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“What are you apologizing for?”

“Just…” He hesitated, as if debating whether or not to explain, before he let out another sigh. “The thing I said…about you and me being friends. I shouldn’t have implied…” He trailed off.

I massaged my forehead a moment, still shaken by the almost invasive thought that had arrived so suddenly, one that lingered to work on my conscience.

Perhaps I reallyshouldtalk to him. Despite having every reason to doubt him, I still felt compelled to give him another chance. I lowered my hand with a sigh. “Very well. What do you want to discuss?”

I expected him to gloat that he’d succeeded in softening me, but he merely lowered his eyes. “You don’t have to speak with me. Forgive me for allowing my impatience to…make you uncomfortable. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

Although I found both his apology and his behavior rather puzzling, against my better judgment his apology softened me, and with my lowered defenses the peculiar lure I’d felt from the moment we’d met returned, drawing me closer to him.

“It’s alright, I’ll speak with you.”

Despite getting what he apparently wanted, Darius hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“I want to.” It wasn’t until I’d spoken the words that I realized just how true they were. I wanted to do more thanspeakwith him; I wanted to get to know him, spend time with him…I gave my head a little shake. I couldn’t do any of those things, not when the way he’d turned on me to the Council gave me little reason to trust him.

Yet still the fact remained that despite these reservations, Iwantedto. What did it mean?

But Darius was shaking his head, still looking guilty. “No, we’ll talk when you’re not feeling compelled to humor me.”

I furrowed my forehead. What did he mean? But I had little time to wonder, for Stardust had returned and nudged me, needing no further invitation to urge me to leave this confrontation. I did so reluctantly, if for no other reason than the apprehension that if I lingered, then Darius might discover something about Mother in the ashes that I didn’t want him to find; surely my secrets weren’t safe from him.

Darius looked as if he wanted to ask me to stay before thinking better of it. “This interaction didn’t at all go like I’d anticipated. It appears that in my efforts to protect you, I only made the road to earning your trust more difficult. But I will, especially since we have plenty of time; I have a feeling we’ll be seeing one another shortly.” He turned to go but paused to look over his shoulder, his gaze searching. “Tell me the truth: despite your claims, you’ve read nothing about Weaving, meaning you’re about to receive a weaving assignment without any idea on how to construct dreams.”

I wanted to lie to him and claim I had ample training, but something held me back, almost as if Icouldn’twillingly deceive him. My shoulders slumped in defeat before I forced myself to hastily straighten. I had a plan; between it and my advantage in having watched dreams my entire life, surely I could prove to the Council I belonged here after all.

But Darius didn’t appear fooled by my attempted confidence. He nodded to himself. “I thought so. This is becoming much more complicated than I anticipated, and I have a feeling it’s only going to become more so.”

But rather than look discouraged, his eyes glistened with anticipation, as if the challenge I presented only excited him. Another puzzle that was this man, one I was too tired to try and work out. But like he suspected, I too had a feeling that our interactions were only just beginning.

And strangely, even though I knew Ishould, I didn’t find that prospect at all discouraging.

Chapter 12

My determination to master magic and earn my place in the Dream World proved far more daunting than I could ever have imagined when I discovered just how difficult my magical training would be. Magic existed everywhere in this new world—an invisible force working behind the scenes to keep the Universe running smoothly—which proved to be much more complex than I’d anticipated, even with the help of my two new friends. It wasn’t long before I began to question my decision to forgo training at the Academy.

My days passed in a swirl of study and practice. On Earth I’d been able to get by on only a few hours of restless sleep, but now exhaustion seemed to be my constant companion. I spent most of my waking hours learning spells. Some parts were relatively easy—such as summoning my powers—but Angel still had me practice over and over until I could do it effortlessly.

Even after I’d learned to command my magic in an acceptable amount of time, there was still much more to learn: spells to master—such as the summoning charm that allowed me to pull objects towards myself—techniques that kept my Weaving stitches together, the art of balancing in the air so I could hover above my Mortal while they slept, even a technique that allowed Dreamers to enter closed windows into a locked Mortal home. Apparently, all that was required to break in was to insert a magical key purchased from the Dream Locksmith into the glass; the trick was locating the keyhole.

“Do Nightmares enter the same way?” I asked as I jammed the magical key in random places in a practice Mortal windowpane in an attempt to locate the invisible keyhole, which was proving especially difficult since my thoughts kept drifting to a certain Nightmare.

Angel didn’t look up from painting her fingernails licorice red. “Despite using their magic in opposite ways, Nightmares are still governed by the same magical laws we are.”

“But I’ve heard of Nightmares who can enter and exit a Mortal’s home by appearing and disappearing like lightning.” When Darius had invaded my bedroom back on Earth, he hadn’t gone through the window at all, but instead had appeared out of thin air.

Angel paused in painting her nails and Iris looked up from her pet potted geranium she’d been feeding spoonfuls of honey. “It’s undoubtedly faster than traveling to Weavings by cloud, but traveling that way requires advanced skill and quite a bit of dream dust that not many can afford.”

Muttering curses at the extent of that Nightmare Darius’s power, I finally found the invisible keyhole and shoved the key inside with more force than I intended. The key jammed, requiring us to wait for a locksmith to come and coax it out before we could resume my training.

When not practicing, I spent many dull hours restlessly studying thick volumes of magic until all the words blurred together. The books Stardust had smuggled from the Dream Library had behaved like ordinary books on Earth, but once within the Dream World they revealed their enchanted nature.

At first, I’d thoughtBasic Charms and Spellsentirely ordinary, but after an unusually exhausting and long night, I fell asleep and drooled all overChapter 19: Basic Spells for Everyday Use, after which the book had the annoying habit of shrinking itself to the size of a matchbook and hiding whenever I searched for it—taking cover in a dusty corner or beneath my bed—until one day it disappeared altogether, and Angel and Iris had to persuade the disgruntled librarian to let me borrow another copy from the Dream Library.

Another book,The Melody of Magic, habitually played music with each turn of its pages, and the soothing lullaby in Chapter 22 always lulled me to sleep. This occurred for several days until an exasperated Stardust finally had to read it herself and summarize the finer points.

After completing my first week in the Dream World, my informal tutors finally deemed I’d mastered enough of the basics to begin studying Dream Weaving, the subject I’d been most eager to learn.