Chase and I jogged over to Lena, who was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet and holding something beside her back. “What happened?” I asked.
“Look!” Lena whipped out a deep purple flower from behind her back.
“What is that?” Chase asked.
“Somnius magia! Better known as dreamweed.” Lena pushed her glasses up on her nose. “It’s an extremely rare magical plant, and the biggest crop of it I’ve ever seen is just up that hill in back of camp! I didn’t calibrate the sensors to recognize it, because it’s so rare, but I’ve got to collect as much as I can! It’s got so many uses- I’ll be able to make so many inventions with it!” She beamed. “I’ve got to start gathering it!” Turning, she sprinted away.
Turning towards Chase, I folded my arms. “Now, will you tell me what happened in the dream?”
Chase sighed. “Okay.” He stared down at his hands as if they held the answer to the universe’s mysteries. “When I was dreaming, it started out normally, with the cake, and the house, and the crowd of people. But-but then I heard this voice, telling me happy birthday, and I turned and- it was you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Only you looked about seventy years old.”
“And?” That was interesting, but if he’d resisted telling me for this long, there had to be more.
Chase’s hands formed fists. “And-and-and I was so surprised I woke up and head-butted you.”
“And that was it?” I said, giving him a chance to tell me the rest, and trying to imitate Mom’s icy, dangerous voice that told you to tell the truth or else.
His fists clenched. “Yeah. That was it.”
“Liar.” Cold anger swept through me. “You made me promise not to hate you forever. That wasn’t bad enough for you to say that. That wasn’t bad at all!” I was yelling by the end of that. “You know what? Fine! Don’t tell me! Just don’t expect me to talk to you ever again.” How could he lie to me? I got up and stormed toward the forest.
“Rory!” he yelled, but I didn’t look back.
