Chapter 77 Moon Lillies

Chapter 77 Moon Lillies
The two of us reach the stairs leading up to the theater's double doors and I take up a better grip on his arm. My history with passing through the entrance is less than pleasant, but as of last night things have become significantly worse. Remembering my latest episode, Declan halts us just before the doors.

"You didn't die or anything when you walked through these doors in the dream, did you?" he asks, looking down at me concernedly.

"Hm? In the dream you mean?" I wonder, staring at the wooden barrier before us.

He tugs me a step back. "We can always find another way in," he suggests, looking around at the building.

I smile and pat him reassuringly. "No, I didn't die in the dream. I'll be fine."

He eyes me carefully. "Are you sure?"

I stand taller and nod firmly. "Yes."

He still seems uncertain, but takes up my hand just the same and pushes open the door.

One.

I count in my head as I take my first step. A sort of humming fills my ears.

Two.

I am passing through the doors now, my vision turning hazy and my head beginning to pound.

Three.

I draw in a steadying breath as we enter the main lobby. My stomach is tense and glancing down I can see that I have squeezed Declan's hand until his is nearly white, but I have made it.

"You okay?" he asks as he gently pulls his hand from mine.

I smile weakly at him as he experiments with flexing his fingers.

"Sorry. Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good," he says, satisfied that both his hand and I are still intact. "Now how about you fill me in on this dream while I make us some tea?"

I agree and the two of us walk on to base. With the sun blaring outside, the oil lamps in the Miyuki Theater seem dull, unable to compete with the brilliant rays shining in. I look away from the windows, somehow reminded of Toki. Somewhere across Hollow Crest the heiress is showing Cal her home, inviting him to tea, tossing her blonde hair while smiling that radiant smile.

"Mei?"

I blink and look up.

"Huh?"

The monk, nearly to base, has stopped to stare at me, paused in the middle of the hall.

"Are you sure those doors didn't affect you?"

I straighten up and start walking again. "Positive."

He observes me closely as I pass him into the room.

"How positive is positive?"

I shoot him a look over my shoulder. "Positive, Declan."

He holds up his hands. "Fine. But you seem awfully distracted."

"Tea, monk," I order, dropping down onto the couch and thankful that he offered to make it for once.

"Yes, Cal," he answers, striding over to the small counter.

I cross my arms, but a small smile pulls at my lips.

While he is busy behind me, I sigh and sit back, finding the large room rather comfortable with just the two of us. The keyboard on Ren's desk is absent of its usual clicking and the computers hum quietly in the background. Across from me the other couch is empty of Xiao Shen and her mask. It is also empty of Cal, but at the moment I decide that is probably a good thing, otherwise I would be the one making tea.

"So, about this dream. You had it last night?" Declan speaks up, heating the water.

I gaze at the window in the far corner, the light pouring in warming the room. Some of its beams reach the table in front of me and that is when I notice something. A vase sits there, simple in its design but bursting with the white flowers that fill it.

Lilies.

Several thoughts occur to me at once, Naomi being one of them. Who could have put them here? Everyone in the theater knows about her allergy, and yet here sits a large vase, brimming with white and potentially deadly flowers. But just as quickly as the concern comes, it flees my mind to make room for curiosity.

Sonja received a moon lily.

I sit up and look over the edge of the couch at the monk who is placing their tea on a tray.

"Declan," I say as he walks his way over.

"Oh, finally decided to answer me then?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

I accept my tea cup thankfully. "I'm sorry, did you ask me something before?"

He sits down beside me. "I was trying to get some details on your dream, but I'm beginning to think you never actually woke from it."

I sigh. "I promise to tell you everything, but first you have to answer me this," I bargain, eyeing the monk next to me.

He shrugs and brings his tea to his lips. "Shoot."

"You gave your moon lily to Sonja, didn't you?"

There is a sudden coughing fit beside me as the monk chokes on his tea. I merely smile and take a sip of my own.

"So I am right," I smirk, sounding remarkably like the monk every time he has pressed me for personal answers and received such a reaction.

He recovers and sends me a look. "I don't know who you've been talking to, maybe a loon of a lady, but I've never given Sonja anything."

I set down my tea cup and cross my arms. "Liar. She received one. If you didn't give it to her then who did?"

"Ren, probably," is his weak reply and he quickly takes another mouthful of hot tea.

He makes a face as it burns his tongue and I smile slyly.

"Wise Obasan said Ren had given no moon lilies, so that cannot be it. It was you, Declan. Now own up."

"Cal then, because it wasn't me," he persists adamantly.

I open my mouth to argue, but then the monk smiles as he regains his footing in their war of words.

"Oh, excuse me. It couldn't possibly be Cal because he gave his to you."

It is my turn to swallow a mouthful of scalding tea.

"I don't know who gave me that lily," I object, my cheeks heating at the mere thought.

"You'd rather it be from Jasper then?" Declan counters, disbelievingly.

"This isn't about me," I argue, attempting to turn the assault back on the monk. "This is about you and why you left Sonja that moon lily—"

"What this is about is your dream," Declan replies, swiftly changing the subject. "You promised, Mei. Now spill."

I frown, tempted to remind him that I promised so long as he answered, which he did not do, but I can tell that, at least at the moment, there is no getting a straight answer out of him. I will have to settle for his choking as a telling sign of his guilt.

I adjust myself on the couch and gaze down at the mysterious vase of lilies.

"It's kind of vague," I begin.

Especially the parts with Mr. Miyuki in it.

"That's fine, tell me what you remember," he urges.

I run a finger around the rim of my tea cup in thought.

"I was in the theater, it was night, and I was standing in that hall we visited the other day."

Declan sets his nearly empty tea cup down. "So we're on the right track then? With that picture, I mean."

I nod. "I think so, especially since I found myself—" I pause here to find a way to leave Mr. Miyuki out, "drawn to a certain photo."

He looks to me eagerly. "Really? Which one?"

I close my eyes for a moment, my dream playing itself through my mind. The haunting image of the old man staring at his daughter's empty frame. His finger tracing where her face should be.

"It was the blank one, Declan," I answer as I open my eyes.

He is thoughtful for a moment, but then his eyes widen in realization.

"Toki Miyuki's?"

"Yes," I sigh, setting down my cup. "But it just gets better from there."

"What else?" he prods.

"The nameplate, her nameplate, it just—" I halt here, once again thinking up a way to write the ghostly man out of the story, "fell off. Behind it was another one, and this one read Kioko Miyuki."

He gathers our finished cups and looks to me with surprise.

"Another name? Do you think this has something to do with our picture?"

I frown in thought and stand as well. "That's what I'm not sure about. Are these two things somehow connected?"

Declan sets down the tray and faces me.

"Well, there's one thing we can do. Let's go see for ourselves."