They were children chosen for their gifts.

One hundred kids were enrolled in a U.S. national defense program between 2002 and 2004 because they could remember past lives, read a person’s future by the touch of a hand, foresee events in dreams, or speak with angels.

The government had seriously explored adult intuitive programs in the twentieth century. After 9/11, however, military scientists speculated young minds might be easily trained to identify threats to the American people through a technique the Russians had long been rumored to find success in—remote viewing or dreaming wide awake.

What they were unprepared for was the utter success and transcendence of the bending of a child’s mind.

The Dream Diaries, a novella of short stories, is the stand-alone, third book in CJ Zahner’s gripping Dream Series. Before they were sent to the desert and taught to “dream” in Project Dream, before they grew up to defend the country in Dream Wide Awake, they were simply children.

These are the recruiting stories of those children—who could not get out alive.