Page 102 of Pretty Nightmare

I lean my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeats. They’re still very fast. “Having trouble letting go?”

“Huh?”

“Your heart is racing.”

“Oh. Yeah. I’m just… it was a weird dream, Indie. It felt so… real. More like a memory.”

“Hmm. Maybe we should try the”—I make air quotes—“‘relaxation tape’ again. Hey, I have an idea!”

“Hm?”

“We should do it together this time. Both of us. Make a new sequence. In your weird American voice. Only this time, we’re in that forest. Because we were both there, right?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe we were on the same island? Not the snake island. The other island. What was your island called where you grew up? And how have I never asked you this before?”

He turns his head to look at me. “You didn’t pay any attention to me when you were little. You were too anxious to go outside with Nathan.”

“Yeah.” I flop back into my pillow. “But what was it called?”

“Banyan Key. Because we had those strangler fig trees everywhere.”

“Strangler figs. What the hell is a strangler fig?”

“It’s a parasitic tree that wraps around the trunks of other trees and eventually kills them.”

“Eww. Like a snake. Snake Island. I’ve been there.”

“Yeah, you have.”

“No. Not the auction island. Snake Island. That was a real place they used to take us. That’s what we called it, anyway. Because all the trees looked like they were being strangled by snakes.”

“Hmm.”

“You’re doing that again.”

“Doing what?”

“Going ‘hmm, hmm, hmm.’ I hate that. Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

“We might’ve been on the same island, Indie. I’m sure there are banyan trees on a whole bunch of islands. They’re an invasive species, after all. But… another Company island that had so many your made-up name for it was Snake Island? I’m not sure that’s a coincidence.”

“Especially after our twin dreams.”

“Yeah.”

“So? You wanna do it? Or not?”

“Make a new tape? Go for a little mind journey?”

“You did promise me an adventure today. And obviously Carter didn’t come try to kill us in our sleep, so you’re really on the hook for something adventurous.”

“I did promise that.” He sighs. “OK. I have another digital recorder right here.” He opens up his bedside table drawer and pulls it out. “I’ll make a new tape and we can listen to it together while the other one records. Can’t hurt, right?”

I go check on Maggie. Can never be too sure. And Donovan starts making the new guide tape.

Maggie is fine. She’s snoring like a buzzsaw and all her floppy arms and legs are tangled in the covers.