Destined for Dreams: Book One (7 page)

Jacqueline plays with a curl that has fallen from her bun and tucks it behind her ear. She shifts her weight from foot to foot and stares past me. Her eyes change again and she subtly shakes her head. If I wasn’t staring at her so intensely, I wouldn’t have noticed it.

After a moment, she blinks rapidly and shrugs. “I’m okay with that. I’m tired of being alone.”

“I don’t think I could ever get tired of that. When I’m eighteen, I’m getting out of here.” I don’t know why I tell her, but I do, and it’s too late to take it back. I’ve never told anyone my plan, not even Alyssa.

The corner of Jacqueline’s lip curls and she looks away. After another long pause, she says, “You’re better off staying here where you’re safe.”

I raise my eyebrows. “I’m not better off staying somewhere I hate.”

Her eyes shift colors and I think of Hunter. It’s all it takes to keep me from running back into the dorms. Guilt floods through my mind. I should resist my craving to give Jacqueline nightmares. If I back away now, I have a fighting chance at controlling myself.

“Let me walk you back to your room,” I add, instead.
You’re doing this to investigate. You just want to figure everything out. It’s not a big deal.

But it is a big deal.

I’m letting my nightmare inflictor side control me. It won’t be long until it takes my humanity too.

HUNTER

Jacqueline is in such a deep sleep and snores so loudly that I almost miss the sound of the door clicking close. The air shifts and I recognize Nadia’s presence. I’m surprised she came back so soon to see me. I’m not complaining though. I’ve been anxious to see her again in the dream world.

“I don’t have long.” Her voice wraps around me and tugs me into Jacqueline’s dream.

Nadia is leaning against the railing of a pier, facing a busy boardwalk. Her shimmering, white hair blows in an imaginary sea breeze and she wears a simple white cotton dress without shoes.

The dull roar of the ocean hums through the dark night and colorful lights illuminate her porcelain skin in rainbow colors. A large Ferris wheel hums as it spins and game stands blare repetitive tunes. It’s a place I’d hang out at if I had my body. I guess Jacqueline’s dreams aren’t always so morbid.

I lean my back on the railing next to her. “You came back.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear and leans her shoulder against mine. “I have a lot of questions, Hunter.”

“Ask me anything.”

Nadia watches a man kiss a woman under the lights of the concession stand sign. The corner of her lip curls up slightly and she tenses as they whisper into each other’s lips. Nadia is more intense in the dream world than she is in real life. I want to tell her it’s okay, but instead I turn to stand in front of her so she has to look into my eyes.

“This is really strange for me,” she says. “This is the longest I’ve been in someone’s dream without turning it into a nightmare. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to stand here and observe.”

“You’re uncomfortable,” I say.

She doesn’t respond to my observation. She reaches out and touches my shoulder and runs her finger down my arm and I hold very still. She drops her hand back to her side. “You feel so real.”

The wind blows around us and strands of her hair fall on her cheek. She doesn’t move to fix them and I wonder what she’d do if I tucked them back behind her ear. If I wasn’t so nervous, I’d do it. I’m too afraid of scaring her away. I’d do anything for her to stay.

I cross my arms over my chest. “It’s because I am real.”

She touches my cheek and I lean into her hand. It’s cool and the first physical sensation I’ve felt since Jacqueline imprisoned me.

“I think it’s because you’re an entity separate from Jacqueline. It’s like you’re doing the same thing I am by manifesting into her dream. I have no affect on you because you’re not the dreamer. My father never told me that it was possible. Maybe he doesn’t know.”

I’m taken by surprise. I don’t know exactly what I expected from Nadia—maybe something closer to an interrogation—but she hasn’t even asked me a single question. She’s working through her thoughts out loud and I let her. Anything to get her to trust me.

“It’s not every day you stumble upon a soul trapped in a monster’s head, huh?”

She winces and I regret my words. Her eyes dart from mine and she watches the crowd behind us. After a few seconds, she meets my gaze again. She narrows her eyes and purses her lips, and fear seizes my chest. She’s still beautiful when angry and I close my eyes expecting her to slap me.

“Do you think I’m a monster?” Her voice is low.

I open my eyes. I should say no, but I lose my words. I fidget and cross and uncross my arms as her eyes pierce into me. I open and close my mouth and then finally say, “I don’t know.”

She lifts her hand to my cheek and brushes her fingers along my jaw line. “Most people lie and say no because they really do think I’m a monster.”

I push my hair off my forehead. “I’m not a liar. I really don’t know the answer to that. What I do know is that you act differently here than you do in the real world.”

She twists her lips and drops her hand back to her side. “It’s because I am different.”

A scream rips through the night and Nadia stares past me. I look over my shoulder and see the crowd start to move and run in panic. The wooden beams quake under my feet and I reflexively clutch Nadia’s arm. She smiles, but it’s not at me. It’s at what’s going on behind me.

“I have to go, Hunter,” she says, sliding past me. I spin with her and she glides back, still facing me.

“Please, stay. You have to stay,” I say. “You never asked me the questions on your mind.” I’m not too good to beg and I consider doing it.

“The nightmare is starting.” She points behind me and I look over my shoulder as a massive wave grows and swells taller than a four-story building. I’m actually a little afraid even though I know this isn’t real, and turn my back on the ocean and watch as Nadia moves closer to the crowd. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I’ll visit again as soon as I can.”

A loud cracking sound rips through the air and part of the boardwalk disintegrates. The glowing Ferris wheel topples over and crashes into the dark ocean. A fire starts at the concession stand and I watch Nadia disappear into the crowd. Each person she touches explodes in a dark cloud of smoke.

I pull away from the dream as the giant tidal wave begins to crest. Jacqueline moans and the world shifts and then it suddenly feels empty. Nadia has disappeared and I’m alone with my own thoughts again. I’m even more miserable knowing what I’m missing when she’s gone.

7
. NOT GIVING UP HOPE

HUNTER

Jacqueline taps her fingers on the white painted nightstand. She hasn’t slept since waking up from her nightmare a few hours ago and her random thoughts are annoying. Not to mention how sporadic they are because she can control what I can and can’t hear, which I’m glad for, because I don’t know if I could handle hearing her more than I already do.

Jacqueline’s private thoughts come through to me. “Maybe you should just give up your freedom and settle down here. Everyone seems pretty nice. The board can’t do anything if they can’t find you.”

“Hold on a second, Jackie. The deal was to stay here until you got the information you needed. Don’t go convincing yourself to stay here. If we stay, you can’t put me back into my body,”
I say.

She smacks her forehead. I wasn’t supposed to hear that. “But if I stayed here, you could see Nadia all you want. The council can offer me protection for life. I’d never be scared again.”

While she has a good point about Nadia, it would be torturous to know that I won’t have the slightest chance of ever getting to be with her outside of the dream world.
“That’ll get creepy after a while. Hell, it’s a little creepy now. What’s the point if I can’t even talk to her?”
I say it the way I do so Jacqueline doesn’t realize that I’ve met Nadia. I can’t risk Jacqueline doing something stupid to spite me.

“What if I found you a new one?”

Huh?
“A new body?”

“It’s a very simple process. You can pick anyone you like.”

“I like my body.”

The way she says it, it sounds like someone else would have to lose their body and then what? I’m not cool with that. Someone shouldn’t have to die when I have a perfectly good body back home. Jacqueline has caused enough harm as it is.

“Well, Hunter, I’ll think about it, but don’t hold your breath. I like the idea of staying here forever and you can’t do anything about it. I won’t dare go back to the HPA to put you back in your body. They’ll kill me for not holding up my end of the bargain.”

“You can’t do this! You made a deal!”
I’m so livid that I want to combust and take Jacqueline down with me. I had hoped that this wouldn’t turn into a long-term situation, but if she really decides to stay here, all hope for me is lost.

“I’m sorry. I really am. I can teach you to free yourself if you want.”

“No!”
I’m not going to learn to free myself. I’ll die if I do. I don’t want to die. If Jacqueline really has made up her mind to stay here, then I’ll wait it out a while longer as her prisoner. I’m not giving up hope on getting out of here yet. I’m only seventeen for crying out loud. I really, and I mean really, wanted to live to see my eighteenth birthday. It’s only a few months away.

Jacqueline stands up when someone knocks on the door. I hate how she’s just going about her day like my life isn’t hanging on the line. If I ever get out of her head, I’m going to bring her back to my mom myself and make her plead for her own life.

Jacqueline opens the door and my anger fizzles out when I see Nadia hovering in the doorway. Her hair is darker in the harsh hallway lighting, golden-blond, and her light gray eyes have transformed into a dark indigo color. She looks the same, yet different. More alive and vibrant. More real.

Nadia wears a sky blue, long sleeved T-shirt and light colored jeans with dark gray lace-up boots that stop just before her knees. She twines her pale fingers together, guarded.

“I thought I’d bring you some breakfast and we could eat outside.” She holds up a small paper bag and has a bright pink blanket draped over her arm. She peers over Jacqueline’s shoulder and into the room.

Jacqueline steps out and closes the door. “That was thoughtful, thanks. I’d love to.”

Nadia reaches over and loops her arm with Jacqueline’s, surprising the hell out of me. Last night she freaked when Jacqueline barely touched her hand. I’m not sure what’s changed, but I don’t like it. It’s going to give Jacqueline more reason to stay here if she has friends.

“Aren’t you a little old to be friends with Nadia?”
I ask.

“Stop acting like nineteen is ninety,” Jacqueline thinks.

I stop myself from arguing. I doubt it’ll make a difference. I just have to wait and see where fate takes me whether I like it or not.

NADIA

Jacqueline’s eyes are puffy and I can tell she hasn’t slept at all since I saw Hunter. My nightmare inflicting is getting to her. She’ll never get any peaceful sleep if I continue to visit him. But I don’t want to stop. I’m even going as far as faking my friendship to find out more about the boy trapped in Jacqueline’s mind.

Her dark, curly hair strays in all different directions and she uses her fingers to comb it. We stroll to my favorite spot just to the right of the gardens in a grassy area people avoid for no other reason than nothing is there.

Jacqueline helps spread the blanket and I set the bag of blueberry muffins down. I sit cross-legged and Jacqueline kneels, adjusting her legs to the side, before smiling.

She pushes her hair from her face. “I never thought I’d actually like living here.”

“It’s fine if you like boring. There aren’t many young people. I have a tutor because there aren’t even enough kids to hold a class.”

“Try sitting through a lecture on human history. It’s not even right. They leave out all the good parts relating to our world.”

“Well, I doubt anyone would believe that most influential people are manipulated by enchantresses or how Napoleon Bonaparte was a troll.”

We both laugh and it’s nice hanging out with someone who doesn’t know what I am. Jacqueline is closed off, but I don’t think it’s to protect herself from me—she seems to be in a constant battle with herself, like she has some personal demons.

“Nadia?” It’s Alyssa.

My forehead crinkles and I peer over my shoulder. Alyssa lifts her eyebrows when our gazes meet. Her red hair is pulled into a side braid and shimmers a coppery color in the pale morning light. She’s wearing a Chevron-patterned, blue cotton sundress and nude sandals and has a small silver purse tucked under her arm. She presses her glossed lips together and says, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

I grin because she’s being dramatic. The compound isn’t that big and she probably knew I was going to pick up Jacqueline the moment I made the decision to. The corners of her eyes crinkle when I roll my eyes, a gesture Jacqueline can’t see because she’s behind me. “I have to take Jacqueline to the meeting hall, remember?”

Alyssa plays with the hem of her short dress. “I figured we could do something after. The council is going to be pretty busy today.” She doesn’t even have to say what she’s thinking. I know she wants to leave the premises again.

I glance at Jacqueline before meeting Alyssa’s gaze again. “We should all hang out after.”

“I’d love to,” Jacqueline says. I lean back and look at her upside down before looking back at Alyssa.

Alyssa lifts an eyebrow. “I don’t think Jacqueline will like what I was planning.”

“Why?” Jacqueline asks.