Chapter 76

THE DREAM this time wasn't unnerving. Merely confusing.

Dallin was back in the alley, except it was on fire this time, and he knew Wil was just on the other side of it. Dallin could hear him shouting, but he couldn't tell what Wil was saying. He kept yelling at Wil, telling him to run, get away from the flames, but the gate guard turned into the little burned corpses screeching their songs, drowning out Dallin's voice until Calder stepped through them, waved a hand, and scattered them to ash.

'He knows your purpose,' Calder told him gravely, 'and yet he gives you his trust.' He shook his head, sadness and condemnation both. 'He was weaned on betrayal--would you cage him now?' And then he held out his hand, a tiny golden frog perched in the middle of his palm, its bulbous little eyes staring bold and unblinking at Dallin.