Her insides swirled. Two people had noticed her? She had to get out of here—now.

“You look kind of out of it. Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”

Tanvi stared past the girl, gauging the best direction to run.

“Um.” The girl gave a nervous laugh and changed the subject. “God, Mr. Collins is a sadist. Two pop quizzes in a row, like chem’s the only class we have?”

“You’re confused,” Tanvi informed her. “I’m not whoever you think I am.”

“But—” the girl began. Tanvi took off before she could hear the rest.

It’s okay, she told herself, even as her stomach churned harder. So she’d been spotted. The boy would never remember, and the girl had mistaken Tanvi for someone else. She’d just have to be much more careful from here on out.

But the tight feeling wouldn’t leave her chest. She kept checking behind her as if someone might be there.

Tanvi had never been afraid before, had never worried about anything but earning the boon that would get her bracelet. She didn’t like it.

Stupid dream residue. It made you feel, and that was the last thing any dream runner would want. Stupid dreamer and her stupid phone.

Tanvi clutched her pouch close. Soon she would be home, and soon she could buy her bracelet. Nothing else counted.

The thought of the bracelet soothed her, with its dangling charms and alluring gold. Soon.

But first, she had a job to do.

Tanvi ducked into a side street in Queen Village to finish her harvest. She inhaled deeply and felt around for dreamers.

Her mind lit up like a radar screen. Almost everyone on the street was dreaming, and like a bonus, two of the row houses blazed with especially promising options. If she hustled, maybe she could nab both.

She slipped inside the first house and followed the beacon to the couch. The man she was after lay before his blaring TV, drunk enough to have blacked out. Perfect. Without much effort, Tanvi harvested his vision about a ship that sailed through sweet meringue oceans to a land of salted caramel almond bark trees. Sweet and quirky, with the flavor and texture of candy.

One down, one to go, and the boon was hers.

The second house had a pineapple knocker. Annoyed, Tanvi filtered it out. Details were only relevant if they had to do with her harvest. Every runner knew that. She homed in on the source of the dream instead, a teen boy located on the third floor.

Tanvi crept inside and up the stairs, her awareness pinned on the dream above her. As she reached the second floor, a woman shuffled out of a bathroom, yawning. Tanvi pressed herself back against the wall, a lozenge at her lips, while she waited for the woman to pass.