Selene gave a little shiver. “I guess you’re right.”

Wanting to change the subject, I told her about last night and all the stuff with Britney. When I got to the part about seeing Eli in the dream, she didn’t react at all. I nudged her with my elbow. “Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”

Selene shrugged. “Weird, maybe, but I definitely don’t think he had anything to do with it if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

I picked up my napkin and wiped the salt from my lips. “Even after what happened in English?”

“Oh, come on, Dusty.” She wrinkled her nose. “This is Eli you’re talking about. He would never hurt Britney, and we know he’s not a Marrow supporter. His presence was just coincidence. I bet Britney has a crush on him.”

“She’s got a funny way of showing it.” I popped a fry into my mouth and chewed dejectedly. The idea of Britney liking Eli hadn’t occurred to me, but it was definitely possible. Eli’s attractiveness transcended all the kinds. I’d even seen Irene Stark checking him out once, the same person who believed so strongly in the superiority of her kind that she often refused to talk to someone if they weren’t a fellow fairy.

“It’s not as if most of us can control what we dream about the way you can,” Selene said. The note of reproach in her tone distracted me from my jealous musings about Eli.

I supposed she had a point. But then the image of that plinth and the unreadable letters rose unbidden in my mind. She was wrong about my ability to control my dreams, at least lately. I shuddered, remembering the deep, empty feeling inside me from the need to reach that plinth and discover those hidden words. I felt it even now.

Fortunately, a distraction appeared a moment later as Lance Rathbone walked into the cafeteria. He paused, surveyed the crowd, and then approached our table. Right away, I could tell there was something off about him. His clothes were in disarray, one pant leg stuck halfway inside a black kneesock while the opposite leg sported an untied shoe and a blue sock. One side of his shirt hung lower than the other from the misaligned buttons.

I looked up and saw his face was puffy and that two dark circles rimmed his cheekbones. His light brown hair lay plastered against his skull on one side and stuck straight out on the other. He peered down at Selene, blinking a couple of times as if in a daze. His green eyes, usually bright, seemed dull.

“Rough night?” I said, smirking. I winked at Selene, but she frowned back at me, her expression confused.

She stared up at Lance. “What happened to you?” she said with no trace of irony in her voice.

It was my turn to be confused. I examined Lance more closely, guessing my assumption had been wrong. The puffiness and bruises were too extreme to have been brought on by a sleepless night. He looked like he’d been beaten up. I knew Selene could be a feisty one, but I didn’t think she was into the kind of stuff that would leave her love interest looking like he’d had a run-in with a pissed-off gorilla.

Double ew.

Lance didn’t answer as he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, leaving them even redder and puffier than before. “You seen Eli?” he finally asked, directing the question at me.

I shook my head. “Not since English. He got sent to the principal’s office.”

Lance surveyed the cafeteria. “And he’s not back yet?”

Selene and I exchanged a look. He was really out of it. If Arkwell had been a normal ordinary high school, I would’ve assumed he was stoned or something.

“You haven’t heard?” said Selene.

Lance slid a leg over the bench opposite us, whacked his knee on the table, and then plopped down, groaning.

I considered him a moment, shocked to find myself actually feeling concern. I’d never seen the guy looking so disoriented and clumsy.

“Heard what?” Lance said, rubbing his knee.

Selene relayed the story about Eli doing magic in English class.

“Huh,” Lance said when she finished.

Selene reached across the table and whacked him once on the top of the head.

“Hey.” He winced, putting a hand over his brow.

“What’s wrong with you?” said Selene.

Lance’s mouth opened but no words came out. It was as if what little part of his brain he normally used had a short in it. He closed his mouth, knuckled his eyes again, and then glowered back at us, looking more like himself than he had so far today. “Nothing’s wrong with me. I found this note and I wanted to show it to Eli.”

He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a folded slip of paper. “Seems kind of important.”

Selene and I grabbed for it at the same time, but she got there first, ripping it out of his hands. She set it on the table and flipped it open, revealing a typed message on the inside addressed to the “Dream Team.” My eyes read the words at once, but my brain took several seconds to absorb the meaning:

Meet me in the library tunnel alcove. 10:00. About a case. Life and death.

“When did you find this?” I said, my voice constricted by fear. It couldn’t be a coincidence, not given the time and place.

“Uh…” Lance stuttered. “This morning.”

Selene narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure?”

Lance scratched his chin as if the question required deep introspection. Gritty black marks rimmed his fingertips. “I think so, only I kind of remember seeing it last night maybe, but I thought I dreamed it. It’s weird, but everything after dinner yesterday is fuzzy.”