Read Dream chaser.doc for Free Online Page A

perfect it. Otherwise we could
    turn up in a wall or someplace foul."
    Foul was bad. She definitely didn't want to do
    that. Implantation in a wall wouldn't be much
    better.
    Jesse appeared in the backseat. "By the way,
    did you guys realize that Gloria vanished during
    the chase? I don't know if that's a good thing or
    a bad thing."
    Sadness gripped her as she started the car.
    "I'm sure it's bad. But we'll worry about her
    after I talk to Tate. Unless you can find her in
    the nether plane, there's not a lot we can do
    about her for now."
    38
    Fear flashed in Jesse's brown eyes. "Yeah,
    right. Remember what happened the last time I did
    that? It's not an experience I want to rush back
    to."Neither did she. Poor Jesse had almost gotten
    swallowed by a Daimon.
    Simone headed toward Tate's office and picked
    up her phone from the console. She dialed his
    number to make sure he was there.
    He answered on the fourth ring. "Hey, my love.
    I just got off the phone with the Squires."
    She slid a glance to Xypher, who was sitting
    there looking grim and irritable. "That's great,
    but right now I have a really pressing problem."
    "You find something?"
    "More like something found me."
    "What do you mean?" Tate asked, his voice full
    of fear.
    Simone considered the best way to tell him what
    had happened. But she wasn't one to beat around
    the bush. Besides, if Tate worked for the Dark-
    Hunters, maybe he knew what a Dream-Hunter was.
    "While I was looking over things, a group of
    Daimons showed up and so did . . . a Skotos."
    Tate laughed nervously. "You're shitting me,
    right?"
    Xypher cocked a handsome brow at her as if he
    could hear her conversation.
    "No," she said, dragging the word out, "and I
    take it you know what that is, then."
    "Absolutely. Were you hurt?"
    "Scuffed a bit." She turned left onto Canal.
    "But the point of this is the Daimons slapped
    something on my wrist and the Skotos', too. We
    don't know what it is and we need to find someone
    who does."
    "You need an oracle." Tate made that sound so
    easy.
    39
    Simone shook her head. "Yeah, and we're just a
    little far from Delphi, hon."
    "You don't have to go to Greece, boo. You know
    Julian Alexander, right?"
    She frowned at the familiar name. "The hot
    classics professor?"
    "Not that I personally consider him hot, but
    yeah."
    She ignored his sarcasm. "You're not seriously
    telling me that he's an oracle who speaks to the
    gods?"
    Tate laughed evilly. "Brace yourself, boo. He's
    the son of Aphrodite."
    Of course he was . . . Why should anything in
    the world make sense? Dear Lord, it wasn't like
    she wasn't sitting beside one of the hottest men
    on the planet who was a god himself. Or that she
    had a goofy teenage ghost in her backseat mouthing
    the words to the Tears for Fears song "Everybody
    Wants to Rule the World."
    It only made sense that the hottie in the
    classics department was a demigod, too . . .
    "I just knew I wasn't going to like that
    answer," she muttered. "And to think, all this
    time I just thought he was a cute teacher."
    "And all your students think you're eccentric
    for talking to yourself when they catch you having
    conversations with Jesse."
    "Of course they do. Okay, how do I find him?"
    "Let me give you his number."
    Simone repeated the number to Jesse to help her
    remember it. Hanging up from Tate, she immediately
    called Julian.
    He answered on the third ring.
    "Dr. Alexander?"
    "Yes?"
    40
    "I don't know if you remember me, but we've met
    at a couple of faculty functions. I'm Dr. Simone
    Dubois—"
    "The ME and pathology professor . . . Yes, I
    remember you."
    That was impressive since she was highly
    unremarkable. She was average height, average
    weight, with curly dark brown hair and hazel-brown
    eyes, and she normally wore beige and browns or a
    white lab coat. As a rule, she never stuck in
    people's memories. In fact, her senior high school
    paper had once voted her Most Likely to Be
    Forgotten . . . or Sat On By Mistake. The fact
    that