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I stifled a yawn. “I actually need sleep like a Mortal, though not nearly as much.” I braced myself for their reactions to this anomaly, but they only looked fascinated.

“Perhaps it’s because you’re a magical being from Earth. I wonder in which other ways your background has affected you.” Angel rose. “But that is a discussion for another time. For now, I have the perfect solution.”

She and Iris left the room to retrieve one of the cloud settees from the parlor and drag it into my new room to make up a bed for me, spreading a multicolored patchwork quilt over the cushions and fluffing one of the decorative pillows. Both stood back to survey their work.

“Itlookslike a bed similar to those Mortals use,” Angel said. “This should do nicely.”

I tentatively perched on the edge of the settee while Iris glanced outside, where inky darkness was slowly fading into grey as dawn approached. “It’ll be morning soon and I know sleepers need darkness.” She bustled to the window and tugged the petaled drapes closed. “Do you need anything else? A bedtime story? Those help Mortals sleep, right?”

I shook my head and lay down.

“We’ll start your magical training as soon as you wake up.” Angel and Iris tiptoed towards the door, moving quietly as if I’d already fallen asleep. Stardust remained in the room with her lantern, which lit the room in colors and patterns that were both mesmerizing and distracting. She first morphed into a needle and used the light’s glow to repair my bag that had torn on Earth, then morphed back into her detective notebook to go over her notes.

While she worked, I struggled to sleep, but my stomach twisted at the thought of my upcoming magical test, one I hadn’t the faintest idea of how to even begin preparing for. These worries and others occupied my thoughts as I rolled over in my makeshift bed, struggling and failing to get comfortable. Despite the exhaustion pressing against my senses from hours without sleep, it remained stubbornly elusive.

My mind swirled with the meeting with the Council—the suspicions coming from the Council and particularly Head Nightmare Ember, as well as Nightmare Darius’s contradictory behavior. As relieved as I was that they’d given me an opportunity to prove I belonged, the suddenness with which they’d done so left me unsettled. And then there had been the speculations that I was the Weaver who’d gone missing so many years before.

Mother…they’d been speaking about her, I was certain of it. What else could explain her presence on Earth? What still remained a mystery waswhyshe’d been banished, and what this meant for me should anyone learn of our connection. Though I’d given up wondering about my father a long time ago, I couldn’t help but once again wonder who he might have been for me to end up the way I was.

My thoughts drifted to my last encounter with Mother. It felt like it’d been ages since she’d caught me snooping in her study and our secrets had spilt. The more time that passed, the more the previous bitter sting from her lies trickled away, replaced with sharp fear.

Where had she vanished to? Was she safe? Had she returned home, or was she hidden somewhere? Was she frantically searching for me down on Earth, or did she suspect I’d come to the Dream World? The questions haunted my thoughts, causing me to toss and turn, a restlessness that quickly tangled my blankets.

Stardust pored over her detective notes by the flickering blue light emanating from her lantern. After several minutes of my continued tossing and turning, she looked up with a glower.

“How long does it take for one to fall asleep, and do sleepers always do it so noisily?”

I sighed and rolled onto my back to stare at the waltzing, shadowy patterns Stardust’s lantern cast across the ceiling. “I can’t sleep.”

“An amateur investigator could have deduced that. Try harder; I can’t concentrate with you making such a ruckus.”

“I’m not tired.”

“But you practically fell asleep while we planned your training. Sleepers are so confusing.” She shook her head as if I was a lost cause and closed her notebook. “It’s important you learn to sleep during the day so you can be on a Dreamer’s schedule and be awake at night when Weavings occur.”

“I keep thinking of Mother. Where could she be?”

Stardust’s expression softened as she drifted over to curl up beside me. “I don’t know.”

I began stroking her, the soothing movement doing little to lessen the anxiety pressing against my chest. “She couldn’t have gone far; I’m sure she’s returned home and is waiting for me, wondering where I am.” My earlier suspicion returned, begging to be further explored. “While the Council was interrogating me, there were whispers that I’m—” I couldn’t finish.

She was silent a long moment. “Did they suspect you were the Weaver who went missing?”

I swallowed and nodded. She sighed.

“I wondered if they would. I also believed that about you until I compared your magic with the record of hers.” She hesitated. “Are you suspecting it’s your mother?“

I ached to deny it, but I couldn’t escape the sinking feeling that confirmed what my heart didn’t want to believe. I bit my lip. “Why was the Weaver banished?”

“I don’t know,” Stardust said. “Several Weavers have received such a punishment over the years, but that particular case is infamous because while the Council has always kept track of other banished Weavers, this one simply…disappeared. Though everyone has heard about the case, the Council has understandably kept silent about the details. I can’t promise I’ll find much information, but I’ll do my best to investigate the matter.”

As much as I appreciated her promise, the fact of the matter remained that Mother was missing, leaving me no idea what had become of her. An image of a mob of villagers swarming our cottage with pitchforks bombarded my mind. I gasped and bolted upright. “We have to go back.”

“Now? But you just got here.”

I’d already scrambled onto the windowsill to push the window open to the balmy early morning. “I must find out what happened to Mother and bring her here; if she’s also a Dreamer, then we belong in the Dream World together.”

“But Eden, if our suspicions are correct and she was banished, then surely there’s a reason why the Council—”