He looked away, toward the horizon, where the carousel had started to turn. For a moment he imagined he saw a boy there—a boy with dark hair and a wide, laughing mouth, just like Jacob’s would have been, if he’d lived—but then the carousel kept turning and he realized it was just a trick of the light.

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be just like him.” The anger had clawed into his throat, strangling him, making his voice sound high and tight. “He was the one who let me hold my dad’s gun, you know. So I could be a real cop, like him.”

Dea stopped. She turned to him and put a hand on his chest, fingers splayed, as if she was feeling for a heartbeat. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “You’re going to be okay.”

He was overwhelmed by the feeling that he was going to cry. “I miss you, Dea,” he said.

“You don’t have to miss me.” She smiled. She was so beautiful when she smiled. She was beautiful all the time. “I’m right here.”

“But . . .” It was so bright outside: the kind of brightness that exists only in dreams, where the sun comes from everywhere all at once. He blinked quickly. “But it isn’t real.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Dea had to tilt her head to look up at him. He could see himself reflected in miniature in her eyes. “It’s real enough.”

Then promise me, he nearly said. Promise me I won’t wake upfrom this.

But he knew she wouldn’t—she couldn’t. And maybe she was right. Maybe it didn’t matter. They would be together here. They would be together forever.

She was real in his arms. Her hair smelled like lilacs.

So he kissed her again.

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About the Author

ROBERT L. ANDERSON grew up in Brooklyn and graduated college in 2004 with a degree in philosophy. Since then, he has lived in five states and twelve countries, and on three continents. Dreamland is his first novel.

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Credits

COVER ART © 2015 BY JEFF HUANG

COVER DESIGN BY ERIN FITZSIMMONS

Copyright

Geographical disclaimer:

Fielding and its environs, including Marborough, Pellston, and, farther afield, Wapachee Falls, and DeWitt, are entirely my own creation. I imagined Fielding to be some miles outside of Bloomington, Indiana, which is, of course, a real place. I’ve found it useful to drop imagined towns into a very real landscape and then pass between them, much in the same way that Dea passes in and out of our known reality, but I apologize for any confusion that may arise as a result.

HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

DREAMLAND. Copyright © 2015 by Robert L. Anderson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anderson, Robert Luis.

      Dreamland / Robert Luis Anderson. — First edition.

               pages         cm

      Summary: “Odea Donahue has been able to travel through people’s dreams since she was six years old, but when Dea breaks the rules, dreams start to become reality”— Provided by publisher.

      ISBN 978-0-06-233867-9 (hardback)

      EPub Edition © September 2015 ISBN 9780062338693

      [1. Dreams—Fiction.   2. Fantasy.]   I. Title. PZ7.1.A53Dr   2015                                                                                    2014047863 [Fic]—dc23 CIP AC

15   16   17   18   19      CG/RRDH      10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

FIRST EDITION

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