Two things were bothering her. The idea of Jerram’s regular visits to Mackey, and the question the old man had asked about Jerram having the gift, too. Inside of her there had been this growing suspicion that Jerram wasn’t telling her the truth about the dreams. But she’d told herself she was wrong, Jerram and she shared everything. Now, knowing that they didn’t, she felt the suspicion welling up again.

“Jerram, is it true that you haven’t dreamed about Nancy? You’ve got to tell me.”

He looked undecided, then reluctantly shook his head. “I wish I had. Then we’d be like before, a united front. I don’t know why it isn’t happening anymore.” He looked crushed.

Rose felt guilty for having doubted him. “You couldn’t dream anyway, could you? You never sleep,” she joked tiredly to cover up her feelings.

“We vampires have too much to do at night, in the dark. …” he said in his Count Dracula voice, then stopped. “Hey, Rose, lighten up.” “It’s hard. I hope they don’t find the girl in the junkyard. I don’t even know her name. Do you?” “Cyn. For Cynthia.”

“What good are these dreams, anyway? They never give me any real information like names and phone numbers.”

“You did get more this time than last, though. Old Nancy is getting smarter. She gave you the coordinates. You know exactly where it is. I guess she just needed practice.”

Rose hit him with a pillow. “Maybe it’s just me who needed practice. Actually, I was paying more attention this time. I could see us flying over the 7-Eleven toward Danville, and so it had to be that big auto junk place out on route 7.”

“Mac’s going to tell them to look there?”

Rose nodded. “He told me to watch and pray. And he spouted something about sleep being a realm of wild reality. It wasn’t very comforting.” Jerram stood up and struck a theatrical pose. ‘“To sleep, perchance to dream …’” he began. Mom came in at that moment. Jerram froze, then laughed. Mom laughed and said it was time for bed and then stopped short, seeing Rose already tucked in.

“I knew it,” she said. “You’re coming down with something.”

“Mom, I was just a little tired.”

She looked unconvinced. “Mark my words,” she said, sounding like Barney, “a mother knows these things.”

“ESP runs rampant in this family,” Jerram said. “No wonder Dad does so well in the stock market.” • He said good night, and Mom followed him out, nagging about some mess he’d left in the living room.