Desire in Frost (9 page)

Green eyes stared back at me. I wanted to move in surprise, but my body stayed put, fixed on the green eyes peering up from behind the sink I was standing next to. I pushed myself away from the countertop, and so did the man I recognized as Scott, only he looked younger. I wanted to open my mouth to ask him why he was here, but my body wasn’t moving on my own accord. When each step Scott made mirrored my own, I realized I
was
Scott and that he was looking in a mirror. I had somehow stepped into one of Scott’s memories.

I—or rather, Scott—finished washing my hands and turned to the paper towel dispenser. The Crystal part of me could feel the discomfort of being in someone else’s body. It wasn’t quite the same as when I had visions while I was asleep. I was more aware of things now, like that I was actually Crystal and this wasn’t real. At the same time, I struggled to pinpoint my own thoughts while experiencing Scott’s memory. I took in what I could about the situation. Scott looked younger than he had when I met him. He was wearing a Florida University hoodie, so I figured I was in a memory from when he went to college. But
why
?

Scott exited the bathroom, and I heard music booming down the hall of the campus building. He showed his student I.D. to the attendants at the door where the music was echoing into the hallway. Scott’s memory told me he was joining an end-of-semester party hosted on campus. The attendant stamped his hand before he entered the vast room. The music grew louder, and almost immediately, his body began rocking out to the beat. His eyes scanned the dance floor and struggled to make out each figure. He was looking for someone, but the Crystal part of me didn’t know who.

His gaze locked on a woman who was facing away from him near the middle of the dance floor. In his memory, everything else around her faded—the lights, the music, the room—until it was just a woman with red curly hair dancing alone. When Scott began pushing through the crowd and making his way toward her, the music and lights returned to his memory.

“There you are,” he said once he reached the girl.

She turned, her beautiful red curls flying around her face gracefully. My heart nearly dropped out of my chest when I—Crystal—realized that I recognized the girl. Who could miss red fiery hair like that? I knew I had seen her at Scott’s funeral.

The memory continued, even though I had no idea what it meant.

The girl beamed up at him. “Scott. You made it!”

He smiled back at her. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

She reached for him and pulled him into a hug. He never pulled away from her but rather wrapped his hands around her waist.

“I was really hoping you’d make it tonight so we could talk later,” she shouted over the music.

“Oh? What do you want to talk about?”

The girl wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I think it’s best if we talk about it later. Not here.”

Scott put a hand to her face and guided her green eyes back to his. “Look, I’m sorry I’m leaving, but my family needs me back home.” The words should have come out quietly, but Scott couldn’t tell her how sorry he was with his tone over the pumping bass. “Dad’s sick, and Mom can’t handle it alone. We all know Jeff isn’t going to help. My parents don’t even want him around anyway after all the crap he’s pulled. Let’s just enjoy our last night together. How does that sound, Lauren?”

Shock riveted through my conscious mind.

Lauren smiled back at him, and then Scott pulled her in closer and slowly brought his lips to hers.

The scene shifted around me. I felt woozy for a second, and then my sense of balance returned. But something was different. There were still lips locked on mine. I opened my eyes to see Robin’s face not even inches from my own. And then the realization of what was happening hit me. I was
kissing
Robin. His lips were soft on mine, and I couldn’t help but go faint at the encounter. He tasted
so
good.

Suddenly, the rational part of my mind broke through the confusion. I found enough strength to push away. All I could do was stare at him in shock. Did I just have my first kiss? My first kiss was the result of a ghostly encounter? That just didn’t seem right.

“What?” Robin asked, stepping closer to me.

I took a step back.

“What’s wrong, Crystal? It wasn’t good?”

It took me a few seconds to process his words. Hold on. Was he saying he was kissing me back? But what about his girlfriend? My head couldn’t take all the confusion right now. I had visions and pieces of the puzzle to sort through. I had to figure out why Robin was kissing me. Did he
want
to kiss me?

I couldn’t breathe. I gasped for air.

Robin immediately rushed to my side. “Crystal, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

I blinked a few times, trying to regain my strength. “I just—I want to go back to the hotel,” I managed to say, although my head was spinning so fast that I could hardly understand him. My balance seemed slightly off, and I wasn’t entirely sure if it was because I’d just had a vision or if it was some reaction to my first kiss. I didn’t have time to decide the cause of it. I gripped Robin’s arm for support and waited until my sense of balance returned.

“Crystal, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I am. I just think I’m getting sick.” My eyebrow didn’t even twitch when I said this, which told me that I believed my own words. “I don’t mean because of you. Sorry. I just . . . Can we please go back?”

Robin led me back to our room, insisting that he support me the whole way so I wouldn’t pass out. I assured him several times that I was fine, and he finally quieted.

Once things went silent on our walk back, I attempted to sort through what I knew. Scott knew a woman named Lauren. That just happened to be the name of the woman’s house Penny sent me to. Lauren was at Scott’s funeral just before Hope was taken. Scott went to school somewhere down here, which is where he met Lauren, which would mean that Lauren was probably from around here. That’s why Hope was here.
Because Lauren was the abductor.

My mouth literally dropped open when this hit me. I know I should have had a much different reaction, but I couldn’t help it when a giant smile came to form across my face. I wasn’t wrong! I was actually getting somewhere. My abilities weren’t failing me. Suddenly, I felt a restored level of faith in myself. I knew what I had to do. I had to go to sleep and hope that my dreams would tell me where Lauren and Hope were, not to mention that it would help if I knew
why
Lauren took Hope.

Although I’d napped not long ago, I fell asleep almost instantly when we returned to the room.

I woke to the feeling of a hand gripping hard around my mouth. Like every night I encountered this, I wanted to scream, but nothing came out. The Crystal part of me that was watching the scene through Hope’s eyes struggled to think straight.
I am not Hope
, I told myself.
I am not being abducted. Think. What’s here that you’ve never seen before?

Even as I thought this, my mind was still caught in confusion. A part of me felt like I was Hope, yet I still knew I was Crystal. The Crystal part of me fought to push through the barrier that muddled everything. I needed to let go of Hope’s fears and think objectively. I needed the Crystal part of me to
see
something. I pushed harder.
Come on
. Suddenly, the Crystal part of me broke through.

And then it hit me. Just like that, the obvious washed over me, and what I hadn’t ever seen before—what Hope hadn’t seen that night—became crystal clear. A red curl peeked out from behind the assailant’s hood. I always thought the perpetrator was male, but now that I looked closer, I realized that the figure was slim.

Suddenly, a lot more about what had happened made sense, like how when I’d tried connecting with Hope, I felt like she didn’t like her
new
mommy.

Hold on, Hope,
I said in my mind.
I’m coming for you.

Once the car door slammed shut and I saw Hope’s freckles and big chocolate eyes in the car mirror, the scene shifted around me as if someone smeared paint across a canvas only to uncover another image underneath.

I stood in a room filled with chairs with an aisle running down the middle. A casket sat at the front of the room, and a photograph of Scott stared back at me. I was back at his funeral.
But what am I doing here?
I thought. I spun around the room to take in my surroundings.

A strange feeling once again called to me from the back of the room. My eyes followed the source, and they fell upon Jeff. Next to him sat a woman with a fiery red bun and black hat.

I drew in a sharp breath.
Lauren
.

Her eyes were fixed on something the same way Jeff’s were when I first encountered this scenario. I followed her gaze to the front of the room. Hope was in her same chair, fidgeting the same way she had the first time I saw her in this same scene. Jeff wasn’t the only one watching her.

My heart beat wildly against my chest as all the pieces of the puzzle began falling into place.
But why? Why had she taken her? Were Jeff and Lauren working together? Where is Hope right now?

Before I had a chance to draw in another breath, the scene shifted around me once again. I heard the beeping of the machines before my eyes adjusted. A white curtain separated the room I was in, and voices whispered behind it.

“You’ll be okay, honey. I promise,” a woman said. I recognized Lauren’s voice.

I took a step closer to the curtain. For a moment, I was afraid she would catch me spying on her, but then I remembered I was seeing into the past. It was always easier to recognize a vision when I wasn’t seeing it through someone else’s eyes.

I crept around the corner of the curtain in the hospital room to view the scene. Lauren sat next to the bed and had her hands wrapped around those of a little girl’s. For a second, I thought I saw Hope lying there, but then I realize that this girl was older and had lighter eyes.

Penny
.

Of course!
I thought. I remembered something Penny had said to me.
I don’t think she’s safe. My mom has kind of . . . gone crazy. She’s not herself.
I scolded myself for not seeing the connection sooner.

“I’m scared, Mama,” Penny said from the hospital bed. Tears rose to her eyes, which only made my heart sting. The way mother and daughter looked at each other was almost too sad to bear. I knew how this story ended. I knew Penny wasn’t going to make it.

“Honey, the doctors perform surgeries every day,” Lauren assured her. “They know what they’re doing.”

Penny sniffled. “I just . . .” She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Lauren ran a hand through Penny’s brown hair. “You’ve had heart surgery before, and look how strong you came through. We can’t accept anything less than you making it through this time.” I had a suspicion that Lauren was saying these words more for her own sake than for Penny’s.

“Colette and Abby will be here in the morning to wish you good luck,” Lauren told her. Fear held strong in her eyes when she stared at her daughter.

I couldn’t take it anymore. Even though Lauren had taken Hope, I felt bad that she’d lost Penny. A sob caught in my throat the same time I was whisked away from the dream.

I sprung straight up in bed. My sheets were damp with sweat, and my mind was reeling. It took a few seconds for my eyes to focus, and when they did, I found two figures standing at the end of my hotel bed.

“You have to help her,” Penny pleaded.

My hand came up to support my pounding headache. It was early, so little light was seeping in through the windows. I looked back and forth between the two figures. Scott and Penny stood at the foot of my bed, side by side. Their eyes were the same color of green, and their facial features were strikingly similar. How could I not have noticed this before? Everything was starting to make sense now. I was overcome with relief knowing that I wasn’t wrong about everything and that my abilities were still leading me in the right direction.

“You didn’t know,” I whispered so quietly that even if he was awake, Robin wouldn’t have heard me.

They both looked back at me with a quizzical expression.

“That’s what you said to me,” I explained to Scott. I heard a stir from the other bed and looked over at Robin. He was still asleep, but I lowered my voice anyway. “I thought you misspoke when I asked you where Hope was. You said, ‘I didn’t know.’ You meant you didn’t know about Penny, didn’t you?”

I could see it in his eyes. That’s what Lauren wanted to tell him that night they were dancing together. That’s what he never knew.

“Look,” Scott said. “Lauren isn’t dangerous. She’s just . . . not herself. You need to get Hope back to her mom for everyone’s sake. Lauren needs help.”

Everything was making sense to me now, but I still had so many questions. Why did Lauren take Hope in the first place? Why didn’t anyone suspect her? Where was Hope now?

“Where is she?” I asked, but before I could get an answer, both figures disappeared the same moment a voice cut through the momentary silence.

“Who are you talking to?”

My head jerked toward Robin in surprise. My heart sped up, and my breathing quickened. I’d just been caught, and I couldn’t meet his gaze. “Um . . . myself,” was all I could say. I could already feel my eyebrow twitching before I said it.

Robin narrowed his eyes at me. It was that same look everyone else gave me when I told them I was psychic, like they didn’t quite believe me.

I could feel my face flush. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d been caught talking to ghosts or because seeing him made me think about our kiss last night.

“You were talking to yourself?” Robin asked skeptically.

I still couldn’t meet his gaze. Since I’d learned about my powers, I’d been wary about telling anyone. My mother warned me about telling people, but as my eyes lifted to meet Robin’s stare, I saw a glimmer of something in them. For a moment, I thought he might actually believe me. I again wondered if Robin had a gift like Teddy did, a heightened intuition. If he did, I couldn’t pass up a chance to share this with someone my own age.

I sighed, preparing myself to divulge my secret. It felt like the right thing to do. “Okay,” I started slowly. “I wasn’t talking to myself. I was . . .” I didn’t know if I could say it, yet Robin had been so nice to me after I thought I saw the abductor in the gas station. Maybe he had realized I was psychic and took a liking to me because of it. I wrung my hands in my lap. It all made sense, so he’d have to believe me, right?

I took another deep breath and forced down any uncertainties I had about telling him. “I was talking to a ghost,” I told him slowly. “Well, two, actually.” I couldn’t look at him when I said this. I was always afraid of people’s reactions after I told them. For some reason, though, telling Robin brought even more fear and nerves to my body. In all fairness, I didn’t know him that well. I used that as justification for why I was feeling so weird telling him my secret.

I waited for what seemed like forever, but it must have only been a split second. Robin didn’t react the way I thought he would. I was expecting one of two things. Either he would excitedly admit he was psychic, too, or he would scoff and make fun of me. Either way, I would know if he was psychic or not.

But neither of those things happened. He just sat in his bed and looked at me expressionless. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“Robin?” I finally broke the silence.

His expression shifted. My heart sank deep into my chest when he said, “Are you trying to tell me our hotel room is haunted? I’m not going to fall for that.”

I held my breath in an attempt to think straight. What did that even mean? Was he saying he didn’t believe me?

“Robin,” I scolded. “Be serious for a second. I’m trying to tell you a very important secret, and it’s really hard for me.” I forced myself to meet his gaze to gauge his reaction.

A smile formed across his face, and for a second, I thought this was it. I thought that he was going to tell me he was psychic. Instead, he just sarcastically said, “Yeah, okay.”

“Wait, you mean, you’re not psychic?” I thought I had put the pieces together and that I had figured him out. I could feel he had a secret, and being psychic seemed logical seeing as Teddy had some sort of gift, too.

He laughed. A hole formed at the pit of my stomach, and my eyes burned. I couldn’t believe I’d just divulged my deepest secret to someone who didn’t understand. Mom had told me people would use it against me. She had warned me about telling too many people. Suddenly, Robin felt like one too many, and that made my heart ache on a deeper level than I thought possible.

Disappointment washed over me when I realized my suspicions about him were completely off. If he wasn’t psychic, then what secret was he hiding? I asked the question in my mind, and suddenly, the answer came to me. Certain things about him started making sense, like how he always wore long pants, how he wouldn’t go swimming with me or touch the water on the beach, and how he wouldn’t jump up and down at the concert. That’s why he’d scowled at me when I ran around the motel and made fun of me because I played sports. It’s why he wanted to go into occupational therapy.

“I am psychic!” I insisted. I couldn’t stand the thought of him not believing me. He just had to. “I’ll prove it. If I’m not psychic, how do I know about your prosthetic leg?”

Robin recoiled in shock.

“Your ‘defense mechanism?’ You’re self-conscious because of your leg.”

Anger flickered across Robin’s face, but then his expression shifted. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“How else would I have known?” I challenged.

“My uncle,” he said as if the answer was obvious. And it was. Why hadn’t the universe given me something good to convince him with?

“Let’s stop playing games,” Robin insisted. “I know you’re just trying to get out of talking about what happened last night.”

I was momentarily confused, thinking he was talking about my vision on the dance floor, but how could he know about that? An instant later, the rest came back to me.

“Oh. Right. Our kiss.” I could hardly say the words myself, as if saying it was admitting it happened. My voice came out as a whisper. “I’m sorry about that. I, uh, wasn’t myself.”

“Sorry? Crystal, if I remember right, I was the one who kissed you.”