AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have to be sure first.”
“Sure of what?”
“That she can help us. Corri told me she sleeps a lot, but there are no signs she might be suffering of schizophrenia. Maybe she’s not a dream jumper at all, and I’m just getting ahead of myself.”
“No one in your family suffers of schizophrenia, Mila.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You were a dream jumper, and you weren’t acting weird at all. Well, you’ve always been weird in your own way, but not like you needed to be locked up or something. Your mother was diagnosed because she was more than a dream jumper. She was a dream… err… I don’t know. Switcher.”
I nodded. After I saw her in that dream, I’d told the Arcane Cabal about her unique gift. She was one of the few who could switch places with herself from other parallel dimensions. It was how Morningstar had managed to move her from this dimension to the other. Although… I still didn’t know the details. I had to remember to ask Corri about what she’d meant when she’d said she knew why my mother couldn’t find her way back.
“I never switched places with myself from somewhere else.”
“You didn’t have the time to learn how.”
“Anyway, I don’t know if she’s the one.” I stopped in front of the table and placed my hand on the post-it. “Corri can’t read minds and can’t follow her in her dreams. If she dreams at all, that is. And she’s a pixie, it’s not like she can just go in there, introduce herself, and shake hands.”
“Dream journal?”
“I thought about it. Corri checked, and she doesn’t keep one.”
“So, what’s your plan?”
“Go there and meet her. I thought you might want to teleport with me.”
Lorna straightened her back. A smile grew on her face, and it wasn’t wicked at all, like her smiles usually were. In fact, it was so cute and genuine that she tried to hide it by turning it into a fake frown.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
“After the field trip?”
“Whenever you say, boss.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t call me that.”
CHAPTER TEN
The Carnelian City was named that way because… surprise, surprise! It was all made of carnelian. To the people living here, the semi-precious stone was sacred. They used it to decorate their buildings, carving the marble and gluing thin slices of carnelian into it, like I’d once heard the Indians had done at the Taj Mahal. I hadn’t seen the Taj, since not many deaths happened there these days. They also used it to make the most beautiful jewelry I’d ever seen. Of course, since I was the only girl in the Violent Death Cabal, I was also the only one interested in the jewelry shops we walked by as we headed toward the Great Carnelian Temple.
“We’ll stop on the way back, I promise,” GC said, kissing me on the top of my head.
Professor Maat was telling us how the city had been built, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was fascinated by the people and creatures going about their business, in their shops, bakeries, markets, and open squares. They were of all shapes, colors, and sizes. I even saw two oversized scarabs crossing the street, mindful of the traffic. Oversized meaning they were as big as two ponies. My thorough research had revealed that they were perfectly sentient creatures, they weren’t for riding or pulling carriages and the like, and yes, they were carriers of the scarab flu, a nasty sinus infection that could kill a human in a matter of days. That was why the scarabs, as well as many other creatures that lived here, weren’t allowed to leave their pocket universe. And that was also why I was currently wearing a medical mask Headmaster Colin had enchanted himself. Actually, he’d just pretended to enchant it, so he could maintain the lie that I was human and, therefore, in danger of catching all the plagues of the Carnelian City.
We walked by an open market, where people were selling fresh fruit and veggies. A tall, lanky man with black skin and gold teeth smiled at me and gave me something that looked like a pear covered in snakeskin.
“Thanks!” He didn’t understand me, so I bowed. He bowed back.
I tried to pull at the skin, guessing the thing must have been a fruit. Professor Maat was behind me in a fraction of a second, slapping the thing out of my hand.
“Are you insane?! I told you not to eat or drink anything!”
“But the nice man gave it to me…”
“What are you? A stupid child? Taking candy from strangers?”
GC, Pazuzu, and even Francis were laughing their heads off by now. I scowled at them, and Professor Maat scowled at me. She wasn’t done yet.
