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“It can’t be any crazier than everything that’s been happening lately.”
“I guess that’s kind of true,” she says, giving me a wry smile. “I… My throat’s dry. Do you mind if we talk in the kitchen?”
“I’ll get you some water,” I tell her.
I lead us into the kitchen, and I see two plates and glasses at the table already.
“I’m guessing Ivy’s up?” I ask, as I pour two glasses of water.
“She probably didn’t sleep much,” Vi says. “She was drinking coffee, hovering over me when I woke up. I think it might have been the coffee smell that woke me, but don’t tell her that.”
I pass her the glass and we sit. I look at the unfinished plate of toast.
It’s cold now, but that’s kind of how I like it.
I put my glass down on the table and pick up a slice.
“So, you were saying it was going to sound crazy?”
“Uh, yeah,” she says, grimacing.
She takes a sip of the water and sighs. “Okay.”
She sets the glass down. “Basically, I dozed off after dinner, but I had this really strange dream and, at first, I thought it was just to do with everything that was going on. But then…” She stops and chews on her lip. “Oh, Goddess of Wolves. I had a blackout. I came too when Ivy started calling my name. I was out in the woods, where Oscar and that shifter from the other pack… I could smell the blood. There was so much of it left behind when the pack took her body away.”
She shudders, and I fight back the urge to do the same.
“You had a weird dream, and then you blacked out?” This can’t be a coincidence. “What was the dream? Tell me everything you can remember.”
“I was in the lounge alone. At first, I thought I’d woken up and I was just waiting for Ivy to come back, thinking everyone else must have left or gone to bed. Then, I realized the room felt different somehow. I stood up and turned to the door, and this woman was standing there staring at me.”
“Who was she?”
Vi shakes her head. “I’ve never seen her before. She had short dark hair, kind of wavy and a little big, maybe. She was petite and pretty and I think she was wearing a blue dress, kind of a plain summer dress.”
What she looks like doesn’t tell us much, but I file it away to think about later.
“Did she speak to you?”
Vi nods, and frowns. “I don’t remember the whole conversation. She knew about what happened in the woods. She was trying to tell me something, but I didn’t understand. She said she would show me, and the next thing I remember, Ivy’s calling my name and I’m in the woods. You don’t think she was a ghost, do you?”
I do, but I don’t want to frighten her. It won’t help anything.
“It could just be the stress of what’s happening,” I tell her. “Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t sound the same as what was happening with Oscar.”
She lets out a breath. “It could just be stress. Oh, Artemis. I’ve been so worried over Oscar.”
I smile. “We all have, but you don’t need to be. We’ll get him back.”
“I know we will,” she says, picking up her glass.
She takes a drink, and I eat a slice of the cold, buttered toast.
I’ll ask Ivy to watch over her closely. This isn’t something to worry about. Not yet.
“You know what?” Vi says. “I think the woman in my dream was trying to tell me something about the stuff we’re supposed to be learning for our project. I must have been thinking about it too much.”
“The moon cursed stuff?”
