"I know," she said, moving back into the living room to set the vase down on a small table. "Until I went in with Neil for the first time, I didn't completely understand what it could be like or how everything worked."

She sat down on the couch, leaving plenty of room for Delta to join her, then pulled one leg up under her body. "It's you, but it's not you. It's a little like they're there to protect you. As long as I don't do anything to draw their attention to the fact that it's a dream, they'll just go about their lives like any regular people would."