After an awkward moment, Cassie turned to lift the dress off the dress-form. “Try it on?” she asked Missy.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Missy took the dress and slipped out of the costume closet to go change.
“So,” I said, turning to Royal. “How’s it going?”
“It’s grueling, but I think I could get used to this assistant gig,” Royal said. Cassie snickered. Apparently I was missing out on a joke.
Cassie saw my confusion and explained. “His duties as my assistant basically consist of sitting around and keeping me company.” Cassie grinned at Royal. “But yes, he is really good at it.”
“You should join us,” Royal said. “As you can see, there’s plenty of room in the closet for all of us. And no, the irony is not lost on me.”
Cassie giggled and I smiled. It was the three of us again, like it used to be. A sudden rush of nostalgia flooded through me. I missed this. I missed Royal and Cassie.
The door opened behind us again. Mr. Hart entered. “Cassie, Missy looks incredible. Sometimes I can’t believe you’re only 16. You’ve got the skills of a master craftsman, kid.” Cassie’s face lit up with pride—and something else.
Mr. Hart noticed her look and spotted me. “Hello, there. Another volunteer for the production?”
“Who, me? No,” I said.
“Braedyn’s just visiting,” Cassie said. Was I imagining the disappointment in her voice?
“Ah,” Mr. Hart gave me a pained smile. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. It’s a liability thing for the school. If you’re not here for the production...” he left the rest unsaid.
“Oh.” I glanced at Cassie and Royal. “Right.”
“Thanks for understanding.” Mr. Hart turned his back on me and went to join Cassie at the table. She smiled up at him warmly, turning away from me.
I walked to the door and hesitated. Most of the girls in the greenroom looked up expectantly, their eager smiles fading into disappointment when they saw it was just me. One or two shot wistful looks at the door to the costume closet behind me, while another pair slumped onto the greenroom couch, disgruntled. Because I wasn’t Mr. Hart.
I turned to look back into the costume closet. Unease prickled at the back of my neck. It crowded out the jumble of emotions in my mind. Piece by piece, it all fell into place. Mr. Hart with his easy good looks and charm, winning over the female population of Coronado Prep in one lunch announcement. Cassie, throwing herself into this production to the exclusion of almost everything else, straining to win these precious words of praise from him. He worked at school. How hard would it be for him to slip something into Cassie’s locker? Even if someone saw, they’d assume it was a note about costume design or the production.
As if sensing my thoughts, Mr. Hart glanced back at me. “Don’t worry, Braedyn. Your friends will still be here tomorrow.” His smile was a clear dismissal.
I walked out of the costume closet, down the hallway, and out into the crisp October air. Only when I reached my car did I allow myself to name my fear.
Was it possible? Was Mr. Hart the incubus?
Chapter 8
An amber glow spilled over the rough dining table from the aging pendant light. I fell silent, looking around the table. The faces of the Guard were solemn as they processed what I’d said. Hale. Thane. Gretchen. Dad. Lucas. Angela. Seth. No one spoke. I’d talked for over an hour, walking them through my realization, laying out the evidence against Mr. Hart. By the time I’d finished, the sun had set, shrouding the house in darkness save for this one light.
Thane glanced at Angela. She felt his gaze and nodded slowly, thinking. After another long moment, she looked back at me.
“Did you sense anything about this man?” she asked. “As a Lilitu, I mean?”
Dad’s head whipped around.
Angela smiled a thin smile. “Yes, I know.” She glanced at Thane with reproach. “After my initial shock, it became rather obvious that the benefits of working with a tame Lilitu,” and here she glanced at me, “no offense, dear.”
“Sure,” I mumbled.
Seth, sitting across the table for me, blushed. “Sorry. I tell Mom everything.”
“The benefits,” Angela continued, “balance the potential risks.” She eyed me for a moment, then glanced at Hale. Whatever she wasn’t saying seemed to grate on Dad’s nerves. Hale sensed Dad’s mood and cleared his throat.
“You bring up a crucial point,” he said. “Braedyn, did you see anything about Mr. Hart that backs up your concerns?”
“You mean,” I glanced at Gretchen. As a spotter, she was the only other one at this table who could see the smoky wings or faint inky stain that surrounded a Lilitu when she was preying on a human.
“Would they exhibit the same markers?” Gretchen asked, voicing my thought for me.
Angela shrugged. “We have no way of knowing. The only account of an incubus we have in our records is the story I’ve told you about the monks from the mission. They had no spotter with them.”
“Braedyn?” Dad asked.
“I didn’t see anything,” I admitted.
“Not even during lunch, when you claim he was enthralling the student body?” Thane asked. There was an edge of accusation in his voice that rankled me. But the truth was, I hadn’t seen anything like the fingers of shadow other Lilitu gave off when they were exerting their power. I shook my head no.
“Well.” Angela steepled her hands on the edge of the table. “That leaves us with two possibilities. Either male Lilitu are capable of disguising themselves from female Lilitu when they don’t want to be seen...” she shrugged. “Or Mr. Hart is not an incubus.”
“All right.” Hale nodded, leaning back in his chair. “We’ll keep an eye on him.” He smiled at me. “Thanks for sharing your concerns with us, Braedyn. It’s good to be cautious.”
Hale pushed back from the table. The meeting was over.
“But,” I glanced around as everyone except for Dad and Lucas stood up. “That’s it? We’ll keep an eye on him?”
Hale glanced at Dad. “Braedyn,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Until we know more, we can’t really act.”
“But he’s,” I turned to Lucas for support. “My friends spend a lot of time with him. If they’re in danger...?”
Thane frowned. “Yes. If. They’re only in danger if your suspicions are founded.”
“So we’re just supposed to wait for him to make a move?” I snapped. “Maybe once he’s attacked Cassie you’ll believe me and we can do something?”
“Do you have another idea?” Hale asked.
“I... I could try searching for him in the dream,” I said. Why not? It was no challenge for me to find a human dream, and when I went looking I’d found Karayan’s dream without too much trouble. Maybe if I could slip into Mr. Hart’s dream I could find out whether or not he was a threat.
Seth looked at me, intrigued. “Could that work?”
“Interesting,” Thane murmured.
“Hang on,” Dad said. “We don’t know anything about this incubus.”
“If we’re going to remedy that, we should allow the girl to look for him,” Thane said.
“I’m not comfortable with this.” Dad’s brow creased with anxiety. “What if she tips him off? What if he comes after her in retaliation?”
“I’ll be careful.”
“We don’t know what he’s capable of,” Dad said.
“We don’t know what I’m capable of, either,” I answered.
“It’s worth a shot,” Hale said. When Dad tried to argue, Hale held up a hand. “Braedyn, if you’re going to do this, make us a promise. If anything feels wrong, you get out of the dream and report to us immediately. Deal?”
“Deal,” I said.
Dad looked like he’d swallowed something sour, but the discussion was over and he knew it.
Dreams are funny things, even for a Lilitu. If I let my mind wander in someone else’s dream, I can get swep
t away in the current of thoughts welling up from the dreamer’s unconscious. A few times, with Lucas, I’d released control entirely, letting myself float along in the narrative of his dream. It was exhilarating and terrifying in the same moment. Because regaining control—once it had been relinquished—was a struggle.
I had always felt safest in my own garden. Here, letting my mind wander meant only rest and calm; a chance to escape from the tension of my physical body and simply drift, being. This was my sanctuary from the world. This was my fortress.
But as I sat among the roses, I felt cold. Someone had visited this place, without my knowledge or my permission. Worse, I hadn’t sensed the trespass. They’d left no trace of their invasion. It was in the middle of these unhappy thoughts that I felt Karayan’s presence, hovering at the edge of my dream.
“Finally. I’ve been waiting for you,” I said.
Karayan appeared, looking every bit as beautiful as she did in the physical world. “I said I’d come. I didn’t promise to jump at your beck and call.”
“Fine.”
“Thank you, Karayan,” she said, gushing sarcastically. “I don’t know what I would do without your help. And your hair looked so fabulous the other day. I can’t do anything with mine.” It was meant to be an imitation of me, and I frowned. “Oh, stop,” Karayan went on in her own voice, ignoring my grimace. “You’re going to make me blush.”
“Really?” I asked, giving her a flat stare.
Karayan crossed her arms. “You want my help? I’m here. Let’s get this over with. I’d rather not spend the whole night holding your hand.”
“Okay.” But here I hesitated, at a loss. Where to begin?
“It helps to know what you’re trying to do,” Karayan prompted. She was not a very patient person. “Do you know what you’re trying to do?”
“I need to find the incubus,” I said.
“And I already told you: I don’t know who that is.”
“Mr. Hart,” I clarified.
“Oh, little Nancy Drew’s gone investigating, has she?” She crossed her arms, waiting. “So?”
I hesitated again. As brave as I’d felt at the Guard’s dining table earlier in the night, things were different in the dream. What if he took control and I couldn’t fight him? What if he was able to mess with my head like I’d messed with Parker’s? Karayan’s expression softened. I turned away from her abruptly. The last thing I needed was her pity.
“You know,” she said. “If it’ll move this thing along, maybe I should just come with you.”
I glanced at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. A soft wash of gratitude welled inside of me. I cleared my throat. “Sure. Whatever.” I knelt and placed my palm on the ground-that-wasn’t-ground at my feet. I let my awareness expand beyond the confines of this dream and felt the infinite world of the shared dream lapping at its edges. It was a simple matter to open my mind and let the shared dream inside.
A pool of dark liquid grew under my hand. It looked like water, but felt like glass. For a moment I let the drifting sparks of dreams pass beneath us, undisturbed. I felt rather than saw Karayan watching me, but she didn’t speak.
“Mr. Hart,” I murmured. Ready or not, it was time to learn whatever I could about the mysterious stranger who’d charmed his way into my school and into my friends’ lives.
A brightly gleaming spark of a dream rose from the sea of swirling lights. As it grew closer, I studied it. It looked just like a human dream; there was no bright-blue halo surrounding it as there were surrounding Lilitu dreams. But there was something different about it. I couldn’t place what it was, but Karayan noticed it, too.
“Odd,” she said. “I can’t sense anything from this dream.”
She’s right, I realized. Whenever I called Lucas’s dream out of the dark pool, I could feel him drawing near. Or, more accurately, I could feel his essence—the stubborn, loyal, brave core that made him Lucas. With Parker, I’d caught a flash of the cold self-confidence with which he navigates the world. But with this dream? Nothing. No charisma, no open friendliness, none of the dramatic flair that he exhibited at school—none of Mr. Hart emanated from his dream. I looked up. Karayan was frowning in thought. Her eyes found mine.
“It looks like a human dream,” I said.
“I’ve never met a human who could shield his dreams this completely.”
“What do you think it means?”
Karayan tilted her head to one side with a tight smile. “I love that you think of me as the holder-of-all-answers, but I have to burst your bubble.”
“You don’t know either.” I sighed. “Here goes nothing.” Karayan didn’t look nervous. I tried to push my own misgivings to the back of my mind. “Together?”
“You’re the fearless leader,” she said.
Together we lifted our hands and cupped them around the dream. Nothing happened. I mean nothing. The only reaction Karayan gave was a small, startled breath. We withdrew our hands at the same moment.
“Is this...?” I asked.
“No,” Karayan said. “This is not normal.” She looked at me, all traces of her characteristic attitude gone. “Even with a really powerful Lilitu who’s shielding her dream, you feel something.”
“You’ve never seen this before? A dream that’s totally closed?”
“Not only have I never seen this before, I’ve never heard of this happening before.”
“So what now?”
Karayan pulled her eyes away from the sparkling dream. “It’s your show. You tell me. I’m just your backup.”
“Okay. Let me think,” I said.
Karayan sat back, brushing her hair off one shoulder. Her eyes caught on something behind me. She grew suddenly still. “Braedyn?”
Something in her voice alerted me. I turned around. A slender roll of paper was tied to the stem of a beautiful rose with a red ribbon. I stared at it, uncomprehending.
Karayan’s eyes cut to mine. “Was that there before?”
“No.” My mouth went dry. Karayan and I were on our feet in an instant, instinctively pressing our backs together, scanning the field of roses for any sign of the intruder. A wind ruffled the roses as my fear found a way to manifest itself across my dream.
“Control yourself,” Karayan murmured, not pulling her eyes away from the field.
I forced my fear to the back of my mind. The wind died down. We stood there, back to back, for several long minutes. Nothing else stirred. Whoever had broken into my dream and tied that scroll to my rose—they were long gone.
“How did they get past us? How did they enter my dream without me sensing them at all?” I asked. Karayan shook her head, unable to answer me. I took a step toward the scroll. Karayan caught my hand, stopping me.
“I don’t know if you should do that,” she said.
“I’m not going to leave it there,” I snapped. “This is my mind.”
Karayan’s jaw tightened, but she let me go. I walked to the scroll. It was a thing of beauty. The red ribbon shimmered with the luster of a pearl, and the scroll itself was a thick, cream-colored parchment. I barely had to tug on the ribbon before it sprang loose. Freed, the scroll unspooled. I recognized the bold handwriting instantly. It was the same as the handwriting on the note from Cassie’s locker.
It was a simple message: Apparently, my friendly warning was too subtle. Stay out of my way, little sister, or I’ll be forced to sideline you. Permanently.
I turned back to Karayan. She was watching my face; something like concern had etched faint lines into her brow. Wordlessly, I handed the scroll over. Karayan took it. As her eyes scanned the message, her frown deepened.
“Okay. You played the brave little soldier, good job. Now it’s time to back off.”
“Back off? I thought this was my show.” I snatched the note out of her hands.
“I’m here to help, remember? This is me helping.” Karayan pointed at the scroll in my hands. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that that’s a threat.”
“A threat is different from an attack,” I said.
“Come on,” she lifted her hands, looking around. “The guy can slip into your dreams undetected. You want to tell me he can’t slip into your house?”
“If you really want to help me,” I said. “Show me how to shield my dreams so he can’t come barging in here whenever he feels like it.” Karayan looked mutinous. “Please,” I said. Karayan gritted her teeth. But instead of arguing, she waved her hand over the pool of dreams. It dried up, leaving the ground unmarked.
“Shielding your dreams isn’t something you can do once and then forget about like locking a door,” she said. “That’s not how this stuff works.”
Locking a door? I glanced at her sharply, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“You’ve got to keep it going every time you fall asleep. Close your eyes.” When I hesitated, she waved at me impatiently. “Close your eyes. This is easier to do if you can just feel it.”
Trusting Karayan wasn’t something that came naturally, but I swallowed my suspicion and did as she asked.
“You can sense the edge of your dream, right?”
“Yes,” I said. In my mind’s eye I stood in the center of a snow globe, its curving wall of glass separating this dream from the infinite dream it travelled through, like a bubble of air in water.
“Okay. You have to hold that edge in your mind. Search it for weak spots. Will it to grow stronger.”
As she spoke, I let my mind probe the outer edges of this dream. I found that—unlike the glass wall of a snow globe—this wall shifted under my touch. Some places were thicker, some thinner. And then I came to a small hole in the wall, centered around a silvery cord. Curious, I toyed with the idea of closing the hole. It started to constrict instantly.
“Stop!” Karayan said. “Unless you’re done with this lesson.”
My eyes sprang open. “You said to look for weak spots.”
Karayan looked exasperated. “You want me in here, you’ve got to leave one door open.”
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