Dreamer (The Dream World Chronicles Book 1) Camille Peters (books to improve english txt) 📖

Mother didn’t answer immediately, but she couldn’t mask the fire raging in her eyes, one whose flames I still felt sizzling, unquenched, inside me. She slowly nodded, confirming my worst fears.

“Sometimes in order to achieve our potential we have to break all the rules. The Nightmare Realm isn’t like the Dream Realm—they’re not afraid of unique magic. They’ll not only accept you but help you develop the full extent of your powers, as they did for me.”

My heart pounded in my ears. What was she proposing? To join the Nightmare Realm? I couldn’t do that. I was a Dreamer.

But even as I wished with all my heart for that to be true, doubt lapped at my thoughts like waves crashing against the shore. No one had exactly told me I was a Dreamer; I’d simply assumed I was one because I desperately wanted it to be so. Had everything I’d believed about myself been nothing more than a lie? Had what Trinity seen within me whenever she searched my heart been the Nightmare part of me I’d buried? Did I truly belong in the world Mother herself was a part of?

“The Dream Realm aims to limit you, but you deserve more than to be shackled by such restraints,” Mother said. “We have such plans, Eden, but we need your remarkable powers to accomplish them. If we combine our magic, we’ll be unstoppable.”

A warning niggled my conscience, but I ignored it and leaned closer, eager to hear more. To never have to hide my unique talent anymore, to be able to explore and capture dreams at will…I stroked my dream locket, which hung limply from my neck. I’d never have an empty locket ever again.

Stardust frowned as I fiddled with my locket. “Don’t listen to her. She’s trying to make you believe this is the only path available to you, but she’s wrong. Just because she walked it doesn’t mean you have to.”

Mother glared at her, and for a brief moment, fear rippled over me at the coldness in her eyes, but her hardened expression cleared so quickly I wondered if I’d only imagined it.

“This is the only path left to you,” Mother said. “The Dream Realm has left you no other choice.”

It had…and yet I still hesitated, torn from the path I wanted to walk and the only one available to me. Stardust nudged against me, her eyes pleading. “You’re not like her. You don’t have to do this. There has to be another choice.”

Another pinprick of doubt pierced my mind at her words, like a sliver of sun breaking through a stormy sky. Gentle reminders whispered in my thoughts—my fierce yearning to prove I belonged in the Dream World, the only place that truly felt like home; the sweet joy at seeing Maci sleep peacefully after I’d succeeded in weaving a pleasant dream; and the fear that crept over me when I’d hovered near the border of the Nightmare Realm. Was the Dreamer path still open for me after all?

I immediately suppressed these doubts, locking them in the same place in my heart I’d reserved for Darius. Mother was right: continuing to try to belong in the Dream World was like forcing a square peg into a round hole. I’d never fit in, no matter how hard I tried. Despite all my efforts, the unjust Council had rejected me and my magic, and now only one world remained open to me, a world which promised to accept me just as I was. There was no other way.

“You can’t do this.” A fierce desperation filled Stardust’s voice at my continued silence. “We’ll come up with a plan to clear your name with the Council. Please, Eden.”

But I’d already traveled that road and knew it only led to dead ends. “No, Stardust. I can’t keep fighting who I truly am.”

Stardust gaped at me, as if I’d mutated into a different person. “But the Council took all your dream dust. How can you live in the Nightmare Realm without any magic?”

An idea slithered into my mind as I clutched my locket, a conniving and wonderful idea that would act as the first step in my revenge against the world that had rejected me.

“I’ll simply get more. Whenever I capture a dream, the magic used to create it becomes mine. I have an infinite supply of power.”

“But that’s stealing,” Stardust murmured. “And you’re not a thief.”

I no longer cared. My path in the Nightmare Realm unfolded before me, stepping stone by stepping stone, leaving no doubt that this was the journey I needed to take. I’d only begun discovering the potential of my amazing abilities, a magic nobody else possessed. I would soon be unstoppable.

An infinite number of dreams waiting to be explored and captured lay ahead.

*~End of Book One~*

Coming Soon

Eden’s Story continues in Nightmare, the second book of The Dream World Chronicles.

Also by Camille Peters

The Dream World Chronicles:

Nightmare

Insomnia

Daybreak

*~*

The Kingdom Chronicles:

Pathways

Inspired by “The Princess and the Pea” and “Rumpelstiltskin”

Spelled

Inspired by “The Frog Prince”

Identity

Inspired by “The Goose Girl”

Reflection

Inspired by “Snow White”

Enchantment

Inspired by “Beauty and the Beast”

Voyage

Inspired by “King Thrushbeard”

Thank You

Thank you for allowing me to share one of my beloved stories with you! If you’d like to be informed of new releases, please visit me at my website www.camillepeters.com to sign up for my newsletter, see my release plans, and read deleted scenes—as well as a scene written from Darius’s POV.

I love to connect with readers! You can find me on Goodreads, Instagram, and on my Facebook Page, or write me at authorcamillepeters@icloud.com.

If you loved my story, I’d be honored if you’d share your thoughts with me and others by leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Your support is invaluable. Thank you.

Coming Soon: Eden’s story continues in Book Two of The Dream World Chronicles, Nightmare.

Acknowledgments

I’m so incredibly grateful for all the wonderful people who’ve supported me throughout my writing adventures.

First, to my incredible mother, who’s worn many hats over the years: from teaching me to read