She placed a tall frothy chartreuse-and-pink drink in front of Sebastian, who studied it with an air that could only be described as worshipful. There were several small slices of fruit on the rim. He plucked one off and munched it with delicate greed.
The server set the other drinks down and then smiled at Sebastian. “I’ve got another surprise for you, little guy.” She held up a necklace studded with small sparkling crystals. “The casino guest who won the big jackpot on theLost AlienTreasureslot asked me to give this to you as a token of his gratitude.”
She draped the necklace over Sebastian’s head. Most of the crystals got lost in his gray fur, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was overcome with ecstasy. He bounced and chortled.
The server laughed and went on her way.
Alice smiled at Sebastian, her eyes warming with affection. “It takes so little to make a dust bunny happy.”
“Probably in the bloodline,” Owen said dryly. “You know, instinct.”
Alice glared. “Don’t start anthropomorphizing. It’s bad enough that you insist on applying your theories to humans. There’s no reason to force it onto innocent animals.”
He grinned. “Innocentis not the first word that comes to mind when I look at Sebastian.”
She drank some wine and lowered the glass. “I disagree.” She paused, her eyes tightening a little with speculation. “Speaking of your bloodline theory, how did you use it to find me? You can’t possibly know anything about my ancestry, because I don’t know anything about it. Where did Iscrew up? What did I do that made it possible for you to track me down so quickly?”
“You weren’t a complete unknown. In fact, I had enough information to build a solid psi profile.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “You have a psi profile onme? But you know hardly anything about me.”
Okay, telling her about the profile had probably been a mistake. But he was trapped. He knew her well enough now to know she would not allow him to change the subject until she got answers.
“You’re wrong,” he said, searching for the right words. “I know a lot about you.”
“Such as?”
“I know you came of age within the cloistered environment of the Ballantine Academy. After graduation you could have left to go out into the real world. Instead, you chose to stay and teach until your mentor died and the school was forced to close. When you did go out on your own, you found work in a street clinic in Resonance, where you helped the para-psychologist in charge deal with homeless people who had sleep and dream issues.”
“So what?” Alice said. “I don’t see how my work history made it possible for you to find me. I taught the techniques of dream therapy while I was at the Academy, and afterward I worked as a dream therapist because I’m not trained to do anything else. Also, I don’t want to do anything else. It’s my calling. Everyone has one.”
“And then, of course, I had the psi profile of Subject A in Draper’sTen Case Studies of Level Ten–Plus Dreamlight Talents.”
Alice froze. Her eyes heated in ways he had never before noticed.
“Draper?” she said, with exquisite care, as if needing to be absolutely certain of the name. “Dr. Randolph S. Draper?”
“That’s right. Teaches at the University of Cadence. His textbookEssentials of Paranormal Geneticsis assigned reading in most classes thatcover the subject. His latest,Ten Case Studies, came out a few months ago. I don’t agree with some of his conclusions, but—”
“Tell me about Subject A,” Alice interrupted, each word as sharp as the blade of a freshly honed knife.
He might not be the smartest guy in the room, but he recognized a minefield when he found himself standing in the middle of one.
“Subject A is one of the ten dreamlight talents Draper documented inTenCase Studies,” he said. “Female. Orphan. Ancestry Unknown. Intelligent and well-educated but unsophisticated and naive due to living in a highly restricted social environment approximating that of a cloistered religious order.”
“The Ballantine Academy was not a religious order. It was an educational institution. A campus. Go on, what else did that lying, cheating prick say about Subject A?”
He blinked. “Prick?”
“Keep talking.”
“Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“Positive.”
“Draper believed Subject A possessed an unusually high level of dreamlight talent, but after some initial testing, she refused to cooperate in advanced experiments.”
“I didn’t know I was being tested. I thought we weredating.”
