The next few days are a strange mixture of boring high school stuff, ridiculous Roundtable rumors that I completely ignore, and a heightened sense of anticipation that something is wrong. I can’t find my coin in spite of combing through most of the campus, even places I didn’t visit the first day. But searching for it isn’t easy considering the number of people who seem to be keeping an eye on me.

At first, I thought it was “new girl” interest, but it’s more than that. Thane seems to show up whenever I’m looking for the coin, but he doesn’t approach. I catch him staring in class and at lunch, and he’s been outside Emerson Hall every day after school while I wait for Mom to pick me up. Natalie keeps watching me in trig as if she’s ready to report any perceived infraction to her father. And Shy is everywhere. Even as I’m trying to actively avoid him. The worst part? He’s friendly. As if he doesn’t feel the weird tension between us. Which maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he hasn’t dreamed about me. But I’ve dreamed about him.

The one I had in detention was almost tame in comparison to last night’s. Shy, or rather the man who feels like Shy, stood at the center of a lake with me, our bodies bared to the night and skin-to-skin as he kissed me, connected with me, and as our palms touched, a silver and gold thread twined together, wrapping around us, warm and electric, driving the desire between us. When I woke, the dream clung to me as if I had been singed by its hold.

Now, it’s past midnight and I’m too afraid to sleep, my body wired. So I’m looking at stars through my telescope and remembering when Poppa and I used to do this together.

It’s slightly cloudy tonight, so I decide to take my telescope outside to see if the view is any better. I’m hoping the fresh air might help keep me awake for a little while longer so that when I finally do sleep, I’ll be too tired to dream.

But the minute I step outside, I feel someone watching me. I search the trees and see nothing but the ever-present ravens, and while they make me uneasy, it’s nothing compared to how I feel about the dogs snoring near my back porch right now. They’d showed up outside our house a few days ago. I thought that maybe they lingered because this had been their home before we arrived. Mom wasn’t enthused about their presence and accused me of feeding them. She tried calling the animal shelter to come collect them, but when they showed up, the dogs were nowhere to be found.