Luvic rolled at him, slamming his paw into Finn’s chest and pinning him to the ground. Finn threw me a look like, “Really? Do you see this?” Luvic’s teeth grazed Finn’s throat, drawing blood. Finn rammed his fist into Luvic’s chest and then bent his legs and thrust so Luvic catapulted over him and crashed into the metal wall.
The train car shuddered, wobbling on the tracks.
I jumped over a shipping crate and landed at Luvic’s side. “I don’t know why you’re in my dream,” I said, grabbing the scruff of his neck and putting my nose to his, “but you’re going to stop! This is Finn. He’s himself here, not a murdering maniac. And you?—”
I broke off when Luvic licked my nose. Blinking at his warm, wet tongue, I let go of his fur and wiped the glob of saliva off my face. “Gross. Yuck.”
He nudged me aside and barred his teeth, his upper lip curling over daggerlike canines.
Finn flipped to his feet in one smooth movement. He landed tense, ready to charge.
Luvic made a low, throat-rattling growl and stepped in front of me, nudging me back.
Finn’s expression cleared of everything except surprise. “Luvic?”
Luvic’s orange eyes narrowed, and it looked like he was considering whether it was worth eating human arm again. He hadn’t liked it the last time, but maybe he thought it’d grow on him. Then he shook himself off and sat down, eyeing Finn warily.
“What . . .?” Finn paused, frowned. “Why are you a jackaltooth?”
Luvic huffed out an irritated breath, as if he were asking, “Why are you a pain in my neck?”
I smiled. “He’s been changing into one since the closing ceremony. I don’t know why.”
Finn looked quickly at me and then back to Luvic, his forehead wrinkling. In real life, Finn knew a lot of conjurer history. He’d been tutored by the same man who taught Darin. It seemed Wolfgang had wanted to prepare him for the day he’d become the Smith. Finn didn’t know that at the time, but in hindsight, it was clear what Wolfgang had been doing.
“The jackaltooth are Bard creations . . .” Finn said, wearing the same expression he did when he was mulling something over that he found puzzling or out of place. “But are they also Bards? Are you . . .?” He swallowed, staring at Luvic’s curled upper lip. “Is this something you can undo?”
Luvic looked away from him, staring resolutely out of the train car’s open door. We’d made it to the Bronx and were rolling steadily north, veering past old buildings cobbled like cigarette boxes against the dark sky.
“How are you here?” Finn asked him, then turning to me, his gaze steady. “Where were you when you fell asleep?”
I shook my head and pressed my lips tight. I still wasn’t certain what these dreams meant. Were they my subconscious, or were they the real Finn luring me into false ease? He was still covered in a swirling macramé of knots. Thousands of them floated around him. He was pure illusion here. There was nothing real about him. Except . . . except he was exactly the same as he used to be. That was real.
“I went to see you in real life,” I said. “You didn’t say ‘ghost train.’”
The lines on Finn’s forehead deepened, and for a moment, he looked regretful. “That was some kick in the head you gave me.”
“You mean when I stabbed you? How many times are you going to promise to kill me?”
He shook his head. “What? No. I didn’t . . . You didn’t . . . What . . .?”
Luvic growled, and I pressed my hand into the brindled fur on his back.
“No,” he said. “I meant the powder. The seizures. The hallucinations. I was out for eight hours, Darin for ten. It was a kick in the head.” He smiled, his green eye warming to a mossy forest shade. “I was surprised to see you. But I thought about it. I realized, if I confirm this is real, then Jagger will know it’s real. You’ll tell him. Then it’s all over. It’s better if you wait until the right moment.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. It’s a nice story, but I think it’s more likely that I miss you and I wish you weren’t what you came back as.”
“Were you with Luvic when you fell asleep? Were you touching?” Finn asked.
I turned aside. “What does it matter? I was with Griff before, and he never ended up in my dreams.” Except Griff and I hadn’t been holding hands.
Finn turned to Luvic. “Luvic? Were you?”
I felt Luvic’s head moving up and down, then Finn let out a long sigh.
“Can I talk to you?”
“Me?” I asked.
