“What is it?”
“My first clue.” She practically glowed. “A Nightmare has been here recently, and by this evidence we know he or she performed magic.”
My attention perked. There were others like myself who could do magic? Unease seeped over me as my gaze darted to the trees where I’d seen that mysterious person watching me. “A Nightmare?” I asked hesitantly.
“Don’t you know what a Nightmare is?” She ignored my blank stare and sniffed the dust. “Still fresh. I’d wager it’s approximately ten minutes and twelve seconds old, which fits the timeframe for the crime in question, although it seems a trivial amount for such a large burst of magic.” She morphed back into a notebook and scribbled frantically. “Dream dust is like a fingerprint, so with a little research and a sneak peek at the Council’s classified files, I should be able to figure out precisely to whom this belongs. It’s unlike magical beings to be so careless with their power, but if it’s a Nightmare we’re dealing with, then they’re probably really dense.”
“Why would a Nightmare come here?” I asked, too proud to ask what exactly a Nightmare was. My excitement at finally having someone to discuss magic with—perhaps now I’d finally get some of the answers that had eluded me for so long—warred with my foreboding. If this cloud was investigating my magic…were my powers forbidden wherever she’d come from?
Stardust thoughtfully tapped her lips with her purple crayon. “Who knows how their slimy minds work. The only reason they have for visiting Earth is if they’re creating a nightmare, but it’s too late for Weavers to still be here, which means he was here for another reason.” Her shifty gaze settled on me. “You didn’t happen to see anyone eleven minutes and twenty-eight seconds ago, did you?”
My heart hammered. That was about when I’d noticed those green eyes watching me from within the forest. “Someone may have been hiding in the trees…”
“Ooh, an eyewitness account.” She poised to take notes. “What did they look like?”
“I didn’t get a good look; all I could see was green eyes.”
She slumped. “For a moment I thought you were going to be helpful. No matter, I must persevere with the investigation.” She carefully scooped up the dust into a vial she’d somehow pulled from her frothy body, popped back into a magnifying glass, and continued combing the flora, creeping closer and closer to where Alice’s dream had shattered. My palms became sweaty with nerves. Would she figure out the magic had been created by me?
Sure enough, Stardust paused just above the tree branch I’d perched in to dream-watch and sniffed suspiciously. I tensed when she glanced back at me, eyes narrowed, before she zipped over to search my pockets with a wild frenzy.
“Stop it.” I tried to push her away but it was too late—she triumphantly held up my dream jar and my bundled handkerchief.
“Evidence. I knew you were behind this. And you thought you could trick me by claiming the magic occurred far from the real scene of the crime, but I can’t be deflected that easily; I’m a clever cloud.”
“Give those back.” I tried to snatch them, but she darted into the air and out of reach.
“As if I’d hand over invaluable evidence to my prime suspect.” Humming to herself, Stardust peeked inside the handkerchief. “Dream dust; I knew I smelled magic on you.” She lifted the handkerchief up and down, weighing it. Though I’d been certain it had been completely empty, it was bulky once again. “Hmm, barely over two ounces. For a Dreamer, you sure are powerless.”
My cheeks flamed. “I’ve told you already I’m not a Weaver or a Dreamer. I don’t even know what those are.”
Stardust ignored this. “This is the most inefficient way to store dream dust; any magic not sealed within a dream locket can easily slip out. Didn’t you realize you’ve slowly been losing magic? You’re right, you can’t be a Dreamer; you must be a Nightmare, because you have no brains.”
“I’m not a Nightmare either,” I said through clenched teeth.
“A likely story. Don’t think I’ll fall for your sneaky lies. Please. I’m a first-class detective and nothing gets past me.” Her brow crinkled as she turned her attention to my bottled dream. “What’s this?”
“A jar, obviously.”
She rolled her eyes. “Since that’s what you claim it is, I seriously doubt it’s a mere jar. Besides, why would anyone carry an empty jar around?”
Empty? Did that mean Stardust—someone who obviously also possessed magic—couldn’t see the dream the jar harbored?
The jar twirled in her invisible grip as she examined every inch. I stiffened. “Be careful with it.” If she dropped it, then the dream I’d worked so hard to capture would be lost. I wasn’t sure what would happen if the dream escaped, but it was probably nothing good.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Her rainbow eye magnified in the glass as she held the jar up. “Although it appears empty, I feel magic pulsing inside, but as far as I know there’s no way to bottle magic. This is a new form of power I’ve never seen before.” Her eyes widened, as if all the pieces to the puzzle before her had just assembled in her mind. “Of course…why didn’t I see it before?”
I shifted beneath her now hungry look and was relieved when she tore it away from me to scribble frantically in her notebook.
“All the clues make sense—an unusually large burst of power, an unidentified Weaver lurking on Earth, and an unrecognized form of magic…you’re that Weaver.”
“Who?”
“Everyone knows of the infamous Weaver who, after performing devious deeds with never-before-seen powers, was banished to the Mortal World by the Council, only to simply disappear. As the only unrecorded magical being here, that Weaver must be you. How exciting that I, Detective Stardust, was the one to discover what has previously eluded the entire Investigations Team for the past twenty years. Just imagine.” She quivered with excitement, starry-eyed.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about, so how can I possibly be the one you’re looking for?”
“Oh please, the evidence is clear,” she said dryly. “One simple comparison of the dust found on you with the record of this legendary Weaver’s magical fingerprint I ‘borrowed’ from the classified files will reveal the truth.”
A worn parchment file that looked to have been handled by dozens of hands materialized out of nowhere. Stardust opened my handkerchief just a sliver and bright magenta dust twirled out. She studied it intensely—going back and forth between the magic sample and the file—before a frown settled on her face.
“That’s strange. I was sure…but if she’s not, then how did she…I don’t understand.” With a heavy sigh she morphed back into her normal cloud shape with a deflated pop. “Although this study was informal and the results aren’t yet conclusive, I can’t deny the magic isn’t exactly a match, so I may have been too hasty in assuming you were the Weaver everyone’s been searching for.”
My heart lifted. “I told you I wasn’t a suspect.”
Stardust avoided my eyes. “I suppose it did seem too good to be true for me to have solved an unsolvable case so easily, especially considering the Investigations Team hasn’t yet managed to do so.”
“Since I’m obviously innocent, can I have my jar back?”
Once again Stardust darted several feet into the air and out of reach. “Not so fast. Just because you aren’t that Weaver doesn’t mean you’re not connected to the crime that occurred fourteen minutes and forty-three seconds ago. Besides, there’s still the matter of this mysterious jar you claim is empty.”
“It is empty.”
“I highly doubt that.” A wicked glint filled her eyes. “But if that’s really true, you wouldn’t be opposed to me opening it…” With a mischievous grin, she started to twist off the cork.
I leapt forward. “Don’t!”
She smirked. “I knew it. So it is something special after all. Are you ready to confess?”
I remained silent.
She smiled sweetly
. “Have it your way, but I’ll eventually discover the truth, with or without your cooperation. Until I figure out what this evidence is, I’m keeping it.” She tucked the jar into the frothy folds of her cloud body, which absorbed it until it disappeared. Just like that, it was gone.
I gritted my teeth. After I’d worked so hard to finally capture a dream, she’d taken it without remorse, and now I’d never get it back. I’d endured more than enough of this creature. I spun around and stomped away.
“Wait, where are you going?” Stardust called after me.
“Home.”
She darted in front of me and blocked my way. “But I haven’t finished investigating you.”
“Why would I stay after you stole from me?”
“Don’t turn me into a criminal; I’m not one of your kind. It’s a detective’s job to gather evidence. I merely borrowed the clue for further study with no intention in the foreseeable future of giving it back.”
“I have no idea where you’re from, but here on Earth, we call that stealing.” I tried to march around her but she hooked herself onto my legs, jerking me to a stop. “Let go.” I tried to shake her off but she clung on.
“You can’t leave until I finish with you.”
I trudged through the meadow towards home, dragging her behind while she jabbered.
“You don’t understand, I need to be the one to solve this mysterious burst of magic. Magic of such quantity—more than the amount used in a standard Weaving—is unheard of on Earth. I need to figure out not only who used it but why. It’s the only way I can convince the Investigations Team to let me join. You’re not only my key witness but also my only suspect, so you can’t leave until I interview you further.”
My legs burned from the effort of tugging her. Panting, I paused. “How long are you going to keep this up?”
She peeked between my legs and batted her eyes. “Until I’ve finished my investigation, however long that takes.”
There probably wasn’t any harm in letting her poke around for a bit longer—other than the definite possibility I’d get a headache before the day ended. I doubted she’d connect me to the dream shattering, plus I needed to get my dream back.
I sighed. There didn’t seem to be any other option. “I have nothing to hide, so if I let you finish investigating me, will you return my jar and leave me alone?”
She thought about it for a moment. “Deal, but only if I learn it’s completely unrelated to the case.”
For now, it was the best I could hope for.
Chapter 4
I peeked through the slit in the curtains of the kitchen window. Mother stood over the hearth, stirring a pot of oatmeal. Stardust squashed against my shoulder. “Is that your mother?”
“Shh.” I rapidly withdrew from view. “You mustn’t let Mother see or hear you.”
“I’ve already told you: only those with magic can see adorable clouds such as myself.”
I bit my lip. That was the problem. Mother abhorred even the mere mention of magic, but ever since using the strange dust I’d stolen from her pendant, I now knew she also possessed some form of power, an idea I couldn’t even begin to fathom. Until I better understood the ramifications of my discovery, I needed to remain cautious.
I stole another glance into the kitchen. “How will we sneak past her? Morph into something small enough so she won’t notice you.”
Stardust frowned. “You’re worried she’ll see me, which means she does have magic. I should have suspected you weren’t the only one. She’s probably your magic tutor.”
“I’ve practiced on my own,” I said. “The only help I’ve received from her was taking some of her magic dust.”
Stardust immediately morphed back into her notebook and scribbled excitedly. “My prime suspect reveals she stole her feeble powers from her own mother, who appears to be the second mysterious possessor of magic living on Earth…one I have a suspicion about. Investigate reports of other unexplainable traces of magic found in this area and determine if there’s a possible link.”
“It doesn’t seem very secretive to have your suspect hear the conclusions you’re drawing about her, as false as they are,” I said.
Stardust morphed back into herself with a cheerful pop. “I’m not scared of you. Now let’s go.”
“Not until you morph into something smaller.”
Stardust sighed. “Fine, but I’m not staying hidden forever.” She cycled through several options—a butterfly, a bird, a ladybug—until she finally settled on a dragonfly.
“Not a sound,” I warned. “Stay small until we’re inside my bedroom, don’t fly into the open, and stay close by so you don’t get lost.”
Mother looked up as I inched the door open. “There you are. Any more dawdling and I was going to come looking for you. I’m about ready to head into the garden and want you to join me.”
“Let me drop off my bag in my room first.” I sauntered sideways to the ladder, Stardust’s dragonfly form flying closely behind.
Mother gave me a stern look. “If you go upstairs, you won’t come back down. It’s not easy to forget seventeen years of your pulling that trick on me.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Stardust darted briefly into view as she peered over my shoulder. “She has colored hair, too,” she hissed excitedly into my ear. “She must be a Weaver. Perhaps she’s the one who—”
I quickly caught her to muffle her. She flew frantically within my cupped grasp, banging against my hand in her attempts to escape.
Mother stared. “What was that?”
“Nothing.” Before she could question me further, I awkwardly clambered up the ladder one-handed and released Stardust once we were safely tucked inside the attic. She popped back into her normal form, fuming.
“You nearly squashed me!”
“What part of being stealthy did you fail to understand? Mother saw you, I’m sure of it. Some detective you are.”
“I highly doubt she saw me, but even if she did, she won’t suspect I’m a cloud because I was shaped like a dragonfly. For your information, not every cloud can change shapes. It’s a unique power that only I possess.”
I rolled my eyes, dumped my bag in the middle of the floor, and curled against the pile of pillows near the window, in no mood to return downstairs to a long morning of gardening. Stardust promptly began examining my bedroom, poking her nose in random places.
“What a fascinating place, except—” She crinkled her nose. “It’s quite stuffy in here. Can you open a window?”
I sniffed the air. “It smells fine.”
“It smells like dirty laundry. Earth sure is messy.” She twirled around the beams of the slanted ceiling and paused to jiggle one. “Surprisingly unstable. I didn’t know Mortal structures were so dangerous. One crack from this and it’d tumble down and crush you. Buildings built from soft clouds are far more practical.”
“Real practical considering such buildings don’t exist,” I said. “We have to make due with stone and mortar.”
“Of course they exist; the Dream World is full of them.”
I scrunched my forehead. “The Dream World?”
“The magical world in the sky where I’m from.”
I scrambled to a sitting position. “There’s a secret world where magic exists?” Was one of the legends whispered amongst the villagers actually true?
“Of course,” Stardust said. “Everyone with magic lives there.”
Then why didn’t I live there, too?
“It’s a fantastic place,” she continued. “The streets are paved with gold, the trees grow jewels, and the buildings are made of clouds. Dreamers use their powers to paint sunsets, create flowers, and develop new senses, but their main purpose is creating dreams, which yield powerful magic.”
“Dreams are created?”
“Yes, by the Dreamers and Nightmares who live in the Dream World.” Stardust opened my trunk at the foot of my bed and began pulling the contents out at random. �
�Where else would they come from?”
Hundreds of different thoughts swarmed my mind at once, making it difficult to know which question to ask first. “Are dreams created for everyone?”
“Everyone who is Mortal,” she said. “Every magical being has a weaving assignment. As the primary source of dream dust, Dreamers and Nightmares rely on dreams to strengthen their powers.”
Then why didn’t I dream? I yearned to ask Stardust, but I was sure my inability to receive dreams was just as unusual as my ability to see others’, and Stardust was already suspicious of me. “How are dreams created?”
Stardust shook her head. “I’ve given you more than enough information already. Until I know what and who you are, my lips are sealed.” She tried pulling one of my dresses over her head, but it was far too small. She wriggled out of it, tossed it away, and dug her nose back into my trunk.
“Stop poking around in there; you’ll make a mess.”
She glanced around my bedroom, covered in dozens of untidy towers of junk. “Like you need my help with that.”
I stomped over and snapped the trunk shut, nearly on top of her.
“You must have some pretty dark secrets you’re hiding,” she said. “You’re only getting higher on my suspect list.”
Below, Mother’s footsteps paused beneath the ladder that led to my loft. “Eden, stop dawdling and help me tend the garden.”
Stardust smirked. “Finally, an opportunity to snoop. I’m sure this place is just bursting with clues.”
I didn’t like the idea of leaving a cloud to her own devices for an entire morning. Who knew what kind of mischief she’d cause? “No poking around until I get back.”
She sighed. “You’re really bossy. Luckily, detectives are never unprepared.” She reached inside herself and pulled out a fat coloring book. She flicked through all of the brightly colored pages—all so expertly shaded they looked like miniature paintings—and paused at the first blank page. She produced a box of crayons and, humming to herself, started coloring the sheep in her picture a vibrant turquoise. She noticed me watching and shielded her book. “Do you mind?”
Dreamer (The Dream World Chronicles Book 1) Page 4
