that, only...he was worried about Monty. Something was wrong with him. Edwin knew the nosebleed wasn't just a minor thing that didn't mean anything.

And the Night Nurse had helped him already. She'd also pointed out that Monty had been a witness to what had happened to the Cat King. Edwin would have eventually come to that conclusion himself, but it might have taken him longer if she hadn't said anything.

"Well." The Night Nurse sighed. "There's no point in telling you all of the reasons why you shouldn't have done that. It's not like it'll change what has already happened. The job now is to mitigate the damage in whatever way we can."

"Is that even possible?" Edwin couldn't keep the hopeful note out of his voice, and he didn't even try.

"I'll look into it," Night Nurse answered. "But I'll need to open the portal first."

"Right, of course." Edwin walked quickly back to the office, going through the wall and immediately turning an anxious look onto Monty.

Monty was sitting in the same place he'd been before, as still as if he was a statue. There was no more blood on his face, but of course, that didn't mean he hadn't had any nosebleeds while Edwin had been gone.

"He's fine," Charles said.

Monty rolled his eyes. "I don't need to be watched over. I'm centuries old, you know."

"Really?" Charles took a step forward, eyes gleaming. "Even older than Edwin? How long does a witch's familiar live anyway?"

"Charles." Edwin cleared his throat. "I think we have more important things to worry about right now."

The Night Nurse opened the door and stepped into the office. "It's a little crowded in here," she noted, looking around at everyone.

"Once we go through the portal, it won't be." Edwin turned to her. "Do you need anything to help you open the portal?" he asked.

"No. But I'm not going to be able to leave it open," she warned. "You're going to have to find a way to open it on the other side. There are a lot of creatures in the Dreaming that can't be allowed to cross over into this dimension."

"I understand," Edwin replied.

Charles stepped away from Crystal, walking over to stand next to Edwin. "We ready to go, then?"

"Yes." Edwin turned his attention to Monty. "Do you feel like you can come with us? You don't need to. You can stay here and get some rest." And if Monty stayed behind, maybe the Night Nurse would be able to figure out how to heal whatever was wrong with him.

"I told you. You don't need to worry about me." Monty carefully pushed himself up.

Charles snorted softly and shook his head. "No point in telling him that. Once Edwin starts worrying about you, he isn't gonna stop for anything."

Monty didn't say anything. He just stood there and waited.

The Night Nurse cleared her throat and stepped forward. "I'm going to open the portal now, but I can't take the risk that something on the other side might escape into this dimension. I'm not going to be able to hold the portal open for long," she warned. "You need to be ready to go through as soon as I open it."

"I'm ready," Edwin said shortly.

"I've been ready the whole time," Charles stated.

Monty still didn't speak, but he moved a bit closer to both Edwin and Charles.

The Night Nurse didn't say anything else, or ask any more questions. Instead, she focused on the opposite wall and raised her hands. Green light swirled around her fingers and around the wall. When the light faded away, there was a doorway in the wall. Through it was a green forest, with colours that seemed just a little too bright; a bit too intense.

Edwin didn't take more than a second to observe what was through the doorway. Fully aware that it couldn't stay open for long, he quickly moved forward, stepping through the portal and into the forest.

As soon as he was through the doorway, the scents of the forest hit him. It had a faintly tropical smell, along with the smells of leaves and mud. Although something about it looked slightly off...it didn't smell much different to the forests he'd been inside when he'd been alive.

"Does this seem a little bright to anyone else?" Charles asked, standing close to Edwin.

"It's the Dreaming," Monty said. "This is fairly normal, compared to what kind of things can exist here."

"Are we likely to meet anyone here who's dreaming?" Charles asked curiously.

Monty shrugged and began walking.

Edwin glanced back over his shoulder, noticing that the portal had already closed behind them. He then turned back to follow Monty.

Charles placed a hand on his arm. "Hey. You get the feeling maybe something's not quite right with Monty?" His voice was low, as he seemed to be trying not to allow the words to carry to Monty's ears.

Edwin frowned. His first thought was to shake off what Charles was saying; to tell him that it was probably normal, after what he'd had to go through to become human. They hadn't seen the spell itself, but the screaming had indicated that it hadn't been easy or painless magic. He even opened his mouth to say exactly that.

"I know what you're gonna say," Charles said.

A wry smile crossed Edwin's face. "Are you a mindreader now?"

"You're going to tell me that the spell was probably traumatising. That it's going to have had an effect on him and of course he's acting strange, because he initially betrayed us and now he's basically walking into the lion's den." Charles raised his eyebrows. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"We don't know that he's walking into the lion's den." But apart from that, Edwin had to admit that Charles had said basically what Edwin was going to say. He glanced towards Monty, who had stopped...but hadn't turned round. Unsure of whether Monty could actually hear them or not, he dropped his voice even lower. "You're right that those are all the things I would say otherwise. But that doesn't make them any less true."

"Maybe. But something still feels off to me," Charles muttered.

"That could be the situation itself, rather than Monty," Edwin pointed out. He gently squeezed Charles' arm, then moved to catch up to Monty.

Shaking his head, Charles followed along behind Edwin, catching up to him and Monty in a few quick steps.

The three of them moved slowly through the forest. Edwin kept a careful watch over their surroundings, noticing that Charles kept a tight grip on his baseball bat out of the corner of his eye. Of course, Edwin knew that he was looking for a threat coming towards them from the outside. Charles might be expecting the threat to come from within.

A few more steps, and their surroundings were beginning to change. Edwin reached out, running a finger along one of the icicles dangling from a green leaf. It didn't feel cold, but as they moved further through the forest, it gradually changed, the environment becoming more snowy and more icy.

"I guess we should be used to these kinds of changes," Charles muttered to Edwin, taking a tighter grip on his bat.

"I suspect this change might be more gradual compared to what we could be experiencing," Edwin replied. As if to prove his observation wrong, though, between one step and the next, their surroundings changed completely. They were no longer in the forest. Now, they were in the middle of snow-covered area, with white stretching out as far as the eye could see in either direction. The only thing Edwin could see ahead of them was a white circular building. He'd never seen one in person before, even after he'd died and gone to Hell, but he'd seen pictures of igloos before and knew instantly that was what he was looking at.

"Is this supposed to be Antarctica?" Charles muttered. "Or at least the Dreaming's version of it?"

"Do you think there might be someone in that igloo?" That was Edwin's main concern. They were here looking for the Cat King, but that didn't necessarily mean he wanted to run into any of the other creatures in the Dreaming. Something was holding Thomas prisoner...and it was possible that whoever it was, they'd need to fight them. It would be easier if they could avoid as many confrontations as possible before then.

Monty glanced at Edwin, then began walking forward, heading swiftly towards the igloo.

"So I guess we're not just hanging back and being cautious?" Charles muttered.

"I don't see another path, unless we just want to wander this snowy wasteland until it all changes again," Edwin answered. "We've got a witch's familiar with us. You've got your bat. And you have been teaching me to box. While I would like to avoid confrontations as much as possible, there doesn't seem to be an immediate threat. Whoever's in the igloo, perhaps we can just talk to them." Edwin looked towards Monty, who had stopped next to the igloo.

"Are you coming?" Monty wasn't shouting, but his voice somehow echoed right next to Edwin's ear.

"I really want to learn how he did that," Charles mumbled, even as he followed Edwin over to the igloo.

There was no sound coming from inside the igloo, though that didn't necessarily mean anything. Edwin glanced at Charles and Monty, then reached out and lightly tapped his knuckles against the side of the igloo.

There was silence for a second or two, and then there was the sound of movement coming from inside and a familiar person slipped out of the door.

"Edwin!" Niko leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging tightly, before he had a chance to react.

"Niko?!" Charles lowered his bat, his eyes growing wide before looking towards Monty. "She's supposed to be in the afterlife. She didn't linger as a ghost. Is that one of the creatures of the Dreaming?"

Monty was staring at Niko, an odd look on his face. It was like he was studying a very interesting specimen, with a very similar look in his eyes to the one Edwin had when he was investigating. "If a creature from the Dreaming is taking on the form of a person, either living or dead, there's always something out of place." He finally answered Charles' question. "It might not be immediately obvious, but there's always something."

Edwin slowly raised his own hands, but he wasn't sure if he planned to return her hug...or to push her away. Charles was right. Niko shouldn't be here. She was supposed to have moved onto her own afterlife. So it had to be a trick, didn't it?

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Of course you fucking show up again."

Surprised, Edwin looked past Niko...focusing on the two people who'd followed her out of the igloo. Well, they weren't really people. The dandelion sprites weren't tiny anymore, instead standing at the size of an average human. But their language was as foul as ever.

"How fucking nice to see you again," the female sprite stated. "It was getting fucking cold and fucking boring in that igloo."

"I definitely didn't miss you two," Charles muttered, lowering his bat even more.

"Oh, how fucking nice to see you again too." The male sprite sneered.

Edwin looked down at the girl clinging to him and slowly pushed her back so that he could look into her eyes. "Niko?" He couldn't hide the note of hope that crept into his voice at the thought he was finally reunited with one of his best friends.

She nodded.

Smiling, a sense of relief filling him, Edwin wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight.

"Oh, really. Such a sweet fucking reunion," the female sprite said.

"Hey, dickbags. Any of you fuckers cold as well?" The male sprite peered at Charles and Monty.

Niko hugged Edwin tightly for a few more moments and then slowly loosened her hold on him, turning to look at the sprites. "Thank you for staying with me," she said. "You can go now."

"Hey, we weren't staying for your fucking sake," the female sprite said.

"Yeah, we don't fucking give a damn about you. About any of you," the male sprite added.

"We've just fucking been staying here while we don't have anything better to fucking do." The female sprite tossed her head, then reached out and took the other sprite's hand. "Come on. Let's go find some other fucking human to be our tool."

"Yeah. Hope to never fucking see you again!" the male sprite tossed back over his shoulder, as they began to walk away, disappearing off into the white wasteland.

Silence descended for a few seconds before Niko said, "You know, they're really not that bad."

"Could have fooled me." Charles moved over to Niko and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "How'd you get here?" he whispered.

"I don't know. But Tragic Mick gave me this." She opened her hand, revealing a bear carving made out of soapstone. "Maybe it brought me here, so that I could be reunited with you again?" She looked around, focusing on Monty and giving him a bright smile. "Oh, Monty! Are you on our side now?" Her smile quickly faded into a look of worry as she asked, "Where's Crystal? Is she all right?"

"She's fine." Edwin hastened to reassure her. "She stayed behind at the agency, in case any ghosts need help while we're here."

"Why are you here?" she asked. "You didn't know that I was here, did you?"

Edwin shook his head. "We thought you'd gone on to your afterlife." He looked down at the carved bear she held in her hand. Had Tragic Mick had some idea of what would happen to her? Why was her spirit here, instead of moving on to her afterlife? And why had the dandelion sprites stayed with her, given they seemed to hate everyone outside of the two of them? There were so many questions that he didn't have any answers to, which worried him more than a little.

And she'd asked about why they were there. She'd also asked about Monty, even though she seemed willing to accept that he was fully on their side now. More willing than Charles was to accept it, at least. "The Cat King has been taken. Monty was able to tell us he's here, in the Dreaming, so the Night Nurse opened a portal here."

"She's still helping you?" Niko smiled. "I didn't think she was bad." She tilted her head slightly. "Why're you trying to find the Cat King? Did one of his subjects hire you?"

"He and Edwin are in a relationship," Charles said. "Something took the Cat King's form and now we're here to try and save him. He's being held by a creature with golden eyes, according to Monty."

Edwin winced at the slightly blunt way Charles mentioned his relationship with Thomas, and cast a glance towards Monty, wondering what his reaction to that would be.

Monty didn't look like he'd even heard what Charles said. His own head was tilted to one side, like he could hear something.

Edwin opened his mouth to ask if something was wrong, but before he could get any words out, their frozen surroundings fell away.