Page 9 of Wake the Dream

This was the perfect case to prove himself to them. If only he could determine where to start.

Chapter Three

Illaria

She’d gotten run overby a truck. A convoy of trucks. At least that’s how Illaria’s body felt when she woke the next morning. Even the soft and tempting lure of her bed hadn’t been enough to coax her into sleep beyond a few fitful hours here and there.

The forgotten sexual energy from her earlier experience with the stranger had dissipated in a fit of rage just before the detective arrived. Probably not the best course of action, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself.

Known for bouts of raw passion, her emotions had taken a turn into darker territory when she’d had to deal with the prick from the police station.

An entirely different prick from the first one they had sent to deal with her.Deal with her, sure. That’s how they’d sounded on the phone. Like she was a problem they didn’t want to solve. Another issue popping up to put a blight on their day. Just because they thought she was jumping the gun by reporting her sister missing when it had only been a few hours.

She hadn’t appreciated the responding police officer’s tone of voice when he sat across from her at the table. Smug and smooth, a bit condescending. Like he had the answers and she was expected to sit like a good girl with her hands folded on her lap, waiting for him to provide.

Bullshit.

She’d called the cops as a courtesy and nothing more. Better to have them know the issue so they wouldn’t question if she went on a rampage through town.

Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t rampage. But the thought had crossed her mind. Anger was easier to deal with. Anger was the friendly emotion she turned to in times of stress when feeling anything else became too difficult.

She’d done it before, once, letting the fury get to her. It hadn’t ended well.

Illaria pushed herself out of bed and put one foot in front of the other, the wood floor in the hallway cold. The door to Yelena’s room still stood open.

She stared at the empty bed. The sheets were pushed aside in the same position they’d been yesterday. Piles of clothes littered the floor and a tube of lipstick sat open on the vanity.

Being cut off from their native Fairy meant Illaria’s powers were a bit lessened compared to her brethren. Fae drew their magic from the land itself. While Hedgehill Marsh provided a safe haven and a way to live in the open, it didn’t pack the same punch, magically speaking.

With the doors to Fairy securely closed and their parents on the other side, she had to make do with what she had left.

Which, sadly, did not include the Sight.

She had no way to gaze into the future and see where Yelena might be found. She’d tried scrying her sister’s position with a crystal last night, coming up with nothing concrete. The damn gem circled their house once before falling still in her hand.

It was useless.

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