We were in Senate Hall once more, all the details of the place, defined and visible—the stained glass windows and the magickind statues, the row of knights and the long wooden table. Eli stood at the head of the table, examining the chair where in that earlier dream his father had been sitting. All the chairs were empty at present.

I glanced around looking for some sign of what was coming, but nothing stood out to me. The place had an empty, abandoned look, stark and forlorn like a wintry landscape. Directly opposite the foot of the table, but a good fifty feet in the distance, stood the massive doors of the main entrance.

“I want to go outside,” I said, turning to Eli. “You up for it? I don’t think we’re going to find much more in here.”

Eli looked up. “Yeah, I think you’re right.” He walked over to me and together we headed for the door. Two lions were carved into the highly polished wood in the same pose as the ones guarding the main gates into Lyonshold that Mr. Corvus had showed us in class that day.

“I really hope your memory of this place is good,” I said as Eli pushed the door open. “Because it might be my only chance to see it since we’ve been banned from the festival.”

Eli laughed. “So much pressure. But I’m sure you’ll have reason to visit sooner or later.”

“Maybe. But I’d rather see it now.” I winked.

We stepped out into a vast entry hall full of more statues and suits of armor. So far so good on the details, it seemed. Then we headed for the main doors across the way, leading outside. Eli pushed them open, and a bright stream of warm sunshine spilled through. I blinked, letting my eyes adjust, then followed Eli outside onto a grand, stone pavilion, like the kind I’d only seen in movies based on books by Jane Austen. I half-expected a horse and buggy to pull up.

“Wow,” I said, surveying the endless stretch of green lawn beyond the pavilion, marked here and there by giant, ancient trees and rows of flower beds formed into neat little gardens. Far in the distance, I could just make out the sea separating this innermost island from the other two. “It’s so beautiful.”

“Yeah it is.” Eli raised a hand to his brow, shielding his eyes from the sun. “And just how I remembered it.”

I sighed, truly disappointed about not getting to see this in real life. But maybe I could convince my mom to take me to visit the capital city sometime this summer. That is, assuming nothing bad happened tomorrow. I had a feeling if Consul Vanholt was assassinated, Lyonshold wouldn’t be open for visitors again anytime soon. And if Magistrate Kirkwood became the new consul, I doubted it would be very much fun to visit anymore in the first place.

“What’s that?” Eli pointed, and I followed the direction of his finger until I spotted an odd structure in the distance.

“No idea,” I said, even as Eli marched across the pavilion and down the steps straight toward it. I followed after him, trying to look in every direction at once. There were so many things to look at. But as we drew closer to the structure in the distance, it captured my attention completely.

It was a pile of wood, easily as tall as I was, and carefully arranged like an elaborate funeral pyre. The pieces of wood were so varied in color, I had a feeling that several different types of trees had contributed to it. There was even a definite pattern to the colors.

“This must be for one of the Beltane bonfires,” Eli said.

I glanced at him. “How can you be sure?”

“Don’t you remember what Mr. Corvus said? He told us the bonfires have to be built this precisely because they’re supposed to purify all magic when lit during Beltane.”

“Oh, right.” I vaguely remembered Corvus explaining something along those lines to us. “Well, at least you’re dreaming about the festival. That’s a good sign. We should keep looking.”

“Okay. Let’s do a sweep of the area around the hall.”

I stifled a smile at his choice of words—always playing the cop.

Making a wide pass, we circled around Senate Hall, which was far larger than I realized. It stood at least seven stories high, judging by the windows, and I guessed it was about as wide as a football field and maybe twice as long. On top of it stood a single watchtower, not terribly tall, but still high enough I couldn’t make out the top of it.

Eventually we came to another pyre, shaped exactly the same as the first. We moved on and found a third and then a fourth. By the time we came round to the front of Senate Hall again, we had counted twelve of them.

I sat down on the stone steps of the pavilion when we reached it, feeling the weight of defeat pulling me downward. We’d found nothing amiss. This must be a regular dream after all. The reason it was set at Senate Hall with all the pyres must be because Eli’s unconscious mind was still fixated on the Terra Tribe, not realizing that mystery was already solved.

“Are you all right?” Eli frowned down at me.

“Yeah. Just disappointed.” I made a sweeping gesture. “There’s nothing here. I don’t get it.”

Eli clacked his teeth, the sound drawing my attention. “Maybe Paul was wrong.” He hesitated. “I’m not saying he’s been lying, but he could’ve made a mistake about the e-mail he saw. He’s far from perfect.”

I exhaled. “You’re right.” I certainly hoped that was the case, as opposed to it being a lie. I thought about my cell phone lying in my back pocket in the waking world. I hadn’t tried to find the hidden data or enter the pass code he’d given me yet. Somehow, trying it seemed like admitting defeat, and I wasn’t ready to do that. But now I wondered what would happen if I did try to find it.