I shot to my feet. “No way. I can’t! My magic doesn’t work on him. What if he wakes up again and his dad shoots me? What if he—”
“Sit down.” Lady Elaine whacked the desk with the palm of her hand.
I sat.
As if it was scolding, the keyboard made a couple more Stooges sound effects.
Lady Elaine gave the keyboard a shove, an annoyed look on her face. “Your fears are understandable, but unnecessary. Eli has been made aware of the situation and is being enrolled as a student here as we speak.”
My jaw dropped onto my chest, and I glanced at Hendershaw. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
The principal smirked, folding her arms. “Not at all, my dear.”
“Somebody kill me now,” I muttered, leaning back in the chair and placing a hand over my eyes.
Lady Elaine’s voice was harsh as she said, “You shouldn’t make such jokes, not after what you witnessed last night.”
I swallowed and let my hand fall into my lap as I looked back at her. “I’m sorry.”
She let out a humph.
“But how does this work, exactly? I mean, Eli’s an ordinary.”
“We have protocols for dealing with a situation such as this one, even though it’s extremely rare,” Lady Elaine said. “Eli’s father has been informed of the existence of magickind, and his name has been added to The Will registry to ensure he will be unable to tell any other ordinaries the truth about his son.”
“Not that he would try in the first place,” Hendershaw added.
“Oh,” I said, thinking about my dad. Things had been much the same for him when he hooked up with Mom.
Lady Elaine tapped the desktop with her index finger. “I cannot stress enough how important it is that you take this seriously. You must dedicate yourself to developing your dream-seer abilities.”
I shifted in my seat. “But why? I mean … it doesn’t seem all that useful.”
Lady Elaine ignored my question and addressed Hendershaw. “Would you mind giving us a couple of minutes?”
The principal frowned, but she left the room without argument.
As soon as we were alone, Lady Elaine said, “You were able to see what happened last night while I was not. For some reason, you and Eli are more attuned to unfolding events.”
I shook my head. “By the time I saw the dream, Rosemary must’ve already been dead. If I’d seen it a week ago, maybe I could’ve saved her, but it’s just torture when it’s too late to stop it.”
“Ah, but last night was the first time you ever dream-walked with Eli. If you had been visiting his dreams regularly you most likely would’ve seen it far enough in advance to prevent it.”
All the air in my lungs evaporated. Talk about laying a load of guilt on a person. Tears stung my eyes.
Something of my horror must’ve shown on my face because Lady Elaine said, “Now, I don’t want you to feel responsible for what happened, because you most definitely are not. It’s not as if you have any choice when it comes to your dream-feeders. Missed opportunities are one of the drawbacks of The Will, I’m afraid.”
“Drawback? That’s putting it mildly.” Rosemary had died, and I might’ve been able to stop it.
Lady Elaine pursed her lips. “Moving forward, I’m sure your gifts will prove more useful. With practice, it’s even possible you’ll be able to revisit Elijah’s dreams from before the attack and identify Rosemary’s killer.”
Her little speech about not feeling guilty didn’t help much, but I nodded, pretending it did. At least I might have an opportunity to make some kind of amends. It was better than nothing.
Lady Elaine flashed a yellow-toothed smile at me then reached into her big pink purse and withdrew something slim and rectangular. She handed it to me, and I realized it was an eTab, the magickind version of a tablet computer.
“What’s this for?” I said, turning it over in my hands. The advertisements for this sucker said it was animation resistant. I’d wanted one for a while now, but they were pretty expensive.
“It’s an eTab.”
“No kidding.”
Lady Elaine yanked the zipper on her purse closed a little harder than was necessary. “You will use this device to record the content of Eli’s dreams. Every dream. As soon as you have completed a dream-walk, you will fill out an entry in the dream journal application already installed. You must do it as soon as possible so you don’t forget anything important. I expect something so small should be easy to carry with you at all times.”
She was right about that. The thing was so light it felt like nothing at all. I ran my fingers over the touch screen, admiring the smooth, shiny surface. Surrounding the screen were thin, barely discernible engravings, rune marks designed to dampen the animation effect.
“Your entries should be as specific as possible. Pay special attention to recurring images or patterns. All dreams are symbolic at their basic level, even the ones that predict the future.”
I forced my attention back on Lady Elaine, trying to make sense of what she’d said. Symbols, reoccurring images, or patterns. That didn’t sound very easy. “But what I saw about Rosemary was almost exactly what happened. How’s that symbolic?”
“Sometimes the closer to the event, the clearer the vision.”
I thought about it a moment. “You mean it sort of comes into focus? I guess that makes sense.”