"I agree," Shew said. "What about Cerené? Shouldn't I be looking for her in Murano?"
"No," Axel said firmly. "Because you don't know what she looks like now, or if she is really in Murano. I don't think we can afford to go to Murano." Axel stopped for a moment, as if he had been hit with a snowball. "Come to think of it, I don't think any of the residents of Sorrow ever left Sorrow."
"So what are you suggesting?" Fable asked. She didn't want to think about the fact that maybe no one in Sorrow ever left, and that Loki was the only outsider. But Lucy had left it, hadn't she? "Tell us something useful."
"Like I said, the main purpose is to find the Lost Seven," Axel explained. "Each of them has his own story and own puzzle we will need to solve when we meet them. The purpose is to gather them and find the appropriate spell so they return Shew's heart to her before Carmilla gets her forked snake tongue into it."
"So?"
"So, to do any of that we still need a Dreamhunter," Axel said. "Like it or not, this adventure takes place mostly in the Dreamworld. Without a Dreamhunter, we can't do anything."
"That's why the priority is to try to resurrect Loki," Fable said. "He is the only Dreamhunter we know."
"But Loki is dead." Shew was about to cry again. "Those who are killed in dreams never wake up. That's the whole point of Loki's job."
"No, Shew. You got that wrong," Axel said. "Loki's job is to kill vampires in their dreams. Even if the same rules apply to humans and Dreamhunters, I have a solution."
"You said that before!" Fable said impatiently.
"I know." Axel pouted. "The solution is all here." He pulled out J.G.'s diary.
"How so?"
"It turns out you can resurrect someone who was killed in the Dreamworld if three conditions apply," Axel said.
"Really?" Shew tiptoed.
"Yes, really. But I'm warning you, some of the conditions are really weird."
"I don't care," Shew said. "Whatever it takes to resurrect Loki."
"The first one is easy. It demands you know of Loki's True Name," Axel said. "Which we do."
"The second?" Shew asked.
"This is really weird," Axel said. "If the deceased has been killed by his True Love in the Dreamworld." Axel scratched his head.
"That is weird," Fable said. "It's as if it's common for lovers to kill each other."
"Well, this J.G. says it's common," Axel said. "Because usually when two lovers enter the Dreamworld, they face the same things Loki and Shew faced in the last dream…"
"Only one of them can come back," Fable said absently, remembering this horrible purple ring orbiting the Dream Temple last time. "So most lovers entering the Dreamworld actually end up killing each other. That's weird."
"What's the third?" Shew asked eagerly.
"Before we get into the third," Axel said, "you must understand that J.G. insisted the two lovers be in True Love." He was facing Shew. "True, unconditional love!"
"That's why you were asking," Shew said. "Believe me, Axel"—she rested her hand on her heart again—"we are in love. True Love. I know it and can feel it in my heart. You might not understand how strong the feeling is."
"I had a few rendezvous." Axel glared at her hand on her heart then shrugged. "Anyway, J.G. says True Love is called Adage in the Dreamworld."
"Adage?" Shew looked as if she had heard this word before.
"Adage is unconditional love that knows not of boundaries or setback, nor of time, place, or race," Axel read. "No one can explain what Adage is. Lovers usually refer to an eminent feeling they can't explain themselves. However, they claim it resides in their heart, not metaphorically but physically."
Fable didn't comment. She still didn't get that True Love thing. She thought it was clichéd.
"That's what I said exactly." Shew blushed.
Axel looked at his own heart and seemed to only think it was stuffed with food.
"So what's the third condition?" Shew asked.
"The Fleece," Axel said. "If I had a dollar every time someone told me about Loki's Fleece…"
"How are we supposed to get it?" Shew said.
"Carmilla has it," Fable said. "Maybe we should man up and go get it from her." That was her manly side talking again. She actually preferred the cuddly and hugging side.
"No, that's not how to get Loki's Fleece," Axel said, closing J.G.'s diary. "I know who will help us get Loki's Fleece back." He reached for Loki's pack of cigarettes left on the kitchen table—Fable had been trying to avoid it all day, as she had been craving it too, but she really had something against smoking. Axel flicked a match and lit the cigarette. Shew and Fable were puzzled by this. "Are you prepared for help?" Axel said, holding the cigarette. "Because I will just leave you once it arrives."
"Leave us?" Shew said.
"Someone has been texting him all day," Fable said. "I think he has a girlfriend or something."
"Pickwick!" Axel summoned the parrot he had just befriended. Pickwick came, landing on Axel's shoulder. "I will take him with me for a small ride, if you don't mind," he told the girls.