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After we all agreed, Headmistress Blackthorn proceeded to tell us that Leslie had been using her dream-walking abilities against her coven members. “She was infiltrating their dreams, influencing their decisions during their waking hours and generally causing chaos within the Coven. When they finally figured out why things were going so poorly, they had no choice but to cast her out.
“That’s when they contacted the Academy. They wanted us to know what they’d been dealing with and to let us know that they would not be continuing to cover her tuition. We had a discussion as a staff and we agreed that if Ms. Wellington returnedand expressed a genuine desire to continue her studies, we would grant her a scholarship, with certain expectations around behavior.
“When she arrived, I was immediately notified and she should have been escorted to my office. Somehow, though, she was never seen by anyone after walking through our doors. As far as we can tell, she walked in and promptly disappeared. We’re at a loss. We have no idea where she is and at this point, we’re concerned not just for her safety, but for the safety of the entire student body.”
I was completely stunned. “You have a dream-walker you know has been manipulating people and you didn’t warn anyone? You didn’t warnme?I was going to be sleeping in the same room with her!”
“Ms. Wellington is entitled to herprivacy,” the headmistress said.
“And I’m entitled to safety when sleeping.” I waved a hand, annoyed, yet not willing to waste more time on the subject. “So what exactly does this mean? Because I never saw Leslie at all during my dream. The only person I saw was Zowen.”
“A very skilled dream-walker can walk through your dreams and never be seen,” Mr. Brecken spoke up for the first time. “They can also bring others into your dream with them.”
“Are we seriously considering that Leslie might have teamed up with Zowen? Is that what we’re talking about?” I asked. “That my roommate teamed up with the most prolific serial killer in supernatural history?”
“It’s a possibility, that’s all,” ProfessorDunlop said.
“A very strong one,” Headmistress Blackthorn corrected
“For how long?” I asked. “I mean, we’ve been roommates the entire time I’ve been here and she’s been supposedly staying with her boyfriend on the second floor since minute one.”
“There aren’t any residences on the second floor,” Professor Dunlop said.
“Exactly. So I figured she was either screwing around with a professor—” They all looked horrified, which for some reason made me want to laugh. “—or she didn’t want me to know where she was staying.”
“You never asked?” Professor Diaz asked.
I winced. “I didn’t really care, to be honest, so no, but now I’m wondering if when she said second floor she meant the Shadow Realm.”
“You think Zowen was her boyfriend?” Jasmine asked incredulously.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope not, but I’m not liking the alternative. Either she’s with him of her own free will or he took her against it and we never knew. What if he took her and corrupted her with the shadows and that’s why she was manipulating her coven this past summer?”
“When I rescued everyone from the Shadow Realm, I didn’t sense Leslie at all,” Kasi said, “and I could sense all of our classmates and professors. She wasn’t there.”
“So either he’s taken her since then or she’s been gone since before I wastaken,” I said.
“But that doesn’t make sense,” Jasmine said. “She came and visited you in the hospital when you were in a coma.”
“That’s right. Shewashere at the end of last school year,” Kasi said.
“And we’re absolutely positive she came back to schoolthisyear?” Jasmine asked.
“She definitely came in the front door,” Mrs. Caldwell said, “but I have no record of her stopping by for her official schedule.”
“So where is she now? Did she actuallygoto any of her classes?” I asked.
“She’s been marked present every day,” Professor Dunlop said, “But no one seems to rememberhaving seen her, neither the professors nor the students.”
“Also not surprising,” Professor Fotheringham said. “A dream-walker basically walks through people’s minds, manipulating what they see and believe. A really powerful one can make you believe someone was somewhere they weren’t or weren’t somewhere they were.”
“So there’s no way to know whether she’s been in classes or not,” I said.
“Exactly,” he replied.
CHAPTER 13
After such a longmeeting with the professors, it was really depressing to realize we had very little additional information and we had no game plan.
