Ned, Jane and Riley ate dinner in the dining hall that night with the rest of the clan instead of having the private dinner they usually had. Everyone at camp seemed to need the reassurance that togetherness brought. They all periodically glanced around to reassure themselves that their little community was still intact.

Riley didn’t have much of an appetite. She pushed what little food she’d taken around her plate with her fork. Pash wasn’t eating, either. She was staring at her salad bowl. Xander had his arm around her and was whispering in her ear.

Alley smiled apologetically at Riley. “I’m sorry about the circumstances, but I’m glad you’re staying the night. We usually have a party on someone’s first night in the Lodge, but celebrating tonight might be…”

“There is nothing to celebrate,” Violet said coldly.

Riley felt her cheeks grow hot. “Please don’t go to any trouble.”

After dinner, Pash escorted Riley back to the Lodge, and led her through the doorway on the left side of the lounge. There were two bedrooms behind the door.

“The front bedroom is for day sleepers and the back bedroom is for night sleepers. But turtles sleep whenever your body is coolest, so you get to pick. Violet, Celia and I sleep in the front. Katrina and Alley are in the back.”

No amount of rest would compensate for sharing a room with Violet. “I’ll sleep in the back.”

“Go choose a bed. I’ll get you some sheets.”

Riley walked into the back bedroom and sat down on the only empty bottom bunk. The bedposts were covered with signatures. It appeared that every warrior who’d ever slept there had written their name on the posts in permanent marker.

Pash came back in a moment later and handed her a set of clean white sheets, a pillow, a dark green wool blanket, and a new unopened toothbrush. “Army surplus,” she said apologetically as she passed Riley the kit.

“Thanks, Pash.”

There was a commotion in the lounge as the other young warriors returned. They’re early. They must’ve skipped campfire.

“It’s raining,” Alley announced as she walked in. “I’m glad you’re in here with us!”

Riley smoothed the sheets over her bed. As she stood up, she spotted Alley’s signature on her friend’s bunk. “How come you spell your name ‘A-L-L-E-Y,’ like the street?”

“My brother calls me ‘Alley cat,’ so that’s the spelling I use.” She grinned at Riley. “You should go spend some time with Gabe.”

“Are you coming, too?”

Alley turned away. “I stay in here at night,” she said quietly.

Lonely Alley. I’ll come back early and hang out with her.

When Riley walked back out into the lounge, Gabe was pacing back and forth across the floor. Darren was blowing on some embers in the fire, and everyone else was scattered around the room, talking quietly.

Gabe sat down on the couch and motioned for Riley to join him. When she had, he put his arm around her. Riley leaned her head on Gabe’s shoulder and watched the flames make dancing patterns of light across the floor. A few minutes later, she let out a long, unwinding breath.

“Hey Pash,” Darren asked with a grin in her direction, “were you scared on the trail today?”

Pash’s light dimmed. “It was horrible.”

Xander and Violet glared at him.

“I wish Katrina would get back,” Celia said softly.

Belman shrugged. “We already know what she’s going to say. They’re Poxinosa.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Xander said, “but we need her to confirm that before the elders will agree to do anything about the attack.”

Violet got up and went to her room; Pash and Celia followed a minute later.

“I should go to bed, too,” Riley told Gabe. “I want to spend time with Alley before I crash.”

“Sweet dreams. I’ll see you in the morning.”

***

She’d intended to stay awake for a while, but after a few minutes of whispered conversation, Riley began drifting off.

Alley laughed at her. “You may belong in front. We stay up all night in here. Literally.”

“It won’t matter,” Riley mumbled. “I can sleep through anyth...” She trailed off as she suddenly felt cold. Very cold.

An image appeared in her mind. Standing in a snowy forest, leaning forward to nibble the bark off a birch tree…

Alley giggled. “You fall asleep that fast?”

“No, I—”

Another image. Sitting thirty feet up in a tree, staring down at something moving below. Prey. Catch it! Light blue wings extended on either side of her…

Riley shot up in bed and slid the oiled clay ring off her finger. “Alley, is it normal to see crazy things when you fall asleep Unveiled?”

“Umm... no.”

Without the ring, no crazy images. Riley slowly put it back on her finger and saw nothing unusual. “Never mind. I must have been drifting off.”

As she lay back down, she felt fury! So angry she could barely breathe…

Riley gasped and sat back up.

“What’s wrong?” Alley asked.

“I don’t know!” She stood and shook her head, hoping to clear it.

The bedroom disappeared again. The dining hall, lit up at night, lightning streaking above it... Running and panting, the ground pounding away under huge orange bear paws…

“Alley, I’m...”

Flying high over camp with the wind blowing hard against her face... Sitting with the elders around the campfire, smiling happily and singing a song Riley had never heard before... Alley naked in bed, being stared down at from above... Painfully pulling a fishing hook out of the bottom of her foot, which was now emerald green with neon pink toenail polish…

“Make it stop!” Riley whimpered.

She stumbled out into the lounge. Xander and Gabriel were the only ones still there. They leaped to their feet when she emerged.

“What’s wrong?” Xander demanded.

“I’m seeing things… hearing things! I know this sounds insane, but I—”

Lying in a hospital bed in terrible pain, a cast on her right arm and right leg, smelling Lysol and vomit…

“I’m seeing people’s dreams.”

Both men stared at her speechlessly.

“Everyone who’s sleeping right now!” Riley pointed all around her. “I’m seeing and hearing and… feeling everything that they are.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Xander said, “Go invisible. See if that makes it stop.”

Riley did as he said. Alley, who was standing behind her, was taken in, too.

“How beautiful! It looks like we’re under water!”

Riley listened intently for the thoughts of the people around her.

Nothing.

Gabe stepped into her shell, and after a moment, Xander did, too.

“Is it still going on?” Xander asked.

“No,” Riley said, relieved at the silence. “I don’t hear anything at all now.”

“Okay. Turn your invisibility back off and see what happens.”

She obeyed.

Sitting atop the summit, feeling alarmed as a wolf howled in the distance... Riley hadn’t made it up to the summit, but she somehow knew that’s exactly what she was seeing.

Shaking, she looked up at Xander. “It’s back.”

Gabe beamed. “You found your power!”

“Seeing people’s dreams?” Alley sat down on the loveseat. “That’s a neat trick, but I don’t know how useful it’ll be.”

The dining hall in the lightning storm again... The wind rushing by... Brushing a hand over Alley’s breast — a hand with brown skin and a greenish-gray glow…

Riley went invisible again. “I don’t want to see all this.”

“We don’t get to pick our powers, Riley,” Alley looked up at her sadly, tracing the watery reflections inside Riley’s shell with her fingertips. “I would never have chosen mine.”

Xander looked at Alley as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t decide what to say. A thousand emotions flickered across his face. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally, he frowned.

Alley didn’t notice his emotional confusion. She was still playing with the lights.

Gabe looked closely at Riley. “What did you see that upset you so much?”

She shook her head. It would be a violation of Belman’s privacy to reveal the content of his dreams. And even if that were not so, there was no way that Riley would embarrass Alley by explaining what she was seeing.

“Can you tell who’s dreaming what, Riley, or is it all a blur?” Xander asked.

“Sometimes I can tell.”

He nodded. “Okay. Go visible again. I want you to focus on one person’s thoughts. Anyone. It doesn’t matter who.”

Anyone but Belman, please! Riley turned her invisibility back off again.

She got lucky. Running through an open field on reddish orange hooves... “I’m seeing Perry’s dream right now. I can tell that it’s his.”

“Great. Stay focused on that if you can,” Xander pointed at her, now in coach mode. “Perry is terrified of snakes. I want you to imagine a whole bunch of snakes in his dream. Let’s see if you can change what you’re seeing.”

“Xander, that’s mean!” Alley scolded.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s a dream. It’s not like I’m asking her to cover him in real snakes. Go ahead, Riley. Try to change Perry’s dream.”

She nodded.

After a moment, Perry glanced down at his feet in his dream. And Riley pictured half a dozen black snakes there.

The ground began to shake under their feet. A few seconds later, a loud bellow came from the men’s side of the Lodge. A crash followed from the women’s side.

“Shit! Perry’s causing an earthquake! Gabe, go wake him!”

Perry’s causing an EARTHQUAKE?