Destined for Dreams: Book One (14 page)

I shake my head. “Don’t worry about me. Just enjoy yourself. I’m sure I’ll get over it.”

A boy with short, dark brown hair in a T-shirt and jeans, with tattoos from his forearms to his wrists comes up next to Jacqueline and leans toward her. He whispers something in her ear and she blushes and turns to look at me. I smile and wink and she lets the boy tug her away toward a booth in the far corner.

I glance around to look for Alyssa, but she’s nowhere to be found, so I make my way off the dance floor, ignoring looks from a few boys hanging out at a table nearby.

“Your friend should be careful.” A boy with shaggy, blond hair stands up from the table and grabs my hand. “Ryder is an incubus. He’s been known to cause a few problems for people around here.”

I tug my hand away and don’t meet the boy’s eyes. “My friend is a necromancer. He should be the one to worry.”

The boy leans closer. “You’re new around here.”

His face is inches away from mine and I pull away. I know he’s trying to be friendly, but I’m not exactly in a friendly mood. I press my lips together. “You’re really brave talking to me.”

His brows knit together. “Why?”

“I’m a nightmare inflictor.”

He steps back and glances at the two boys sitting at his table. Before he has a chance to do or say anything, I shrug past him and walk to the kitchen. I don’t want to be here anymore.

I need to clear my head.

HUNTER

“Nadia’s leaving, Jackie,”
I say.

“I’m sure she’s not going to abandon me. She’ll be back.”

“You should probably stick together.”

“Shut up, Hunter. I’m trying to have a conversation.”

Jacqueline stares at some guy named Ryder with a lip and eyebrow piercing, tattooed sleeves, and a crooked nose like he’s the greatest thing on earth. He’s definitely textbook bad boy and I bet a lot of girls fall for him. Maybe I’ll get a tattoo when I get my body back. I need some street cred after everything that has happened to me.

Ryder taps his fingers on the table. “You work for the council? I saw you with Dmitri. You know people around here call him the Night Terrorizer? He’s pretty badass as long as you’re not on his bad side.”

“I only live at the compound,” Jacqueline says. “Moved in a few days ago. What do you mean the Night Terrorizer?”

“You know, because he’s a nightmare inflictor. I had a friend volunteer to be his victim once, said it was the craziest, freakiest thing he’d ever experienced.”

Jacqueline bats her eyelashes and then thinks, “I’ve been having a lot of nightmares lately. I wonder if Nadia...”

Oh crap. This isn’t good.
“I’d know if someone was intruding your thoughts, Jackie. I’d definitely know if it was Nadia,”
I say.

Her suspicion melts away. “You’re right, Hunter. I’m being paranoid.”

I really hope she believes me and I hope Nadia comes back to see me so I can tell her that Jacqueline suspects something. Nothing good can happen for anyone if Jacqueline finds out.

Jacqueline leans back and stares at the crowd of dancers. “I’ve never heard of that ability,” she says to Ryder.

Ryder lowers his eyebrows. “Funny how the council makes you register and inform them of what you are, but aren’t exactly open about their employees.”

Jacqueline shifts nervously. “How do you know if someone invades your dreams?”

“I told you I’d know.”
She ignores me.

“Why do you ask? You been having nightmares? I know someone who can give you something to find out if you want.”

Jacqueline peers at the dance floor. “I don’t know. My friend never mentioned her ability, but I don’t think she’s hiding it from me. I’ve just never asked.”

Ryder grins. One side of his mouth is higher than the other. “Everyone hides something though, like you for example. It’d be a shame if anyone found out your little secret. Lucky for you, the council doesn’t allow incubuses there.”

What? Who is this guy?

He licks his lips and leans forward to grab Jacqueline’s hand. “But don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Jacqueline laughs nervously. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“That body isn’t yours. You stole it from a human, huh? Their aura keeps peeking through.”

A rush of alarm courses around me. “Oh, no. I’m losing it. I’m being careless. No one should be able to see Hunter, not even an incubus.”
Jacqueline’s thoughts ring clear as day even though she didn’t mean for me to hear them. Something is going on with her. I hope it doesn’t affect me.

Then it hits me. Ryder is an incubus. His kind is well-known with the HPA because they’re lethal. They siphon energy from people, and that’s why he can see me.

I can’t believe it.

“Oh, god. This is so embarrassing.” Jacqueline squeezes Ryder’s hands. “How awful it would’ve been if someone other than you found out. How can I thank you?”

Jacqueline is laying it on pretty thick and she has Ryder wrapped around her finger already. She doesn’t correct his assumption about stealing a body and probably never will. I bet he thinks he has a chance with her. He better not have one though. This situation sucks enough as it is. I’ll be permanently placed in the void if that were the case. It’s what I would do.

He grins at Jacqueline. “Dance with me.”

NADIA

I sit in the dimly lit stairwell outside the exit from the kitchen. I’m pretty sure my father told Cian to stop me from leaving, but it’s not like I’m brave enough to go anywhere alone. So, here I am avoiding contact with everyone except a brief greeting to the cook.

Something is seriously wrong with me because I can’t even relax and have fun for a few hours. Maybe I’m the one who’s actually going crazy from visiting Jacqueline’s dreams over and over again. I only know of the consequences for the dreamer, not for myself.
You can’t live with him in a dream forever.

But I want to.

Part of me is terrified of visiting him again. I’m frightened because of the board and what they could do to me and I’m scared of the council, too. They’d never allow it. It would be breaking a serious rule—putting the compound in jeopardy. It’s impossible to even consider a future with Hunter, but I still want to imagine it.

I wish my mother were here. She’d know what to say or what I should do. She picked a hard life for herself falling in love with my father. Her life was one consequence after another.
Look where it got her.
I wonder if she thought it was worth it. I wonder if my father would agree.

“Nadia?”

I tilt my head up and stare at a silhouette in the bright light of the kitchen. Alyssa steps in and closes the door behind her. Her stilettos echo off the concrete stairs as she takes a few steps to join me.

I pat the spot next to me. “A lot is going on in there.”

“Sorry I left you,” she says.

I look at her and smile. “As long as you had fun, it’s okay.”

“But you didn’t.” I lean my head against hers.

I tap my foot. “It’s not that, it’s just—this is going to sound crazy.” I take a deep breath and blow a puff of air through my lips. “I can’t stop thinking about Hunter. I know I should just forget about him.”

I press my lips together and stare at my hands. Alyssa doesn’t say anything and I know she agrees that my thoughts are crazy. To her, liking Hunter is like being infatuated with an imaginary person, a dream boy. He’s only real to me. No one but me can see or hear him inside Jacqueline’s mind. Alyssa couldn’t possibly understand.

After a minute, Alyssa says, “I don’t think you sound crazy. I think you are crazy.” She giggles and then touches my knee. “You do realize that life will be hard and the only way you’ll have some semblance of normalcy is if you figure out how to free Hunter, right?”

I sigh. “I can just live in the dream world.” I’m mostly joking, but the thought is way better than having to confront Jacqueline and then force her to let him go. If she’s working with the board, that’ll most likely start a war I can’t win. It’s also possible that Hunter’s not interested in me and I might be just a way out. I’ll never know for certain unless I do it.

“Can you at least pick a place I can visit?”

We both laugh and it lightens the depressed mood I’m in. Maybe after I make a decision, Alyssa can tell me whether or not it’s a good one. If only her visions were concrete. Life would be a lot easier.

Alyssa grabs the rail and pulls to her feet. “My advice is to just not make any decisions yet. First think about the future you’d have with Hunter and if it would be worth risking everything you have for it.”

She’s right, like always. “You can’t tell me that?”

“That’s only something you can decide.” She takes my hand and pulls me up. “Now, come on, your dad is about to notice we’re not inside.”

14
. REAL TO ME

NADIA

Jacqueline was quiet the entire ride back to the compound and the moment my father parked, she was greeted by Mr. Soto and whisked away. She was acting bizarre after I pulled her away from the incubus on the dance floor, and I’m pretty sure I was mentioned in conversation. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

My father strolls next to me in the bright moonlight. “I have to escort one of the council members to a sanctuary in Arizona.”

I sigh. I thought I’d get to spend more time with my father than a measly day. “They can’t get someone else? You just got home.”

“It’s a short trip. A few days tops.”

I run my fingers along the chain-link fence of the perimeter. “That’s what you said last time.”

He slings his arm around my shoulders and hugs me. “It won’t always be like this, Nadi, promise.”

He sounds so sure that I almost believe him. But, as long as the HPA is around, it’ll always be like this. He’ll be sent out for weeks at a time to places I’m not allowed to know, doing who knows what. I’m afraid it’s going to eventually wear him down.

I stop in my tracks and look past him. “I hope you’re right.”

HUNTER

“What’s wrong with me?” Jacqueline says out loud. She’s staring at herself in the mirror, combing her curly hair with her fingers. “I can’t focus. I feel so tired, but I know I slept. I’m losing control.”

“Hey, Jackie, just thought I’d mention that you’re talking out loud.”

“Shut up, Hunter! I can’t think!”

She rubs her eyes and blinks a few times. She leans closer to the mirror and presses her nose to the glass. Her purple eyes look different, wider, scarier.

“Too much fun hanging out with Tats?”

“His name is Ryder.” Her voice echoes around me again.

“Well, there you go. You’re thinking again.”

“Go away, Hunter. You’re distracting me.”

The lights go out and Jacqueline tosses me into the void. I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but she was freaking me out a little. It was like she was trying to pluck me out of her head, and failing miserably.

Fear and loneliness swirl around me in the darkness and I try to imagine being with Nadia. She’s the one who understands what I’m going through, and just the thought that she may come back to visit me gives me enough hope to not lose myself in this black abyss.

The air around me shifts and I hear a pop before I see the familiar darkness of the inside of Jacqueline’s eyes. She finally fell asleep and let her guard down.

NADIA

I hug my father outside of the guest apartment building. He doesn’t have a permanent residence on the compound because he’s not here enough. The council thought it’d be a waste of space for us to use one of the family cottages for that reason. I don’t mind much though. I like having my own personal space.

I glide across the grass and toward the dorms. It’s well past midnight and I consider not going to my room because sometimes the temptation of sleeping people is too hard for me to manage.

I wring my hands together outside the door and take a deep breath before going inside. The lobby is quiet and the television is off. I force myself to keep moving toward the hallway to my dorm room. My stomach burns and I grab the wall to support myself. Jacqueline is asleep in her room and excitement and anxiety pulse through me when I think about Hunter. It’d be the perfect time to visit him again. Morning won’t be here for hours.

Jacqueline is hunched over in a chair, resting her head on her vanity table. She’s sleeping deeply and I close the door. I glide across her room, touch my fingers to her head, and then fall into her dream.

HUNTER

I can’t help being pissed at Jacqueline for throwing me into the void. Now that she’s decided to stay here, I bet she’ll do it more and more and I can’t do anything about it. From how crazy she was acting, I bet she’ll keep me locked away during her wakeful hours.

“Hunter?”

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I didn’t even feel Nadia arrive.

“I’m here,” I say as I slip into Jacqueline’s dream world.

Nadia stands on the edge of a cliff overlooking a greenish-gray ocean. The sky behind her swirls with dark clouds, and in the distance is a rundown power plant.

Nadia wrings her pale fingers together. She looks uneasy and nothing like the last time she appeared in Jacqueline’s dream. Her light gray eyes shift and she presses her pink, heart-shaped lips together.

I step closer and she turns, touching the tips of her boots to the ledge of the cliff. She gazes at the murky ocean and I half expect her to dive off the edge, abandoning me again. She doesn’t move when I touch her bare arm, but instead reaches up and rests her hand on mine.