Page 2 of A Dream of Stars and Curses

‘She’ll walk you once she’s up, okay?’

I’d do it, but I need to get to my lesson with Kate. She’s a wonderfully patient teacher, but I don’t want to be late—these lessons are part of our agreement, and I am excited to learn. Today is my first real lesson after her introduction. I want to be a good student.

Lady’s low whine tells me she doesn’t approve.

‘Do you want to come with me? You can play with her dogs.’

Lady smiles at me—yes, dogs smile, deal with it—and I put our mugs into the dishwasher.

‘Let’s go, then.’

She keeps step next to me as we head next door, where Kate is waiting to teach me Magick 101.

Kate opens the door just as I walk up to her porch. Her two dogs, Keano and Bruin, greet Lady first, bouncing around each other like it’s been years.

‘I was just about to come to you,’ Kate says. ‘Since it’s so lovely out and my dogs are asking for exercise, why don’t we go for a walk for our first lesson?’

All three dogs pant their adoration at her for the idea.

‘Sure, I don’t mind,’ I say, ‘but will that work? I mean, if we discuss the Veiled’—I whisper those two words in case any are listening from neighbouring houses—‘won’t that be a problem?’

One of the reasons the Mara and the Dreamcatcher were sent to take me out was because my boundaries needed work. If we go for a stroll through the park and openly discuss the Veiled with several Veiled around... It doesn’t sound like I’d be sticking to my end of the bargain. Kate usually knows best, but I don’t see her reasoning here.

She smiles her warm, patient teacher smile at me. ‘We don’t have to discuss their different types today. There are so many other things that would make excellent starting points and raise no more than an eyebrow, perhaps. I thought we could walk through the park and make our way to the adjacent forest.’

‘The what now?’

How long have we lived here? If there was a forest nearby, we’d have found it by now.

Kate laughs lightly. ‘I guess I’m about to show you several new things today. The forest is much more private. We can start with something like scrying, since you asked me about it, and then move on to different Veiled once we’re out of earshot. Does that sound good?’

I mean, she’s the teacher. It’s her lesson plan.

I asked her about scrying when I first found the void lake in my dreamscape. As it turned out, it wasn’t relevant at all, so we didn’t get into it at the time. Neither I nor Kate forgot about my request though.

‘Sounds amazing. Thank you again for this.’

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