Beginning my work, I draw in a deep fog to obscure the huts and the people. I thin the crowds on the streets and remove the huts completely, replacing them with a hilly landscape dotted with mushrooms. Finally, I set the date and time and add in the goats.
As if it were the goal all along, Colton begins serenely herding the beasts.
Yep, this is memory. Another person with an alibi.
Disappointed, I wake up.
Waving for Kain to follow, I tiptoe out of Colton’s bedroom and head directly for the exit.
Once we’re outside the giant’s quarters, I sanitize my finger. “He’s not guilty. This doesn’t look good for Eduardo and Nina.”
Kain looks grim. “Just connect with as many Councilors as you can. Albina is nearby, so you can start with her.”
I don’t object, and he leads me to a regular-sized steel door, which we enter.
Albina isn’t in her bed. Instead, there’s a note on the pillow:
Kain, I’m very sorry, but something came up. I’ll have to participate in the dream investigation tomorrow night.
Regards, Albina
“Sketchy,” I say. “Is she strong enough to rip someone apart?”
“No.” Kain heads out of Albina’s place. “She can break matter into nothing. If she’d used her power, we would’ve thought the victim had disappeared without a trace. It would’ve been dumb of her to leave bodies behind.”
We head to another subject’s quarters as I ask, “Isn’t it always a bad idea to leave bodies behind?”
“Unless you’re Albina, it might be hard to get rid of a body in this castle. But you have a point. It’s possible that the murderer is making a statement by leaving the bodies like this—in which case, it could be Albina. Somehow.”
We stop next to a new wooden door, and he holds it open for me.
“Is Gertrude on vampire blood?” I ask as casually as I can.
“Indeed.” He frowns. “Firth is the supplier—and the only reason I allow it is that it gives me power over her.”
“Is anyone else on the Council on vampire blood?” I ask, still striving for casualness.
“Not that I know of.” His fangs extend. “And Gertrude is the only person on the Council I can glamour the way I did earlier. I couldn’t, for example, make Colton rip Gemma apart.”
“Of course he’d say that,” Felix whispers. “If I were you, I wouldn’t dismiss that theory so quickly.”
Ignoring Felix, I scowl at Kain. “Don’t get touchy. Isn’t it my job to think of all possibilities?”
“I’d rather you focus on the part of your job that’s in there.” He nods at the apartment.
As I step past him to enter, his fangs go away.
The sleeper in this bedroom is Isis, the Councilor who committed to healing Mom when I successfully accomplish my job.
Better be on my best behavior.
Silently, I wait until Isis goes into REM sleep before I enter the dream world. Once there, I check to make sure she shows up in the tower of sleepers and get back out, moving carefully in order not to wake her. I’ll only snoop on Isis’s dreams if explicitly ordered. Her power is too valuable for me to upset her. In fact, if she turns out to be the killer, I might blackmail her to save Mom instead of telling the Council about her guilt. Not that I think a healer is likely to be behind it.
The sleeper Kain takes me to next isn’t familiar to me. Again, we wait for REM sleep, then I make the link and get out of the dream world.
The next Councilor I recognize. It’s Hekima, the grandfatherly illusionist. He reaches another phase of REM sleep in minutes, and I pop into his dream and right back out again, as I did with the other Councilors.
The following person I kind of know as well. Though we’ve never spoken personally, I’ve seen him in Ariel’s dreams. His puckish—or more accurately, satyric—face is distinctive. It’s Chester, and he’s a probability manipulator—or trickster, as his kind are locally nicknamed. A probability manipulator isn’t someone I’d want as an enemy, so I carefully make a connection and tiptoe out of his bedroom.
The next Councilor is a beautiful woman who takes over an hour to get to REM sleep.
The person after her only takes five minutes.
I keep making connections over and over, until we walk into the bedroom of a thin man who opens his eyes and glares at us.
“It’s morning,” Kain says as we scurry out of the thin guy’s abode. “You’ll have to continue tonight.”
Yay, me. I get a little reprieve.
We head back toward my quarters.
“Was that most of them?” I ask when we get there.
“Ninety percent of the Council.” He opens the door for me. “You thought you wouldn’t have enough power, but what we actually ran out of is time.”
I stop in the doorway. “I’m game to see if anyone is sleeping in.”