Dirt under her fingernails. A voice she couldn't shake. Serena stared at her own hands and knew, with bone-deep certainty, that whatever had spoken to her in that dream wanted something from her before the Council could stop it.
"You can't be serious." Mira kept her voice to a whisper, though the corridor outside the alcove was empty at this hour. "You want to go digging around the academy grounds based on a dream? After everything that's happened?"
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds like the exact kind of decision that gets people killed in every story I've ever read." Mira's eyes flicked toward Kael, clearly hoping for backup. "Tell her this is insane."
"It's insane," Kael agreed. Then, quieter: "It's also probably true."
---
"Excuse me?" Mira's mouth fell open. "You're supposed to
