Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) (15 page)

A few minutes later, the front door opened and Jackie came through it with a brown paper bag. “Oh good, you’re awake,” Jackie said as she took off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack.

“Yeah, feeling better actually.” It was strange because in just the last couple minutes I had begun to feel better. My head was still foggy, but it didn’t feel as heavy and the room didn’t seem to be spinning when I sat up. My body still felt weird, too, but it wasn’t achy like it had been. Could I have been cured? No way, the flu lasts a lot longer than a few hours. A few days, at least. What on earth was this?

“Well, I still think you should take it easy. I’ll be right back with a glass of juice and some vitamins.” She smiled at me before heading towards the kitchen.

I looked back towards Collin. He was looking at me strangely. “What?” I asked.

He squinted his eyes at me, like he was studying me. His look made me feel uncomfortable. “Collin, stop—whatever it is you are doing—you’re freaking me out.”

“When did you start feeling ill?” he asked.

I shrugged. “When I woke up, I guess.”

He nodded his head, looking towards the ground. “And what was happening when you woke up?” he asked, looking back up and meeting my eyes.

“Uh, nothing,” I replied, wondering where he was going with this.

“Nothing, huh? Think, Meredith, what was happening when you woke up?”

I closed my eyes, trying to dive back into my memory bank. “Well, when I woke up, I thought I heard voices, then I began to feel strange and when I looked down the hall, I thought I saw a man leaving out the front door.”

“Okay, what happened next?” Collin asked, his tone serious.

“I asked Jackie about the man and she told me that no one had been there. That’s when I started to feel really weird. Jackie offered to get me some tea and I sat down at the table. That’s all I remember.” I opened my eyes to find Collin staring at me intently. Even now, I began to doubt seeing the man, thinking that I’d just been dreaming or was seeing things.

“Interesting,” he said, biting his lip. “And this man... what did he look like? Did you recognize him at all?”

As a distorted picture of the man reappeared in my mind, it strangely felt like I’d been punched in the stomach, taking all the air out of my lungs. I knew I’d seen him before, or at least, I thought I had, but I still couldn’t place where it had been. “I can’t remember.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

I looked back over to Collin who was still staring right at me. “What is going on in that strange head of yours, Collin? You look like you are trying to put some puzzle together.”

He put his finger against his lips, as if to quiet me and then jerked his head towards the kitchen. He then mouthed, “
We’ll talk later
.”

What the heck was going on? My stomach clenched at his strange behavior. Why was he trying to be quiet? Did he not want Jackie to hear him?

Just then, I heard Jackie’s footsteps coming down the hall towards us. “Here you go. I have some orange juice and a few vitamins. These should help you feel better,” Jackie said as she entered the room and set a tray on the coffee table in front of me. She leaned over and felt my forehead before giving me the glass of juice and some pills. “You feel okay to me, but maybe I should take your temperature, just in case.” She turned to leave and I looked towards Collin who was following her every move.

I couldn’t help it. I had to know what the heck he was thinking. “Collin,” I whispered through my teeth. He didn’t break his focus on where Jackie had disappeared around the corner. “Collin,” I said a little louder. Finally, his eyes met mine and I mouthed, “
What is going on
?”

He got of his chair and quickly made his way over to me, kneeling down beside me. “You need to pretend you’re feeling better, whether you are or not. Insist that we need to leave in order to train. Something weird is going on here. I’ll explain more when we’re out of here.” His voice was urgent, but barely above a whisper.

I could already hear Jackie’s footsteps coming back down the hall. Collin hurried back over to his chair.

“Okay, open your mouth and we’ll see if you have a temperature,” Jackie said, reaching the thermometer out to me.

My focus shifted back to Collin. His eyes opened wide as if ordering me to do what he’d said. I panicked; I wasn’t sure what to do. He was scaring me. He was acting as if we couldn’t trust Jackie and by his expression, I could tell that he was serious.

“Um, I’m feeling a lot better. I don’t think I need my temperature checked.” I stood up, instantly feeling my wobbly legs beneath me. I grabbed the couch for support. “Collin and I need to continue training. I don’t want to waste any more of the day.”

“Are you sure?” Jackie asked, looking perplexed. “You still look a little weak. I think you should stay in today. Collin, don’t you think so?” Jackie looked towards Collin.

“Well, she looks better than she did when I arrived. I agree with Meredith. She really needs to continue her training.” Collin took a few steps towards me.

Jackie stood there for a moment, staring at Collin, but then said, “Okay, you’re the teacher; just don’t push her too hard today.”

He nodded and began to walk past me and towards the door. “Let’s get going, Meredith.”

I turned to Jackie and smiled, a part of me feeling bad that we were leaving on such short notice after she had taken care of me. “See you later. Thanks for the juice and vitamins.”

“Of course.” She gave me a curious look, like she knew I was keeping something from her.

When Collin and I were about a hundred yards from the house, I took a step in front of him, cutting him off. “Okay, you are going to tell me what the hell is going on. You’re acting as if we can’t trust Jackie.”

He sighed, looking at me. “I don’t know who to trust, Meredith. It’s difficult for me to explain. There was some vibe in that house that I didn’t like.”

“Vibe?” I huffed. I was just an insensitive jerk to Jackie because Collin felt a vibe?

“I sensed something when I first got there this morning, but was quickly distracted when I saw you lying with your head down on the table. Jackie was acting strange; she hurried out of the house mumbling something about you being sick and how she needed to get you some medicine. After I carried you to the couch, I had totally forgotten about the vibe I had felt... Until Jackie came back, that is. Something is going on with her. She may be the reason you are feeling like this.”

I laughed nervously. “What? Collin, you are just being paranoid. Jackie wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I don’t think so either, but I know something’s not right. You were feeling sick and now you’re better? Just like that? It doesn’t feel right to me. You said that you saw a man when you woke up, right?”

I took a deep breath in, trying to take this all in and remember more of this morning. It was only a few hours ago, yet it seemed like days ago, weeks even. My memory was so fuzzy. “Yeah, but I can barely remember what he looked like now.” I felt like I was going crazy. When I woke up this morning and first saw the man, I was sure that I’d seen him somewhere before, but now I could barely picture his face, making me doubt that I’d seen anyone at all. “I can’t even be sure he was real. Maybe it was a dream or something,” I said, wanting Collin to drop all of this. Deep down, though, I knew that I had seen someone. It wasn’t a dream and I wasn’t just imagining it.

“This could be serious, Meredith. Think.” His tone was firm.

Panic shot through me. I wasn’t sure about anything right now. “I can’t remember.”

Collin grabbed me by the shoulders with such force that it made me gasp. “Meredith, you need to remember the man you saw. Think. What did he look like?”

I jerked away from his grasp and shoved him away from me. “Don’t touch me like that again.”

He immediately realized what he’d done. “God, Meredith, I’m sorry. It’s just that I think you were under a spell this morning and I want to find out who did this to you.” He took a step closer to me, this time placing his hands on my shoulders more gently. “Please, just think. Try to remember what the man looked like.”

I swallowed hard, trying to force the lump back down in my throat. Tears were on the edge of my eyes and it felt like they were going to spill over at any moment. Everything was so confusing. Yesterday, things seemed like they were going so well. I had done a great job in training, I’d come home and Jackie and I had shared a nice dinner. She had told me that her friend was back in town and I had a renewed hope in contacting the council. Now, it felt as if everything was falling apart.

“Meredith, please. Just try and concentrate,” he said, his voice was calm and soothing.

As I began to feel the seriousness of the situation, I closed my eyes and tried to recall the man’s face. I pictured myself walking to my bedroom door, opening it and looking down the hallway. I tried to focus on his face and slowly the image came to me. I gasped.

“Meredith, what is it?” Collin’s frantic voice pulled me from my vision.

“The man,” I whispered. “I’ve seen him before...” My voice trailed off.

“Where? Meredith, where have you seen him?” Collin’s voice was heavy with concern.

I now knew without a doubt where I’d seen him. It was the day Abby and I were heading home from Steer Swamp after training. I’d had a strange sensation come over me and then a strong pull to look behind me. That day, he wore a top hat and was reading a newspaper, but I would never forget his grey eyes or the scar that spread across his right cheek. When I saw him back in 1905, I hadn’t thought much of it; I thought I was being paranoid. I’d even convinced Abby to not make such a big deal about it, in fear that Blake would overreact and insist on being with me every second of the day. Now, after seeing him this morning, I knew the man had somehow crossed time, or he had an identical twin back in 1905. I also knew that crossing time was against the rules of magic; unless you had permission from the council or practiced dark magic. Questions and emotions flooded my mind. Why was he here? How did he know Jackie? What was he doing in her house this morning? The strange way he acted when his grey eyes met mine this morning, I couldn’t help but think his intentions weren’t good. Otherwise, why would he have run off like he did?

“Please talk to me,” Collin pleaded. “You’re keeping something from me.”

“Um...” I hesitated, not wanting to tell Collin about my revelation.
Focus, Meredith, you need some time to think this through,
I thought to myself. “I’m hungry. Do you know of a good place to get some breakfast?” I asked, trying to change the subject, hoping to buy myself some time in order to figure this all out.

“What?! You’re thinking about food at a time like this? I’m never one to turn down food, but come on, we’re onto something here.”

I
was on to something, but there was no way that I’d involve Collin. It was clear that coming to London was a mistake. I’d potentially put more innocent people at risk. Trouble and mystery seemed to follow me wherever I went. There was only one link to the man back in 1905 and the man I saw this morning... and the link was me. I needed to get away from here as fast as possible before I put anyone else in any more danger.

“I’m starting to not feel so well and I think eating something would help,” I lied. “I’ll tell you everything once we get to the restaurant, okay?”

He looked skeptical, but he knew that he had no other choice. “Fine. Let’s go, but you’re going to tell me everything when we get there.” He gave me a pointed look and grabbed my hand, pulling me forward. “And I mean everything.”

We walked towards a row of restaurants and my mind spun quickly, trying to plan out my next move. I wasn’t sure if the man I saw this morning—the same man I saw back in 1905—meant to cause me harm, but it seemed if the council sent him to me, he wouldn’t have run off like he did this morning. So, the only thing that made sense to me was that he practiced dark magic and was looking for me, because of the power I possessed. I still couldn’t get the feeling out of my head, the feeling I felt that day back in 1905 when he was near me. There was also something in his eyes that I didn’t quite trust, and coupled with his reaction this morning, I could clearly tell something wasn’t right.

The saddest thing was that as hard as I tried to plan, I couldn’t think of anywhere to go and as stupid as it sounded, I knew that before I left town, I had to go back to Jackie’s and get my things. It wasn’t the smartest idea in the world, but my pictures of Aunt Rose and my family were there. There was no way I was going to leave London without them. Sadly, it felt like those pictures may be the last link to my old life. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to go back to that life without putting the people I loved at risk, so I wouldn’t leave them behind. I refocused my thoughts, knowing that wasn’t my biggest obstacle at the moment. I looked down at Collin’s firm grip on my hand, wondering how I was going to get out of it.

When we entered into a large group of people and found ourselves fighting our way through the crowd, I made my move. I tugged hard and my hand slipped from Collin’s grasp. I turned around and forced my legs to move as quickly as possible. The mass of people helped me blend in and didn’t allow Collin to see me when he turned to look for me. I heard him calling my name, but that only made me run faster. The entire time, I sensed his presence right behind me and knew that I needed to change course quick and find a place to hide. My eyes darted around, finally seeing an entrance to the train station a block ahead. When the timing was right, I broke left and ran across the street and towards the station’s entrance. There was an urge to look behind me to see if Collin was still there, but I didn’t want to give him the chance to spot me.