The other thing I noticed was that Olive’s cloak was gone. With no control left of the dream, Olive now appeared as she did in the waking world. The clothes she wore were old and threadbare, as though they’d been passed around a few times. Around her neck was a small, circular wooden pendant edged in green. I’d never seen it before and didn’t know what it meant.

But as I got my last glimpse of her before waking, I saw something else about her that I recognized immediately.

The dream completely shattered, and I found myself alert and sitting up in the inn’s bed. As I blinked and tried to focus, Sydney clutched my arm and tried to calm me.

“Adrian,” she exclaimed, and I knew it wasn’t the first time she’d said my name. “What’s wrong?”

“Olive’s pregnant,” I gasped out.

CHAPTER 8: SYDNEY

CHAPTER 8

SYDNEY

“OLIVE?” I REPEATED STUPIDLY. I was a little addled myself, having been woken out of a deep sleep by Adrian’s cries. “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head, regret on his features. “I’m sorry, Sydney. I didn’t mean to. Nina found me in a spirit dream, and I got pulled into looking for Olive. And this time we got to her. She was pregnant.”

I was so stunned to hear that he’d gone through with the dream that I couldn’t process the rest of what he was saying immediately. But the regret on his face was so sincere, I believed that it had been against his will. “She can’t be pregnant,” I said at last. “I mean . . . I guess she can. But I thought she was involved with Neil. If she’s pregnant, then . . .”

Adrian swallowed and slowly seemed to be recovering himself. “I know, I know. If she’s pregnant, then it was by someone other than Neil.”

Soap opera drama with Olive wasn’t dire in the grand scheme of things—especially when compared to what was happening with Jill—but it was still a surprise. Olive and Neil had seemed so close. “Do you know for certain she is?”

He gave a shaky nod. “We did it. Nina and I broke through Olive’s defenses and saw her as she truly is in the waking world. No question—she was pregnant. I guess that’s why she kept trying to hide herself in the dream.” He paused to consider. “I guess that’s why she’s hiding herself in real life too.”