Sleep all too often came with dreams. That was probably why none of them had really wanted to go to bed.
Along with the anxiety, the revelations, the threat to all of their lives, etcetera, etcetera. No one was really counting all that. Much.
Danny dreamed. He knew he dreamed.
Well. Sort of. This was really more of a nightmare. Even though nothing bad had happened yet, the whole atmosphere of the classroom was steeped in unease and tension.
"Ryv is one of the few Avlynyse words borrowed directly from French, without first passing through English," said Mr. Lancer, as he wrote on the board in Esperanto. "Most likely due to the popularity of Marie Thérèse of France, who married Prince Alyn, later King Alyn, in sixteen eighty-eight pursuant to the agreement of marriage negotiated when she was five between her father, the Sun King, and Dr. Kahysy Wyrtmyn Royne Tyronoé, when the later saved her from dying of consumption. Yes, Mr. Fenton, this will be on the test."
"I didn't say anything," said Danny.
"Queen Marie Thérèse was often quoted as saying 'Parfois, j'ai l'impression que ma vie ici n'est qu'un beau rêve' or 'Sometimes I feel as if my life here is nothing but a beautiful dream.'"
"You don't even speak French," said Danny, despairingly.
"Compare and contrast ryv with the thirteen other common Avlynyse terms for dream, such as ayslyn, traym, and revo."
"That last one isn't even Avlynyse," protested Danny. "It's Esperanto. You're writing in Esperanto. I don't think you know that, either."
"Compare and contrast King Georg Gyvry's attempts to acquire royal spouses for his children, thereby securing alliances and diplomatic ties, with Queen Arynryd's foundation of the School of Heroes."
Danny stood up. He couldn't take any more of this. He felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest, and all that was happening was Mr. Lancer giving a lecture on Avlynyse history. And getting things wrong, but that wasn't really relevant.
"Mr. Fenton, this will be on the test."
"What test?" asked Danny. "This is a dream."
"But you have to pass," said Mr. Lancer, not looking away from the blackboard. "You have to pass. This will be on the trial."
"What?" asked Danny, unable to help himself.
"You have to pass the Trials. Dr. Kahysy Wyrtmyn Royne Tyronoé was born in Royn on the Island of Tyrono, to the herbalists Byryta and Yud Wyrtmyn, also of Royn. He was later sponsored by a client of theirs, Dr. Uwyn Font, to attend Argyntyn College. While there, his ideas were instrumental to the resolution of the sixteen sixty-nine Argyntyn Cholera epidemic, and he was inducted to the School of Heroes."
Danny turned away. He already knew all of this. Except where it was wrong, which was annoying. He hated it when his dreams were wrong, especially when they'd be so interesting otherwise. Like, one time, he'd had a dream about Jupiter, but it was way too close to Earth, and there was just no way the GAV could fly up there that fast, so, there.
Behind him, Mr. Lancer - that is, dream Mr. Lancer - had stopped speaking. Danny felt certain that if he were to turn around now, Mr. Lancer wouldn't even be there. No. He'd be replaced by something much worse. Something terrible.
He hunched his shoulders and covered his face, then froze as his fingers encountered something around his eyes. The mask he'd worn the previous night, for the Moon Masque. Had he even brought it home, after everything? He didn't remember. He had been given back his not-so-ceremonial knife, and it was resting on his bedside table. His fingers itched for it now. Normal weapons, even Danny's normal weapons, wouldn't do anything against what loomed behind him, but maybe that would. It had already banished one monster.
There was only so long he could delay. He turned. The tunnel was long and dark, with no forks or turns. He walked. Fire and flowers licked from the walls, horribly red, ready to burn, ready to bleed, but did nothing to provide light.
There was an end. It was covered in metal instead of stone. Dull green lines traced between metal panels and wires sprawled loosely over the floor. He put his hand against the wall as he walked. If he was right, this was where he would slip–
–click.
Remembered agony shot through his bones and heart and brain and he spasmed. Through the green he could see Jazz. Leo. George. Iris. Vivian. Lewis. Matthew. Joanna. Grandpa Alfred. Martin. William. Aunt Alicia. Great Aunt Isabella. Great Uncle Theodore.
All of them dying. All of them screaming, dying, melting.
There was a sensation of cold in his chest and he choked himself awake, his ghost sense slipping past his lips. He reached for the dagger instinctively, ready to fight.
"Fryth, myne yfyor. Peace, Danny. Dreams, only, have troubled you."
"Danny?" said Jazz, blearily, from the other side of the large bed. "What's wrong?"
"Um," said Danny, staring. Gwensyvyr had her hand phased partway into his shoulder, and that was clearly what had triggered his ghost sense and woken him up. But, more importantly… "You talked!"
"Yeah?" said Jazz, who was still not entirely awake.
"Yes," said Gwensyvyr at the same time. "Although it would, ah, appear that you, only, can hear me." Her accent was strange and heavy, but still familiar and homey in a way Danny couldn't properly identify.
"Danny?" said Jazz, again. "Did you have a nightmare or something?"
"Yeah," said Danny. "Yeah, I, um, nightmare. Portals and murder plots, you know? Ah. Ha."
Jazz was sitting up, now, and peering at the clock. "It's two," she said, making a face. "The sun was just barely up… What's that at this latitude? Nine? So, five hours?" She sighed. "I feel like we just got over jet lag…"
"Mhm," said Danny. He wasn't entirely awake either, and his brain wasn't up for returning anything but exclamation points on the subject of Gwensyvyr talking to him.
(And, as a point of fact, they'd been recovered from jet lag even before Matthew's attempted emergency coronation, and that had been on the… The ninth? The tenth? And now it was… Danny wasn't entirely sure, actually. Preparations for the Moon Masque had been a whirlwind. Late January, anyway.)
(Maybe Jazz was right and they weren't all that recovered from jet lag.)
"Should we go back to sleep? I don't want to throw my sleep schedule off too much, though…"
"Jazz, I don't… I don't think that's really important."
Jazz made a disgruntled noise, looked back over at him, and abruptly propelled herself off the bed. "What–"
"Oh," said Gwensyvyr. "It might be that she might see?" She pronounced the 'gs' in each 'might.'
"Ohh," said Jazz. "She– That– Hello, Gwensyvyr?" Then she blinked. "She's gone?"
"No," said Danny. "Still here."
" I just– I don't see her anymore."
"Alas," said Gwensyvyr. "A moment, only. Yet still better than not at all."
"Y-yeah," said Danny. He looked Gwensyvyr over. "Your arm is better?" It was, at least, covered in clothing again.
"It appears."
"This is good," said Jazz. "This is good, right?"
"I mean, I don't think it could be bad," said Danny with a shrug. "I can hear her, now."
"Can you hear the others?" asked Jazz, climbing back onto the bed. "Vivian?"
"I've been awake for a minute," said Danny. "And Vivian's still with Matthew."
"They have returned," said Gwensyvyr.
"Really?" asked Danny.
"Three, four hours after you began to, ah… Slevyn?"
"Sleep," provided Danny. "But they're back?"
"I always forget that one," said Gwensyvyr, mildly. "Matthew still is awake."
Danny rolled out of bed.
"I guess we're getting up, then," said Jazz. She brushed her hair out with her fingers as Danny hunted for something slightly more acceptable to wear downstairs than his pajamas. Then, Danny remembered that Leo had come down that first day in pajama pants, a blanket, and no shirt, so it wasn't like it mattered.
The other ghosts, as silent as ever, pointed Danny and Jazz in the direction of the dining room, where Matthew, Irene, and Joanna were talking quietly and intensely. They all stopped immediately when the door opened.
Matthew and Irene looked absolutely awful. Irene was still in her Moon Masque costume, and it was rumpled and stained. It looked like she'd been pulling at her hair, with how it had come out of its earlier neat style. Matthew had changed into a t-shirt and ratty jeans, and his arm was in a sling. He looked pale, and his other arm had IV tape and various medical bracelets. His nose was crusted with blood, and he had a black eye.
"Is Sophia asleep?" asked Jazz, when no one else seemed ready to say anything.
"Sophia is still under medical care," said Matthew. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Nervous breakdown. Grabbed a syringe from one of the doctors and tried to stab me with it. Punched me really good, too."
No wonder he and Mr. Kynbaz had been too busy to answer the phone.
"Then, I had been given some Revyvtech drugs, because the knife," he gestured at his shoulder, "had belladonna extract on it. So I spent three hours after Joanna called getting all my blood replaced, just in case Revyvtech was also poisoning me. Luckily, Physostigmine is produced by other companies, so Sophia and I were able to take that, and the amount of atropine that got into our systems really wasn't enough to kill us, anyway." He sighed. "I'm tired of getting poisoned."
Irene patted his shoulder.
"Yeah," said Danny. "So. What are we doing about that?"
"Which?"
"The– The thing with Revyvtech."
"We're investigating," said Matthew. "Unfortunately, you can't just accuse an entire company of murder. You have to find the people responsible. And you need evidence. Security brought the medicines you tested to a forensics lab, so we'll see if anything turns up there. I don't know what else to do. I don't even know if it's safe to take the Trials, if these 'blood blossoms' bioaccumulate, if we'll all drop dead the minute we finish them, the same way everyone else did. I don't know."
"I don't think they do," said Danny, thoughtfully. "I mean, I had a friend eat some for me, once, and I was still able to do things like phase through him afterwards."
"There's that, at least," said Matthew. He rubbed his eyes again.
"You should sleep," said Joanna.
Matthew shook his head.
Jazz cleared her throat again. "Mom and Dad?" she asked.
"Kyr Argyn, under house arrest in the Late Wing," said Matthew. "Pending an investigation, but of course all the investigators are busy…" He stood up. "We're doing what we can do. If the spirits are able to give you anything else…?" He trailed off, hopefully.
"He should sleep," said Gwensyvyr. "I do not believe anything I have to say to you will change that." She paused. "Vivian's story might."
Danny shook his head.
"Let me know if that changes," said Matthew. He took a breath and held it for a second. "Joanna, can you–?"
"I'll keep everyone to the schedule as best I can," she said.
"Good. Good," said Matthew. He hobbled around his chair, towards the door, Irene helping him.
"What schedule?" asked Danny, after they had left.
"To prepare for the Trials," said Joanna. "We're going a little fast, but… the full moon is soon." She smiled shakily. "So! Since you two are up, why don't you get breakfast - or lunch, I suppose - and we can talk about personal seals."