When I wake the next morning, the sounds and rustling of my teammates force me to toss aside my covers. Sun's bed is empty, but made up, not a wrinkle in sight. I forgot what a morning person she is. I pull out my phone and look on my inspirational quotes app to read today's quote.
It's in our trials that true strength is found.
I screen-shot the quote, and then after taking a quick shower, shuffle my way into the living room. No one is there except Jake, staring out the window, a glass of orange juice in his hand. When he spots me, he pauses and smiles.
"Hey, sleepyhead," he says.
"Is everyone gone?" I pick up a croissant from the room service cart where there's a platter of an assortment of breads and fruit along with coffee and juices.
"Danny and Javier went to pick up supplies and Sun went shopping. Tony left to scout out the casino."
"You didn't go?" I perch myself on the edge of the couch.
"Naw." Jake sits beside me. "Figured you might need some company when you woke up. Plus, Javier says that the less you and I are out in the open, the better."
"So we're prisoners now?"
"I'll just be happy when Danny gets back with a new computer for me. I need to test out this new malware I'm playing with. Besides, I didn't want to download anything on the Dreamscape laptop in case it would mess it up."
"Having withdrawals?" I tease.
He lightly touches my face. Goosebumps trickle up my arm at his touch. "Yes. In more ways than one."
That look in his eyes, soft and yet intense, takes my breath away. The boy I am falling for hard is back and standing before me. What is this relationship we have? I have no idea. He leans in, but laughter outside of the door pulls us apart. The door flies open, and Danny and Javier come barreling in, arms full of packages and bags. Jake leaps off the couch to meet them.
"Got your computer," Danny says. "You weren't kidding. That sucker wasn't cheap, but it's a beauty."
"Don't worry," Jake says. "It'll be worth it. I'll make sure my dad transfers you the money. What about the rest of the list?"
"Wasn't easy to find." Javier begins unloading equipment on the table. "Especially the sound transmitter. But your computer, the earphones, coms, and ropes were no-brainers."
While Jake turns on his new computer and begins downloading his files saved on the cloud, I pull out the notes for the mission and log what we've done into the MaxLife's Dreamscape's laptop. Once I'm finished, I join Javier and together we work on linking the coms to Jake's computer.
Hours pass before Sun comes waltzing into the room, hands full of shopping bags. I glance at the clock, 2 p.m.
"Where have you been?" I ask her.
She plops three bags at my feet. "Shopping for you."
Danny frowns. "I thought you were supposed to get an outfit, not a wardrobe."
"Fashion should never be limited." Sun straightens her hair and kicks off her heels.
Speaking of fashion, Sun is dressed to the nines wearing a tight black pantsuit with a teal blouse beneath her jacket and a thick, rope necklace that accents against her flawless skin. "How are we doing on the prep?"
"Tony isn't back yet," Javier says and moves over to the window to look down at the street below as if that will help bring him back faster. "Let's hope he's okay and hasn't been recognized as part of our team."
"He'll be fine." I dig through the bags. "He's smart. Just as long as he doesn't pass by a music retailer. Then we're sunk."
"We should get moving soon," Jake says. "I'll need time to get into position. But I think I've got everything loaded and prepped on this baby."
"What about the Dreamscape?" Sun asks, coming to peek at the MaxLife computer.
"It's ready." I pull out a blonde wig and a teeny-tiny skirt from the bag. "What is this?"
"Your outfit," Sun says, not bothering to glance away from the computer screen. "I think you could pass for a blonde with your skin tone. And isn't that skirt adorable?"
I hold it up to my body. "Is it really a skirt? Hard to tell."
"You'll look great in it," Jake says.
"I'll look like an idiot," I say. "And a bimbo."
"That's the goal." Sun withdraws a giant pink purse from one of the shopping bags at my feet. She tucks two Dreamscape masks in the inside pocket. "There, you're all set now. You better change soon. We've got to get going."
I'm about to head to the bedroom with my scanty amount of clothing when the door opens and Tony steps into the room. He's got a set of earbuds on and his head bounces to whatever music he's got playing.
"How's it going, people!" he says, waving his hand and pulling out one earpiece. "Took me longer than expected. Got lost a few times."
"Glad you're back," Javier says. "We were getting worried."
While Tony loads up the photos from his phone onto Jake's computer and the two discuss potential headquarter locations, I duck into the bedroom to change into the clothes Sun got me. The skirt is pink with white polka dots across it and the shirt is a tank top with pink sequins. I'm strapping the tiny heels on when Sun comes into the room.
"Look at you!" Sun nods approvingly. "You look fabulous. Now come here. Let me help you with that wig."
I tuck my hair into a hair net and then Sun slips the short, blonde wig over my head. Next, she drags me to the chair by the window and pulls out her makeup kit. With perfect efficiency, she applies my make-up and fake eyelashes.
"There." She stands, pulls me to my feet, and gives me a good look-over. "You look perfect."
The person in the mirror looks nothing like me. So much so that I'm hardly able to convince myself it's really me I'm looking at.
"You're amazing," I say.
"Why thank you!"
"I don't even look like me."
"Sure you do. It's you, just a jazzed-up version. Now have you been practicing your lines and accent?"
I dig through my jeans that I threw on the bed. Inside my pocket are the lines we wrote as a group. "I don't know if I can pull this off," I say.
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course, you can. And if you ever question yourself, pretend you're in the Dreamscape where anything goes."
I think about the times in the Dreamscapes when my hair has changed color or I'm wearing something totally different than before. "It feels different this time. More real."
"I know." Sun's face grows serious. "It is real this time. And if you don't want to do this, just say the word. None of us are making you."
"I have to." I pull out my dad's watch, rubbing my fingers over its cracked surface. "For my dad."
"Here." She takes off the necklace she's wearing and uses one of the still attached watch band links as an eye, she threads her necklace through a link in the watch so its face hangs from the chain like a necklace. Then she slips it over my head, and I tuck it beneath my outfit.
"Thanks," I whisper. "It's perfect."
Finally, we head back into the main room, or in my case, more like wobble on my towering heels, and find that the others have packed up all of the equipment. Tony is wolfing down one of the pieces of pizza we saved for him while Jake chugs down a Coke.
I pull out two more Cokes from the frig and hold them out to Jake. "For good luck," I say.
"I won't say no to a Coke." He takes them, grinning.
"I think we're all set then," Javier says, but he doesn't move.
I get it. It's almost like the moment we move, the wheels of this mouse trap we've created will start churning and there will be no going back. The uncertainty of our success hangs over us like a flickering lightbulb, any minute it will blink out and thrust us into darkness. Our luck has held on this far, but Jake's doubts whether it was luck or our enemies' pure design that we're still alive lingers at the back of my mind. Could he be right? That everything we've done has been orchestrated by Lau?
"It's 6 p.m.," Danny says. "The cars are ready."
"To dreams," I say and hold out my fist.
The others bring their fists to mine and repeat my words, "To dreams."
Then Tony adds, "And awakening."