Free Dreamfever by Kit Alloway Page A

the breakfast bonanza for the entire table. Shortly afterward, platters of pancakes, waffles, biscuits, eggs, sausage and bacon, and six different types of syrup had arrived. Mirren was determined to try every single thing.
    Katia would love this, she thought, and for the first time since she’d left the Hidden Kingdom, she felt a little homesick. But the emotion was largely drowned out by her excitement at being out in the World. She’d ridden to the restaurant in Josh’s car, which had been utterly terrifying, but during the parts when she hadn’t been screaming, she had stared out the window in awe at the buildings, the people, just the size of the World, and the space of the sky. Now she couldn’t help gazing around the restaurant’s dining room at the people assembled with their different hairstyles and clothing and constant cell phone use.
    The people at her own table fascinated her as well. Haley sat to her right and had rolled up sausages in a pancake, which Mirren recognized as the classic pioneer dish “pigs in a blanket.” Josh had drenched her waffles in syrup and powdered sugar, while Will preferred bacon and eggs. Deloise was neglecting her own plate so she could hand-feed Whim strawberries with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Mirren found that endearing, although everyone else seemed to find it nauseating.
    â€œWhim,” Josh said, “if you don’t get my little sister’s finger out of your mouth, I’m going to break your legs with a hammer.”
    Whim rolled his eyes, but he did quit sucking the whipped cream off Deloise’s finger. She remained sitting in his lap, however.
    â€œNan,” Whim said. “What’s that short for?”
    â€œGertrananette,” Mirren improvised.
    â€œWow,” Whim said. His eyebrows shot up, but he looked down at his plate as if trying to hide his reaction. “Is that, uh … German?”
    â€œGerman and French. We speak both in Switzerland.”
    â€œI think it’s pretty,” Deloise offered.
    â€œThank you.” Mirren personally thought it was hideous, but she liked Deloise.
    She wasn’t finding it hard to lie about being from Switzerland. Her ridiculously thorough education was finally paying off.
    Whim, while carefully angling a forkful of blueberry pancake into Deloise’s mouth, asked, “What do they think about staging over in Switzerland?”
    Staging? Mirren wondered, and felt uneasy.
    Staging was the practice of creating dreams in order to manipulate dreamers. It was banned in North America because—all too easily—it could be used to control people’s minds. The example Mirren always remembered was a first mate on a naval ship who staged dreams for the other crew members until they joined him in a mutiny.
    â€œMuch of Europe is divided into hectorates,” Mirren said. When she got blank stares, she explained, “Small, self-governing regions that are loosely affiliated. Most have agreed not to stage in hectorates other than their own, and most hectorates are either too small or too oddly shaped to allow for well-targeted staging, so it’s largely a nonissue.”
    Thank heaven, she added silently.
    â€œStaging is a big issue here,” Whim said, “what with the Accordance Conclave coming up. Looks like it will finally pass.”
    Halfway through his sentence, Mirren bit into something hard in her sausage. She took care to be polite as she spit it into her napkin, but she couldn’t resist glancing down; a fragment of bone stared back at her.
    Staging is a big issue here, Mirren repeated silently, and she tasted blood and realized she must have cut her gum. No wonder Collena worked so hard to keep me in the Hidden Kingdom, she thought. Out here, there are bones hidden in food and staging is about to become policy.
    Haley leaned close to Mirren, his shoulder brushing hers, and whispered, “Are you okay?”
    â€œWhat