Page 1 of A Dream of Stars and Curses

My life isn’t the same since I jumped into the void lake, the Dreamcatcher invaded my dreams, and Leverett touched me.

Okay, so, no, that last one didn’t technically happen, but he did carry me to bed. Which I missed. Completely.

But it did happen.

A week has passed since I made peace with the Dreamcatcher and the Mara, and I’m still a little shaken from everything: the Veiled’s existence, their need for secrecy, Bonnie seeing them too, my neighbour Kate teaching me basic magick anyone can do, and, yes, my feelings for Leverett. I’m coping, but it’s a lot.

Which is why, at nine a.m., I’m getting the box of tea bags from the cupboard for my second cup of tea.

I cannot handle caffeine. One tea is usually enough. Two give my steps a definite bounce. Three? All of me will be bouncing off the walls and swinging from the ceiling. I’m going for two today because Kate has a lot to teach me and I don’t want to miss any of it.

I’ve also deluded myself into thinking that the more hyper I am, the more I can distract myself from Leverett. He’s not even here and all I can think about is how he carried me—in his arms—to my bed. Never mind that I missed it because I was passed out at the time. His hands were on my body. How am I supposed to pretend that never happened?

I sigh and put the kettle on. It doesn’t matter, because Leverett doesn’t have feelings for me. Why would he? I’m a thirty-year-old human and probably very immature in his eyes. He’s a several-hundred-year-old vampire. Of course he doesn’t have feelings for me, to say nothing of possible love.

So, I focus entirely on my first real lesson with Kate as I put the tea bag into my cup, spoon in some sugar, and nearly place the sugar bag into the fridge because I really need this tea to focus. Or maybe all this caffeine will make it infinitely worse. I guess I’ll see.

Kate volunteered to teach me about the Veiled when we all talked it out with the dream monsters in our living room. Except I can’t get myself to think of either the Mara or the Dreamcatcher as monsters. They’re all just trying to survive. We’ve met up once since, and Kate briefly went over everything she wants to teach me: everything about the Veiled from their variations to their cultures to their habits, herbalism, scrying...

I’ve started to think of it as Magick 101.

I take the mug over to the kettle, set it down on the worktop—

And lose my grip on the handle.

The mug falls to the floor and breaks in two. Little chips of smashed pottery lie around it, the handle broken clean in half.

‘Fuck.’

This is either proof that I need this second tea, or the universe is telling me that the last thing I need is a second tea.

I gather the shards that are large enough to glue back together and place them on the worktop. The smaller pieces I quickly hoover up. I rummage through our drawer full of little useful things like emergency thread and needle, new batteries... and hopefully instant glue, but I don’t see any. Fitting this mug back together will need to wait. At least it’s off the floor now and I got rid of the smallest shards, so my rottweiler daughter Lady won’t hurt herself on them.

I get another mug and lean against the worktop with a sigh, a warm tea finally in my hands. The weather has cooled down a little over the last few days. It’s still hot since it’s July, but the heatwave has broken and I couldn’t be more grateful. Until the next one hits. But right now I can breathe again, and I don’t come home a sweaty mess when I walk Lady.

Bonnie and I have walked Lady together a few times lately. We don’t know how or why, but my best friend and found sister can see the Veiled now, too. I gained this sight when I walked into that void lake in my dreamscape, but Bonnie didn’t do anything. She did join me in my dream to fight the Dreamcatcher, though. Maybe that was enough? Whatever did it, I’m glad. It’s nice to be able to share this knowledge with my sister. Kate sees the Veiled who trust her enough to have revealed themselves to her, and Leverett, as a vampire, is one of the Veiled himself. It’s not the same. I didn’t grow up with Kate or Leverett. I haven’t always shared everything with them until this big secret I couldn’t talk about came around—I didn’t even know Leverett until a few weeks ago. I told Bonnie because we tell each other everything, but it wasn’t the same for her. She didn’t see what I see. Now that she does, we’re determined to help the Veiled. We just don’t know how.

After everything that happened, the worst thing to do would be to walk up to someone and say ‘Hey, I see your wings but it’s cool, I want to help you,’ so we’re just observing for now. Kate told me she’s a witch and Leverett revealed himself as a vampire on their own terms. I’m happy to respect the boundaries of other Veiled and let them do the same thing.

My photography idea is well and truly gone, too. I got carried away in the moment as I usually do, but now that I’ve had time to think, I know it was a terrible idea. Bonnie and I have since taken a few pictures here and there in the park as we always do, but nothing out of the ordinary shows in any of them. We look up and see gorgeous winged fairies, but the photos look perfectly normal... or rather, they look human. The Veiled are normal, too. I just didn’t know they existed until recently. Maybe it’s because the photos are of Lady so the Veiled are merely in the background, or maybe they have some kind of magic over all technology that stops cameras from picking them up, but either way, there’s nothing to see. So my photography project would never have gone anywhere anyway.

Of course, my photography project was never the real problem; my disrespect of their boundaries was. I can see that now, and I feel awful. I realised years ago that I easily get carried away when I’m excited, but it’s never endangered anyone’s safety before.

Our plan now is to approach the Veiled like we’d approach anyone else: rarely and with every intention of leaving the conversation unless we really hit it off.

Lady trots into the kitchen, sits in front of me, and whines up at me.

‘Sorry, but you were sleeping,’ I say. ‘I’ll pour you one now, okay?’

She gives me one brief, happy bark and watches my every move as I take another mug out of the cupboard, place a tea bag in it, and pour warm water on it. Lady loves her tea as much as Bonnie and I do, and she won’t drink it unless one of us makes it. Usually we share our first tea of the day, but the ordeal with the Mara and the Dreamcatcher has tired her out, too. She’s been sleeping more all week while I’ve been getting up earlier, too excited about whatever I might learn that day to sleep.

I place the tea on the floor for Lady. She immediately laps it up like she needs it as much as I do.

‘Is Bonnie still in bed?’ I ask Lady.

She gives me a look that definitely says yes.

My sister has just finished her second year at uni as a marine biology student. Her internship starts in one week, so she’s been using this chance to sleep in. Besides, she was an awesome supportive sister when everything with the Dreamcatcher went down and even saved my life by throwing a shoe at my boobs—I mean, at the Mara, who was on my chest at the time. So, Bonnie deserves all the rest.

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