I suddenly wake up in a cold sweat. I’m outside. I’m at Havenfield. I’m in another universe. I’m…
“Lori! You’re awake!” It’s Edaline. She runs across the lawn over to my bed of pillows when she sees me trying to sit up. “Sophie’s already at school. We tried to wake you up, but we couldn’t. And you started kicking in your sleep… I was so worried… do you need anything?”
“Maybe just something to eat…”
“Of course. I made parrot pie this morning. I’ll heat some up for you.”
“What time is it?”
“Around noon. And don’t you go feeling bad for sleeping for so long.” Ugh, I was sleeping for 13 hours? And I’m missing school? This is why I don’t push back flashbacks. “Here you go.” Edaline says, bringing me out a plate of pocaroot pie.
“Thanks.” I say. I try to take a bite, but my hands are shaking too hard.
“Oh, I should probably hail Sophie to let her know you’re up. She was worried too. I could barely get her to go to school. She should be on lunch around now too.”
“Ok.”
“Show me Sophie Foster.” Edaline says, pulling out her imparter.
“EdalineiseverythinkokisLoriokdidshewakeupyet?” Sophie says the second she answers.
“I’m here.” I say.
“Oh my gosh Lori! Are you ok? I should come home.”
“No, you should not.” Edaline says.
“But I-”
“No buts. You’ll see her in a few hours.”
“Fine. How are you Lori? I was so worried when you wouldn’t wake up. And when you started thrashing around…”
“I’ve been better. But it’s over now, and I’m never doing that again.”
“Good, because I’ll kill you if you ever scare me that much again. Now I understand what everyone else goes through when I do something stupid.”
“No you don’t.” Edaline says.
“Whatever. Lori, I was wondering how much you wanted me to tell the group. They’re all really worried, but I figured it was your information to share, so I just said that you were really tired and had to stay home from school. But, uh, if I don’t elaborate at least a little, Biana might just leap directly to Havenfield to check on you.” I smile.
“That sounds like Biana. I don’t want them to worry about me, so could you just tell them that I was having some bad dreams, and I had to get some real sleep?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell them during study hall, though they might not take that as an answer.”
“Say that dreams are a lot worse where I come from, and it’s been hard for me to adjust, but that I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Ok. Any other messages for me to pass on?”
“Just don’t tell Dex that they first came while we were at his house.”
“Got it.”
“You should go back to lunch.” Edaline suggestes. “To pass on Lori’s message before you forget.” Sophie doesn’t look happy about it, but says goodbye, and presumably goes back to lunch. My hands are still shaking, so Edaline awkwardly helps me out with my breakfast/lunch. I feel a lot better after eating something, but I’m still shaken up from the flashbacks. I stay outside a while longer listening to Calla’s song. Luna comes over, and eventually I’m able to relax. It takes me until a few minutes before Sophie gets home, but I do.
“BIANA NO!” It’s Sophie’s voice.
“WHERE ARE YOU LORI?” Biana calls in her accented voice. She starts towards the house, then notices me. “SOPHIE WON’T TELL ME THE REAL REASON WHY YOU WEREN’T AT SCHOOL TODAY!”
“Sorry Lori. She vanished and listened to our whole conversation. I barely had time to get her to promise not to tell everyone that there was more to the story.”
“Don’t worry about it. And I’m fine.”
“Well you’re not as pale as you were over the imparter.” Sophie notes.
“When is someone going to explain why you weren’t at school? And I know it wasn’t just nightmares.”
“Well it kind of was. Since I’m a Seeker, I get really vivid flashbacks. And if they come in a really bad time, I can delay them, and I dream about them. And I always forget just how much worse they are when I push them back.”
“That’s terrible! Why did you push them back? And what triggered them in the first place?”
“Well, Sophie and I went over to Rimeshire yesterday.”
“Were you and Dex close before?”
“You could say that.”
“What do you mean ‘I could say that’?”
“We were dating…”
“AWW THAT’S SO CUTE!!! I TOTALLY SHIP YOU GUYS!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I think he could use someone who really cares about him, like a girlfriend.”
“The thing is, I don’t know how to ask him out.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“BIANA I SWEAR IF YOU TELL HIM TO ASK ME OUT-”
“I would never!” She says, her tone dripping in sarcasm. “I might just… gently guide him in the right direction.”
“If he ends up liking me here, I want it to be real. Not because you set us up.”
“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. But it’s not my fault if I start telling him that I ship you guys if he brings it up.”
“Deal.”
“So are you still coming to the sleepover tomorrow?”
“Oh, I forgot about that. But of course I will. I’ll just make sure to get some extra sleep tonight.”
“I’ll just force her into a bed if she doesn’t.” Sophie says.
“And I’ll help you.” Biana adds. “Then I’ll force you into a bed because I know you a little too well.” We all burst out laughing at that. We all stay together for a while, then Biana has to go home. “By the way, Fitz will totally bombard me with questions the second I get home. Can I tell him why you weren’t there?”
“Yeah. Go ahead. When we get back, I should probably tell everyone why I wasn’t at school today.”
“Yeah, I don’t think a single one of them actually bought the nightmare thing.” Sophie says. Biana leaps away, and it’s just me and Sophie under the Panakes tree. “Oh, and Master Cadence wasn’t happy that you weren’t there today. Apparently, her whole lesson plan revolved around comparing our abilities.”
“That’ll be fun to deal with next week.”
“Yup. I already had to deal with it today.”
“How’d that work out?”
“With a lot of new curse words in other languages.” We just sit outside and talk for a while after that. Edaline calls us in for dinner, and we eat before going to get ready for bed. I took a shower and went back outside. Sophie and I decided we both wanted to sleep out under the Panakes, so Edaline conjured down a bunch of pillows for her.
“We should just put two new beds under here.” Grady jokes. “Then we shouldn't have to bring all the pillows down all the time.” He leans down and hugs us goodnight. “What are you going to do tomorrow, when you have to sleep inside with your friends?” Sophie giggles, and he and Edaline go back inside, while I drift off to sleep.