She was dreaming. 

She was on the mountainside, she could hear her cousins in the distance but she was alone. It was sunny, and a chilly wind made her shiver pleasantly, she found a seat among rocks. They were playing hide and seek around some old ruins that stretched sporadically along the arid crest of land. She had lost a shoe and ducked behind an old rock. She saw carvings in it, she became fascinated when she found that she could read them...

[/i]"Nature" is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—[/i]

"Why... That's Emily Dickinson." Ocllo commended the Inca's on their good taste in poetry.

"Found you!" She looked up and gasped. Jack Hale stood over her, triumphant grin on his face. "Your It!" (In her dream Jack spoke fluent Spanish.)

The dream changed. A feeling of warm-weight came over her. She was at her old home in chile, and young like earlier in her dream. She was lying on the couch by the fire, she was very sick. She heard her mother close the sliding door between the living room and the den. She could feel the heat of the nearby fireplace on her cheek, it felt so very real.

She overheard her parents talking to her uncle, who was visiting from America. [i]This dream is a memory[/i], she realized. Yet, could not quite change the course of things. She was too sick to move, even to lift her head. She could only listen to them chatter as they assumed she was asleep. 

"Our restaurant isn't failing because of us, It's brilliant! It's only all this bureaucratic crap we have to deal with... There is only one place on earth our concept would work! The big apple!"

"I'm not sure we are ready for so big a change. The whole family is here. And we must think of our daughter, all her friends are here as well. A displacement such as that might be... difficult for her." Her mother's voice was like honey-goat-cheese-cheese-cake. (Hey, that made sense at the time in the dream, to think of her that way. Her mother was soft, sweet, and unique.)

"Or... It might be good for her." She could hear them rustling as one sat, or stood, or perhaps her uncle was standing on his hands now. "... I've already contacted a... [i]specialist[/i]. He is interested in her... case... I assure you there is no one more qualified. And he teaches High School. The New York Academy for the Magic Arts."

"We were thinking of sending her to a muggle High School." her father admitted after a long silence. He was keen on that course of action, his family had more muggles in it than his wife's. Due to finances he had only spent his last few years of education in a wizards school and woudl be quite comfortable if his daughter of sending his squib-daughter somewhere she might be more accepted.

In the fever-dream Ocllo could see her uncle shaking his head in that way only he shook his head: St a slight angle and certain rhythm that made one feel particularly embarrassed to disagree with him. "She has been sick all month, and every time it takes her longer and longer to feel well again... Maybe this teacher, Doctor White, he could help her..."

That's how her childhood had been. Sometimes bright and full of energy, or so sick she'd be in bed for days. That was until her parents had moved to New York to start their new treasure and Doctor White had become her doctor. She hadn't been as sick as she was in this dream in a long time... until.... well... until last night when she forgot to take her medicine and left her charm beside the sink.

[i]I better go get it[/i] she thought. And in the dream she got up from her couch, and walked into the next room, which was the Terra girls's bathroom. 

Richard was there.

"Richard. What are you doing in the girls room?"

"The woman was like the word never,
a special charm rose up from her neck,
a kind of forgetfulness where her eyes were safe,
the woman settled in my left side."

He looked at her gravely as he recited Juan Gelman. He was still in his skull-makeup, but dressed in his school uniform. She looked away, ashamed. "Yes I forgot it is so stupid of me..." He was scowling at her. "I ruined Halloween... I'm sorry..."

And so was Fonsus, who had also appeared, and the bathroom had vanished. They were at the long table of the mess hall. Fonsus was reading out of one of his secret experiment books. He looked particularly engrossed by what he was reading.

"What's there? Have you discovered something new? Maybe a big-breakthrough?"

"Watch out watch out I'd scream watch out
but she possessed me like love, like the night,
and the last signals I made that autumn
settled down quietly under the surf of her hands."

He glared at her as he spoke, he was till wearing skull-makeup also. She was confused, and for some reason embarrassed. 

She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She turned, it was White, he also had skull makeup. His looked the most real and the most terrifying. He had a large syringe in his hand. He said;

"Sharp sounds exploded inside me,
rage, sadness, fell down in shreds,
the woman came down like a sweet rain
on my bones standing in the solitude."

River closed her eyes. She had to finish the poem she knew so well...

"She left me shivering like someone condemned
and I killed myself with a quick knife-thrust,
I'll spend all my death laid out with her name,
it will be the last thing to move my lips."

Then she woke up.

She moved about quite groggily. "Who... put a blanket on me?" She looked around and found herself alone in the common room. Her book was set aside, but the place saved, and a note atop it.

"Ah..." She made herself get up. She folded the blanket, Pablo climbed onto her shoulder, and she made her way to the Astronomy tower.

She wanted to sleep, she still felt ill, but she wanted to see her friends. They'd only meet in the middle of the night like this if it was something important. Not an emergency (as they had not awoken her), but important enough. She couldn't really help Richard and Fonsus much in their investigations, but she still felt like she should be a part of them. She wanted to be. She always curious about their experiments and inquiries and wished she could be more helpful. At least she could be there... [i]The two of them are going to do something really great someday...[/i] She thought fondly on them.

She quietly pushed open the door to the Astronomy room. She rubbed her eyes as she found them. "Hey guys. What is going on?"