The Dream Thief by Kari Kilgore (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

and do the same. Curl up with a pillow over his head and forget about all of this, pretend none of it ever happened, at least for a little while.

Janie pulled at his hand, so he followed her down the stairs instead.

No one seemed to be on the ground floor. Janie took big, careful steps to their Mother's correspondence room.

"Knock," she whispered.

"What?"

"Knock," she said again. "Make sure no one's in there."

Karl knocked softly and turned the handle at the same time, only then wondering what he'd say if their mother was in there after all. The room was empty, and Janie sighed as dramatically as she'd been walking.

"The coast is clear," he said. "What's the big, exciting secret, Janie?"

Janie held one finger to her lips, then walked toward the wall opposite the desk. She squatted down behind the sofa and pushed on a floorboard until the end popped up.

As she pulled it loose and reached down into the space, Karl wanted to stop her. He wanted to grab her arm and pull her back up the stairs.

Once he saw whatever it was, there would be no turning back.

He should turn back right now.

"Look," Janie whispered.

Chapter 52

Loretta walked out of her study, mind lost in the map of Waldron's Gate she'd just been poring over. Taking George’s advice to get away from that horrible white creature had been easy enough. Building was the best way she knew of to keep her worry for Karl—and her guilt over what might have happened to Rethia’s baby—from taking over her mind once she was alone.

With Karl so occupied with his family and Gemma safe in her strange way, she'd eventually allowed herself to enjoy her solitude. She'd missed her house and her own life more than she realized.

Loretta was deep enough into anticipating her Builder's trance that she didn't see Bess sitting on the sofa until she cleared her throat.

"Bess! You scared the life out of me."

Loretta was instantly drenched in sweat and trembling with delayed readiness. She'd been away from her normal routines and awareness for far too long.

"I didn't mean to do that, ma'am," Bess said. "But that's something you may want to think about. I'll admit I'm curious why you didn't let me know you were staying here for the last couple of days. Planning to go out this evening?"

"I am, but we're not making deliveries this late. Nothing to worry yourself about."

The guard wore her normal black work clothes, not much different than Loretta's Building skinsuit. Bess chewed her bottom lip, then took a deep breath.

"I know I'm way out of line. I may end up losing myself a job that means a lot to me. If you don't want me to worry, you shouldn't show up at my house white as a sheet, more upset than I’ve ever seen you, and tell me about some kind of monster that says you're death."

"That thing isn’t even in Waldron’s—"

"No, but that's not something any sane person would ignore, either. Do you know about what happened to Karl's sister? To her baby?"

Loretta sat, hands clasped between knees, staring at the floor. Finding out what George had been so upset about had been painfully easy.

"Of course I do," she whispered. “It isn’t exactly a secret.”

“Then why aren’t you with Karl?”

“You know why!” Loretta gritted her teeth and forced her voice into a quieter range. “You pointed out exactly why I can’t just show up at his mother’s house, Bess.”

"Right. So unless I'm missing something, we have you promising not to involve his family right before you deliver one of your lovely items to his mother. A creature out of the Fog or maybe The Pit watches you and calls you death. An infant at a house you've visited in the middle of the night dies. You show up at my door so upset you’re barely able to talk, but you don’t bother to mention that you’ll be staying here with no protection after years of keeping guards at all times. Tell me again how I shouldn’t worry myself about all of this."

Loretta looked into Bess's blue eyes, the eyes of the person she trusted most in all of Alterra. She was indeed crossing the line as an employee, but Loretta knew that line had ceased to exist long years ago.

"I'm not heartless, Bess. I don't know if my Builds with Rethia caused this. I hope not. I'm being more careful about that."

Bess leaned forward, hands on her thighs.

"Then why are you going out at all?" she said. "Much less alone? I know you can take care of yourself, but you can also take too damn many risks with no one there to protect you or even know where you are. Why don't you just do your Builds out at the Columns instead? Those people are crazy already."

"I can't do that. Certainly not once I finish training Karl. He knows exactly what I Build already. They go right to Gemma's house. And he's not... He isn't exactly supportive of that side of my life, anyway."

Bess scowled and got to her feet.

"And now you're letting a man make your decisions for you, to the point that you're going out at night again when you know people are on the lookout for Rhysto. Or his murderer."

Loretta had no intention of getting into a discussion about relationships with Bess or anyone else if she could help it. Her own thoughts and feelings about Karl were too jumbled to even know where to begin.

"Listen, Bess, I've already been going out. For the past couple of weeks." Her guard grimaced, shaking her head. "Yes, I should have let someone know. I should have yet you know. I'm sorry. I needed some time to myself, and I decided I should do something constructive while I was at it."

"Do you have any idea how that sounds? Putting yourself at risk to get some privacy, which you should have without clearing it with anyone?"

Loretta knew pointing out that Bess was