The Dreamwalker [ON HOLD]

Chapter Eleven

Adela didn't have the time to explain to Evenie why she needed to see Rose. She swooped past her, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door.

"Dels!" called Evenie. "Wait!"

"I'll meet you at the Falls Fair in an hour, Evie."

"But—"

"I can't explain now, okay? I just need to go see Rose before the Fair starts."

"But Dels—"

"Evenie, please just let me go. I'll explain later," Adela said as she slipped on her shoes without looking at Evenie.

"Oh, for goodness sake Adela!" snapped Evenie. "You're still in my pyjamas!"

Adela looked down at her clothes and then at Evenie. "Oh." She took off her shoes and strode casually toward the stairs. "Okay, well, I'm just going to go get changed, and then, yeah..."

But as she turned to head up the stairs, Evenie said with a sigh, "Go to my room and choose something nice to wear for tonight."

"It's okay, I'll go home and quickly get changed."

Evenie snorted. "Um, yeah, no. You puked yesterday, remember? There's no way I'm letting you leave my house with a shirt that has puke stains on it. Ew." Adela didn't say anything. "Besides," Evenie continued as she made her way up the stairs and gestured for Adela to follow her into her room, "I want to know what you meant by what you said—that it was Rose the whole time. Why do you need to talk to her so urgently all of a sudden?"

"I—" Adela hesitated. It's not that she didn't want to tell Evenie, it's that she didn't know how to tell Evenie. How was she going to explain her dreams about him, and that the soul-shifting thing both Mrs Finlay and Rose knew about could have happened to her? How was she going to explain that her mother was somehow entangled in this mess and that Rose might know where her mother is—that Rose had been lying to her the whole time? Adela sighed. "I can't really explain it right now, Evie," she said finally. It was the truth. She was still trying to wrap her head around the possible connection to, well, everything.

I stole the soul of another to let you live, Mrs Finlay had said. A poor, innocent soul... All because of her. It's been three years... three years...

Adela shuddered.

"Er, Dels?" she heard Evenie say.

"Uh, sorry," said Adela blinking back her thoughts. "I just—Look, I want to explain everything but not right now. If I did, we'd be here all night. Do you think you could trust me? I promise I'll tell you everything, just—"

In that moment, Evenie's phone rang. She pulled it out of her jean pocket and answered. "Maman? Tout va bien?" she asked as she looked at the time on the clock that sat above her bed. "It's like three in the morning over there!" Evenie said switching to English. She then turned to give Adela an apologetic look, mouthing sorry as she placed her hand over the speaker.

Adela mouthed back it's okay as she motioned to Evenie that she was going to get dressed and leave. "I'll see you later," she whispered, "at the Falls Fair." Evenie hesitated for a moment but then nodded and walked out, closing the door behind her.

I hope everything is okay, Adela thought, absentmindedly biting her nails as she scanned the contents in Evenie's wardrobe. After a few minutes of rummaging through the clothes, she pulled out an outfit and quickly got dressed, fixing her hair momentarily afterward. She then headed straight out the front door, her keys in one hand and her bag with the diary slung over her shoulder.