The train came to a stop in Pavilion hours later. Bira led us there, speeding through the districts to make it to the Circles vast double doors. By now, the sky was coated with lilac, the color deep and forever darkening. We made our way to our rooms to change and freshen up before meeting at the Hall of Dreamers, where my mothers gala would be held.

The Hall of Dreamers was detached from the main hall. It stood three stories high and merged with the slight scattering of stars dotting the sky. Candlelights warm glow emitted from its many windows, making the tall two-story windows at the front of the building gleam with orange light.

Many people wound their way up the terrace to the hall dressed in their best. Mentally, I went over moms invitation again as I waited for Bira to arrive. She had promised no more than thirty people but out here on the green, I saw as many as that. Probably more, to be honest.

She had lied. I kind of expected that, but it still hurt whenever she did it. She always assumes that if she tells me the truth it’ll send me running for the hills.

And, often, it does. But I wouldn’t have cared if there was going to be a crowd. I haven’t seen her in seven years. Put an army between us and I’d still fight to see her after so much time.

But I guess she thought that I’d allow anything to put distance between us. I suppose I had my reasons to.

“North.”

I spun around on my heel. Bira was almost unrecognizable. A black silken cape fell over his broad shoulders, and beneath the cape he wore a black blouse that showed off the stature of his chest. He had pulled his hair up into a messy bun that somehow brought the entire outfit together.

“Well don’t you look down right fashionable,” I teased, then spun in a slow circle, “do you think she’ll approve?”

He said nothing for a long while. I forced a smile as the wide black dress stopped swirling and began mindlessly tugging at the chiffon of my long bell sleeves.

“She always finds something,” he said, “you look beautiful.” And if he had forgone that scarf, I’m sure I would have seen a soft smile upon his lips. But, as usual, he hadn’t.

We entered the hall together amid a torrent of people. Bumping and jostling to get in, when we finally made it, the density of the crowd thinned.

The Hall of Dreamers was no longer a part of the Circle, it was a ballroom, its ceiling twilight, its floor a conglomeration of snowy stars. The door we entered was a masterpiece of gold, and the balustrade hemming from it slithering serpents made of the stuff. Balconies etched themselves into the walls and there, people came together. A lot of people.

A lot of them wearing the same outfit; chastity white robes with impossibly long drop sleeves.

“Nope,” I said, tugging at Biras arm, “she’s tricked me. Let’s go.”

Bira stood his ground, “Look.” He simply said.

And there, in the center of the ballroom, stood my mother. An empress in glimmering gold, a sunburst tiara on the top of her waterfall of dreadlocks.

She was like a queen to these people, them her willing subjects as they circled around her, speaking, laughing, touching.

Her brown eyes met mine and if Bira hadn’t been attached to my hand, I would have bolted.

I looked at her sternly and walked off, leaving Bira to fend for himself. He understood the cross relationship between my parents and I, but I still shot him a look that said sorry. But he had already disappeared. No wonder he was a part of the justicars Shadow Corps.

I attached myself to the closest wall without people I could find and leaned upon it, arms crossed. My mother bumped shoulders with me in the span of a few breaths.

“It’s lovely to see you, North.”

“You lied to me.”

“Did I?” her voice was a low lull, a juxtaposition to my high-pitched breathy one, “I’m quite sure I said gala.” She looked at me pointedly and I made a point to stare out into the crowd, “Do you know what the word, ‘gala’, means?”

“Do you know what the word, ‘anathema’, means? Because that is what this is to me—anathema!”

“Stay,” she said, “enjoy All Souls. There’s food.” She quickly added.

“What are they doing here?” I asked, pointing toward the balcony where the white robbed group now sat upon golden thrones that looked down upon the room. But she was already gone.

I stalked toward the nearest table with food and almost screamed as someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“You can’t keep doing that,” I chastised Bira, “someday I’m going to scream and someone’s going to think somethings wrong…,”

He offered me finger foods and we ate. When the music in the room rose, I pulled him out onto the floor to dance. We waltzed like the Director and I had, though Bira was a lot more conservative with his hands. Though he touched my waist, he did not grab it as the Director had. And when I stepped on his nice shiny shoes not once, but five times, he didn’t forcibly correct me. His eyes just laughed as he called me clumsy.

A gong ended the dance and maybe even the party. It came from high above, from where those white robed people sat. My mother stood before the group and lifted up her hands.

She wished us all a happy All Souls. A thread of excitement moved its way through the crowd as her speech moved on to something more dire.

“Now that we are all here, I’d like to welcome our guests of honor. When your name is called, please come stand next to me…,”

And she began. I elbowed Bira in the ribs, “Unicorn district after this?” I whispered, “I could use a stiff drink.”

“You buying?”

I had to laugh, “No fair! You drink like a—well, a patrician!”

We both shared a laugh at that.

“North Valle.”

I froze. Had she just called my name? My eyes narrowed as my mom smiled down at me from her perch. Her smile wasn’t the warm kind of I-love-you smile, it was the cold kind of I-dare-you smile.

Me and Bira exchanged a glance. He gave me a curt nod and I ascended to stand next to the other five who had already been called.

My mom took a breath into the silence. She closed the card she had been holding and grinned at the crowd beneath, “My friends, please welcome the Dreaming Elites new acolytes!”

Applause soared, ringing in my ears, clawing through my heart.

No, no, no, no.

Not only did she lie to me, not only did she trick me, but—she—she tricked me!

I pushed my way through the other five and got to my moms side. The applause kept going like a time keeper had paused the crowd below. I took a hold of my mothers elbow, which made me flinch.

“I’m not—you can’t do this!”

“I can,” she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, “you are wasting your life in research,” she said the word like it was a curse, “and now I’m making the choice to bring you up and out of it. Now, let go of me!”

“No!” I hissed back, but the word was a little too loud in a room a little too quiet. The applause went silent at my voice.

My mother gave a chiding laugh, “Move aside, now. My daughter,” she laughed, “so eager to return to nothing.”

The audience laughed at that.

“Nothing?” I said, my hackles rising, “Research means something to me. I’m working on the Demise—and I’m close—this close—to curing it!”

Now, the crowd truly had something to chuckle at. The Demise was a Dreamers illness, but one as magical as the Talent. I too thought it wasn’t curable, not through natural means. But, isn’t that why we have the supernatural?

My heart fell through my corset as the crowd rumbled with uncontained laughter. Again, the need to run came, but now mom had a hold of me.

“Research is for those without Talent, without the drive to do more.” She towered over me, a powerful woman with me in her shadow, a mouse, “I’ve let you play at making your own life for long enough. Your destiny is to become a Dreaming Elite. You can’t shirk destiny, child.”

“But—”

“You’re making a fool of yourself,” she hissed, “a fool of me!” and she fanned her hand toward the crowd, “Get back in line.”

I had nothing more to say. My face felt hot, tears were trailing down my face, doing nothing about the heat. I picked up my skirts, “I’m not playing! I’m doing good in this world in my own way! I won’t be a carbon copy of you!” I screamed. And, of course, the room was silent once more.

And all I could hear as I ran was the clicking of my heels and the rush of my heart beating. I sprinted into the night and ignored the cold that stripped away that heat. Just watching my breath come out white in the winter air.