Destined for Dreams: Book One (19 page)

Alyssa pulls into the parking garage and waves to the parking attendant. He gives her a pass and she parks near the top of the garage, away from the regular tenant activity. She gets out first and then leans in and says, “Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

I’d stay in the car all night if she would let me. It’s less tempting to stay hidden amongst empty cars than going into a building full of sleeping people.

Jacqueline moans next to me and I stiffen when her eyes flutter open. She shifts in the seat and runs her fingers through her mess of dark, curly hair. She blinks a few times, her lavender eyes shifting to hazel and back, and then she focuses on me.

“Is this real? I’m so confused,” she says after a long silent minute. “Where are we?”

I rub my hands together. “The Haven. The council knows about your deal with the board, Jacqueline.” I lie because if I tell her the truth, I’m afraid I’ll strangle her for trying to kill me. I need to be her friend while the rest of the world is her enemy so she’ll trust me. “Alyssa’s getting us a room so we can figure things out.”

I jump at the sudden tap on the window and turn to see Alyssa. She opens the door and helps me out, and then stares at Jacqueline who doesn’t move. Alyssa pulls a small necklace from her pocket and tosses it at Jacqueline. “You need to wear this.”

My knees quiver and I stumble. “Is it safe?”

Alyssa nods. “Come on. I managed to get a room.”

Jacqueline puts the necklace on and her eyes widen. She waves her hands in front of her face and tears drip onto her cheeks. “What is this?”

Alyssa grimaces. “An action control talisman. I’m sorry, I had to. I don’t trust you. Now get out of the car and walk ahead of us and don’t say a word.”

Alyssa managed to acquire an elf-spelled talisman that will influence Jacqueline to follow our orders. While it can’t force Jacqueline to do bad things, it can make her follow simple commands like no talking, no running, and no fighting.

Alyssa slides her arm around my shoulders and helps me walk while Jacqueline quietly shuffles in front of us. She helps me climb the stairs, but before we reach the top, the world shifts.

I’m so dizzy. My vision is shadowed and black stars swirl in front of me. My knees buckle and I stumble.

I close my eyes. I can’t do this any longer.

HUNTER

“Why are they doing this to me?” Jacqueline thinks. “Please, let me say something, anything. Come on, Jacqueline, just open your mouth. You can do it. Say something. Say anything. Open your mouth!”

Jacqueline’s emotions run hot and fast around me. She’s terrified, confused, nervous, and really, really pissed.

“They know you made a deal with the board. Of course they don’t trust you,”
I say.

“But I haven’t done anything to them! I wasn’t going to go through with it.”
Her voice rings so loud around me, I almost jump into the void myself to get away from it.

“Calm down, Jackie. I’m sure this will all get figured out.”
I want to tell her what I really mean when I say it’ll get figured out, but I don’t. I still have to share her head with her and I’m sure I’ll be permanently put in the void when she finds out that she’s really here because of me.

“How do you know, Hunter? I need to leave, now!”

I laugh.
“How does it feel being trapped? Not good, hopefully.”

Jacqueline screams in her mind.

“Nadia? Nadia?” I can hear Alyssa, but I can’t see what’s going on because Jacqueline is staring at the ground.

Jacqueline turns to look, but she stops and stares at the wall. “I can’t look,” Jacqueline thinks. “The charm won’t let me.”

I’m slightly annoyed because if Jacqueline can’t look, then it means that I don’t get to see either. And I want to see. I need to see. Something is happening to Nadia and it sends me into a cloud of tangible anxiety. I haven’t felt this anxious since losing my body.

“Stay with me, Nadia. I’m going to find a volunteer. Jacqueline?”

Jacqueline looks at Alyssa and tears blur her eyes. Nadia is lying on the floor with her knees curled to her chest. Her eyes are closed, her brows puckered, and her expression is one of unrelenting agony. It hurts just to see her like this.

“Help me get her inside and watch her until I come back.”

Jacqueline and Alyssa help Nadia into the apartment. It’s pretty spacious, much larger than the hole in the wall one we stayed at before going to the compound. It’s furnished with a worn couch, coffee table, and a few book shelves, but nothing much more that I can see.

“Don’t touch or talk to her,” Alyssa says to Jacqueline. “Don’t even move. It’ll teach you to mess with my best friend and give you a taste of your own power. It’s not nice to keep souls hostage.”

“I haven’t done anything. What is she talking about? I thought this was about the council.”
Jacqueline’s thoughts are panicked and tears cloud our vision. She blinks, but it doesn’t help. She silently cries as she shuffles to the couch and sits down. “How does she even know about you?”

I don’t answer her question. She deserves this. She deserves to have her lies unraveled, to be discovered for whom she really is, and to suffer the consequences of her decisions, even if she did it for self-preservation. It’s what I’m doing now. I’m not going to sit back and hope for the best. I’m fighting to get my body back—my life back. 

Alyssa props Nadia’s head on a pillow and glares at Jacqueline. “Tears aren’t going to make me feel sorry for you,” she says. “If Nadia dies because of that horrible nightmare catcher you set, your life is going to turn into a real nightmare.”

“What? What is she talking about? I didn’t set a nightmare catcher. I’d never intentionally hurt Nadia.” Her thoughts are racing and it’s freaking me out a little.

“Technically you did,”
I say.
“You knocked over the gift from Ryder and I’m guessing it wasn’t some fake little trinket.”

“Oh, no! No! No! No! This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening, Hunter. They’re going to kill me. I know it.”

Her emotions are clouding my own thoughts.
“What happens to me if you die?”
I need to know. It’s very possible that if Nadia doesn’t recover, Alyssa won’t give Jacqueline the opportunity to explain herself.

“We die together.”

19
. FOREVER CHANGED

NADIA

“Hunter?” I call.

I’m standing in the middle of a dark parking lot filled to capacity with hundreds of vehicles. The night sky sparkles with millions of stars and a low murmur of hushed voices swirl in a warm breeze. My hair tickles my cheeks as it blows in my face, and I tuck it behind my ears.

“Hunter, are you here?”

Something is different about this dream. The atmosphere feels unfamiliar and it clicks in my head that I’m not invading Jacqueline’s dream at all. I’ve never inflicted nightmares on this person before.

“Come on, Jamie, it’ll be fun. You know it.”

I’ve never heard the voice, but it’s the dreamer’s, and it triggers a hunger so overwhelming, I reach out and smack the side of the truck next to me. It explodes like a bomb, a boom loud enough to shake the ground, and fire and metal shrapnel crash around me.

Chaos erupts in the parking lot and shadows shoot past me. Car alarms ring out in unison, people scream, metal rains from the sky and scrapes the asphalt, and I saunter forward, gliding to the cacophonous symphony of the delicious nightmare.

I smack the hood of another car and it bursts into glorious red and orange flames that light the night. I breathe deeply, the taste of spicy chili powder and tangy mango fills my mouth.

“We have to get out of here!” a man yells. I spot him in between cars the next row over. His muscular arms wrap around a woman’s shoulders and she stares in horror in my direction.

Her short brown hair blows in the wind. “We’ll never make it, Eric,” she says.

The woman darts away from Eric and his eyes widen as she runs straight in my direction. I grin at the imaginary woman’s sacrifice to protect the dreamer. I brace myself for the inevitable and hold my arms wide for her. She screams as she rushes me, and when she’s within reach, I wrap my arms around her and she disintegrates in my hug. Her dream essence is citrusy and I feel life and energy flow through my veins.

“Jamie, no!” Eric yells before racing in my direction. There are two types of dreamers—the ones who will run from their worst nightmares and ones who face them head on. Eric’s boots echo as his feet pound the ground and he tackles me.

I smile, seeing the fear in his eyes as he faces me, and then the world around us begins to crack. I suck in as much of the dream as I can and then Eric’s wild eyes disappear as I consume the rest of his nightmare.

The world shifts. I’m confused and disoriented and anxious, but the burning in my soul has eased and I can feel my legs again.

My vision is blurry and I lean over and grip my knees. “What happened? Where am I?” My voice is barely a whisper and my mouth is so dry is hurts to speak.

“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

I want to believe Alyssa’s words, but the huge pit in my stomach is hard to ignore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay, but at least I’m alive. I’m so relieved to be alive.

HUNTER

Muffled voices come from the front door as Alyssa half carries Nadia back into the apartment. I’m so relieved that she’s alive. I desperately needed her to be okay. I would trade my soul for hers to guarantee it. Every time I see her, my feelings grow stronger and stronger. I’m falling in love with her and I can’t stop it.

It’s strange. I’ve only spent a short amount of time with her, but I know her. I know the real her and no one will ever know her as the beautiful nightmare inflictor she is.

Alyssa guides Nadia down a short hallway and disappears into a bedroom. Jacqueline shifts her feet and keeps her eyes trained on the door until Alyssa emerges alone.

“Nadia will be okay,” Alyssa says. She strolls up to the couch and plops down next to Jacqueline. “As long as you don’t scream or try to run, you’re free to talk and move.”

“What should I do, Hunter?”
It’s unlike Jacqueline to rely on me to make decisions. She’s like a scared kid and I feel sort of bad for her. Just a little bit.

“Maybe you should start by telling her that you didn’t plan on killing Nadia,”
I say.

Jacqueline clears her throat. “I didn’t try to kill Nadia, I swear.” She wrings her hands together. “The nightmare catcher was a gift from the boy I met yesterday, Alyssa. I didn’t even know what it was. You have to believe me.”

“How am I supposed to believe someone who has told nothing but lies?” Alyssa asks.

“I had to lie. I didn’t have a choice.” Jacqueline sits straighter. She thinks, “Please believe me, Alyssa, please. Please. Please. Please.” The words are chanted over and over again and I stay silent.

“Don’t say that. You had a choice and you chose to lie. You chose to pretend to be something you weren’t,” Alyssa says. “Why? Why risk it?”

“They’ll never understand. How could they?”
Jacqueline thinks. She untwines her fingers and rests her hands on her knees, staring at the carpet. “I had nothing to lose. I admit I’ve made some bad choices, but I wasn’t ready to die. The council would’ve never considered me as a candidate. I had to lie.”

Alyssa clucks her tongue. “If you want the ability to talk, stop skipping around the subject.”

“What am I supposed to say?” Jacqueline’s voice rises and she digs her nails into the skin on her knees. “You already know about Hunter and what I am. I have nothing else to say!”

Jacqueline’s fear turns to anger and I say,
“I think she’s expecting you to tell her why you’re holding me hostage.”

“Oh, shut up, Hunter! You don’t know anything. Do you expect they’ll help you or something? You do realize that you’re the enemy, right?” Jacqueline’s shrill voice echoes through the room and she jerks her head up and stares at Alyssa. Panic rushes around me and Jacqueline’s voice echoes when she thinks, “Not again! Why do I keep doing that? What’s wrong with me?”

Alyssa twists her lips to the side and lowers her eyebrows. “Actually, that is exactly why you’re here, Jacqueline, because of Hunter.”

“His mother is on the board of the HPA. You don’t want anything to do with him. He’s bad, bad news,” Jacqueline sputters.

“Nadia doesn’t think so.” Alyssa runs her hand through her hair. “All we want is for you to put him back into his body. If you do, we’ll forget about everything.”

Jacqueline shakes her head and gets to her feet. “I can’t go back to the HPA. The only way I’d come out alive is if I give them the information they want about the council and I don’t have it yet. Would you really want me to do that? I’m only safe at the compound. I’d rather die than face the horrors the HPA will inflict on me.”

NADIA

I sit on the edge of the bed. The last few hours flood my mind and it’s a lot to take in. I’m drowning in an abyss of questions and what ifs, and uncertainty. I should regret kidnapping Jacqueline and for dragging her away from the compound, but I don’t. I can’t. Hunter deserves to have someone fight for him. I’d hope he’d do the same for me.

And now my life is forever changed. I’m forever changed.

I close my eyes and lean back. I imagine the heart-wrenching pain of being pulled into Jacqueline’s room by the nightmare catcher. I remember the vile taste of the black fog and how empty I felt. My skin crawls and I sit up. For a split second, I don’t see anything except the life sucking fog.

I scream.

When I open my eyes, the room is normal. I was hallucinating. My heart hammers and it takes me a second to catch my breath.