Dead and Dusted by Lily Webb (reader novel .TXT) 📕

Jadis hugged herself and rubbed her arms as goosebumps swept her body too. “That’s not creepy or anything.”

“Not at all. Anyway, it kept calling me, and I figured out it was on top of the outcropping, so I started climbing to meet it. When I got to the top, our hands linked, and that’s when I saw it: This terrifying creature that literally looked like it was born from the mountain. And then I fell, and that’s when you woke me up,” I finished, and stared out the window as I tried to re-process it all — until I realized that the sun had just come up outside. “Wait… What time is it?”

Jadis cringed and pulled her phone from her robes to show me the screen. 6:40 AM. “We were all looking for you yesterday, but when I found you passed out in here in your bed, Blair thought it was a good idea to just let you sleep.”

My head reeled as I tried to piece everything together. I’d come back to our room after taking Zadie to hers, but I must’ve fallen asleep while brainstorming a way into Leland’s quarters. But what time was that? It couldn’t have been much past noon, if that, which scared me. How had I slept so much?

“I would’ve let you keep sleeping, but you were screaming and thrashing around, so I figured you were having another nightmare,” Jadis said, her eyes drifting away from mine. “This is freaking me out. I’m worried about you, Selena…”

“So am I, but I dunno… I think these dreams are trying to tell me something, as terrible as they are.”

“Like what?”

“No clue. They feel like warnings. Blair said she hasn’t seen an avalanche in Starfall Valley for as long as she’s lived here. But what if the avalanche in my dreams is metaphorical? Like a symbol for something else?”

“Maybe, but I think you should definitely talk to Blair about this. I don’t know if there’s anything she can do to help, but she should know.”

“Agreed,” I said, though I wasn’t looking forward to telling her. As much as everyone had been doting on me since I’d passed out a few weeks ago, once they found out I was coming unglued from the inside out, they’d never let me out of their sights again. Then again, was I really going crazy? Or was this just some weird side effect of a new set of powers developing? It wasn’t like I had any real clue, as new as I was to everything to do with magic.

“Good luck getting Blair alone long enough today, though,” Jadis said.

“Why?”

Jadis stared at me like she was worried I really was losing it. “The FBI agent’s coming, remember?”

“OH MY GOD!” I shouted and bolted out of my bed. “It’s almost seven! They’re going to be here, like, any minute!”

“Calm down, Selena. I don’t think they’re going to show up that early,” Jadis said, but she’d no sooner gotten the words out than a series of thunderous booms echoed throughout the inn — the sound of someone pounding on the building’s large, wooden double doors. Jadis winced. “Guess I spoke too soon.”

“Oh my god, oh my god, OH. MY. GOD!” I shouted and tore off to the bathroom to wet my wild hair and make it look like I hadn’t actually just rolled out of bed from a twenty-four-hour coma. I didn’t know what to expect of the FBI agent, or what I’d learn from them about what happened to Leland, but I knew I didn’t want to miss a single minute of this.

By the time I’d soaked my hair and run my fingers through it enough to get out most of the tangles, Jadis had changed from her pajamas into her robes — which reminded me I’d slept in mine and, of course, they’d gotten completely wrinkled, but I didn’t have time to care. “Come on, hurry!” I said and headed for the door without waiting for her.

Just my luck, the elevator was already in use, probably by another eager eavesdropper, so I ran as fast as I could to the stairs and took them two at a time, nearly breaking my ankle on more than one occasion, until I clattered to the ground floor with a stitch in my side and barely a wisp of air in my lungs.

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re up and at them again, Selena,” Blair said from the front desk, startling me. As always, she looked like she’d not only gotten a full night’s sleep but also had more than enough time to make herself look flawless. Where she normally preferred more loud, eccentric clothing and accessories, today she’d toned it down to a simple set of black robes, an understated matching headscarf, and a decorative but professional wing drawn on the edges of her eyes. “Sleep well?”

“Not exactly,” I said, and left it at that. Instead of continuing the conversation, I glanced toward the door that Brady had just heaved open. The morning’s light streamed in, casting the short visitor in silhouette and making their four — yes, four — translucent wings prismatic. Sparkling reds, greens, yellows, and blues danced across the foyer’s floor as Brady conversed with the fairy in hushed tones. Finally, he stepped aside to welcome the agent in, and as the door closed behind them and their face came into view, I gasped.

“Good morning. I’m Agent Flora Gemwood with the FBI,” she introduced herself in a wispy, featherlight voice and gave a graceful, gentle wave of her spindly fingers, but I couldn’t find the words to answer. All I could do was stare. I’d never seen anyone so ethereal, so beautiful. White-blonde locks of hair tumbled from her head to her shoulder, and two pointed ears jutted out from within.

“Good morning, Agent Gemwood,” Blair said as she stepped out from behind the front desk and greeted the fairy with a handshake as if she were any other guest. “I