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anymore.”
    “You could’ve
talked to me.”
    Selene tipped
her head to the side, taking in his closed-off body language and unwelcoming expression.
“Would you have even let me in? I had to yell pretty loudly to get past all
your mental barriers tonight.”
    Griffin
shrugged. “Probably not.”
    With a heavy sigh,
he dropped his arms to his sides and made his way over to a nearby bench swing.
He could’ve sworn that it hadn’t been there only seconds before, and if he had
really thought about it, a swing in the middle of a field of wheat was odd. And
yet, somehow, its existence seemed completely natural now.
    After a brief
hesitation, Selene joined him.
    “So what do you
want to talk about?” Griffin asked.
    Selene shivered
and then twirled the tassel on the end of the shawl she was suddenly wrapped in.
    When’d she get
that? Griffin wondered. Huh. I forgot how stuff just appears when I talk to Selene
in dreams.
    “It’s probably
ridiculous to ask, but would it be possible to talk like we used to? Kind of…
make this neutral ground?” Selene asked in a quiet voice.
    Griffin was
reluctant to admit how much that idea appealed to him. Here, where they’d been
meeting for so many years, the real world didn’t exist. And he really had
missed his conversations with his dream girl. Maybe they could suspend reality
just for a while.
    He racked his
mind for something to talk about. Something safe. “So…” Griffin lightly tapped
his fingers on the silvery rock. “Ellie mentioned you’re starting college. Have
you decided on a major yet?”
    “History,” she
responded promptly.
    “Yeah? What do
you plan to do with that?”
    “Learn something?”
She grinned.
    Griffin leaned
over to bump his shoulder into her. “No… really.”
    Selene shrugged.
“I’m actually a little serious about that. I didn’t get a chance to experience
much of the world while my brother was alive. And maybe by studying history I
can learn and save myself from some mistakes others have made.”
    “So when you’re
done, you’ll go back to the Vyusher?” Griffin tried really hard to keep that
suspended reality mentality and not let his suspicion creep back in.
    Selene twiddled
the fringe of her shawl some more. “I don’t know yet. It’s… complicated.”
    “Huh. I guess it
would be.”
    “You don’t know
the half of it.” Selene’s lips twisted in a bitter grimace. “I remember that
you always enjoyed movies. Seen any good ones lately?”
    Griffin noticed
the abrupt change in subject and decided to let it slide. “A couple. How about
you? Seen any you liked?”
    “Well, I’ve been
limited on time. But I’ve squeezed in one or two.” She gave him a lopsided
grin.
    “Okay, here’s
one for you… now that I know who and what you are. Who in the Vyusher do you
think has the coolest power?”
    Selene couldn’t
conceal her shock. She hadn’t expected Griffin to want to even say their name,
let alone talk about them.
    “You’re
surprised?” Griffin asked.
    Selene’s
eyebrows shot up. Normally people couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
    “Um… well, we
don’t have anything as cool as a dragon,” she said, referring to the unique
power Ellie had used to kill Gideon last year. “But we do have someone who
controls the earth. He can cause earthquakes and rip giant chasms in the
ground. It’s pretty terrifying, actually.”
    “Griffin,” Ellie’s voice
echoed through the fields as though they were in a hollow room.
    Griffin looked
around, thinking he’d see his sister standing there.
    Selene’s hand on
his arm pulled his attention back to her. “She’s calling for you. I guess you
should wake up now.”
    His mouth fell
into a slight frown. He didn’t want to leave this place… or her. “Okay.”
    The grey mist
started to intrude on their golden field. As the images started to blur and disappear,
he heard a soft voice whisper, “Thanks for letting me in, Griffin.”
    Jerking awake,
he sat up and found