Grey Haven (Book 1: The Dreamer Chronicles)
Chapter 22

I awoke with a start. My heart raced, and I felt as if the collapsing dream was chasing me, like I was a second away from being folded into nothingness.

Realization dawned just as quickly. I had made it. I had killed the shade and lived.

My mind reeled with what I had done. I had gone into the dreamworld searching for Bastian and had come back with the death of a major shade on my hands. It was overwhelming, satisfying, and probably other important things I would have to think about later.

Chris sauntered around the edge of cot as I woke up and pressed me back down, expression strangely gentle. My arm felt as if a thousand bees were stinging me and my hands were a bloody mess. There was already one bandage on my arm, from my encounter with the spider. Chris’ hands were soft as he checked my arm and my bloody hands. He didn’t speak, but I didn’t really expect him to. His animosity was gone, replaced by grudging respect.

“You guys okay?” Tommy asked from his cot, shifting to sit up.

“I’m good,” Carrie said. “Julie?”

I groaned as Chris lifted my arm Carrie and Tommy scrambled off their cots to join me. Their faces stood out sharply against the feeling of pain. They had pulled off their sensors, but the marks were still on their temples. They were exhausted and bruised, but they were alive, and that’s what mattered.

Mrs. Z. stepped into view next. She knelt next to Chris. “Go see if Dr. James is awake,” Mrs. Z. said.

Chris left the room obediently, stoic unhappiness returning. I stared at Mrs. Z. questioningly. She had dark bags under eyes and was pale. Unlike the others, she held the stress of being held captive in her face. Despite her apparent weakness, she radiated her normal mystery and command as she smiled at me. “In all my years, I have never seen anything like what I just witnessed,” she said. “You managed to kill a shade that has bested hundreds of dreamers before you. I am impressed.”

Carrie and Tommy smiled happily at her compliment. They were proud to receive such praise from her. My pride was tempered by my skepticism. “Why were you in that dream?” I asked. “What happened?”

“Ah, well, I walked into a trap,” Mrs. Z. said.

Carrie, Tommy, and I shared a look of doubt. We had risked our lives. We wanted the whole truth, not a vague sentence meant to sate our curiosity and end the conversation.

Mrs. Z. noticed and smiled ruefully. “I went in to retrieve Mary Anne from the shade. When I got to her dream, Bastian and his pet shade were waiting for me. I was prepared to fight them, but Bastian was too quick for me. He sent me through a door. The shade you encountered was waiting for me, wanting a door out of the dream. I managed to put up a shield and hold her off until you arrived.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked. “Why you? Surely there are easier targets, easier ways out? Couldn’t Bastian have freed her?”

Mrs. Z. sighed. “Because I trapped her there and she needed me present to escape.”

Harry groaned and rolled over, hands pressed to his forehead. Mrs. Z. went to him and put a hand on his neck in a surprisingly maternal gesture. He groaned again and opened his eyes. He sat up and glared at Mrs. Z. “Hell of a way to get rid of a shade, don’t you think?” he asked.

“I understand why you do not approve,” she said. “But I am not sorry for what I did. She is finally dead, and we can move on from her.”

“You used Julie,” Harry barked. “One of my dreamers…You’ll be lucky if I don’t kill you myself.”

I stared at him in shock, not only for the threat, but that it was given in my name.

Mrs. Z. frowned at Harry, but she didn’t seem offended. It was more like she was considering what had happened. “I did what I had to,” she said.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “How did you use me?”

Harry’s glare at Mrs. Z. was fierce. It demanded truthfulness. Mrs. Z. sighed. “The dream you fought the dragon in was mine,” she. said. “That is why I had to be there for her to be freed.”

I had been prepared for a thousand other truths. The fact that she had trapped the shade in her dream meant that Mrs. Z. had been carrying around a powerful shade in her mind for years. I didn’t want to think about how long those years had felt. It was a testament to her ability and the strength of her mind. I didn’t understand how she had managed it, but it had to have been difficult.

I finally understood Bastian’s purpose, as chaotic as it had felt. Everything he had done had been about getting Mrs. Z. into a vulnerable position and pulling her the shade’s prison. He had cut off her support and fed her to the dragon on a silver platter.

“Bastian must have heard her calling to him,” Mrs. Z. said. “It was the weakness of my trap. She couldn’t leave physically, and he couldn’t get past my guardians, but her mind could wander. Bastian was always good at blurring the distances between dreams. She must have convinced him to help her somehow.”

“And then you used Julie,” Harry pointed out forcefully.

“How?” I pressed.

“After Bastian confronted you that night, I knew two things,” Mrs. Z. said. “That I could trust you and that my suspicions were correct – Bastian was working for my shade. I needed someone on the outside in case things went wrong, someone I knew wasn’t the traitor.”

“So, she manipulated you into leaving,” Harry said.

“I chose to leave,” I argued.

“Please,” Harry scoffed. “It’s not hard to figure out how you would respond to being taken off dreamer duties. You’re predictable.”

It was irritating. Why couldn’t she have told me the truth from the beginning? Why did she have to make a circus out of it? I would have played along, and I would have helped.

Mrs. Z. noticed, as she noticed most things. “I didn’t tell you because I hoped to deal with the problem on my own.” She shook her head. “The sin of pride…I had hoped that I wouldn’t need your help and I could kill Bastian before it escalated.”

Her explanation did little to sate my irritation. I understood that she had good intentions, but it didn’t stop the fact that I had been used. Her lips twitched into a smile. “I will make it up to you, Miss Aim. I am in your debt.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” I said tightly, wary now of her and aware that it would not be the last game she played for the greater good.

“I do not doubt it,” Mrs. Z. said with a hint of dry humor in her voice.

“But why go in at all?” Carrie asked. “If you knew the shade was trying to corner you and that it was likely to be a trap…”

“One of my guardians needed help. I would make the choice again.” Mrs. Z. sat on the desk and crossed her arms. “Now…What happened here exactly?”

Harry started to tell her his story, but the door opened, and Dr. James and Chris walked in. Dr. James bent down next to me with a tired smile in greeting and inspected my arm. “Dislocated your shoulder, my dear. I’m going to set it and wrap it, then I’ll get you some medicine and some cold packs.”

I nodded grimly, then tensed as she leveraged her weight to pop the bone back in place. I cried out, and she soothed me with gentle words and whispered assurances.

Dr. James finished with my arm, handed me two pills out of a bottle, and shifted to inspect Bernard, who was groggy but awake. She put a maternal hand on his shoulder as he trembled in residual fear. “Come along with me, dear. I think you could do with a good bed and a decent meal.”

Bernard groggily allowed her to guide him out of the room. Mrs. Z. waited for them to leave, then focused on Harry again. “Continue, Harry,” she said.

“I don’t know what happened,” Harry admitted. “I was standing here, then I…hit the ground.”

“Anesthesia was pumped through the vents,” Carrie said. “It knocked everyone out.”

“Not in this building,” Chris said. “I checked.”

“The traitor must have knocked you out,” Mrs. Z. decided.

Harry frowned thoughtfully and stood. “I was standing at the window. Bernard had brought me papers to sign…I had turned around and then…” The truth dawned on Harry’s face as he remembered the seconds before he fell. “Fabric was placed over my mouth. It smelled sweet.”

Chris tensed and leaned forward. “Did you hear Bernard fall before the hand was placed over your mouth?”

Harry shook his head. “No. Bernard put the papers on the desk, told me there were some things to sign, then I felt the hand.”

“He was closer to the door,” Chris said. “So, the traitor would have had to knock him out before knocking you out.”

“I would have noticed if there was a struggle, or if he fell,” Harry said coldly.

“Bring Bernard back,” Mrs. Z. commanded, straightening.

Harry and Chris strode through the door together, grim expressions making their faces look eerily similar. Mrs. Z. watched them go, mouth pursed.

“Ma’am, do you think Bernard has something to do with this?” Carrie asked hesitantly.

“I trust Harry’s story,” Mrs. Z. said. “Other than that, I will withhold judgment.”

“But Bernard was unconscious, just like the rest of us,” Tommy said.

“He could have taken something,” Carrie said.

“Why?” Tommy asked.

“So that we wouldn’t be suspicious if things went wrong,” Carrie said.

“But why would Bernard betray Grey Haven?” Tommy pressed, too used to arguing with Carrie to let it go.

“The major shade, or Bastian, could have forced him into it,” I said. “He could have been taken over.”

“He wasn’t possessed,” Mrs. Z. said.

I closed my eyes and thought back to the moment in the woods with the human controlled by Bastian. Then I thought about what I had overheard with Bernard and the security guard. I swore. Bernard’s voice had been different in the woods, twisted and full of darkness, but it had been similar enough to matter. I should have caught it.

“What?” Carrie asked.

“It was definitely Bernard in the woods,” I said.

Mrs. Z. frowned. “You’re certain?”

“Yes,” I said.

Mrs. Z. raced out of the room with my confirmation. She was near the windows one second and out the door the next. It was supernaturally fast, and I firmly placed it in a box labeled: Don’t Want to Know.

“Anyone else feel sorry for Bernard?” Tommy asked.

“No,” Carrie and I said.

Tommy chuckled and shook his head. “I still don’t understand why he did it. I mean, if he wasn’t possessed…”

“Power, money, a weak mind,” I said. “It doesn’t really matter. At least we know he was behind the attacks and can stop worrying about who the traitor is.”

“Yeah,” Tommy agreed.

We waited in silence for Mrs. Z. and the others to come back. It took them close to forty minutes. Tommy walked circles around the large room, while Carrie leaned back on her cot and stared at the ceiling. I sat, still and tensed. The pain grew, but I didn’t take the pills Dr. James had given me. I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted to know what had happened with Bernard.

Finally, Mrs. Z. and Harry walked into the room. Harry was supporting Dr. James. Blood ran from her temple and her expression was one of confusion. “Clean and bandage the wound…” she mumbled.

“We will take care of you, Virginia,” Mrs. Z. promised. She sat Dr. James in her chair and inspected her head.

“What happened?” Tommy asked.

“It seems Bernard hit Dr. James when she insisted he go to the infirmary, and then took off running. Chris is tracking him now.”

“Will he catch him?” I asked.

“Chris is the best,” Mrs. Z. said.

“I never understood why you took Bernard on as your assistant,” Harry fumed.

“Because he asked,” Mrs. Z. said. “And…I felt sorry for him.”

“Why?” Tommy asked.

“He was never a good dreamer,” Harry said. “Can’t hold a weapon to save his life. There’s also the fact that he’s a coward. I don’t know what possessed you to bring him here in the first place.”

“He has a gift for replaceing his way through dreams,” Mrs. Z. said. She sighed as the truth hit her. “Just like Bastian…”

“You should have let me kick him out when I wanted to,” Harry said.

“Yes, I should have, but we all make mistakes, don’t we, Harry?” Mrs. Z. asked sharply.

Harry blushed at her words. He turned away without answering and focused on Dr. James, gently fussing with her wound.

“What now?” I asked.

“Now? You rest. You have earned it,” Mrs. Z. said. “Harry, please patch up Dr. James, then go check on the others. I will be there shortly to help. If we need to go in and get them out of the dreamworld, I want to do it as quickly as possible.”

Harry nodded and helped Dr. James to her feet. When they were gone, Mrs. Z. eyed me thoughtfully. I waited for her to say something, but she merely smiled and turned away. As she left, her body language changed. She was no longer weighted down by Bernard’s betrayal or days spent fending off a major shade. She was the manager of Grey Haven once more.

Tommy broke the silence after her departure first. “I’m starving,” he said. “You think Mrs. Z. keeps any food in her desk?”

Carrie and I laughed. My laugh quickly turned into a whimper. Carrie noticed and pet my hair sympathetically. “Take your pills,” she commanded.

“I don’t want to sleep,” I told her.

“You won’t dream,” she reminded me.

“I know. It’s just that…” I struggled for a way to express my fear. Things kept happening to us when we weren’t looking. We had killed the shade, but Bernard was still out there. The fight was still too close, too raw.

“Tommy and I will look after you,” Carrie said.

I sighed and popped the pills into my mouth. A minute later, I was asleep. My rest was peaceful and calm – a 180 shift from the world I had left behind.

‡

When I woke up again, I had been relocated to the infirmary. It was dark outside, and the room was masked by the gentle hush of healing. There were others on the beds around me; more than I had ever seen in the infirmary at once. Carrie and Tommy were on beds to my right. Carrie was snoring, and Tommy’s nose twitched.

On the opposite side of the aisle that ran the length of the room was the guardian – Mary Anne – who had been taken over by the shade. She was asleep. In the bed to my left was Ben. The top of his face, from his nose to his hair, was bandaged. He shifted as I rolled over, searching for the source of the sound.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hi,” he replied dully.

“How are you?” I asked.

“Scared,” he admitted after a pause.

“Did they say anything…?”

“They keep telling me I’ll get my sight back, but I don’t believe them,” Ben said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“I have to be realistic,” Ben said. He pulled the bandage away from his face. His skin was red, though not as burned as it had been in the dream. He was healing, but it would take time for the red to fade.

“It’s dark,” Ben said. “Hasn’t changed since I woke up yesterday…”

I took his hand. He squeezed mine once in response, appreciating the touch even more than he appreciated me not trying to tell him it would be okay.

We held hands until dawn, when Dr. James came to check on us. She saw Ben’s bandages and chastised him for pulling them away. As she spoke, Ben dropped my hand and turned his face away without replying to anything she said. She replaced the bandages, and then turned to check on me. I waved her away and she refocused on the ranks of the injured. People woke up with her entrance, Carrie and Tommy among them. They clambered out of bed to check on me. They looked better than the last time I had seen them, well-rested and calm.

“Hey,” I said.

“How’s your shoulder?” Tommy asked.

“Manageable,” I said. “How long was I out?”

“A full day,” Carrie said.

“You guys hear anything?” I asked. “Did Chris catch Bernard?”

Carrie picked at my blanket and Tommy lost his smile. “He escaped,” Carrie said.

“That’s comforting,” I said dryly.

“Chris is still tracking him,” Carrie said. “He’ll catch him.”

“Chris is gone?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I didn’t like him, but I owed him a thank you for saving my life. But he was the sort of asshole who would mock me for it, so it was probably better this way.

“How many people got hurt?” I asked, eyeing the infirmary.

“Including you and Ben…twenty seriously injured, about a hundred with minor injuries and…” Carrie stopped herself shy of the answer to the question I had been asking.

“And twenty dead,” Tommy finished softly.

Twenty. It felt like such an enormous number. It was low compared to the number of people at Grey Haven, but I didn’t feel like being rational about it. My stomach twisted with sadness and regret, and I sighed. Next to me, Ben did the same.

Carrie frowned at Ben, aware, finally, that he was awake. Her teeth went to worry her lip as she fumbled for a way to break the ice with him, to see how he was without asking the same things everyone else had asked of him. I had another concern.

“Sully?” I asked Tommy.

“He’s okay,” Tommy reassured me. “He was dazed from the drug Bernard forced on him, but he’s fine. I talked to him when I got lunch yesterday. He told me to tell you that he wanted to see you when you’re feeling better.”

“What did you tell him?” I asked.

“The official story is that there was a gas leak,” Tommy said.

“Okay,” I said. I turned to Ben as Carrie started fidgeting restlessly.

“Ben, Carrie wants to ask how you are, but she’s afraid you’ve been asked the same thing a million times,” I said. “If you don’t answer soon, though, her head might explode and then Dr. James will make Tommy clean it up.”

Ben cracked the first smile I had seen on his face since he had woken up. It fled quickly. “I’m alive,” he told Carrie.

“I’m sure your friends and…your…Dana are glad for that,” Carrie said.

“I wouldn’t know,” Ben said. “None of them have come to see me.”

Carrie was startled by Ben’s simple admission. She would never abandon a friend in that way. The fact that they had stayed with me while I slept was proof of that truth. Despite her shock, she tried to be reassuring. “I’m sure they’re recovering from the fight.”

“Or maybe they never cared about me to begin with,” Ben said calmly, as if he had considered it a hundred times since getting injured.

Carrie’s expression turned fierce. “You have friends who care,” she said. “We’re here.”

“Thanks,” Ben finally said.

Carrie turned to me. Her face was bright red, her blush impossible to hide. “They’re having a ceremony today,” Carrie informed me. “To honor the dreamers who died and to give out medals to those who showed extreme bravery in their dreams. Mrs. Z. wanted me to ask you to come.”

“We get top prize for slaying the dragon,” Tommy added idly.

“I’ll pass,” I said.

“I thought you might,” Carrie said. She eyed Dr. James thoughtfully. “You think we can sneak in a real breakfast?”

“No, but, she can’t make us stay,” I said. I threw back the covers, pulled my shoes on, and turned to Ben.

“You coming, Ben?” I asked him.

I can’t,” he retorted, cantankerous.

“Sure you can,” I said. I poked him in the side until he sat up, put his shoes next to him on the bed, and waited for him to put them on.

“Julie…” he protested.

“Get out of the damn bed. We’re going for breakfast.”

Ben shook his head in exasperation, but he slowly put his shoes on, fumbling with the laces, and stood. His balance was off as he stepped down, but he quickly corrected it with a hand on the bed. I pulled Carrie over to him and placed his hand on her elbow. Her blush spread across her face, but she didn’t resist the touch. I wove my uninjured arm around Tommy’s and he smiled playfully. Together, we ambled down the aisle and out of the infirmary. Dr. James didn’t notice us leave.

We got breakfast, and then spent the day avoiding people. We hung out in the cold sunshine and talked quietly about everything except the dreams we had faced and the injuries we had sustained.

It was easy to tell when the ceremony started. A quiet hush fell over Grey Haven. The loudest thing was the speaker system that called out the names of the dead and those that had earned medals in the fight. Finally, they got to us. There was an awkward pause after our names were called.

We spent the pause making up fake speeches that would have gotten us into a lot of trouble if anyone in the administration heard it. Tommy’s was an eloquent, well-thought out, in-depth ‘thank you’ speech to his butt for always supporting him when he was down. Carrie, after some prodding, gave an expletive-filled speech about teachers who gave homework they didn’t grade. Mine was a ‘thank you’ speech to people who didn’t manipulate other people, which had Tommy and Carrie gaping at curse words I managed to fit in.

Ben didn’t say much, but he was glad for the company. Proof was in his gentle smiles and in the way the tension slowly went out of his body.

After dinner, we took him back to the infirmary. Dr. James was waiting for us; her arms were crossed, and her expression was severe. We paused in tandem, and I gulped. Her words were sharp and accusatory – not the sort of lecture I had expected from her. By the end of her chastisement, we were blushing at how much she had sworn at us. After a promise to Ben to come back in the morning, Carrie, Tommy, and I fled.

That night I slept in my bed for the first time since I had left Grey Haven. It felt a lot like home.

I saw Dana the next morning. She was with Jen and Lisa, like always, eating breakfast at the table. I didn’t speak to her and she didn’t speak to me. Our adventure together kept us from making the remarks we would have normally made in each other’s presence, but the silence was the only thing that had changed. If anything, my dislike for her had grown. Her treatment of Ben took what little respect I’d held for her away.

Tommy, Carrie, and I went to visit Ben after breakfast, in a ritual we kept up until he was released from the infirmary a week later. He reported that his vision had changed from black to a dull brown. Colors leaked through occasionally, but it was obvious that was as much as it would improve. When Dr. James finally approved his release, we walked him home.

Harry was waiting for us in front of Ben’s house. His grey hair fluttered in the wind and his prematurely lined face was grumpy. It was the first time I had seen him since Mrs. Z.’s office, but he looked the same. Harry never changed. He shook his head irritably. “What took you so long?” he asked.

“We didn’t know we were on a schedule,” I said.

“You’re being reassigned,” Harry said.

“Who is?” I asked cautiously.

“All of you,” Harry said. “From now on, you answer to me. You move into your new house tomorrow.”

“Even me?” Ben pressed, a nervous wobble to his voice.

“Yep,” Harry said, walking away.

I stared at his back until he was out of view.

“That was weird,” Tommy said.

“I bet Mrs. Z. had a hand in it,” Carrie said.

“What’s she up to?” I fretted.

“I mean, we did kill a major shade,” Carrie said proudly.

“Hell yeah, we did,” Tommy said, grinning.

I shrugged. “I don’t trust her, but as long as I get to dream…I don’t really care,” I said.

“Speaking of dreams and secrets,” Tommy said. “Isn’t that Sully?” He pointed up the street where Sully’s truck was passing. Sully saw us on, backed his truck up, and turned down the street.

I swore.

“We’ll help you pack,” Carrie said to Ben. She tugged on Tommy’s hand to get him walking. Tommy hesitated, searching my expression, wanting to know if I needed him to stay. I smiled at him, proof that I was okay, and he sauntered away.

My heart started racing. I hadn’t seen him all week, which was mainly because I had been avoiding him. I felt too conflicted, too guilty for putting him danger and too angry about what I had seen in the dreamworld.

Sully pulled his truck over and turned it off. He got out, stuck his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunching awkwardly, and stepped over to me. “Are you feeling better?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I heard you dislocated your shoulder,” he said.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“I thought you would have come to see me by now…” Sully said. “I was worried about you.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Have I done something wrong?” he asked. His brown eyes were full of worry. He wanted to understand the anger, so that he could make it right. The dream I had eavesdropped on ran through my mind again. I wanted to confront him about the secrets he was keeping. I wanted to make him tell me the truth.

Then, as I stared into his eyes, I realized how hypocritical it was of me.

I was keeping secrets; I would continue to keep them. It was silly to blame him for a secret he wasn’t ready to share, one that I hadn’t been meant to see and could be misinterpreting. I would hate him for trying to force one of my secrets out. I also knew that I genuinely liked him. It was the reason I was so angry. The second dream of us in the woods was proof that despite his secrets, he genuinely liked me too. I was willing to wait his secret out, in the hope that the way he cared for me would turn into something more.

My heart started beating faster with a realization. I no longer wanted Sully as something casual. I wanted him for real. Dating him was the only way I had a right to the truth, to more. I had to be brave. “What are we doing here?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Sully asked nervously.

“We’ve had fun these past months but is that it? Because I’d like us to be more than that,” I said.

His smile was bright, relieved. “Me too,” he replied.

“Fine then,” I said. I grabbed his coat, hauled him in, and kissed him. I felt some of the lies taint our kiss, but I also felt the beginning of something new, something good.

When he pulled away, he was smiling again. “You’re always a surprise, Julie Aim,” he said.

“Yup,” I agreed.

“Can I see you again soon?” he asked.

“This weekend,” I said.

“It’s a date,” Sully said firmly. He kissed my cheek and went to the bed of his truck. He pulled three bags out and put them on the yard. “Your things,” he said. “I thought you might want them back.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He glanced past me to the door, where Carrie and Tommy were not-so-subtly watching us through the blinds. “Tell Carrie and Tommy hi,” he said, smiling.

“I will,” I agreed.

“Bye,” he said, getting back into his truck.

I waved once, and he drove down the road toward the exit. Tommy slung open the door when he was gone, and Carrie poked her head out, eyebrows raised in a question.

“Well?” Carrie asked.

“We’re dating,” I said, beaming. “Officially.”

Carrie smiled back and bent down to grab her bag off the lawn. Tommy grabbed his and mine and we went inside to help Ben pack. For the second time in a week, I felt like I was home at last.

‡

The next morning, we moved into a new house closer to the school. The people in the houses around us were older students close to graduating. I didn’t know any of them. They stared at us as we brought our bags inside, but no one approached us.

Harry was waiting for us inside. “You’d better hurry,” he said. “You have class in thirty minutes.”

“Do I…?” Ben started to ask.

Harry said. “Why is my collective you always up for debate with you? Yes, you too. Your teachers have been informed to adapt their lesson plans for you. Stop asking me stupid things.”

Ben frowned but didn’t say anything else.

“What’s this move about really?” I asked Harry, still suspicious.

“Mrs. Z. has this idea that the four of you work well together,” Harry said. “I’m going to start training you on joint missions. What she’s really doing? No clue. Now, go away. I’m tired.” He stomped tiredly into the first room in the hall and slammed the door behind him.

We stared at the door, then turned to each other.

“I thought he was starting to warm up to us,” Carrie complained.

I smiled at the thought. Like Harry, the school never changed. Our house was different, but our task, our life, was the same. Bernard, Bastian, and the shade hadn’t been able to change our mission. We would keep dreaming. We would keep protecting people from shades. And, now, we would work together to save people. I couldn’t have asked for more, wouldn’t have thought to a month ago. Even if Mrs. Z. was up to something, I didn’t regret getting this opportunity.

“Same old Grey Haven,” I said.

They laughed, and we traipsed down the hall to pick out our rooms and prepare for the day. I knew it would be a hell of a day, full of training and gossip, but it was home, and I knew, finally, that I belonged to it for better or worse.