The council room is large, and the walls are covered in colorful frescoes from ceiling to floor. Bloche sits in one of the chairs around a grand round table in the center of the room. Carved on the table in front of him is the Genesis emblem. Prince Alex takes a seat at a spot marked with a dragon. At a glance around the table, I see almost every seat is marked with an emblem. Each of the guild symbols are represented as well as the emblem of the Avant Guard, the Viper I recognize as the emblem of the Matriarchy of the Isles, and the Eye that represents the Prophets of Naiot. Rafe and I are not invited to sit.

“I assume we have you to thank for the escaped criminals?” Bloche asks me calmly.

“Yes,” I respond.

“And for them coming here in the first place?”

I nod. “But I hope to help lessen the threat they pose by learning their plans and warning you of them.”

“You have been working on their behalf but want to change allegiances?” Bloche asks. Prince Alexander looks on, brows drawn, fingers steepled, but he doesn’t speak.

“Yes.”

“And why should we trust you?”

Rafe interjects, “For what it’s worth, I trust her.”

I’m surprised by how much it means to me to hear him say that.

“But there’s something else you should know. Something more important.” All our eyes focus on Rafe as he continues. “Last night, I dreamed of her.”

I feel a slow burn creep up my neck. “Rafe, I don’t think—”

He quiets me with a hand to my arm, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at Alex. “Yesterday she fed me her blood to heal me.”

Bloche says angrily, “Prince Alexander, the Council assured us that if we accepted Avant students onto this campus, there would be no blood consumption—”

The prince holds up his hand. “With respect, Headmaster, I think we need to hear what Raphael is trying to say.”

“After I drank Ada’s blood,” Rafe continues, “I dreamed of her all night. Of her… in the future.”

“What did you see?” Alex asks.

“I didn’t understand most of it.”

Alex shakes his head. “Blood prophecies are always cryptic. Record every detail you can remember. You’ll need to speak with Chorus.”

“Are you suggesting that Journey Castle has the Sight?” Bloche asks.

“If by consuming her blood, Raphael experienced prophecy, then it would seem so.”

Bloche turns to me and asks, “Have you ever had premonitions or visions?”

My mind is a whirl. Of course I haven’t had visions!

Except I have. The dream.

“Once,” I say.