Chapter 172

I might as well have been wading through sludge by the time I made it back to my apartment. My mind was only firing on one sugar-glazed cylinder with everything that had happened today. I fell into bed and dozed.

"Oh...Victoria..." a dreamy, ethereal voice called.

"Shh, I'm sleeping," I told it.

"I...know. That's...why...I'm...here."

"Here?" I drifted along, unsure what was happening. "Wait, where's here?"

"In...your...dreams. It's...Lucy."

She appeared in front of me, a beautiful snow-white cat with big sapphire eyes. Like that one time in real life - actually several times due to time travel - she sat in front of the store once called Eleventh Chocolate that had never opened. Then Lucy stood and walked backward along the side of the store, as she always had before.

Dream Me followed. Lucy belonged to Forever, a witch friend who looked like Cass.

"Not that I'm upset, but what are you doing in my dreams, Lucy?" I asked.

"Helping..."