The Nightmare Affair (9 page)

The Black Phoenix

I had every intention of using my newfound knowledge when I went to Eli’s dorm room the following night, but things didn’t exactly work out that way.

We’d spent another long, awkward day ignoring each other. When the time came for the session, I headed downstairs to the foyer only to find the security guards blocking the way out—two medieval knights I’d nicknamed Frank and Igor. They weren’t actual people but rather animated suits of armor as hollow on the inside as a chocolate Easter bunny. They turned their masked faces toward me, swords pointed.

“Whoa, hey guys,” I said, coming to a stop. “I’ve got a dream-feeding session. Um … may I pass?” This wasn’t something I normally had to ask.

They kept staring for a moment. It was a little creepy to sense they
were
staring even though they didn’t have eyes, just black slits in their helmets. Finally, they moved aside, and I hurried past them with a friendly wave. I always tried to be as nice to the knights as possible. As a Nightmare, I thought it a good idea to make sure they liked me so as to avoid any accidental maiming when I came and went for dream-feeding sessions. Of course, I was working under the assumption that empty suits of armor were capable of such feelings as liking.

I passed at least half a dozen werewolf police officers on my walk to Eli’s dorm, all of them eyeing me suspiciously but not saying anything. I went through the same drill with the knights guarding Eli’s dorm, the tightened security a result of Rosemary’s murder.

I expected Eli to be asleep when I arrived, but he was wide awake, sitting in a chair by the window. The dorms at Arkwell were sectioned into two rooms, one side for the beds and the other side for living space, with only a flimsy divider between them. Lance’s father was a rich senator, so the dorm room was tricked out like a movie star bachelor pad, complete with a massive flat screen TV and a sound system powerful enough to vibrate the stone walls.

Eli stared at me as I came in, looking wary.

I hated how uncomfortable he made me. “Hi,” I said, running a hand through my hair. The curls were so thick, my fingers got stuck halfway.
Smooth
.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing awake?” He was also fully dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. I wore my usual dream-feeding outfit of black stretchy pants, black fitted tee, and soft black leather moccasins. It served the purpose of being concealing and flexible. His outfit served the purpose of sending me a clear message: he had no intention of playing along.
Great.

Eli stood up, and I resisted the urge to step back.
Get over it already, Dusty,
a voice that sounded an awful lot like Selene’s said in my mind.
He’s just a guy with a hot body. Big deal. Who cares?

“I’m not going to let you do this,” said Eli.

I refused to be intimidated. “You can’t stop it.”

“Sure I can. I saw what happened last time. Your
magic
didn’t work on me.” He made the word sound like something dirty.

“Didn’t you pay attention in orientation? It’s not my magic you’ve got to worry about but The Will’s.”

He folded his arms across his chest. I tried not to stare at the muscles. The guy was like a roller coaster, all bumpy and stuff. I glanced at the entrance into the bedroom part of the dorm where I could hear the sound of steady breathing. Lance Rathbone, no doubt. What a comfort.

Eli said, “I don’t believe there’s any such thing as The Will.”

I turned back, feeling a little smug. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“I’ll never fall asleep with you in here.”

“Sure you will. I’ll just wait.” I sat down on the sofa across from him and waved at the TV. “Any chance I can get a remote?”

Eli looked at me as if I’d just sprouted a second head. I shrugged and picked up a magazine off the end table.
Guns and Ammo
wasn’t exactly my favorite, but it was better than nothing. I rifled through the pages.

“Are you really just going to sit there?” said Eli.

“Would you prefer me to hit you over the head with a frying pain?”

He didn’t reply, but sat down in the chair again. I stole a glance at him. His silence was unnerving. I always knew he was the brooding type, but this was like being locked in a cage with a panther. Everything from the slant of his dark eyebrows to the way he slouched in the chair exuded danger. The thought made my skin burn.

I glanced back at the magazine, playing it cool. I would wait him out.

After a while, he said, “So you’re a
Nightmare
?”

“In the flesh.” I looked over at him.

He smirked. “Lance told me to be careful of you.”

The admission stung, but I managed not to react. It was totally unfair. Lance had never been the victim of one of my magical mishaps. “He’s a jackass.”

Eli’s chuckle took me by surprise, the sound deep and throaty, very
male
. “Yeah, sometimes. But he’s pretty cool to me, which I didn’t expect. You know, considering somebody like me has no business attending a school like this.”

I flinched at the sound of his bitterness, trying not to feel guilty.

“This place doesn’t even have a football or baseball team.”

I didn’t say anything. I knew all too well how he felt. It had been the same for me, as if I’d been transported to an alien world full of different rules and expectations. But at least I could do magic, unlike Eli. I wanted to say something commiserating, except I remembered what a jackass
he’d
been in psionics yesterday.

Eli’s behavior still surprised me. He might be a bit of a troublemaker and too arrogant for his own good, and he went through girlfriends about as often as he got a haircut, but I’d never seen him be an outright bully. Just the opposite. More than once I had watched him stand up for the little guy, like that time our freshman year when he told off a senior during a pep rally after the guy started making fun of one of the freshman cheerleaders for being bigger than the other girls on the squad. I thought the senior was going to kill him, but Eli didn’t back down. He hadn’t cared that the guy was older and bigger. All he had seemed to care about was that the girl had run out of the gym crying.

Apparently he was a different person here. Just as well. I’d rather dislike him than secretly pine for him or something equally as stupid. Of course that would be a lot easier if somebody would hit him with the ugly stick. I wondered if there was a spell for something like that.

“Well, I’m not dangerous, no matter what Lance says,” I said.

Eli opened his mouth to respond, but ended up yawning instead.

I returned my attention to the magazine, knowing he would be asleep soon. I could feel The Will at work, those invisible tentacles tugging at me to complete my task. He felt it, too.

It took the better part of five minutes, but eventually I heard the sound of his head hitting the back of the chair. I stood and walked to him, happy to get this over with.

The happiness was short-lived. I’d never dream-fed on someone sitting up in a chair, and I quickly learned why—it was a pain in the ass and awkward as hell. It was also perilous. With my feet perched on the arms, I’d go tumbling off the moment Eli decided to move at all. At least the chair let me keep the direct body-to-body contact at a minimum. That was something.

Given that I’d dream-fed twice since Sunday, I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry. Not that it mattered to The Will—it grew insistent the moment I was in position. I sighed and placed my fingers against Eli’s temples and entered his dreams.

I half-expected to be back at Coleville, but no such luck. Eli was dreaming about football. I was standing on the bleachers at Chickery High stadium, shoulder to shoulder with students. Some of them had the distinctive faces of people I knew, and some were just blank. The blank ones were creepy, like walking, talking mannequins. The dude in front of me was one. He turned around and looked at me with his shapeless eyes, nothing more than divots on his peach-colored skull. Then he pumped his hands in the air as if expressing his enthusiasm for the game.

A little freaked, I flew up and away from the stadium crowd. I spotted Eli on the field among his teammates, who all had distinctive features, thank goodness. Going off what my mom told me about Eli being the channel for the important stuff, I decided to stick close to him.

I alighted onto the field behind a hulking player I recognized as Brian Johnson. Seeing him brought back memories of the first time I ever dream-walked. Not particularly good ones. Nobody thought I’d inherited any Nightmare powers until I woke up one night feeling a hunger no Snickers bar could satisfy. Half-dazed, half-terrified, I broke into Brian’s house, climbed on top of him, and found myself in a dream-world populated by naked girls with big boobs. One of them had been a friend of mine. When I caught Brian trying to grope her, I kicked him, not knowing any better.

Yeah, it didn’t end well.

I contemplated giving Brian another kick now for old times’ sake, but I needed him for cover. I couldn’t trust that Eli wouldn’t spot me again. I peered around his baby-elephant-sized frame and oriented my gaze to match Eli’s. He was staring at something near the stadium, and it took only a second to figure out what. A handful of cheerleaders stood with their backs to the field while they jumped and shouted at the folks in the stands. All save one. Katarina Marcel, wearing the red-and-white short-skirt, short-top ensemble of the CHS varsity cheerleading squad, was facing the field and staring right back at Eli.

“Yeah, this blows,” I muttered.

Talking was a mistake. Eli’s body went rigid, and he spun toward me. “What are
you
doing here?”

“Whoa, big guy. Hands off.” I raised my arms like a shield, but he kept advancing. I flew up out of his reach.

Eli stopped and stared up at me, wide-eyed. “How are you doing that?”

“I’m a Nightmare, remember? Or did nobody explain it to you?”

He thought about it a moment then his shoulders relaxed. “This is a dream?”

“Yeppers.
Your
dream.”

“Why can’t I fly?”

“Dunno. Have you tried?”

A moment later he was hovering in the air in front of me, looking pretty silly as he did floating pirouettes in his football uniform. I backed away from him, leery of such close proximity.

“Cool,” he said, doing a flip this time.

Across the field, Katarina was still smiling at him, completely unfazed by his sudden ability to fly. I couldn’t help but glare at her. Why did Eli have to dream about
her
of all people? It was bad enough I had to see her during the school day. Maybe I could turn her into another snake.

“What are you looking at?” Eli glanced over his shoulder.

“Nothing,” I said, more sharply than I intended. “I mean, everything. That’s why I’m here, remember? We’re supposed to be solving a murder.”

He grinned. “Okay, Nancy Drew. But I got the idea we’re supposed to be predicting the next one.”

“Same difference.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

If I’d been on the ground I would’ve stomped my foot at him. Instead I let myself float down until I was standing again. He plopped down beside me.

I glared at him, considered pursuing the argument further, then decided I’d wasted enough time already. Regardless of what you called it, we did have a job to do here. An important one.

I looked around, trying to spy anything significant. As before, Eli’s dream was surprisingly undreamlike. Aside from a couple of little things like the faceless people in the grandstands, everything was exactly as you’d find it on any Friday night in the fall. Even the school band was its usual state of bad.

“Booker!” a gruff male voice shouted from the sidelines. Eli and I both turned to see the head football coach waggling a finger at him. “Get your butt out there.”

I grinned. “Yeah, Booker, why don’t you run along and play while I see if there’s anything useful around here?”

“No way. I’m not letting you poke around my dream by yourself.”

I wasn’t listening. Something strange had caught my eye. Perched on the rail that separated the field from the grandstand was a huge bird, nearly the size of a human. Slick black feathers covered its head and body while the feathers in its tail were a brilliant scarlet and gold. It looked a bit like a heron with its long neck and legs and narrow beak, but I didn’t think it was. There was something almost dragonish about it with its weirdly intelligent eyes, so bright a yellow against the black they seemed to glow. It was looking at me as if it had something to say, a bone to pick, maybe. A thrill of fear shot through me at the sight of it. It looked so real, and so very capable of snapping off one of my appendages in a single bite.

I stepped toward it for a closer look. Nothing in a dream could hurt me, no matter how scary.

The bird disappeared.

I glanced at Eli. “Did
you
do that?”

“Do what?”

“Never mind.” I marched past him toward the grandstand to investigate. I thought I could see some dark marks on the metal railing where the bird’s talons had gripped it.

Eli grabbed my arm. I had a second to think,
not again
. Then the dream world disappeared, and I crashed back into my body. Disoriented and in pain, I lost my balance and tumbled backward off the chair. My flailing arm struck the table as I went down, knocking it over. A can of diet, caffeine-free Mountain Dew hit the floor, and yellow soda sprayed out, covering me in warm liquid.

“You okay?” Eli took hold of my arms and lifted me as if I were a toddler. But then his foot slipped on the wet floor, and we went down again. I landed on top of him, my face pressed against his stomach. Nobody’s abs should be that hard.

He grunted. “Are you always this klutzy or is it just because of me?”

I jumped up, shoving him in the chest as I did so. “You’re an idiot.” I waved my hand over the mess of soda and said the incantation for the only cleaning spell I knew, “Drasi-neo.”