“So who was that guy you were sitting with during the assembly?”
I blinked, surprised by Eli’s tone. He didn’t sound annoyed exactly, but I could tell it wasn’t just a casual question, either. “Nobody to you.”
Eli grunted. “Is he your boyfriend or something?”
“Nah, I just like to randomly hold hands with strangers.”
“Is that so?” He turned sideways and stretched out, laying his head on one arm of the sofa with his feet dangling over the side of the other. “I guess that’s why you’ve never held—” He broke off, yawning hugely. Then he fell asleep.
I stared at him for a long time, wondering what he’d been about to say. Then I walked over and climbed on top of him, grateful he’d chosen the sofa this time. It made my job a lot easier.
I entered his dream, wanting to get this over quickly. When the dream world solidified around me, I saw the familiar setting of Chickery High School’s gymnasium as it normally looked for the homecoming dance. Red and white streamers hung from the walls and across the ceiling. More streamers rimmed the tables set around the edges of the dance floor. Loud pop music blared from the speakers, providing some sense of beat to the chaos of writhing bodies.
I saw Eli nearby, dancing with Katarina. I considered switching into my old-lady disguise to hide from him again, but I never got the chance as a strange, horrible sight drew my attention. In the center of the dance floor, towering over the heads of the students, was a Minotaur. It was dancing along with the music, having a good time, just one of the crowd. A huge iron ring hung from its snout. Blood dripped from it, splattering the creature’s bare chest with crimson.
I took a step toward it, trying to make sense of its presence in Eli’s dream. A loud shriek rang out above the music, and I froze in place. I looked up, my head pounding with a sudden surge of adrenaline as I saw the black phoenix swoop down at the dancing crowd, claws outstretched, beak opened. Before I could react, it grabbed the Minotaur by the neck and ripped its head from its body with a sickening crack. The students began to scream as the creature’s huge body fell to the floor, blood spurting from its neck.
The next thing I knew, Eli was standing beside me, his face slack with shock as people swarmed past us in a frenzied panic. Seeing his fear only increased my own. I didn’t want to deal with this. Not now. Not ever. I’d seen enough and didn’t want to see anymore. I pulled back from the dream and fled before Eli woke up. I went to bed as soon as I finished typing my dream journal. But I didn’t sleep. Not for a long, long time.
13
Samhain
Paul picked me up at my dorm room before the dance. Selene and her date, a siren by the name of Justin Damico, had already left. I spent a whole ten minutes by myself, utterly convinced I would be stood up again. But Paul’s knock sounded promptly at seven-thirty, and I hurried to answer, almost breathless with relief.
“Hello,” he said, taking in the sight of my dress, an off-the-shoulder ball gown made of gold silk overlaid with cream-colored lace. “Wow. You look great.”
A flutter rose in my chest at the way he looked at me, his mouth half-opened, his eyes wide. I didn’t consider myself very pretty, but his expression made me feel like I was. I’d borrowed the gown from Selene. It was beautiful, though there was no helping my unfortunate red hair, which even now was starting to frizz despite the liberal amounts of hair products I applied.
Paul, of course, was a knockout in his black suit and black tie offset by a red waistcoat. “So do you,” I said.
“Where’s your mask?” He glanced behind me at all the mess in the dorm room.
“One sec.” I retrieved the matching gold-colored mask from beside my computer. The Samhain dance was a masquerade ball, the first I’d ever attended. I felt a little silly as I slid the mask on, but it was sort of fun, too. The mask was a Columbina, according to Selene, which meant it only covered the top half of my face. Bedecked in feathers and sequins, I looked a bit like a golden peacock.
I came back to the door. “What about yours?”
Paul reached up and pulled his mask down from the top of his head, where he’d been wearing it like a pair of sunglasses. It was a Columbina, too, but just a simple unadorned black. Combined with his blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, he looked like he could grace the cover of a romance novel.
“Let’s go.” Paul extended his arm, and I slid mine beneath his. He pulled me close to him, our sides brushing as we moved along. Walking arm in arm with him felt as natural as breathing. Heat radiated off his body, keeping me warm as we headed across campus to Vatticut Hall.
The front lawn was packed with students and the occasional faculty member. They congregated around the bonfires lit here and there, passing the time until the feast began. A couple of werewolf policemen were patrolling around, their presence so commonplace since Rosemary’s death as to go almost unnoticed.
“Pop quiz,” Paul said as we walked along. “Let’s see how much you were paying attention in the assembly.” He ran a hand down my back and up again.
I blushed then felt a thrill as I realized nobody could see it. This mask thing was pretty cool.
“Why do we wear masks on Samhain?”
I grinned. Too easy. “To hide from the spirits of the dead, because this is the one night of the year they can come out and terrorize magickind. Lucky us.”
“That’s correct.” Paul shook his head. “Seems I didn’t do a good enough job distracting you yesterday.”