Page 109 of Veil of Night & Flames

Because here’s the thing nobody warns you about saving the world—you still have to show up for your psych exams. And somehow, between the Nightmare Realm and the dead lawn and one of the men I love planning to let my species fall, I worked in some study time. Tia nagged, I flash-carded, and, miraculously, the info stayed in my brain.

Studying. Who knew?

The instant Valdez says begin, I turn the test over and dive in, zipping through the questions with actual ease. I finish with time to spare, read it back once, and when I carry it up to the front and set it on the stack, I actually feel like I’m on the ball and not just chasing it.

Damn, but that feels good, and I owe it all to semi-functional time management and one relentless best friend. Yay, me.

I’m halfway turned to go when Valdez says, without looking up from the stack, “Miss Lyte. A moment.”

So I stop, then drift to the side and wait while the rest of the class files out in a slow shuffle of backpacks and low complaints.

“How do you feel about the test?” she asks, squaring the stack.

“Good,” I admit. “Turns out all that talk about studying wasn’t a scam.”

“Good to know,” she says, folding her hands on top of the stack and looking me in the eye. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m planning a new research project, and your uncle once mentioned that your mother kept dream journals.”

“Oh,” I say. “Yeah. She did.”

“Would you consent to let me review them? Your uncle mentioned she had unusually vivid dreams. Recurring ones. So vivid that she once told him it felt as if she were traveling somewhere when she slept.” I go stiff as she continues. “It’s a thread I’ve always meant to pull.”

“I wish you could,” I say, and it’s honest, because if I could hand them over, it would mean I’d gotten to read them, too. “But Mom got rid of them before she died. I have no idea where they ended up. Honestly, I think she just tossed them.”

“Ah.” Valdez tips her head a little to one side—a habit I’ve seen often. “That’s unfortunate. If you ever do run across them, I’d love to see them.”

“I’ll let you know,” I tell her. “Good luck with the project.”

“Thank you, Miss Lyte. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

I nod and head out, and even though the whole thing was bland and perfectly innocent, I leave feeling like I missed something. I write it off to being slapped in the face with the memory of my mom—and my lingering frustration that she left me completely unprepared for all this dream-walking weirdness.

I’m still feeling pissy toward Mom when I meet Tia for lunch at the little sandwich stand by the library.

“How’d it go?”

It takes me a sec to realize she means the exam. “Nailed it,” I say, and meet her high-five with a smack.

“Oh, good. We drilled so much, I figured you’d blow through it and beat me here. I was starting to worry you’d blanked.”

“Got kept after. Valdez wants to borrow my mom’s dream journals. Some study she’s doing.” I steal a chip off her plate. “Apparently, Uncle Finn told her Mom thought she was traveling in her dreams.”

“But she was.”

“Well, yeah. I know that. But I wasn’t about to say so. For all I know, Valdez thinks that’s the kind of thing that gets a person committed.”

“Doubt it. She’s just chasing a sexy new project to publish. Academia runs on publishing.” Tia grimaces. “But are you okay? Getting smacked out of the blue with a question about your mom…”

“I’m fine. I just miss her. You can blame Valdez if I’m crappy lunch company.”

“I can absolutely handle crappy company,” she says, and we slide into easier territory. Specifically, Tia’s guilt over how few nights she’s actually slept in our dorm lately.

“Like I’ve noticed,” I say. “I’ve basically moved in with Chase.” I lean forward. “He’d tell me if I was there too much, right?”

Her eyes go wide. “Oh my God, I was about to ask you the exact same thing about Riley.”

We share a grin, and somewhere in the next ten minutes, we mutually conclude that both our significant others would absolutely tell us if we were overstepping, and that we are therefore fine, and brilliant, and excellent girlfriends.

And then Tia sets her sandwich down. “Okay,” she says. “Spill, already. You still haven’t told me the full scoop from when you saw Adric. Way to leave a girl hanging.”