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“So.” Kasi cleared her throat. “Sorry. What were we talking about?”
“Jahrdran was about to tell us about his visit to the Varulvka archives,” I said.
“Right,” he said. “Basically, there was an incredible amount of information and I read it all over a period of ten days. I took copious notes that they confiscated when I went to leave the facility at the end of my stay there.”
“You’re kidding!” I don’t know why I was so shocked, but I was.
“Yeah, they said they would send the notes to me once they made sure there was nothing sensitive in them. I doubt I’ll ever get them back. Anyway, the point is I may have forgottensomething, but I honestly don’t remember there being any mention of the Shadow Killer, or any shadow-beasts for that matter, being able to dream-walk.”
“Dream-walk?” I asked. “Is that what you think he was doing last night?”
“You’re absolutely certain Mikaela’s physical form never left the room, right, Elliot?” Jahrdran asked.
“Positive,” Elliot said.
Elli-Dragon.Miki perked up the moment she heard his voice, making me smile.
“Mikaela was restless,” Elliot went on, “and I was watching her closely, so I could wake her if it looked like she was having a nightmare. Then, she jerked and screamed, and barely a second later, her arm started bleeding out of nowhere.”
“That definitely sounds like a dream-walker,” Jahrdran said.
Mad-dragon.
Elliot?
No. MAD-dragon.
Oh, Zowen. Yeah. He’s definitely mad all right. Psycho-mad.
“So, if you’re right and the Shadow Killer didn’t have the ability to dream-walk before, how in the world has he acquired it now?” Kasi demanded.
“Leslie’s a dream-walker,” I said. “Maybe she can help us figure this out.”
“Who’s Leslie?” Jahrdran asked.
That question didn’t exactly bode well for our mission to find her. Then again, Jahrdran only had eyes for Kasi last year and Leslie was never around anyway, plus she was in our year, not his, so maybe it made sense thathe didn’t know who she was.
Look at me, being all optimistic and shit.
Unfortunately, since none of us knew what Leslie’s schedule was this yearorwho her boyfriend was, we didn’t have a clue where to start looking for her.
Since Jasmine, Kasi and I had to get to our Dragon Riding class—joy!—we made a plan with the guys to reconvene at lunchtime to compare notes. In the meantime, we would quiz everyone we could about the whereabouts of Leslie.
Class was actually rather boring that morning, with lots of learning around the care of dragons, what to feed them and so forth, but at least I didn’t have to worry about Miki-Leopard challenging full-blooded dragons.
In fact, shewas so bored, she snoozed through most of the class, something I really wished I could do. Instead, I spent my time taking notes to stay awake and quizzing classmates anytime I had a chance to do so.
Unfortunately, I got nowhere with my questions and when Kasi, Jasmine and I compared notes after class and later joined the guys, we discovered we’d all had the same experience when asking about Leslie.
Half the people we’d spoken with had no idea who she was and the other half were super vague in their memories. They thought she might have been in their class that morning or the day before or maybe they’d seen her at lunch, but they weren’t sure. They couldn’t remember what she’d been wearing or where she’d sat or if she’dspoken with them or anyone else.
After we’d all shared our lack of progress, Kasi finally asked what I was wondering myself. “Is she even a student here anymore?”
Everyone looked at me and I shrugged. “I haven’t seen her at all this year. Usually she drops off her clothes and stuff, then disappears. This year, nothing, but it’s only the third day of classes. It’s possible she just hasn’t shown up yet or she’s like Kasi and spent the last three nights with her boyfriend.”
“Good point,” Kasi said.
