“More, more!” Nina cried.

“There’s no need,” I said. “This still has impact—without as much magic. It just takes a little longer.”

“We don’t have the time!”

I didn’t understand what she meant until our collective efforts finally defeated the lava monster, and it crumbled to dust before us. Nina sprinted into the cave, and with the creature gone, she seemed to have regained control of the dream. The setting around us changed, and suddenly we were running into the white country house in Wisconsin. I just barely caught sight of Olive in the shadowy corner of a living room, her body obscured by that same billowing cloak from earlier.

“Olive!” screamed Nina. “Show me where you are!” More power surged through her, and the room started to flicker. I could feel a little of what she was doing, and I was astonished. She was trying to make the dream reflect Olive’s surroundings—something even I hadn’t known was possible.

But Olive was fading before our eyes. “I’m sorry, Nina. Please—please stop trying to find me. It’s better this way.”

“Olive!”

It was too late. Olive faded, and the room stopped flickering. It stabilized, firmly remaining a little country living room and offering no clues as to where Olive was. Defeated, Nina slumped into a wicker chair, tears in her eyes. “She woke herself up. That’s what happens every time. She throws up some obstacle for me to fight against, and it distracts me from making the dream show where she’s at. By the time I fight through, she’s managed to wake herself and escape from the dream.” Nina turned her gaze on me accusingly. “If we’d defeated her faster, she wouldn’t have had time to wake up! You should’ve used more spirit to blast that monster away!”

Nina, though obviously upset, looked mostly stable here in the dream world. Thinking back to the other day, however, I knew her real-world self was another matter. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said slowly. “I think using all this spirit has been having a, um, detrimental effect on you over time.”

“If you’d help me—really help me—we’d only have to do it once. If we can corner her, we can make the dream show us where she’s at.”

“Yeah, about that,” I said, sitting beside her. “Where’d you learn to do that? Make the dream show where she’s at?” That would’ve been incredibly useful when I’d been trying to find Sydney.

Nina shrugged. “You can make a person appear as they are in real life, right? I was experimenting one day and channeled the spirit through her in a way that made the dream’s setting simply mirror the place she was in.”

“I’m not sure ‘simply’ is the word I’d use,” I remarked. “That involved a lot of spirit too. And I wonder . . . did she start controlling the dream afterward? Did you inadvertently give her control?”

It was obvious Nina hadn’t thought of that. “I . . . I don’t know. Maybe I did . . . but how else am I supposed to find out where she is?”

“Try talking to her?” I suggested.

She slammed her fist on the wicker armrest. “I have! She won’t see me. This is the only way. Something’s wrong, and we need to find out what. We need to try again. Only next time—”

“Whoa, whoa. There can’t be a next time,” I warned. “You’ll burn yourself out. You’ve done this every day for how long?”

Her gaze grew distant. “I don’t know. Months.”

I winced. No wonder she was losing it. “No more spirit.”

She looked up at me, her gaze pleading. “I have to. Can’t you understand that? Do you know what it’s like to not know what’s happened to someone you care so much about?”

Jill, I thought with a pang. Nina must have seen something in my expression because she suddenly lit up.

“Help me! Help me, Adrian, and together we’ll have enough spirit to overcome her. I can stop doing this every day. I’ll find out what’s happened to her. Please.”

I thought of Sonya’s worries for Nina. Then I thought of Sydney, cautioning me to be careful with spirit. I’d be in enough trouble already if she found out about this burst of spirit use. I slowly shook my head. “I can’t. I shouldn’t have even done this.”

“If we work together, it won’t require as much from either of us,” Nina begged. “Please help me. I’ll help you in return. Is there something you need? Help me find Olive, and I’ll do anything.”

I started to shake my head again, then paused as an idea hit me. “No,” I said, more to myself than her. “No.”

She jumped to her feet. “There is something, isn’t there? Tell me!”

I hesitated, knowing I really shouldn’t be going down this path. But her offer of help had made me think of one thing I did want very badly: getting back to Sydney. “I need to sneak out of Court without anyone knowing. And then I need to make people think I’m still here, back with my mom.”

“Done,” said Nina. “I can do that. Easy.”

“Nina—”

“Look,” she said. “I can help you right now—right this minute—get you out of Court. It’d be an easy compulsion spell. Then you can meet me in a dream to find Olive, wherever you are.”

“That’s nice of you,” I said wearily. “But that’s not going to convince people I’m still living here.”