“Okay, boys, here’s the deal,” I say, more than ready to put this whole issue to bed. “What you guys did—keeping things from me—it was super fucked up and totally unacceptable.”
“Stevie,” Ani says, close to tears, “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Kirin says.
“More than you know,” Baz says, the emotion in his words surprising me most of all.
“I have no more words to apologize,” Doc says. “I can only hope you’ll—”
“I said it was fucked up and unacceptable,” I say. “But it wasn’t unforgivable. I appreciate that you guys backed off this weekend. It gave me time to process, to work through it—not just your shit, but a good bit of my own. I know you were trying to protect me. I know you thought keeping me in the dark was the best way to do that. And I also know you’re never going to pull that shit again. Am I right?”
“Of course we won’t,” Kirin says, and the others nod.
“But we’re past it now.I’mpast it.” I smile at each of them, letting them know just how much I mean this. “I willingly joined this Brotherhood—willingly bonded myself to all of you—and it wasn’t just to schlep out here in the middle of the night and watch you brooding like a bunch of emos at a Fall Out Boy show, as fun as that sounds.”
“I… don’t even know what that means,” Doc says.
“It means I know you feel bad about how everything went down, and yeah—we’ve still got some kinks to work out in this whole… arrangement. But the five of us—the Brotherhood—we really don’t have the luxury of time and space apart. The Dark Magician and his allies aren’t going to wait around for us to get our shit together. We need a plan, we need to stick together, and we need to keep moving forward. So whatever lingering guilt you feel? Stash it. Or I’ll let my Princesses have their way with you.”
The tension finally eases, and one by one, my mages smile. We linger in that moment a little longer, and I sense their energies swirl around me—protectiveness, friendship, and the fiercest loyalty I’ve ever felt.
“Okay,” I say. “I think we’re ready now.”
Doc nods. “Stevie, I’d like you tell them about your dream.”
I do as he asks, leaving no detail out. At the end, I blow out a breath and say, “There’s more. Apparently, my mother could pull things from her dreams, too.”
“Really?” Doc asks. “How did you learn this?”
“I spent some time with Professor Maddox tonight. Turns out she was my mom’s best friend.” I tell them about Mom’s message, along with the information Kelly shared about the dream thing.
“I’m still trying to figure out the message, but the dream thing… I made a dream potion in class today—something I’m hoping will help me connect with the Dark Arcana in my dreams. If I can communicate directly with them, I might be able to—”
“Get yourself killed,” Baz says. “Not happening.”
“We need to find the Arcana objects, Baz. If the Magician has any idea where they are, maybe I can find out.”
“It’s way too dangerous. You just finished telling us you got hurt in the dream.”
“I got hurt in the library, too. And this forest,” I remind him. Rage flashes in his eyes, but I continue on. “There arenosafe spaces anymore, guys. Not until we find the objects and defeat the Dark Arcana.”
Baz opens his mouth to argue, but he knows I’m right.
“Look,” I say, “I don’t have a death wish. I’d have to take precautions—have someone there with me to pull me out if things are looking crazy. And I’m not saying I have to do this tonight. But I don’t think we can rule it out. Right now, it feels like our best option.”
“I’m open to the idea, Stevie,” Kirin says. “But Baz is right—it’s extremely dangerous. I think we should spend a little more time with the prophecies and legends first. Then, if we still don’t have any luck, we can try the dream potion.”
“It would buy us a little more time to figure out the precautions,” Ani says. “Just having someone there with you isn’t enough.”
“I’m not sure what else to do,” I admit.
“One of us needs to come with you,” he says, and my eyes widen. “Think about it, Stevie. You said Professor Maddox believes your mother is sending you those Tarot cards from the dream realm, right? And she’s also bringing them back in.”
“Yeah, but I don’t understand how that relates to me.”
“You brought out that holly branch,” Ani says. “So maybe, like your mother, you can bringinsomething too.”
“Or someone,” Kirin says, his eyes lighting up with academic curiosity. “One of us. It’s a reasonable assumption. One we can test on safer ground—a potion to encourage more pleasant, less threatening dreams.”
