The Ferry Spirits

I boarded a massive ferry with a small number of family members. At the start of the dream, they were my actual relatives. Eventually they transitioned to other people occupying familial positions. By the end of the dream I was watching myself in third person.

The sky was very dark green and pouring rain. We were among hundreds of people on the ferry trying to get away from something evil. There were other ferries like it.

I looked in the hold of the ship and saw long halls full of aquariums that were glowing a soft light. I couldn't see where the light was coming from yet. Then I was taken to my room. I was in the very top of the ferry, at the end of a hall. The hall got narrower and narrower and eventually started twisting crazily as it got closer to my door. The only way to get into my room was to reach my hand through the final twists, grab something in the room, and pull myself in.

After I moved into my room, I went down to the hold again with my mother (who by this time was not my real-life mother). The front of the ship was leaking, taking on water. But the ship was so big that it didn't pose a real threat.

Most of the aquariums appeared empty. I sensed that there were things in them that I couldn't see. Then we stopped at an aquarium where we saw a spirit. I immediately knew that spirits needed masters, but ultimately controlled and dominated them. Spirits could take many forms, usually the form that was most likely to enchant their master. I didn't want a spirit.

My mother, however, was entranced instantly. The spirit seemed like a bald young woman, but with claws and a tail. She was oddly beautiful in a very alien way. Her name was Axen. She floated in the tank and whispered things in a beautiful voice to us. I didn't feel any hostility toward the spirit; in fact I felt sorry for her. But I knew to avoid her. I tried to pull my mother away but she was transfixed.

Axen concentrated her efforts on my mother. Eventually I fled, lest I be conquered as well. I ran up into the main part of the ferry, into a gift shop. There were many trinkets, including a pumpkin fruit that seemed very significant to me. Wooden seahorses, unicorns, oxen, eagles, etc were offered in various ways. I realized that these were images of spirits. Suddenly nowhere on the ferry felt safe. I felt evil permeating every corner.

My mother was in the shop too but not with me. I couldn't see Axen but I knew she was there, riding on my mother. I fled the store. Then I realized I had forgotten my mother's purse. I ran back for it, but it had turned into a hollow pumpkin.