Free In Dreams by Erica Orloff Page A

Keres. Time for you to go,” he urges. “Tomorrow night, look for me behind our door. You’ll feel it when you come to it. Trust yourself.”
He pulls back and grabs my hand, and we run through the club toward the exit sign. Around us, everywhere, are writhing vampires. They hiss as we pass, steam rising off their bodies. The three vampires with the black-bobbed hair are chasing us, emitting the high-pitched shriek of strange, rabid animals. When we reach the emergency exit, its red letters sputtering, Sebastian opens the door; an alarm sounds as he pushes me through

    My alarm clock wakes me.
    I stare at it. Six A.M.
    Time for school.
    I shut my eyes, wanting to feel that kiss. I touch my lips, wishing it were still happening, that he was here, with me. I wish it were real—minus the vampires.
    I shake my head. Time for a shower. I feel as if I’ve been hit by a truck.
    I get up and walk across the hall to my bathroom and start to brush my teeth. While I’m brushing, I glance in the mirror. My eyes widen.
    I put my toothbrush down and stare at the back of my hand.
    There, in red ink, is a mark. Made by a stamp like when you go to a club.
    It’s an omega sign.

10
Dreams are symbolic in order that
they cannot be understood.
CARL JUNG
    I think I pulled at least a B on my test. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream . Annie meets me by my locker, and we walk through the throngs of our high school to the cafeteria, which is the usual madhouse.
    “Look.” She nudges me.
    There, sitting by himself and reading a book, is Henry Wu.
    Annie—looking totally hot today in Rag & Bone jeans and a cute sweater—smiles her biggest Annie-all-American smile, wanders over, and plops into the seat opposite him.
    “Hi, Henry!”
    I sit down next to her.
    Henry Wu looks as if he might throw up his five hot dogs. His face is absolutely stricken.
    “Hi, Annie. Hi, Iris.” Although he says hello to me, he has eyes only for Annie.
    She starts to question him like an investigator on CSI .
    “So Henry, what are your plans for college?”
    He blushes slightly: first his cheeks and then his neck flush, and then the color spreads to his chest, peeking between the edges of his navy polo shirt, where the top two buttons are undone. He looks down at his lunch tray. Then he takes a sip of Coke before clearing his throat and saying, “Um, Harvard.”
    “Interesting,” Annie says. “Have any plans to, I don’t know, do any sports there? Clubs?”
    “I . . . um . . . row crew. We don’t have a team here at school, but I belong to an athletic club with a team, and I . . . I was hoping . . . you know.”
    A little chill passes over me. Just like Aphrodite said . I look at Henry closely while they talk. Before Aphrodite, I just thought of him as some super-nerd, a nice super-nerd, but still. But now that I look at him, he’s really good-looking; his eyes shimmer, his black hair is shiny, and his features are handsome.And the way he looks at Annie . . . I wonder how we missed it all these years.
    Annie is beautiful. Drop-dead. Any guy would fall for her—she’s blond and athletic, and she has this creamy olive complexion from her mom’s side of the family. But Henry Wu gazes across the table at her like she’s the most perfect girl in the entire world—this world or the gods and goddesses one.
    “Still playing soccer?” he asks. He clears his throat twice and nervously plays with the collar of his shirt.
    Annie nods.
    “Still volunteering at the camp for kids with cancer?”
    Annie wrinkles her nose, perplexed. “Yeah. How did you know? Every summer for two weeks. I love it. But I don’t tell anyone. My mom always taught me that you don’t broadcast your good deeds. You just, you know, do them quietly.”
    “You mentioned it once about three years ago—in passing. On June third, when I asked what you were doing for the summer. You were going to be packing that night. You were hoping it would be cooler