And like that, I started to feel the dream slipping away from me. Despite my hold, Olive’s will was still winning out. Cracks appeared in the wooden walls. The wicker furniture crumbled to dust. The windows filled with sunlight went dark. I called on spirit’s power, pulling more magic through me in order to fight back against Olive’s usurpation. Spirit burned within my body, but she’d already changed the face of the dream. The house was gone, replaced by what looked like a hotel parking lot. A flickering streetlamp cast weak light down on us, eerily supplemented by the red glow of a neon sign hanging in the lobby’s window. What normally might have been busy streets surrounded us, but no traffic flowed on them in this dream. Eerie silence dominated until I spoke.

“I’m sorry, she was too fast,” I said to Nina. “Where are we?”

She took a step closer to me, her face filled with fear. “This is where we were attacked with our dad. When Olive was turned. There were Strigoi—”

Before she could finish, two menacing figures emerged from behind the dark shape of a parked Buick. The phantom lighting made their pale white skin look even more gruesome. I couldn’t see the red in their eyes, but the evil within came through plainly, no matter the dim conditions. They snarled, revealing fangs similar to mine, save that their only intent was to kill.

I gripped Nina’s hand and slowly backed up. “They can’t kill us in a dream,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry. “Not really.”

“No, but we’ll wake up,” she said. “And Olive will be gone again.”

“Not if we annihilate them first.”

Terror filled me, even though I knew the Strigoi were only part of the dream. I’d been too conditioned against them my entire life to feel anything except fear. But what I’d said was true: You couldn’t die in a spirit dream. You would simply wake up. And before that, you’d feel deep, excruciating pain. They aren’t real, I told myself. This is a dream, and I still have some control.

Olive had taken charge of big things—like the setting—but little things were within my grasp. Here, I could wield fire as deftly as Christian or Sydney. A fireball appeared in my hand, fueled by spirit magic. I felt magic surge in Nina too, and I was quick to chastise her.

“No—let me handle this.” If I was caught in this dream, I might as well fulfill the original goal of keeping her away from the brunt of spirit. “Just assist. Don’t wield too much.”

I hurled the fireball toward one of the Strigoi, and it went wide, missing him by about two feet. Okay—maybe I couldn’t wield fire quite as deftly as Christian or Sydney. It had always looked so easy when Sydney did it, and I realized I was thinking in those terms, imitating her throw. But relying on my physical abilities wasn’t the way to go. I had to be much more intentional. I summoned another fireball and this time used spirit to specifically guide it toward the Strigoi. My aim proved true, but the Strigoi, even in a dream, moved quickly. He dodged the brunt of the fireball and only ended up singeing his arm. It was enough to inspire me, though. I called on spirit again, summoning two more fireballs, one to keep going after this target and another to keep the other Strigoi at a distance.

I also managed to anticipate the way the Strigoi would dodge this time, so I adjusted accordingly, sending the fireball right into his chest. Flames engulfed him, and I used spirit to summon a silver stake. Moving to where he writhed on the ground, I called on spirit to shield me from the fire as I plunged the stake into what I hoped was his heart. Either I was right or the fire had already done its job, because the creature suddenly stopped moving and vanished into nothing.

The other Strigoi had tried to advance on Nina while I was distracted. She threw a fireball of her own and experienced the same learning curve I had, missing with her first attempt. It was enough to distract the Strigoi until I could swoop in.

“Hold off,” I reminded Nina. I hit the second Strigoi squarely with another fireball, and then I once again finished the job with a silver stake. As I did, I felt my triumph falter as four more Strigoi suddenly stepped forward. I hastily retreated back to Nina.

“No problem,” I told her. “We’ll get rid of them too.” Seeing four of them was daunting, but my method seemed to be working. In a dream, at least, I could be as badass as any guardian.

“There’s no time!” Nina exclaimed. Spirit swelled within her—a lot of spirit. I turned on her in alarm.

“What are you doing? That’s too much!”

She ignored me and, impossibly, called on even more spirit. I was reminded of a balloon, ready to burst. “We need them gone, and we need them gone now!”

“Stop it!” I cried. I shook her arm, hoping I could get her to lose her concentration. She shook me off and continued building up spirit to impossible, dizzying heights.

“I won’t let Olive escape again!” Nina said.

Fire shot out from her fingertips. It wasn’t a compact little ball like I’d formed. Nina was wielding sheets and sheets of fire. Substantial amounts of fire. Flames lit up the night, wrapping around the three Strigoi. There was no need to stake them; I think they were killed almost instantly.

I shook her again. “Let go! Let the magic go!”

What she’d done, to create that ridiculous amount of fire, hadn’t been a small change to the dream. She’d not only had to break through Olive’s control, she’d also had to break through mine at the dream’s foundation. The spirit that had required—to blast all those Strigoi away in one fell swoop—was staggering. It was at least twice as much as I’d seen her wielding when we were in the dream together before.