“I don’t see any lights on,” Ursula whispered.
“Urs, you don’t have to whisper, I’m keeping us invisible,” Elliot said, his eyes shining an inhuman gold.
“Part of his illusion magic,” Ursula explained to Kane, still whispering.
Creeped out, Kane drifted toward the back door, but Elliot’s voice stopped him.
“Come on, Kane. We can’t just walk in.”
“I want to check on her.”
“But this isn’t even her house.”
“Then why did she answer the phone?”
Kane was acting sure, but he didn’t know. All he knew was the helplessness he’d heard in the old woman’s voice as she called out for her lost friend. And right now the din in his head was rising. Something was wrong.
Ursula let out a small yelp.
“I saw something! In a window! Something moved!”
They backed up to look into the stoic face of the house. Nothing in the windows moved, but Kane was sure something was off about the house. Something about its black presence against the gray sky seemed to bend the air, like the house was a weight slowly sinking backward, pulling the world around it taut. And again he heard that shushing din. Faint and ephemeral, but there. The house whispered with dark promise, urging them to come closer.
Then, from the top floor, there was a scream. At the same time a window exploded outward, releasing a strange pressure from the house and blowing over the desiccated garden. Around them the plants came back to life, turning from gray to green. Flowers uncurled new buds that bloomed in seconds, reinvigorated by what had to be magic.
“Kane was right.” Adeline sounded stricken. “It’s a reverie. It’s already forming!”
“We have to help her.” Kane charged toward the door. Before he’d made it, just as he was passing a propped-up wheelbarrow, he collided with a person attempting to hide in the garden.
They both fell to the ground.
“Sophia?”
Sophia straightened her shirt as she stood. She picked up her phone, the screen showing it was recording a video.
The Others approached from behind.
“Great work, Elliot. Super invisible,” Adeline said.
Kane dragged his sister away by the elbow. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Sophia shook him off. “I came to Roost to see if you wanted to get food. A peace offering, but you were with that guy. And then I saw you race after him, so I followed. And…” Her voice trailed off as she watched the garden grow wild around them. “Kane, are you seeing this, too?”
“You were spying on me?”
Sophia’s eyes darted between Kane, the Others, and the garden. “No, I mean, I guess. I was spying on all of you. Who are they? More ‘tutors’ of yours? What is this?”
“You need to go, Sophia. It’s not safe for you here.” Kane shoved her away. Golden pollen floated in the air now, and it had grown unusually sunny just over the house. The reverie was building itself all around them.
Sophia pushed past Kane and addressed Adeline. “You! I know you. You do dance at the conservatory, right?”
“Ballet,” Adeline said.
“And you!” Sophia put a finger toward Ursula. “You play field hockey, right? I know I’ve seen you before. And you!” She had reached Elliot, but clearly had no idea who he was, and so she just squinted at him with menace.
“Kane,” Elliot said gravely. “You have to get her out of here. And we can’t let her remember any of this.”
Kane moved between them. His anger was instant, rising in him just as a flare of etherea rose from his hand.
“If you touch my sister, I will kill you.”
Elliot’s eyes filled with fear as he backed away.
“Kane, we don’t have time for this. Think about what you’re doing.”
“I am thinking about it. And I wouldn’t have let you guys erase my sister’s memory the first time if I’d been able to think about it then, but—oh wait! I was in a fucking coma, or did you forget your little plan?”
Elliot’s jaw worked, his eyes never leaving the light in Kane’s fist. The whispering was all around them now, a roar slowly saturating the air.
“Sophia, you need to run,” Kane commanded. For once, she listened, darting out of the garden and back toward the street.
“We’ll leave her,” Elliot said. “We promise. But right now we need to get out of here, too.”
Kane dropped the fire, letting the light burrow into the thickening grass. He took deep breaths, caught between wanting to run away with his sister and needing to follow through on his original goal. He had been right. The next reverie had come to East Amity, and it had found its home in Helena Quigley. They were the only people who knew, and they were the only people who could save her from whatever horror had just burst from her head.
“We’re not leaving,” Kane said, thinking of Poesy’s words. Helena could not run from this, and she couldn’t fight it herself, either. It was up to them, the lucid. The powerful. Kane marched toward the back door, knowing he’d find it ajar, just like the locker rooms. The mouth of the reverie left slightly agape, a tantalizing trap for anyone curious enough to enter.
Ursula caught him, her grip like concrete.
“Helena is in there,” Kane shouted at her. “We can’t just abandon her.”
“You’re not going in there,” Ursula said as Adeline and Elliot joined her. “Not alone. Not without us.”
• Sixteen •
A BEAZLEY FAMILY AFFAIR
This time, entering the reverie wasn’t as simple as running through a door. Or it was, but it didn’t feel that way. Kane’s vision went black the moment he entered the house, and Ursula’s grip was wrenched away. His senses darkened one by one, until he couldn’t feel anything at all. Then, like a computer rebooting, the world slowly came back to him. A different world than the one he had just left behind.
Music from a string quartet threaded the warm breeze, weaving together with birdsong and bursts of far off laughter. The air was perfumed with honey and wine, and though the world felt bright upon Kane’s eyelids, they stayed decidedly closed as he awoke.
“The rich throw such tedious parties. It’s because they only know other rich people, and money makes people boring. I don’t blame you for trying to escape it all, Willard.”
A hand cupped Kane’s own. He tried to move, to respond, but only a croak scraped from his throat.