Destined for Dreams: Book One (22 page)

I drop my hands to my sides and look at Alyssa. She’s staring off into the distance, her eyes glassy, and then she stiffens. Her eyes shift back and forth, watching something I can’t see, and then she blinks and looks at me.

“You’ve made a decision.” She rubs her face. “You have to change your mind.”

Tears fall from my eyes and I shake my head. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

“Please, Nadia. It’s the wrong decision.”

I turn away from her and stroll a few feet away. Alyssa has seen something horrible. I don’t want to hear it though. I can’t. “You know as well as I do that nothing is set in stone. You could be wrong.”

Alyssa comes up next to me and clutches my arm. “You don’t understand. I saw the name on the grave.”

“It’s mine, isn’t it?”

She nods. “You’re going to die so Hunter can live. Is he really worth it? You don’t even know him.” She grimaces and smacks the side of a car parked near the curb. “I’m not letting you do this. I’m not. Not for this boy you’ve only met in dreams.”

I press my lips together. Her words sting. “You can’t stop me.”

She covers her face with her hands. “Please.”

“You don’t have to help me.”

She looks at me through her fingers. “Yes, I do. You know why? Because I can’t live with myself if I sit back and hope for the best. If you’re this set on doing something that you know will kill you, then I’m determined to save you. I’m not letting this vision come true.”

I smile and hug her. “Things will work out how they’re supposed to.”

She pulls away and glares at me. “Only I can say that.”

We both laugh through tears and head in the direction of the apartment. Even with the idea of death hanging over my head, I don’t feel guilty about my decision. I know I’m making the right one, and not just for Hunter. This is the right decision for me. I can feel it.

22
. SAVING YOURSELF

HUNTER

“Release Jacqueline.” I’m so happy to hear Nadia’s voice.

Waiting in the dark with Jacqueline is pure torture. She’s pretty much given up on life and is depressing me out. No matter how much I’ve argued and reasoned with her, she just won’t give in. She’s the most selfish, apathetic person I’ve ever met.

Yes, there have been times that I thought I understood her. And at times, I would’ve done what she had done in her situation. The fact is that she put herself in this situation and now refuses to accept that her decisions are coming back around. She’s not the powerful monster I thought she was. She’s a coward. She’s weak and alone and scared. She has lived a life without meaning and it kills me that she’s making me end mine the same. I never had a chance to make something of myself—to be somebody, to do some good.

Jacqueline’s eyes open and she sits up. She blinks and stretches and turns to face Nadia.

“What could she possibly want now?” Jacqueline thinks.

“I don’t know,”
I say.

Nadia steps closer and kneels in front of Jacqueline. She rests her hands on Jacqueline’s knees and stares into her eyes. It feels like she’s looking past Jacqueline and to me and she is more calm and put together than I’ve ever seen her.

Her indigo eyes shine in the light. “I don’t want you to die,” she says. “That’s not me. I don’t think I could live with myself if you or Hunter dies. I’m not a monster. I’m not. And I don’t think you’re one either.” It sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. “You may not think so, but I do understand where you’re coming from.”

“So what now? Can I go back to the compound and pretend none of this happened?” Jacqueline swipes a curl from her eyes.

This is crazy. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life trapped in here. I’m not.
“You’re the devil, Jackie!”
I yell.

She ignores me.

Nadia blinks. “Well, no. I can’t live with myself knowing that you’re holding Hunter hostage either.”

Jacqueline looks down at the floor. “I don’t get it.”

Nadia glances at Alyssa standing near the door before meeting Jacqueline’s gaze again. “I want to help you. I’ll go with you to Hunter’s body and we can protect each other. I’ll risk my own life to help you both. You don’t really want to live with Hunter forever do you?”

“Of course I don’t. Why are you willing to risk your life for him?” Jacqueline asks. “I need to understand.”

Her gaze drops to the floor. “I’m falling in love with him.”

The room is dead silent.

I wish I could pull her into my arms and kiss her. I want to feel her against me, to smell the scent of her hair, to tell her that I’m falling in love with her, too. I regret not telling her before she told me goodbye. I want to be with her in the real world so badly.

“Jacqueline, I can’t let her sacrifice herself for me. You have to tell her.”

“You love her, too.”
It’s not a question but a realization.

“Tell her I’d rather be stuck in your head than have her die. I wanted her help, but not like this.”

“She won’t believe me.”

“Please, Jacqueline. I don’t want to lose her.”

NADIA

Jacqueline’s eyes shift from lavender to hazel and my heartbeat pounds in my ears as I admit the truth out loud. Jacqueline’s eyes revert to normal and she blinks before leaning back on the couch. She stares at her hands without meeting my eyes.

Jacqueline finally meets my gaze again. “I’m sorry, Nadia. This is all so crazy. It’s still too dangerous. I have to make physical contact with Hunter’s body to put him back. Even with your help, I don’t think we’d succeed.”

“What if you didn’t have to touch him?” I ask.

Jacqueline shifts. “That’s different, but what does it matter?”

“I think it’s possible that Hunter could project himself out of your body and into his.”

Jacqueline sits straighter and rests her hands on her knees. “I guess it’s possible. He’s using my body as an anchor now. He’d just need to let go. But, that usually means death.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” I say. “From what I understand, when a person projects, they are tethered to the anchor, which is you. I think it’s possible that you can hold onto his tether long enough for him to make it back to his body.”

Jacqueline frowns. “I’d have to be close to do that.”

“But you wouldn’t have to touch him, right?”

Jacqueline’s eyes change colors and then she shrugs. “Hunter says he’s willing to try.”

HUNTER

I can’t believe it. Nadia somehow got through to Jacqueline and she’s going to help me. Every time I think it’s over, it turns out that it’s not, and that gives me hope for my future. I’m not sure if it’s because a new option is available, that she really does want to get rid of me, or if maybe she wants to make it up to me. I’d like to think it’s the latter, but I doubt it. It doesn’t matter anyway.

“We should probably practice, Hunter.”

Fear swells around me. I thought I would just wing it. What if I’m not successful and I just die? Would I just disappear and become nothing? What happens next? I thought I’d have more time to prepare myself.

“I think I’ll just wait until I’m closer to my body, thanks,”
I say.

“I promise that I’ll keep you tethered to me. I’ll only release you when you want to be released. I can’t just kill you, remember?”

It’s hard to trust her, but I know she’s right. If she could kill me, she’d have done it the moment she decided to stay at the compound. I’m her punishment for stealing a pure soul.
“Can you walk me through it?”

“I’m not exactly sure, Hunter. You just have to want it.”

What I want is to be in the real world with Nadia. I don’t want to have to have Jacqueline relay my thoughts to her. I don’t want to wait until Jacqueline’s sleeping to touch her. I want to be with her so much I can imagine I’m standing in front of her.

A popping noise sounds out and the world shifts. It’s like when I manifest into Jacqueline’s dreams, but this is different. Everything looks exactly the same, yet something is different. I feel different. I feel like a weight has been lifted from me and I can finally move again. I’m free.

“It worked,” Jacqueline says out loud.

I stare into Jacqueline’s lavender eyes. I’m standing in front of her instead of viewing everything through her eyes. I look down and imagine this is what it’d be like if I were a ghost. My body is translucent and I’m guessing it’s all in my mind. It’s really like I’m just a projection.

“I can’t see him.” I turn and look at Nadia. She squints her eyes and stares intently in my general direction. She’s close enough that I can touch her, so I reach out and run my hand along her cheek. Electricity tingles through me and her eyes widen. She touches the spot on her cheek where my energy brushed against her.

“You have to come back Hunter. I’m losing you.” I turn back to Jacqueline and notice a light blue strand of translucent energy connecting us together. It’s so faint that I can barely see it, but I know it’s there. I can feel Jacqueline’s presence like a shadow hanging over me.

“Hold onto me for one more minute.”

NADIA

“Are you okay, Jacqueline?” I ask.

She doesn’t respond.

“Jacqueline?”

Nothing.

She stares straight ahead. She’s lost in concentration. Her lavender eyes suddenly dart to mine and she points at nothing. She doesn’t talk or try to move, but just sits there pointing next to me. It’s like she’s terrified to look away.

A wave of heat washes over me and I wipe invisible sweat off my forehead.
That’s strange.

“Nadia, it’s me.” It’s Hunter. He’s loud in my ears and my head feels crowded. “I think it’s going to work.”

I know it will.

“I wanted to thank you. You’re my angel, you know. You’ve saved me.”

You’re saving yourself.

“I’ll make things right in the world for us,” he says.

I know you will.

The warmth disappears and I’m alone with my thoughts again. It reminds me of what it’s like to be with him in the dream world. His love for me is tangible; it still resonates within me even though he’s gone. He will always be a part of me.

HUNTER

Jacqueline pulls me back into her mind. It feels just as painful and horrible as the first time she ripped me from my body. It doesn’t help that I got to feel what it was like to be in Nadia’s head. It was so full of love and happiness. It was nothing like this prison.

“If we’re going to do this, we need to leave soon. The council will be searching for us,” Alyssa says.

Jacqueline glances from Nadia to the fiery redhead. She wrings her fingers together to keep them from trembling. “We still have to get pretty close for Hunter to make it. What if he’s at one of their facilities? We’ll never get close enough.”

“He’s at a hospital that’s called Northern Trin-something his brother said. The call dropped before I could get the entire name.” Nadia moves from the floor to the couch to sit next to Jacqueline. “I don’t think it’s like what you experienced before.”

Northern Trin? I search my mind for the hospital she mentioned. It has to be Northern Trinity Hope. It’s where my mom worked before she got involved with the board.

“Jacqueline, she’s talking about Northern Trinity Hope Hospital. A few of the HPA people work there. It’s easier to get things done when they’re immersed in human communities.”

“So it’s public?” she thinks.

“Yes, anyone can go there. It’s not even highly monitored because the staff only treats humans there.”
The HPA is a fairly large organization and goes under a few different guises. To the human population, they’re a scientific research organization that covers everything from cancer, genetics, pharmaceuticals, and other random science-y things I’ve never been interested in. They are privately funded and could take over the world if they wanted to, but it’d never happen. They’re not a bunch of mad scientists. They want what everyone does—to live a life free from fear and harm. That’s their mission—to destroy creatures before the creatures destroy them. Funny, right?

“I hope you’re not lying. I trust you, Hunter.”

“Why would I lie to you? Nadia’s going with you.”

Jacqueline looks up at Alyssa and then turns to Nadia. “Hunter says you’re right. Northern Trinity Hope Hospital only caters to humans.”

23
. A FIGHTING CHANCE

NADIA

“We have to believe we’re going to be fine,” Alyssa says. Her vision of my grave hasn’t changed, but we’re both still holding out hope that I’ll survive. “As long as we stay out of sight, everything is going to work out.”

She reaches into her pocket and hands me a necklace and then walks to the couch and puts one around Jacqueline’s neck. I roll the cracked marble between my fingers. It’s another talisman, one created by an elf, and I know exactly what it does. My father has a pair just like it.

“This is just a precaution, Jacqueline. I don’t want you to leave us, and with this talisman, you can’t.”

I look in Jacqueline’s direction. “As soon as Hunter is out of your body, you’ll be free to go.”

Alyssa clears her throat. “I suggest not going back to the compound though. The council doesn’t take kindly to liars. We can’t keep your secret. They’ll punish us too.”