“You okay?” Eli said as he emerged from the fog.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak yet.
Eli halted a few feet from me and motioned to the formless world. “Are you doing this?”
I shook my head. My reply came out a croak. “I’m not doing anything.”
Eli didn’t appear to hear me. His attention had shifted to the world beginning to take form around us. It was like watching a painter filling in the blank spaces of a sketch.
We were in some kind of large chamber with a high-vaulted ceiling. Tall stained-glass windows decorated the stone walls at regular intervals with marbled statues of various magickind in their native forms set on the floor in between them. In the center of the room stood a long rectangular table, a massive wooden slab polished to a bright shine. The tall-backed chair I was leaning against was one of several set around the table.
“Wow,” I said, recognizing the place from various pictures in the magickind news outlets. “Have you been to Senate Hall before?”
Eli didn’t look at me as he answered. “Yeah, the day I found out I’m a Conductor. One of the scientists was pretty friendly. She thought I might enjoy seeing it. I guess they don’t let civilians in here very often.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that, too.” Across from me, several suits of armor were just coming into focus, lined up along one section of wall. They were far grander than the ones at Arkwell, with vivid indigo plumes on their ornate helmets and glistening shields engraved with the Magi Senate crest. I wondered if the real-life ones were as lively as those at Arkwell. It would make for interesting meetings.
“I’ve never even been to Lyonshold,” I added, a little envious.
“You’ll get to see it soon,” Eli said as he moved down the table that, like the knights, was still taking on form around us.
“How do you figure?”
He picked up an object from the table that looked like a stick or maybe an overly thick wand. “The Beltane Festival.”
“Oh, yeah. That.”
“I’ve been thinking about volunteering for it.” Eli held the object up higher. “I really hope this isn’t a regular feature at senate meetings.”
I took a longer look at it and noticed a little piece of string sticking out from the end of the stick. “Is that dynamite?”
“Yep.” Eli leaned toward the table and set it down much more carefully than he’d picked it up. I understood his caution. Dreams were a lot more real than most people realized. Especially Eli’s dreams.
“Yeah, I think that would be out of place even among magickind.”
Eli grinned. “Not unless Culpepper suddenly gets elected to the senate.”
“Let’s hope not,” I said, picturing Culpepper’s secret storeroom of illegal items. It included not only candy bars and black magic objects but also entire crates full of dynamite and other dangerous explosives. Yeah, not exactly the type of guy I wanted in charge of things.
Eli started to say something more but stopped. I turned to see what had stolen his attention. More of the table had come into focus by now, and with a sickening drop in the pit of my stomach I realized that we were no longer alone in the vast chamber. People now sat in the chairs—twelve of them in all.
And they were all dead.
I gasped and took an involuntary step backward, repulsed by the sight of their slackened faces and dulled, unseeing eyes. Even worse was when I realized they were people I knew, schoolmates and friends. There was Britney, her head craned back over her chair, her long strawberry blond hair spilling downward behind it. Beside her sat Oliver Cork with Melanie Remillard next to him.
The girl in the chair nearest me was Katarina; her torso was slouched forward, braced against the table. Selene was next to her, her position upright and the most normal of those I’d seen so far, but still undeniably dead.
Terror twisted in my gut at the sight of my best friend. I ran forward and touched her arm, trying to remind myself this was only a dream and failing. Her skin felt frozen beneath my fingers. I let go of her at once, tears stinging my eyes. I looked away, only to be faced with more horror. There was Lady Elaine and Sheriff Brackenberry. There was Eli. And there was …
Me.
I closed my eyes as vertigo came over me again. Vomit burned the back of my throat, and I swallowed it down.
Crack.
I opened my eyes again to see the scene had altered. The bodies were still there, congregated around the table like revelers at a macabre feast, but now dozens of crows had joined them. They were everywhere, perched on the backs of chairs, on the table, even on top of the people themselves.
They were pecking at the dead bodies. I watched one rip away a piece of ashen skin from Bethany’s face. I covered my mouth, too frightened and revolted to scream.
“What is this?” Eli said, moving down the table.
I was amazed he could speak at all given how pale he was and green around the edges. I shook my head, unable to respond. I wanted to look away but couldn’t. My eyes continued to roam, transfixed by the gruesome horror as I watched the crows feasting.
When my gaze reached the head of the table, I realized the man sitting there was Eli’s father.
Eli had realized it, too.
“Dad,” he said, choking on the word. He rushed over to him, trying to shoo away the crows. But the birds only cawed and clacked their beaks at him. I moved to help, engaging my Nightmare magic. If the birds wouldn’t respond to Eli, I would imagine them away.