At midnight, Valorya Finch is awake.

She lies very still, eyes open, and lets the dream drain out of her, like bathwater draining from a tub. Then she reaches for the chain on her lamp and clicks it on. The stained glass hummingbird throws green and violet light across the ceiling.

Her dream notebook sits on the headboard where it always sits, with a pen clipped to the cover. She writes fast, in the quick slanted hand that Mrs. Marinet says looks like it is running late for something.

A white stone throne room. High arched pillars, nobody inside. I glided, not walked, toward the throne. A blue-green dragon slid out from behind it, long like a river, with golden eyes and teeth like broken glass, fire curling from the sides of its mouth. I was afraid. I waved my arms in a circle, like...

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