Page 92 of A Dusk Of Stars

“Why didn’t you say so?” Raven asks.

I shrug. “I mean, I have feelings about stuff all the time,” I say with mockery in my voice. “I don’t think you want me to start sharing them at all times.”

Alaric quirks an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, Lilith forbid.”

I roll my eyes at him, but I’m smiling.

“Which places do you have feelings about and what kind of feelings are they?” Raven asks.

Raising my eyebrows, I take a deep breath and look at the papers again. “This one,” I say as I point at the copy of a photo of this vampiric shrine in the middle of a field somewhere in the south of France. “It makes me feel… warm for some reason.”

“Yeah, it’s probably not that one then,” Alaric comments.

“Then there’s this one,” I keep going, catching momentum as I look around for it and point at an image of this city intersection in the north of Germany. “It makes me feel sad.”

“Good,” Raven says, nudging me to go on.

“This one,” I say as I point at an image of some village in the English countryside. “It makes me feel… angry.”

There’s a second of silence before Alaric replies, “We have two very good candidates. The German city and the English village.”

I blow out a frustrated breath. I guess we could go visit both of them.

“Where do you want to go?” Raven asks. “Which place are you most drawn to?”

“The village,” I reply, noticing it’s without a second of hesitation that I do.

That makes me feel confident about it when Alaric says, “Then that’s where we’re going.”

For a moment, I just look at the two of them, feeling so grateful I have them in my life. Then I nod with determination and I take my phone out. “I’m texting Bane.”

“We need more Pull passes,” I write. “Can you get them for today?”

I move to put my phone away when I see him start to type. “At your service, oh Chosen One. Where are we going?”

“Kinwick, England.”

“And why are we going there?”

This makes me hesitate. The man seems to have a strong opinion on everything I ever choose to do, and I have a feelingthisparticular choice he’ll beagainst. Not wanting to get into a discussion, I just type, “I’ll explain later. Thanks for taking care of this.”

I put my phone down, knowing he won’t be sending anything else. It’s alwaysmytexts that are the last in our chats. I look up at Raven and Alaric, who are both waiting. I throw them an encouraging smile. “We’re going, today.”

Raven nods. Alaric takes a deep breath, as if in preparation, but then he nods as well. He grins, saying, “Well, if we’ll be putting our lives in danger again, I at least want to do it on a full stomach.”

It makes me smile. I nod and we get up, heading straight for the cafeteria.

***

We’re still in line in the cafeteria when this feeling makes me crane my neck and I spot Bane sauntering through the archway.

It’s not the three of us he walks up to. It’s a man sitting at a table by the window, alone. I squint, recognizing Professor O’Connor, the one in charge of issuing Pull passes. I’ve never liked the guy, simply because he’s one of those that are only here for the prestige.

As soon as he spots Bane walking over to him, he smiles and motions for him to take a seat. I watch the two of them exchange pleasantries, it being a rare opportunity for me to observe Bane without being observed myself.

I feel Alaric nudge me to keep moving in line. I’m just about to tear my eyes away from Bane, when I see him slide something across the table to O’Connor.

My eyebrows pulling down, I watch Bane get up and turn to walk away.

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