Free Dreamfever by Kit Alloway Page B

is the Accordance Conclave?” she asked him. Then, seeing that they had the table’s attention, she repeated the question to no one in particular, “What is the Accordance Conclave?”
    â€œNobody in Switzerland has heard of the AC?” Whim asked Mirren. “That’s bizarre.”
    â€œDon’t be so American,” Deloise told him. “None of us know anything about the European hectorates. Why should they know anything about us?”
    Will and Haley exchanged a glance Mirren couldn’t read.
    â€œThe Accordance Conclave is a continent-wide vote on what type of government to replace the junta with,” Will explained. “The group with the most support is the Lodestone Party, which is—”
    â€œI know the Lodestone Party,” Mirren interjected. “They—”
    They killed my parents.
    She folded the napkin so she wouldn’t have to look at the bone any longer.
    â€œYou probably should know them,” Whim said with a laugh. “You’re eating breakfast with the party leader’s granddaughters.”
    The happy bubble Mirren had spent the last hour inside of popped and left her feeling very full and very sick.
    â€œPlease excuse me,” she said, rising. Her napkin unfolded as it floated to the floor; the bit of bloodied bone mocked her.
    You think this hurt? Just wait for what comes next.
    She knew what was coming next. She could see the thought on the horizon like approaching storm clouds, and she knew she had to get out of the restaurant before the rain fell. She headed for the front door. Behind her, exclamations of Whim’s confusion and Deloise’s concern filled the air.
    â€œDo you want me to come?” Will asked.
    â€œNo,” Haley said. “I’ve got it.”
    Mirren hit the door with both hands, causing a harness of bells to ring, and ran straight into the parking lot. Tires squealed, a horn blared, and Mirren shrieked as a hulking red vehicle stopped less than two feet from her. The driver screamed obscenities at her.
    â€œI’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Mirren cried, and dashed toward the only thing she saw that looked comforting: a large grassy area with a small creek running through it.
    She didn’t slow down until she reached a place where the creek ran through a channel beneath the road. A concrete slab buried next to the water protruded enough to create a little bench where she could sit without ruining her borrowed clothes.
    Although she had closed her eyes, she felt Haley sit down beside her. Maybe her skin picked up his body warmth, or maybe she just sensed his presence, but she knew he was there even when he didn’t speak.
    Some people don’t speak with words, she thought, and she felt grateful not to be alone at that moment.
    Wasn’t it silly of me to think I could come here and not confront Peregrine? she wondered bitterly. We have been circling each other from afar, drawing slowly closer, since the day he killed my parents. We’ve swung around our orbits, but gravity has always been moving us toward the moment our paths would cross.
    When she opened her eyes, she saw that Haley had picked a few long blades of grass and was twisting them together. “My family didn’t tell me about the Accordance Conclave,” she said.
    Haley nodded as if he’d already known. Maybe he had.
    â€œNow that I look back on it, they must have been hiding things from me for years. Newspapers kept getting lost on their way to us, or a page or two would be missing. Our liaison to the World started having”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“‘computer problems’ and couldn’t print the blogs I was reading. There’s no Internet in the Hidden Kingdom, of course.” She rubbed her eyes. “They must not have wanted me to know that support for staging was gaining so much traction.”
    â€œWhy not?” Haley asked.
    â€œBecause they