I shove a forkful of food into my mouth so I don’t have to respond.
“You should’ve seen Rane while we were looking for you,” Kyron says. He’s on the floor by the window now, plate balanced on one knee. “Insufferable.”
“Like you were any better,” Rane fires back. “Mr. ‘Let’s check that alley again for the fourth time.’”
“We all wanted to check it again,” Vaelor says quietly.
I keep my eyes on my plate. My face feels like it’s on fire.
“Okay,” Rane says, too loud, clearly trying to reset. “Someone tell me something that isn’t about the last three days. I’m begging.”
“You could try not talking with your mouth open,” Kyron says.
“I could. I won’t, but I could.”
“Disgusting.”
“Thank you, I try.”
Vaelor shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “Remember when Rane tried to cook for the first time?”
“We don’t talk about that,” Rane says immediately.
“We absolutely talk about that.” Kyron’s mouth curves. “The fire department talked about it.”
“There was no fire department.”
“There wasalmosta fire department.”
“Almost doesn’t count.”
I take a bite of food so I don’t have to figure out what to say. They’re bickering like brothers, and I don’t know how to join in. But I don’t feel like I have to, either.
Trey shifts against the couch. I feel the movement more than see it—the brush of his shoulder against the cushion near my knee. My breath catches.
He heard it. I know he heard it because he goes still.
Neither of us moves.
“I used to go to this place,” Trey says.
The conversation stutters. Everyone looks at him.
He’s staring at his plate, turning his fork over in his fingers.
“Near the border of Reverie and Dream. There’s this—I don’t know how to describe it. A courtyard, kind of. Old buildings around it. Felt like no one had used it in years.” He shrugs, still not looking up. “I kept ending up there. I don’t know why. I’d tell myself I was going somewhere else and then I’d just… be there.”
Silence.
Kyron sets his plate down slowly. “Whereexactly?”
“South side of the neutral zone. There’s a fountain that doesn’t work anymore. Stone benches.”
“Holy shit.” Rane’s voice has gone strange. “That’s—”
“That’s where we met,” Locke finishes. His voice is flat, but something underneath it isn’t flat at all. “All of us. That’s the spot.”
Trey’s head comes up. “What?”
