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hopes, but we have so much to talk about. I need to convince her, and convince her quickly that this is a dream so we can move onto more important things. “If you don’t believe me, pinch yourself.”
    “Huh?”
    “Pinch your arm.”
    “Tess, I’m not going to—”
    I reach out and pinch her arm for her. Hard. Instead of pulling away or yelping, she rubs her thumb over the spot. “I didn’t feel anything.”
    “That’s because we’re dreaming.”
    She plops onto the bleacher looking bereft. Pete has disappeared altogether. “I knew this was too good to be real.”
    “Listen to me, Leela, this is a dream, but I’m not part of it.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean I’m really here. What I tell you now, you have to remember. And you have to believe that I’m not part of the dream. You have to believe that this is really me talking to you.”
    “This is weird.”
    “I don’t know how much time we have.” That’s the thing about dreams. They are unstable. Leela can wake up at any moment, or her subconscious mind can drift somewhere else and maybe I won’t be able to follow. Or worse, something bad could show up. A wave of cold fear stretches through my body. My muscles coil. Adrenaline pulses through my veins. If anything tries to attack my friend, I will be ready to fight. I sit beside her on the bleacher. “How’s my brother?”
    “From what I’ve heard, he’s out of the hospital. I’m not sure when he’s coming back to school, though.” Leela shifts so she’s facing me. “Tess, what’s going on? The news reports are saying that you’re dangerous.”
    “I’m not dangerous. I’m so sorry for not trusting you before with the truth. But I didn’t even know what the truth was—honestly, I still don’t.” I grasp her hands. “Leela, I need your help. Luka and I both do.”
    Her eyes widen. “Luka’s with you?”
    “Yes.” For now, at least.
    “I wondered. There’s been so much speculation. Luka hasn’t been to school, but none of the teachers will talk about him whenever we ask where he is.”
    “Nothing is like you think it is.”
    “What do you mean?”
    I search through my thoughts, trying to figure out a way to explain everything to Leela. How do you tell a person that everything we’ve learned our entire lives, everything our parents and the government and our schools have taught us, is wrong? “Our world is more than physical.”
    Her brow furrows. Leela and her family are supposedly Catholic, but even she admitted that the title was born from tradition more than anything. She called her parents closet atheists.
    “I know this is going to sound crazy, but there is supernatural stuff all around us.”
    She looks around, as if she might see it for herself, the furrow in her brow deepening.
    “Science is wrong. The government is wrong. There are real, legitimate evil forces in this world.” I realize as I speak how crazy I sound, but onward I press. Because it’s true. All too clearly I remember the man with the scar marking my brother with that strange symbol, preparing to claim him. If not for Luka and I being in the right place at the right time, he would have. And then what would have happened to Pete? “They’re able to impact things—people and events. I see them. And somehow, so can Luka. That’s why we have such a connection.”
    Leela stares at me with her mouth hanging open, her hands limp in mine. I can imagine what I look like—this wild-eyed, frenzied girl who busted out of a mental institute and is now spouting off things that sound certifiably insane. I wouldn’t believe me if I were her. Except we are in a dream, so surely that has to bring some validity to my proclamations. Or maybe Leela will wake up and think she’s the insane one.
    “You need to believe this. You’re not crazy. I’m not crazy. I’m not mentally deranged or a danger to society. Dr. Roth knew that all along. That’s why he broke me out. He didn’t commit suicide. He was