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Stardust gasped. “It’sgone? Unfortunately, it’ll probably be impossible to get back. The best we can hope for is that the Nightmare doesn’t figure out it’s a dream, or worse, hand it directly to the Nightmare Council. Your powers are too unique to share with them.”

“Who are the Nightmare Council?”

“The ones in charge of the Nightmare Realm,” Stardust said. “It’s their job to ensure all Nightmares use their powers within the bounds of magical law, so it’s surprising they allowed that Nightmare to weave alone last night, which makes me suspect he was sent by the Council specifically.”

That was exactly what he’d told the Investigations Team, meaning I hadn’t avoided detection after all. My heart pounded in my ears. First the Investigations Team and now this? “Will the Nightmare Council do anything to me?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “The fact they sent one of their cronies to investigate suggests they connected you to the strong magical burst that occurred when you captured that dream. But if they suspected you were behind it, why weave a nightmare for you?” She tapped her purple crayon on the pages of her notebook, a thoughtful frown tugging at her mouth. “That Nightmare must have wanted to see if you could receive a dream, as that would determine whether or not you were Mortal. I’d bet my morphing powers he was the same Nightmare I spotted last night; he must have been waiting for you to fall asleep.”

My heart sank as she shared each suspicion, confirming I’d been right not to trust Darius. It wasn’t until this moment that I realized just how much I’d been wanting to.

Stardust morphed into a magnifying glass and began scouring the room, carefully combing the walls, poking in the dusty corners, and examining around my piles of dirty laundry. When that yielded no results, she flew to the ceiling and paused at the beam Nightmare Darius had clung to the night before.

“Aha! Proof.”

She carefully scooped something up and flew down to triumphantly showcase her findings. Mossy green dust glistened in her grip. I didn’t even need to examine it to recognize it as the same dust she had discovered yesterday. She compared the two side by side.

“Completely identical. I knew it was the same Nightmare.” She pulled a tiny bottle from her body and carefully slid the dust inside before corking it shut. “Now all that remains is to figure outwhothis Nightmare is. I should be able to track him down by sneaking a peek at the Weavers’ files and conducting a magical comparison, although accessing the Nightmare files may be a bit tricky.”

“There’s no need to investigate; I already know who he is.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You do? How?”

I hesitated, unsure how she’d respond to the fact that not only had this very nightmare and I had carried on an entire conversation, but he’d protected me from the Investigations Team…or at least hadpretendedto. “He and I met this morning—”

Thump. Stardust’s notebook tumbled to the floor, her mouth agape as she stared at me in horror. “What?”

“He and I—”

“I heard you the first time,” she snapped, her body beginning to redden. “What I’m questioning are not your words but your foolishness, which landed you in the horrible situation you’ve just so casually disclosed. What do you mean you and the Nightmaretalked? How could you do such a thing with ourprime suspect? If you told him anything, Eden…”

“I didn’t,” I said hastily. “We only—”

“Because just in case I didn’t make it clear before, Nightmares areevil.”

I frowned. “Evilseems a bit harsh…he didn’t seemthatbad.” Suspicious, certainly, and likely untrustworthy. Butevil?If that were really true, why had I been so drawn to him?

“If he didn’t seemthat bad, it’s simply because he was trying to trick you.” She gave me a rather sharp glare. “Now what did you tell him?”

“Nothing,” I said. “He was looking into this morning’s strange magical outburst and—” I regretted the admission the moment I made it, for Stardust’s eyes immediately narrowed.

“What magical outburst?”

I groaned and pattered to my bag to pull out the dream I’d bottled this morning. Stardust immediately recognized it. She gasped. “You went dream watching this morning? Are youcrazy?”

“I go every morning,” I said heatedly. “Besides, I got bored waiting for you.” Not to mention I hadn't been able to stay in my shadowy room any longer, not with the memory of last night’s nightmare entangling me like the spiderwebs that had filled it.

“But if that Nightmare or someone else from the Council saw you…who knows what they would do if they learned about your powers.”

“I don’t think he did.” I chose to remain silent about the fact that he’d foundsomethingin my dream-watching tree. “Although he interrogated me, he also seemed keen on protecting me. He told me to hide and even covered for me when the Investigations Team came.”

Stardust groaned. “And now the Investigations Team is after you? This just keeps gettingworse.” She took a deep breath, and some of her crimson color began to fade as she slowly regained control over her temper. “Now listen to me: no matter how it appeared, I can assure you the Nightmarewasn’tprotecting you.”

My heart sank, the part of me that still wanted to believe he might have been, despite the evidence to the contrary. “Are you sure? But he—”

“Completely,” she said. “The question that remains is: what does he hope to accomplish by such a ruse? I wonder if it’s a coincidence you received your first dream after all of this started happening. If that Nightmare was able to successfully give you one, how come you don’t have a permanent Weaver?”

“Maybe I’ve simply forgotten all of my dreams until now. That’s what Mother always tells me.”