Disciple: DreamWalkers, Book 2 by Jody Wallace Page A

sorts. She’d hardly even raised her voice when she and the other vigils had had to cover up the Karen situation in Harrisburg.
    “Zone ten. Keep up, please.” That was the maximum security wing, deep in the bowels of the partially underground facility. If he had to guess, that was where they’d stash someone as dangerous as Karen.
    “Maggie’s at twenty-two hours with no sleep. Is this going to take long?” Did the fact they were headed to zone ten confirm their visit had to do with Karen and not Maggie? He hoped it did, and his relief shocked him. He’d never dreamed he’d be glad that any situation involved Karen Kingsbury.
    If it meant Maggie would still be his student after tonight, he’d deal. And he’d make good on his promise to quit being such an asshole. Her conclusion in the SUV—that he’d jumped her like a horny teenager because he was scared it would be his only shot—had hit far too close to home. He was worried he might lose her. Reassignment to the Orb wasn’t like moving to California. Orbis employees spent their careers classified and separated from the rest of the Somnium—or so everyone assumed, since communication with the Orb was generally through a curator.
    Maggie didn’t know about Zeke’s struggle to keep his stupid hands and his stupider feelings to himself the past two months, but she did know when someone’s timing was shit.
    “Adi, don’t pay attention to him. I’m fine.” Maggie trotted behind him while he stalked two paces behind Adi. As short as Adi was, Zeke had no idea how she was keeping ahead without running. Not that he was a beanpole—but she was really short.
    “Maggie may require mild stimulants,” Adi said. “This is a pressing matter.”
    A pressing matter? A pressing matter was needing to take a piss in the middle of a battle. Whatever was going on here was something else entirely. He could sense it the same way he sensed nearby wraiths.
    But he didn’t see any reason for secrecy anymore. “Is this about Karen?”
    Adi skidded to a halt. The long corridor, hospital-sterile and bunker-dim, was unoccupied aside from cameras at regular junctures. Nondescript metal doors with touchpads interrupted the walls. Looked like storage. They were at ground level, and the corridor was wide enough for deliveries.
    “How did you know that?” The vigil’s long, dark braid hung over one shoulder, and she grabbed it like she was holding on to a rope. Or keeping her head attached to her shoulders.
    “After you pinged me, I checked the dreamsphere and—”
    Abruptly, Adi held up a hand, silencing him. “Let’s not speak of it here.”
    Why? The cameras? What was the hell going on that Adi couldn’t discuss it on the security feed? Employees here had high clearance, each one personally vetted by the vigils. “I just want to make sure this isn’t about Maggie. About sending her to a curator.”
    Adi frowned. “Of course not. She is mentally healthy. Her progress is slow but measurable.”
    Behind him, Maggie sighed with relief. Her stress was his fault, and he hoped Adi’s statement helped. It sure as hell helped him. He was the dumbass who’d mentioned curators to Maggie because he didn’t want to think about Karen being awake.
    He was the double dumbass who’d proceeded to jump Maggie because losing her to the curators was, to him, worse than Karen being awake.
    Was everything he did the result of ducking something worse? Some valiant warrior he was. This was why he preferred fieldwork. Give him a weapon, some monsters and a team to deploy, and he could shine.
    Speaking of which… “There been any manifestations?” he asked Adi.
    She cut a glance at a camera. Yep, she was worried about being observed. “None out of the ordinary.”
    “But you expect some.” Why the hell was this corridor deserted? They should have guards all over the place if they thought Karen, or anyone, was about to bust into a dream coma.
    “Not here,” Adi said again and darted