Lay ended up driving the Ferrari California. He had initially been worried about how to drive it and where to drive it to, but the road appeared on its own and Lay went with the flow. It was the World Of Dreams after all.

"That creature that appeared out of the water" Sera started. Lay turned to look at her and then immediately panicked and put his attention back to the road. Then he frowned. He could just imagine that the car was being driven on its own. Sera immediately guessed his thoughts and adjusted it to be so. "Will you ever teach me how to do that?" he asked her. "Once you become stronger in Dreaming" Sera assured him. Lay pouted. She shook her head.

"In any case," she said changing the topic, "the creature that appeared out of the water was called a Familiar." "A familiar?" Lay asked. Sera nodded. "Familiars are creatures of energies. They can travel through dreams unrestricted" she told him. "Unrestricted?" Lay asked surprised. "Yes. To protect the flow of time within each dream, the dreams are contained within boundaries. Familiars are one of the few things that can travel through the boundaries" she told him. Lay nodded. That was a new thing.

"That's the reason why familiars are used to send messages across dreams. That's their most common use. But conjuring and maintaining a familiar in this world requires a lot of energy and is not always feasible" she explained. Lay nodded. All of a sudden he felt something change. The daytime from Marin changed into night and a huge Victorian mansion came into view. "We're here" Sera said. So this was Charity Mansion, Lay said admiring the view.

"A couple of pointers" Sera said, stopping the car at a safe distance from the mansion. "One you never use your real name. For tonight your name is Dominique while mine is Gina. We're both Saxon-Germans who grew up in Athens" she told him. "The what and who?" Lay asked. He surprised himself as a thick accent rolled out. "Your name is Dominique and my name is Gina. We're both a couple from Athens" she repeated. "We're a what? And I don't even know what Athens is like!" Lay protested. "Now you do" Sera said, raising her fingers to touch his forehead lightly. Pictures and memories flooded his mind and Lay gasped.

"Wait! This is all too fast!" Lay protested. "It'll settle in in a few seconds" Sera said unfazed. Lay threw her a dirty look and she raised her eyebrow at him. Lay gave up since she was already better at this. Slowly the images settled into his mind. For now everything seemed like a natural part of his mind instead of something that Sera... no Gina, had out in his brain. He looked at her wondering if she had ever done this to him before. It seemed so easy to just manipulate a person's thought process for her.

"I don't misuse my power if that's what you are implying" Gina said irritated. Dominique gave her a pointed look. Wait no, this was all wrong! He was Lay and not Dominique. And she was Sera, wasn't she? Who was Sera again?

"Everything you need to know for the night is in your head" Sera told Lay telepathically. "Since when can you do that?" Lay asked. "Since forever. Don't you ever pay attention to what I tell you?" Sera asked him. Lay blinked. When had she told him that? "We communicate through ideas here, remember. Just for the night I linked yours with mine" Sera explained once again. Lay nodded, getting everything in the back of his head. Well if he forgot anything he could always ask Sera.

"Dominique..." Sera spoke up. Lay turned to look towards her. "Are you ready?" Sera asked. Lay nodded. "Then let's go."

-x-x-x-x-

The ballroom was huge. Majestic was the right word.

"That's Sir and Lady Rodriguez" Sera told Lay, pointing to the couple descending the stairs. "They don't look Spanish at all" Lay said. "They never were. It's just a fancy name they adopted for themselves when they came to the World of Dreams" Sera explained. Lay nodded slightly. He put his arm around Sera's waist and led her. Sera allowed herself to be led and that surprised Lay. But tonight was a night of surprises.

"Sir Rodriguez is a business tycoon in real life. Lady Rodriguez is associated with him in other ways in the real world" Sera told him. They were led to their table and Sera dismissed the man. "Other ways?" Lay asked when they were out of earshot. "Lady Rodriguez is his mistress in real life" Sera told him bluntly. Lay choked on the water he was drinking. He gave her an incredulous look. "But they look like a real couple would" Lay said. "They're British. Britishers never let you know" Sera said with a shrug.

Lady Rodriguez and Sir Rodriguez walked towards them. "Gina!" Lady Rodriguez exclaimed happily. Lay could immediately tell it was fake. "Selena" Sera said warmly. "Gina" Sir Rodriguez said with a little too much affection in his voice for Lay's taste. He let out a low growl as Sir Rodriguez took her hand and kissed it. The look in his eyes was annoying Lay. No wonder Lady Rodriguez was irritated.

"Who is the gentleman you are with?" Lady Rodriguez asked. "This is Dominique" Sera said introducing Lay. "Is this the Dominique?" Lady Rodriguez asked with fake excitement. Sera nodded. "This is my husband Dominique" she said introducing him fully. A cool metal band appeared around his ring finger and Lay forced a smile. What the heck? When did they get married?

"Bow slightly and say 'Pleasure to make your acquaintance Ma'am'" Sera instructed Lay mentally. Lay repeated the same and Lady Rodriguez gushed about his politeness. Sir Rodriguez was obviously not pleased but he didn't make a show of it. Lay guessed Sera's comments about being British was true.

"Will you dance tonight Gina?" he asked turning his attention towards her. "Not really" Sera said. "That's a shame" Lady Rodriguez said, clearly indicating it wasn't a shame at all. "Maybe I will change that" Lay volunteered and Sera gave him a surprised look. "You'll spare a dance for me, won't you love?" Lay asked, giving his supposed wife a loving look. 'What are you trying to do?' Sera asked him. Lay didn't bother to reply. He wanted to show Sir Rodriguez that Sera was definitely not one of his playthings like Selena would be. And secondly, he genuinely wanted to know if Sera could dance or not.

"I can't refuse you, now can I?" Sera said with a loving smile in return. Lay smiled and led her to the dance floor. "I hope you know what you are doing" she told Lay. Lay grinned. "It is the World Of Dreams isn't it?" he asked her rhetorically. Sera caught his drift and she nodded. Lay imagined them dancing and the world around him made it so.

A tango started to play and Sera grinned mischeviously. She started with swift quick moves. Lay was surprised but he managed to keep up. Sera's footwork was amazing. He was sure that even Kai would be jealous of it. And he knew that this was Sera's real dancing skill because he had left his concentration the moment Sera had started. 

"You've been hiding this all this time?" Lay asked as he pulled her close to him. "Who says I have been hiding it?" Sera asked him cryptically. "You never asked" she told him as she executed a boleo. Lay raised an eyebrow at her. She grinned at him. "You're not yourself tonight" Lay said as he led an arrastre. "I'm not supposed to be" Sera told him. Lay twirled her and Sera followed his lead. Lay was beginning to enjoy the dance.

"Whatever this is Lay, it will all end tonight" she told him quietly. "Enjoy it while you still can." He matched his footsteps with hers and they did their big finish by Lay driving Sera into a barrida and then a lift. "What if I don't want you to change back?" Lay asked looking into Sera's eyes. Sera just smiled cryptically and kissed him on the cheek. "There are people watching" she said pulling away. Lay looked around realizing that there were other people in the room too.

Sera excused herself and disappeared between the crowd of dancers. Lay searched for her but he couldn't find her. He found someone who looked like her but the woman was a normal dreamer who disappeared before Lay got to her.

"Looking for someone?" a voice asked him. "Excuse me?" Lay asked. "You seem like you are looking for someone" a man said as he appeared with a drink in hand. "I might be" Lay said. Something told him that he should be reserved around this man. "I'm looking for someone too" he said cryptically. The man looked like he wanted to say more but all of a sudden he walked away.  Lay looked in his direction but someone knocked on his shoulder and he turned around to find Sera.

"It's time to go" she said firmly. "Is it time to wake up already?" Lay asked. "I don't know. But you need dreamless sleep to make up for all the energy we used today" she told him. Her tone was calm but something in her voice seemed rushed. "Let's go" Lay said agreeing. In reality he wanted to stay and find that man but Sera was pulling him away. 

She took him outside. "Wait" Lay said suddenly. "What?" Sera asked him. "There's something you are not telling me" Lay said. "Someone is watching us. Now is not the time" Sera said. "Then when is the time Gina?" Lay asked angrily. Sera looked torn for a while before pulling Lay in for a kiss.

Lay felt the whole world go slow. He didn't know who was watching or from where and since when, but he definitely didn't expect Sera to act this way. As she pulled away Lay looked at her dazed. He wanted an explanation, goddamn it! Not more confusion.

"Good night Lay" she said literally knocking him out. He couldn't exactly protest and he went into dreamless sleep.

He woke up in the real world to find that he had two more hours to sleep. He lay on is pillow, the dance and the kiss replaying in his head. He ran his fingers over his lips which still tingled a bit. What was Sera up to? Why had she acted that way tonight?

She was a good actress if all of what happened tonight was an act. That smiling and dancing Sera was all an illusion he decided. But who was the teacher and strict Sera? Was she the real one?

'You never reveal the true extent of your true form to another dreamer Lay' she had told him once upon a time. Did that extend to him as well?

Who are you really Sera?

Lay kept thinking about it as he fell asleep. But not before throwing a pillow in Kris' sleeping face. If he couldn't sleep peacefully tonight neither should his beloved Duizzhang. 

-x-x-x-x-