Page 75 of Echoes of the Banshee

My dream feels more like a memory.

Jerimiah is telling me a story about a flower growing under a stone. I’m trying to spell a word with rocks when he’s torn apart.

My sheets are soaked in sweat and tears when I wake up. I tie on my running shoes and run from the room, trying to escape the memory.

It has been twelve years. Why are the memories flooding me now and not when I was Adora? Then I could’ve done something about it.

That’s a lie. Adora figured out the truth. She kept it quiet.

So am I.

Telling the truth would just speed up my execution.

The slap of my feet is the only sound as I run around the lake. On the first lap Mavrik falls into step without a word, headphones in.

That dream wasn’t a real memory. I wasn’t with Jerimiah when he died. I don’t remember the rock or the stone. I don’t even know the word I spelled.

Maybe it’s a premonition.

I’ve never had premonitions before.

Then again, I never had any powers before.

Mavrik and I run three laps before I peel off and head home. When I get to the library, I look for a goblin book on gemstones but come up with only a handful of witch ‘crystal’ magic books that are bull.

Maybe they’re in the goblin section, but I can’t find that either.

Mr. Jordan is more than happy to help and sends me to a spot on goblin enslavement, but no books even written by a goblin. They’re all witch texts. When I get back he tells me he’d order the books I want, but he needs titles.

I really want to know what Jerimiah spelled out. Benson should be at lunch. When I get to the cafeteria he isn’t there yet so I load up my plate and sit down to wait. When he comes in, he sits beside two other guys and I rush over.

“Benson!” I greet excitedly.

“Hi,” he looks confused. The others lean away as I realize my hands are on the table. Goblins. I pull them back.

“Um,” I panic. Thea might be stronger, but still awkward. I look around the table and recognize one from English last year. “It’s Percy, right?”

His eyes get big and he nods so I turn to the other.

“That’s Reuben,” Benson tells me.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I say and smile at them warmly. His throat bobs as he swallows.

“I had a question and I think the three of you’d be the best to answer.” I place a piece of paper on the table with the word. “ What does this mean?”

Benson looks over at the other two who somehow look more surprised than before.

“Ril et Thren,” he answers. “Flower and stone.”

“Oh,” I can feel my face falling. I’d thought someone was reaching out to me, giving me some hint, but it was just a memory.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes,” I plaster on a fake smile and change the subject. “I went to the library to look up Aventurine, but they didn’t have any Goblin geology books. And none on Graven either. Does this school have a secret library I don’t know about?”

“You tried to look it up?” Benson smiles.

“Thea looks up everything,” Zair says as he walks up to the table. “Where’s your food? You never skip a meal.”