Page 51 of Haunting the Deep

Alice sighs. “Okay, okay. Let’s look into them. But let’s talk more about these nondreams. There’s got to be clues there we’re not seeing.”

“I’ve told you basically all of it.” I run the events of the nondream back through my thoughts.

“Does it feel like you’re going back in time?” Mary asks. “I mean, I know you’re not, but you said you feel like some old-fashioned version of yourself.”

“It feels real while I’m there, but the moment I wake up, I can see how not real it is. But it doesn’t feel like a dream, either. I’m not sure how to explain it. It’s like an idealized version of theTitanic,too bright and happy to be factual. The telltale sign that something’s off about it is that I have obviously never been on that ship and yet the people there act like I have.”

“Hmmm.” Susannah presses her lips together. “I’m not positive, but it could be a spell. Magic has a way of being almost right, but not quite.”

I shudder. “Ifit’s possible that it’s a spell, what does it mean that my mind wasn’t as conflicted this time? After the dress, it was like the two halves of my brain were fighting, one accepting being on theTitanicand the other sensing something was wrong. But this last time, I was more…comfortable, like I was acclimating.”

“Maybe that the spell’s working?” Susannah says. “That your resistance to it is wearing down?”

“That is just downright creepy,” Mary says.

We’re all quiet for a second, and Susannah and Alice share a look. I can’t help but think about my conversation with Redd.

“What I want to know is how you got there?” Alice says. “You said you weren’t wearing the dress this time.”

I shake my head. “I did touch the painting and the letter, but I wasn’t instantly transported there like with the dress. Unless the dress has lingering effects? Also, I was dreaming about theTitanicbefore the package with the dress in it showed up, just not the same way. That first dream was more like the ones I used to have about Cotton, like a premonition. I saw the painting and the dress and a little silver book. Two of those three things have already shown up.”

“Maybe that first dream was a warning?” Mary says.

I look at Gracie’s book sticking out of my bookbag. “Possible. Also, the dress, the painting, the dog collar, the key,andthe letter all point to Henry and Myra. There’s no ignoring those connections.”

“I totally agree,” Alice says.

“We should go through my spell book. Maybe there’s a spell in there that could help us,” I say.

Mary grins. “You’re all about spells these days.”

“I draw the line when dead people send packages to my dad. I’m all in.”

Alice raises an eyebrow at me.

“So here’s the thing about that spell book,” I continue. “When everything weird was happening last fall, Mrs. Meriwether and I used it to make a potion to reveal the identity of the person who was casting against me. I’m pretty sure she still has the leftover potion. But I can’t just ask her for it without my dad finding out. All the same, we might want to have it for worst-case scenario.”

“You know a potion that will tell us who cast a spell against us?” Susannah asks. “I’ve never heard of anything like that. It must be a really old spell.”

“Yeah, and you’re just telling us this now?” Alice looks dumbfounded. “Even though you knewyesterdaythat there was probably a spell on that dress?”

“It’s not that simple,” I say. “It didn’t give me the first and last name of the person who made the spell. It showed me a feather, a symbol that I didn’t even fully understand at the time and definitely didn’t associate with my stepmother. And right after I used the potion, she rushed home and tried to get me to go somewhere with her. When I wouldn’t, shetook you guys. I’m fully convinced she knew I was trying to figure out her identity. So I think we can pretty much assume the moment we use that potion, we’ll send the person doing these things into action. I don’t know what the consequences of that would be, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to find out.”

“Huh,” Alice says. “ThatI get. But you’re right. We should have it on hand just in case.”

“I know.”And how am I going to get it without my dad finding out?I hesitate. “Have you guys noticed anything else weird about me? Anything at all? I mean, if I’m not resisting theTitanicin my dreams, I just want to make sure there’s nothing in my waking life that’s off.”

“We would have told you,” Alice says.

Mary looks at me sympathetically. “I’m thinking a sleepover at Sam’s. Since that’s where most of the action is”—she smiles—“and, well, the food.”

I smile, too. I haven’t had friends sleep over since I was tiny. “I think that’s a great idea.”

Alice screeches to a stop in front of my house. “Figure we’ll be back here in an hour or so, once these two get their stuff together. Mary is the slowest packer of all time.”

Mary rolls her eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Susannah asks.