Ivy gave me a slight smile and said, “You two look like you’ve had a long night.”
“We did… but not just for the reason you’re thinking,” Charlie stated.
Ivy chuckled and took a sip of synthetic blood. “Glad I could be of service.”
“We had happy married fun times,” I informed him. “Thenafterthat, we snuck out.”
“Where’d you go?” Chancey asked.
“We finally found where Amalie was hiding the next clue. It was on death row. We had to fight a hell of a lot of ghosts to get out,” Charlie said.
We gave them the run down of what had happened, and I finished by saying, “I think the after-effects of the ghosts are still wearing on me. I had the strangest dream last night.”
“Weird dreams, huh?” Chancey asked, appearing intrigued. “What’d you see?”
He seemed genuinely curious, so I told them about the dream. When I was done, Chancey frowned and said, “That doesn’t sound like ghosts. That’s angelic interference, for sure.”
“Angelic interference? Like, what, angels can influence your dreams?”
“Yep. Angels can influence your dreams, and do it all the time,” Chancey stated as he scarfed down a sausage. “It’s one of our abilities.”
“Why do they do that?” I questioned. “Seems like a weird magical practice to have.”
“It’s supposed to be a gift to help deliver spiritual messages, from our god and the like,” Chancey explained. “Except we angels realized pretty quick that fucking around with somebody’s dreams can be an efficient way to trick them into doing as they’re told. Dreams from angels leave traces… signatures, if you will. And what you’re telling me sure sounds like an angel dream.”
My lip curled as I thought of who would want to mess around with my head. “That bastard. The Warden couldn’t read my mind after Marcus put that ward over my thoughts, so now he’s got to go in through a backdoor. Is there any way to keep the Warden out of my dreams?”
“Well, we don’t know that it’s him yet,” Chancey stated before he grabbed a sausage off of my plate and started eating that, too. He wasn’t the most tactful person around. “There are a lot of angels in this prison. Can you run it by me again?”
I retold the dream, and made sure to include smaller details that I’d forgotten about before. Once I’d gotten to the end, Chancey nodded and said, “Ah, that’s it. The olive cardinal. That’s Esther.”
“Are you certain?” Charlie asked.
“Oh, yeah. We used to play a game when we were kids where we’d try to get into each other’s dreams. When I had a particularly bad nightmare, I knew it was her, cause I’d always see an olive cardinal.”
“What’syoursignature?” Ivy asked curiously, putting his chin in his hand.
Chancey’s face soured. “I ain’t talking about it.”
“Come on, you can’t play me like that,” Ivy teased. “What is it?”
Chancey scowled. “A striped weasel.”
“Oh, Atlantis, if that doesn’t fit you!” Ivy howled, and Chancey wrinkled his nose.
“What’s the purpose of Esther sending Ava these dreams?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, and the religious symbolism is weird, too,” I argued. “It would be obvious to another angel, but I’m an Elementai. None of this shit means anything to me.”
“She’s trying to convince ya that joining The Mission is the only way to save supernatural kind. She thinks if she sends you enough dreams, you’ll believe they’re prophetic, and will convince your friends to sign up alongside you,” Chancey explained.
“How dumb does she think I am?” I snapped. “And why me, out of everyone?”
“I mean… sorry to say, sweetheart, but nobody’s gonna think it’s weird if you start going around telling people you’re seeing things.” Chancey shrugged.
“Oh, of course, becauseI’mthe crazy one.” I crossed my arms.
“You said it, not me.” Chancey got up from the table. “Anyways, I got a career counseling hour with Professor Jobe I’m already late for. See you later, losers… dollface.”
