Dreamfever by Kit Alloway

knew I’d be obligated to try to stop it.”
    Haley ran a blade of grass between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s … Staging is very dangerous, isn’t it? More dangerous than people know.”
    Mirren realized then how much Haley might have seen. She’d brushed his hand while reaching for the butter in the restaurant—or perhaps before that, the time she’d hugged him, the handshake … any contact could have revealed her secrets.
    â€œMirren,” he said, and he touched her again then, so hesitantly, just his hand on her back. He struggled for a moment before saying, “Everyone has secrets. I don’t … I don’t share what isn’t mine. It’s like … a responsibility.” He blushed prettily and added, “It’s a duty.”
    Mirren knew then that gravity had brought her to Haley just as it had brought her to Peregrine. She had arrived alone in a strange land, and she could not believe that by mere chance, she could have met someone who so perfectly understood her responsibilities.
    â€œThank you,” she said.
    Haley shrugged as if to say, Of course .
    â€œNo,” she said. “For being my friend.”
    And he smiled.
    â€œThere’s something about you,” he said, his voice even quieter than usual but his words more certain. “I can’t look away.”
    Her heart beat hard, twice. She wanted him to keep looking, yet she felt obligated to say, “You should get as far away from me as you can. It’s entirely possible that Peregrine Borgenicht will have me assassinated as soon as he finds out I’m alive.”
    Haley shook his head. He took a deep breath and straightened his back, and Mirren saw that it was hard for him to sit up straight, to take up so much room in the World. “I’ll keep you alive—I mean, I’ll help. If you want, I mean.”
    Then he ducked down a little, as if afraid of being such a tall target, and Mirren felt inspired by his tiny act of courage.
    â€œI feel so betrayed,” she admitted. Her voice cracked with tears, but she didn’t care. “Now I have to forget about living my normal, peaceful life, because I have to stop the Lodestone Party from taking power.” She glanced around the park, which was spotted with dandelions she’d never had the chance to smell. “It would be such a shame to die now.”
    â€œWe won’t let you die,” Haley promised. “The others will help. They all hate him.”
    â€œI just want…” She reached out to touch Haley’s face and then stopped herself. “I want everything, I suppose.”
    She did want everything. She wanted to kill Peregrine and take over the government and go to college and eat sugar and kiss Haley. But somehow her life in the World was already becoming as predetermined as her life in the Hidden Kingdom had been. Gravity, she thought again, with less gratitude this time.
    â€œCome inside,” Haley said. “We’ll find a way.”
    â€œAll right.” Mirren climbed to her feet. “But we should come back to this park sometime.”
    â€œPark?” he asked.
    â€œYeah. This is a park, right?”
    He smiled like he was trying not to laugh at her. “It’s an undeveloped lot with a storm drain.”
    Mirren burst out laughing. “It is ? But it’s so pretty!”
    Haley held out his hand, and she took it. As they walked back toward the restaurant, he said, “I’ll take you to a real park.”
    â€œCan we have a picnic?”
    â€œYes.”
    Mirren squeezed his hand, even as she thought, We’d better go soon .

 
    Seven
    Feodor’s laboratory—all scorched ashes of roses wallpaper and metal autopsy tables covered with dirty crystals and shattered beakers. Josh sat in the window seat and looked out at the ruins of Warsaw, admiring how the different columns of smoke wove together like