The Nightmare Dilemma (Arkwell Academy) (20 page)

“Yeah, no luck here either,” Eli said, an odd strain in his voice. “My dad’s working a case, I guess.”

I understood his worry at once, remembering the dream. “You haven’t talked to him at all?”

“No, but I called the department this morning and they told me.”

I smiled. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

Lance looked between Eli and me, his brow furrowed. “Well yeah, he’s fine. Why wouldn’t he be?”

I inclined my head toward Eli, allowing him to decide whether or not to respond. I’d told Selene about the dream before we came down to breakfast, of course, but she was part of the Dream Team and could definitely be trusted. The verdict remained out on Lance.

Eli cleared his throat and looked around for eavesdroppers, but the cafeteria was pretty empty, typical for a Saturday. And to my delight, Katarina wasn’t present. Still getting her beauty sleep, no doubt.

Satisfied it was safe, Eli recapped the dream from last night.
His
portion of it, anyway, keeping mine a secret. I couldn’t help the upsurge of affection I felt for him at his thoughtfulness. It was just his tendency to do stuff like that which made it so hard not to have feelings for him. Well, that and his overall hotness.

Lance appeared to listen to the story with some difficulty, the effects of the curse still plaguing him. The bruises beneath his eyes were deeper than ever, and he kept yawning as if he hadn’t slept for days. He seemed to be doing his best to cope with the curse, but I had a feeling it was going to catch up to him sooner or later.

“So what do you think it means?” Lance said when Eli finished.

Eli set down his goblet. “I’m not sure. It could mean lots of things. I did some research on crows and their symbolism. There’s a lot of it. War, death, famine, plague.”

“All kinds of bad, in other words,” I said.

Eli frowned at me. “Did you really think it could be anything else?”

I grimaced, doing my best not to picture the gruesome scene from last night. “No.”

“Crows can also be messengers from the dead,” said Selene.

We all turned to gape at her.

She shrugged. “It’s pretty rare, but there are historical accounts in magickind history.”

Eli’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “Wow. That’s incredible.” He paused, then shook his head. “But I don’t think it applies to the dream.”

“Yes, you’re probably right. But I thought it worth mentioning,” said Selene. “Only … aren’t crows more or less ravens, but smaller?”

“Hmmm, I think
so
.” Eli turned his gaze to me. “Can you check for us?”

“Sure.” I picked up my eTab, which I’d brought with me in case either of my parents decided to e-mail me back. I did a quick search on the ordinary Internet. The e-net was too likely to come back with mixed, confusing results. “Yep, according to this, the most obvious difference is their size. They’re different species, technically, but they share the same genus. It’s—” I froze, the eerie prick of coincidence striking my spine as I read the word on the screen.

“Corvus, right?” Selene said.

Once again we all turned to face her.

Her expression turned magnanimous. “The first day of class Mr. Corvus said his name means raven. I told you that, Dusty.”

“Right.” That conversation seemed to have occurred ages ago, but was really only a few days. His name had been just an afterthought and a joke. But now …

“You think those crows represent Mr. Corvus?” Lance said, a skeptical note to his voice.

Selene shot him a scathing look. “If you’re going to be negative, you can butt out.”

A devilish grin spread across Lance’s face, and he winked at her. “Aw, come on, you know you’d miss me.”

“Sure she would,” I said before Selene could respond. “But only because you make such an easy target.”

Lance flipped me the finger.

I grinned. If he was already stooping to physical gestures instead of verbal ones, then victory accomplished. Only, I had a sinking feeling he’d stooped because his curse-addled brain was incapable of generating a smart-ass remark at the moment. The knowledge deflated my sense of accomplishment and compounded my worry.

“And for your information,” Selene said, “it’s
very
possible the crows represent Mr. Corvus in the same way that the black phoenix represented Marrow.”

I started to nod my agreement, but Eli’s reply gave me pause.

“I thought that too at first, but when you think about it, the black phoenix represented itself. It was always real. As far as I can tell, Mr. Corvus doesn’t have a pet crow hanging around.”

I bit my lip, mulling it over. Eli was right about the black phoenix and Marrow, but there were things about Mr. Corvus that unsettled me, and not just his eye patch. He was so strict and hard, for one thing. For another, he’d taken Marrow’s place as history teacher
and
had moved into Marrow’s office with some of his things still on the shelf.

Selene traced a finger down the scar on the side of her face. “That doesn’t mean he’s not one of Marrow’s followers. Anybody could be one.”

Eli’s nostrils flared as he inhaled a deep breath. “That’s true. Okay, so we’ll check him out. See what he was up to before he came here to teach.”

“Right, good idea,” I said, although a part of me wondered why, if he was one of Marrow’s supporters, he would’ve put himself in a position so likely to make us associate him with Marrow. Or maybe that was the point. Maybe it was a ruse to try and throw us off.

Selene motioned to the boys. “Why don’t you two work on digging up the dirt on Corvus while Dusty and I talk to Britney?”

“All right,” said Eli.

“Assuming we actually get to visit Britney,” I said, returning my attention to the eTab. I clicked on my e-mail, but when it refreshed a second later, there were no new messages.

Across the table, I watched as Eli took a bite of egg casserole, made a face, and then set his fork down. “I think I’m done. Anybody want some of this?” He motioned to the surprising amount of food still on his tray.

I stared at him. Eli normally ate enough for two people. “Are you not feeling okay?”

“I’m just really worn out.” He shrugged, running a finger over his wand ring. “This magic business is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

Lance clapped him on the back. “Don’t worry, man. It’ll get easier the more you practice. I mean, look at Dusty. She hasn’t blown up anything in at least twenty-four hours. Might be some kind of record.”

I smirked at him. “That’s only because I was waiting for you to be around. Wouldn’t want to waste a good explosion.”

Eli grinned. “I’m glad to see you guys are getting along so much better these days.”

An offended look crossed Lance’s face. “We could always resume our competition. We left off with a tie, I’m pretty sure.”

“Oh, give me a break,” Selene said with a dramatic eye roll. “Dusty totally beat you.”

“I have
never
been beaten.” Lance thumped his chest.

Selene started to reply, but I elbowed her. “Don’t encourage him. We know who won for real, and that’s good enough.”

Eli shook his head at the lot of us. Then he stood, picking up his tray. I looked up at him. The dark spots beneath his eyes were more noticeable from this angle. I wondered if his exhaustion today had less to do with magical exertion and more to do with worry over his dad.

An image of Mr. Booker’s dead body being eaten by crows popped up in my mind with shocking clarity. I sucked in a breath, and forced the image away before I saw my mother again. All my humor vanished with it, leaving fear behind.

I hoped my mom responded soon.

18

Vejovis

Typical of my life experience, the more I wanted something to happen—like an important e-mail popping up in my inbox—the less likely it was to happen. Even worse, the likelihood decreased with every press of the refresh button.

When I wasn’t obsessing over my inbox, I spent the day reviewing
The Atlantean Chronicle,
but I didn’t find a single thing of note. Selene’s detection spell was a bust, too.

Finally, an hour past curfew, a message came in from my dad:

So sorry sweetheart. Just got your voice mail but I figured it’s too late to call. I was at a symposium all day. I’ll call you in a pass first thing tomorrow. Love, Dad.

I sent him a quick reply and closed the eTab. I texted the news to Eli and then asked if he’d heard from his dad, but he texted me back saying no. He also told me to get a new phone because it was changing every other letter of my texts into symbols, making it nearly impossible to read. The symbol-changing was new, but the crappy phone wasn’t.

Tell me something I don’t know,
I texted back, but Eli didn’t reply. Maybe my phone had been offended and eaten his response.

Eager to be off tomorrow, I turned in early. Selene came in not long after and lay down. I was a little surprised at her arrival. She’d gotten a phone call from Lance an hour before and had gone out to meet him.

Selene cleared her throat and then announced into the darkness, “So Lance just told me there’s a little more going on with Eli than him being tired.”

I rolled over, focusing my gaze on her vague outline. “What do you mean?”

She exhaled. “Some witchkinds have been giving him crap about being a Conductor.”

I leaned up onto my elbows. “Like what?”

“A couple of threatening notes left in his locker and some anonymous e-mails calling him a cheat and a fake.”

“Why on earth for?” My voice echoed loudly in the still room.

Selene exhaled again. “It’s stupid. But I guess a lot of the witchkinds aren’t happy about an ordinary using
their
magic. They’re acting like he stole it or something.”

I gasped, outraged. “That the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I know,” Selene said, a dark tone to her voice. “And it gets worse. Lance told me that his dad and the other witchkind politicians are unhappy that he’s being allowed to use magic at all. They tried to stop it. They say it’s dangerous to let an ordinary do magic.”

“What? But that’s so unfair.” I wanted to hit something, but the only thing available was a pillow, and that would be less than satisfying. No wonder Eli was so distraught. He’d been so happy to discover his magic, but now he was getting heat for it. My heart hurt for him. I wondered why he hadn’t told me.

“What does Lance say about it?” I asked, bracing for the worst.

I heard Selene shift on her bed. “He’s angry. More angry than I’ve seen him. He had a big fight with his dad about it on the phone. Senator Rathbone wants him to put in a new roommate request, but Lance refused. He’s no plans on ditching Eli.” Something like awe, or maybe pride colored Selene’s voice.

My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe it. I never would’ve expected Lance to stand up to his father. I guess this meant he wasn’t quite the total jackass I’d always taken him for. “I’m glad to hear it,” I said.

Selene didn’t respond for several long seconds. Then she said in a soft voice, “Me, too.”

We fell silent after that, each of us no doubt thinking about the boys in our lives as we drifted off to sleep.

*   *   *

Despite our good intentions, Selene and I both slept in late the next day. We hurried to get dressed. The cafeteria would be closing soon, and as much as I wanted to eat a Milky Way Midnight bar for breakfast, I figured it was a bad idea. Maybe afterward.

I opened the door to leave but froze when I saw my mother standing in the hallway, one hand raised as if she were just about to knock. I stared at her a full thirty seconds before registering that it was really her.

Moira put a hand on her hip, her vivid red fingernails flashing. A scathing look crossed her face. “I haven’t possibly been gone long enough that you’ve forgotten me.”

A huge smile spread across my face. “Mom!” I jumped forward, grabbing her so hard around the waist that she grunted.

But she hugged me back and kissed my cheek. “I missed you, too.”

I pulled away from her, a dozen questions on the tip of my tongue, but Mom held up a piece of paper, distracting me.

“I just got in this morning, but I hear you’re looking for a day pass,” she said, grinning smugly.

I grabbed the paper and examined it more closely, confirming it was legit. “You’re the best, Mom.”

Moira tilted her head, her blond hair—longer than it had been the last time I saw her—brushing against her shoulder. “I know.” She waved. “You two ladies go grab your coats. Let’s head out now.”

*   *   *

Fifteen minutes later, I climbed into the passenger seat of my mom’s neon orange-and-black pin-striped Dodge Challenger. Magickind were supposed to blend in with ordinaries whenever they traveled out in the ordinary world, but my mother tried to blend in more with teenage boys and old men with too much money and too little hair.

I looked over my shoulder at Selene sitting in the back. “Put on your seat belt.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Oh, you’ll see.”

Mom shot me a look as she turned the key. “My daughter is implying that I’m a bad driver.”

“I’m not implying. I’m saying it outright.”

Moira opened her mouth to argue as she started to pull out of the parking spot, but she dropped the clutch too soon, and the car gave a huge buck as the engine revved and then stalled. Magickind should never be allowed to buy stick shifts, especially not my mother. I couldn’t figure out how she’d convinced the dealer to sell it to her. With magic, no doubt.

“Whoops.” Moira put the car back into first and started the engine.

Behind me I heard the click of Selene’s seat belt as she fastened it.

Mom had better luck the second time, and once she reached cruising speed we were out of danger of stalling. For the time being, at least. But we weren’t safe by any means. Right away Mom pressed me for information on Britney, Paul, and Eli’s latest dreams. I told her everything, but it wasn’t easy as she insisted on looking at me while I talked. Consequently, she kept drifting left of center or driving up on the curb.

“Watch the road, Mom!” I said as I finished. A horn blast and the screech of tires drowned out the sound of my voice.