My pulse accelerated. For the first time, this didn’t seem quite so much like a needle in the haystack. “Is Rafael likely with them?” I asked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marcus stiffen.
“I think she is using him to control them, so, yes,” the Watcher answered.
“I told you that I dreamed of him,” I said. “But it was powerful, because I was seeing through his eyes. And I wondered—if you hypnotized me, might I be able to connect to him again?”
“Youdreamedof him, too?” Marcus asked.
I met his eyes. They had gone inky black. “Yes.”
“Do you think you can target a dream like that?” Kiko asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought it might be worth a try.”
“It might work—if you had something of his,” Cara stated. “Emphasis on might. But—we don’t have anything of his.”
Marcus swayed from one foot to another, then he growled, and Kiko shot him a startled look.
“You don’t,” he said. “But I do.” He vanished down the hall. As he passed me, he gave me a wide berth. As though I were contagious.
I tried not to mind.
I didn’t succeed.
He returned quickly and handed Cara a crystal hanging on a leather cord. “This was his. He gave it to me to get through the gate, the first time he helped me escape.”
I recognized it—it had been tied into Marcus’s hair in the cornfield. It seemed so long ago, now. My heart twisted.
He glanced at me. “Rafael got me out of there.” He sounded as though he spoke through gritted teeth. “Twice, actually. I owe him.” He skirted me and returned to the balcony.
Cara handed me the crystal. “It might help. Okay, I will put you under and push you energy. But the rest is up to you.”
I took a deep breath and went for it. “Do you have any crystal dust? It’s been helpful to boost my talent, and might help with this, too.”
She frowned at me. “When did you start taking crystal dust?”
I shrugged again, aware that everyone was staring at me. “A little while ago.”
“It is an essential supplement for some.” Vali had an edge to her voice. “Many just get a boost from it, but others have to be careful.”
I thought about the hot flushes and the dizziness. But there were so many possibilities for a cause. And I would need the crystal dust if I were going to rescue those kids.
Cara watched me closely. “How have you been feeling?”
“I’ve been tired, and a little off, really. But—” I glanced at Marcus.
“It sounds like the Dragon virus,” Vali finished my thought.
Marcus went completely stiff, and then he spun and left through the balcony door.
“It could be.” Cara sighed. “It is a little soon, though. And we do not know if you are susceptible.”
“Satyrs aren’t, thankfully,” Kiko said. “I don’t need wings. I like my feet firmly on the ground.”
I looked from her to Cara. “I might not be either?”
The Watcher shook her head. “Without knowing your lineage, we have no way to be sure.” She rose and went to a kitchen cupboard.
