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"Mateo?" He turned again and saw a friendly face: Ms Walsh, the guidance counselor Nadia see and taking off her own coat as she came toward him "Are you okay?"

"I sleepwalk," he said It was the truth, at least a sliver of it

"Ugh What a pain I used to do that soh it’s been a while One tie dorm" Ms Walsh draped her blue coat over his shoulders like this situation was thein the world Mateo felt kind of stupid wearing a wo around ca I came in early today Come on I’ll drive you home"

"Thanks" Mateo hoped Dad would sleep a little later than usual this --maybe he wouldn’t even have to know about this

Ms Walsh’s Mini Cooper was ridiculously sh it was a bit crarateful that Ms Walsh immediately put on the heater and didn’t insist on aard conversation His mind wandered back to the horrible vision he’d had--a possible future, he knew But as ever, he didn’t kno much of the vision was literal truth and how ot involved, it was a lot harder to tell all that apart

When they reached his house, Ms Walsh said, "Forgive the question, but you’re still seeing Nadia Caldani, right?"

"Yeah, of course" Echoes of yesterday’s arguht noas unsure how she felt about him--but he knew exactly how he felt about her

"Let her know I’d like to see her, okay?"

That was a little odd, but right now, Mateo owed Ms Walsh one, so he wasn’t going to get into it "Yeah Okay Thanks for the ride"

"No problem" She sether, people like us"

Elizabeth lay in the swath of fabric she used as a sort of bed It hung in one corner, not unlike a hammock The cloth was dusty and threadbare, and spiders had woven small webs around the spikes she’d hao All that mattered was that when she slept, she didn’t have to touch the floor

Floors were dangerous The spells that could catch you from below--she didn’t intend to fall prey to any of those