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“Right. Badass ghost librarian says we’re safe. I guess we’ll have to trust her.”
“I do.”
“Yeah, so do I.” She’d saved our butts, among other things.
Robby and Casey joined us before I could dwell on our last visit to this esteemed establishment.
“Are you two ready?” I asked.
“Yes.” Casey beamed. “I’m so glad to be here. Thank you so much.”
“Of course. Have you ever done one of these before?” I scanned the crowd uneasily but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“No.”
“They’re fun,” I allowed.
“It’s time to head backstage and prepare,” Robby said.
We all threaded our way through the crowd, and it didn’t take long before we made it to our green room area to change.
One of the folks in charge of the gala stepped inside and talked with Robby while Geraint, Casey, and I changed into our costumes and touched up our makeup.
After we were ready, we stretched and warmed up as best we could. Fortunately, Geraint was feeling much better, and neither of us thought he’d have a problem with the piece we’d chosen for tonight.
Casey kissed Robby before heading out to the stage to wait for her turn. She was the third act, and we were the closing one.
I arched an eyebrow.
Robby looked slightly abashed. “She’s growing on me.”
“She’s in danger.”
The jester nodded. “Yes. And I am still trying to think of what I can tell her about our absence when we go back to Dream.”
“Better be something good.”
“It is possible she’ll tire of me before then. I still don’t know how we’re going to get home.” Robby sighed.
“Well, I guess we’ll figure it out.” The idea of creating a new type of arch surfaced again. Nic had said I had the power of creation in the Dream realms. Maybe that meant I could do something about getting us back.
The music changed tempo as the performances started, interrupting my train of thought.
Geraint put his arm around me, and I leaned against his solid warmth. Robby spared us a glance I couldn’t interpret before turning his attention to the stage.
The crowd applauded, and I centered myself, preparing mentally for our performance.
Nic
Being back in the museum was not the most comfortable feeling after being attacked by the clown. Though I stuck to the shadows so I wouldn’t be seen, I found myself looking over my shoulder. I was a prince of Nightmare. I shouldn’t have to be afraid of anything. And maybe I wasn’t afraid for myself. If I’d simply had to fight or get away the other day, it wouldn’t have been an issue. I could fight a clown one-on-one and win. I’d done it once before. Not that it had been easy, but I’d done it. The fear wasn’t for me, it was for Ember, and even Robby and Geraint. Maybe even Ash and Casey. I felt responsible for them, now that they were part of our group.
Shaking off the emotions and keeping my senses alert, I flitted from shadow to shadow. It didn’t take long to make it to the display that housed Dio’s essence. What had he been thinking? I hadn’t even known it was possible to survive separating from your dream essence, but apparently, it was.
The guard from before was absent, the museum not open to the public today. I had no doubt that the camera and alarm systems would be present, but I could probably get around those. And if not, at least I wouldn’t get caught, and I wouldn’t be identifiable as anything but a shadowy blur.
Finding a deep shadow, I sent out tendrils of essence to explore, and settled in to study my target and wait for the right time. If I took it too soon, it could cause problems for the others, and we wanted to avoid that.
***
