Page 72 of Sweet Nightmare

But too soon Jude’s pulling away, his eyes focused on something in the distance.

“What is it?” I ask. And that’s when it hits me—not only is the pain from the venom gone, but my senses are back to normal, too.

“Mozart’s back and your aunt Claudia’s with her.”

“How’d she find her so quickly?”

He shrugs as he tosses me my still-sodden shirt. “There’s not a lot she can’t do when she puts her mind to it.”

I can’t help shuddering as I shake out my shirt. The last thing I want to do right now is put it back on—it’s clammy, bloody, and torn to hell from the damn monster attacks. Just holding it feels gross. But since I also don’t want to explain to my aunt why my shirt is off in a gentleman’s company, I start to shrug the disgusting thing on anyway.

But Jude must notice my distaste because he pulls it away, then hands me his shirt before yanking his hoodie back over his head.

I take his shirt without argument—partly because it’s a much better alternative to my very gross uniform shirt and partly because it smells like him. If he has to let me go, at least it feels a little like he’s still got his arms around me. I even duck my head and let the honey-and-leather-and-cardamom scent of him fill my nose as I put it on, then sigh quietly as it slips into place.

Jude turns to me with raised brows. “You okay over there?”

“Okay is a relative term,” I answer.

“Fair.” He inclines his head. “But it’s better than fine.”

I grin. “I guess it is at that. Jude—”

I break off as my aunt calls my name.

She and Mozart are full-on running across the quad, and I know it’s because she’s worried about me.

“I’m okay,” I call back, moving to head her off.

She careens to a stop in front of me. “Let me see your eyes!”

“They’re okay. I’m okay,” I reiterate. “Jude helped me.”

“Jude?” She glances toward him, eyes wide. “What did he do?”

I start to explain, but this time he’s the one to cut me off. “I didn’t really do much. I think she managed to fight it off on her own.”

I shoot him a what-the-hell look, but he studiously refuses to meet my gaze. Figuring there must be some reason he doesn’t want to tell my aunt what actually happened, I keep my mouth shut. For now.

But at some point, he’s going to have to explain all of this to me. And I mean all.

“Hmm.” My aunt glances back and forth between us with narrowed eyes.

And I get it. Jude and I may not have talked much—or at all—these past few years, but for most of our lives, the two of us and Carolina were inseparable. That means we covered for each other a lot. And as Carolina’s mother, she’s heard more than her fair share of ridiculous stories and even more ridiculous excuses.

In the end, she doesn’t call us on it, though. Instead, she just opens her bright-red medical bag and says, “I still want to check you over, make sure you’re okay. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. You’re the third unmeshing we’ve had today because of that darn power surge. I was dealing with them, and that’s why I missed your text.” I don’t bother to argue about the checkup—unlike my mother, Aunt Claudia rarely forces her will on anyone…unless their health is involved. Then she becomes downright pugilistic.

“There were other unmeshings?” I ask, because I really want to know what causes them.

“Yes.” She pulls out her light and checks my eyes. “A dragon and a mermaid. They’re okay, but it was touch and go for a few minutes.” She taps my chin. “Open up. I want to see your throat.”

“I really am all right,” I tell her, even as I do what she says.

“We’ll see about that.” She takes out her stethoscope to listen to my heart.

I turn to share my amusement with Jude, only to find him walking back up the admin building steps. “Where are you going?” I ask.

“To finish up inside.” He sounds surprised that I didn’t figure it out.

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