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feeling that she envied me, that she wanted to be with Loki in the grave.
    “If the corpse snores while we are in her dream, shoot it.” Loki said. I can’t stand snoring humans, dead or alive.
    Bella stuck out her tongue at him. “What if you snore?”
    “Easy. Shoot it.”
    Bella laughed.
    “It’s time for you to use the magic dust on us,” Loki said, “And by the way, did Edward and Jacob ever make out in that movie? Because I’ve been waiting for this to happen all the time.”
    Then I went to sleep, entering an immortal’s dream, looking for the real Cinderella.
    ***
    Time feels so real and present in here.
    Entering the Dreamworld of an immortal seems too easy, I think. I just woke up, coughing, and lying on my back in what looks like an abandoned house. There’s that smell of cinder everywhere as if someone is burning something nearby.
    “Shhh,” Loki grips my hand, looking around suspiciously. “Rule number one in an immortal’s dream: Look for a killing weapon.” He whispers.
    “I smell cinder,” I say, freeing myself from his grip. “Pick yourself some.” I stand up and walk out of that abandoned building.
    “And do what? Swallow it and puff out ember like a dragon?” He says as he follows me outside. “Hey you … uhm … what was your name again?”
    “My name is Alice!” I shout over my shoulder. I can’t believe how rude he is. He called me by my name in the real world.
    As I step outside, a broad smile sweeps over my face. I guess the Incubator word worked just fine. This is exactly where I wanted to be in the witch’s dream: Venice, Italy, hundreds of years ago.
    “No freakin’ wonderland,” Loki bursts out after me. “Alice.”
    Even though I know I need to find the witch and complete my mission, this boy really gets on my nerves so I turn around and face him, gritting my teeth and clawing my fists. I think his rudeness in the real world is different from the Dreamworld. There, it was arrogance. Here, his is trying to cover that fact that he is scared.
    “You’re that last person on earth to make fun of names, LOKI!” I spit accidentally on his face. I didn’t mean to. “What kind of name is that? How can you even live with it?"
    “Wow,” He rolls his eyes – those beautiful green eyes. So distracting. I have to get him to wear shades in this glaring sunlight or something. “I didn’t know my name turns you on that much.” Unapologetically, he pulls me closer again with one hand. It’s a rough pull, but my body closes in toward him in a theatrical way as if this was a rehearsed move in a Tango dance. I find myself puttingmy hands on his shoulder. He wraps his other hand around my waist and throws a most-devilish young-blooded smile at me. Why does he have to be so attractive? I don’t need this. I am on a mission.
    “Wanna make out?” He blurts, titling his head seductively to one side and gazing at me from the corner of his eyes. His gaze is different from other boys I’ve met. His gazes wanders from my eyes to my chin then to my lips in a triangular gaze repeatedly as if he is afraid to miss a part of my features. Then he pulls me even closer and whispers in my ear, “Make-outs in the Dreamworld don’t show up in your real world resume. Making out in a dream is almost the perfect crime.”
    As much as a restless jerk he is, there is this sound in his voice, this tingle in his touch, and the warmth in the palms of his hands, which makes me trust him in an annoying way though.
    “You can’t be serious, right?” I can’t tell him he is a jerk again since I have seen how he has an instant comeback for that.
    “Stay put,” he whispers in my ears, hugging me in the middle of the street in Venice, hundreds years ago. What a perfect romantic place, even in a dream, but maybe with the wrong boy. “Pull me closer to you. Act as if you can’t live without me one second of your life.” He whispers – Ok. Now this is lame.
    “You wish—“
    “Just do it.”