Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (19 page)

“No. She will though, she always figures
things out.” I touched his face and kissed him softly.

“My dad trusts her, says she’s the best in
the business.” He ran his fingers through my hair.

“Go back to sleep Wesley. I will be right
here if you need me.” I said delicately.

“That’s the thing I’m not really tired
anymore.” He grabbed my neck and pulled my face closer to him and
hungrily smashed his lips to mine.

****

The next morning my mother startled me
awake.

“Dawn! Get up!” She demanded.

I opened my eyes to see her standing there
with a frown on her face.

“What?” I yawned.

“Get dressed and meet me in the front yard.”
She demanded.

I looked at Wesley and frowned. We had been
up most of the night and the last thing I wanted was to get up out
of my super warm bed. I got up and got dressed quickly throwing on
a jacket as I jogged out the front door.

“What’s up mom?” I asked as soon as I hit
the grass. She turned and looked at me her eyes were
questionable.

“I want to try something tonight when you
get home.” She turned and faced the road looking for something.

“What’s that?” I asked. It was bit chilly
this morning. I rubbed my arms to try to get warm. My thin jacket
wasn’t helping in the least.

“You can remember what happens in your
dreams. It isn’t possibly per say that the red head is attacking
both of you at the same time. I wonder if she is able to split her
image where you see one thing and he sees another.” She explained.
“I want to try to see what he sees but I need both of you sleeping
to be able to do this. I need you to convince him to let me try to
get in his head.”

“Yeah, sure, anything that will help mom.” I
said.

The idea sounded like it might work. Right
now I would try anything to find out what was haunting him.

“I’m meeting up with a friend this afternoon
to discuss some possibilities. I don’t know when I will be home.”
She gave me a hug and walked to her car. “I love you Dawn.”

“Love you too mom.” I said slowly wondering
why she sounded like she wasn’t going to be home any time soon.

“Everything ok?” Wesley asked me stepping
outside in to the light. He instantly shielded his eyes to the sun.
I was starting to feel its effects too and walked inside.

“Yeah, mom wants to try something different
tonight.” I said touching his face.

“What’s that?” he asked me wrapping his arms
around my waist.

“She will be observing us
while we sleep tonight.” I said not knowing how, ‘My
mom wants to probe our brains to see if our
dreams are connected,’
would really work
in this situation.

“Dawn, you don’t have to be coy about your
mom’s gift.” He looked at me seriously.

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously. Could
he really know?

“I know when she touches me she can see what
is in my head.” He said kissing my forehead.

“How did you know that?” I asked
confused.

“This morning when I woke up screaming for
you she was there in an instant with her hand on my head. I know
she was looking for the attacker.” He didn’t seem in shock but I
searched his face for the smallest hint of amusement.

“Oh.” Was all I could say my mind still
racing.

“So yeah, she can try whatever she needs
to.” He said simply and that was that.

“Good.” I smiled at him sweetly.

“So does this mean you have some super
awesome hidden power I need to know about?” He teased me.

Yeah I can shoot fire from my hands and
erupt into red flames.

“Nope I’m just normal me.” I said sadly
wishing that I could just tell him.

****

“Alright you two, I’m going to be right here
if you need me for anything.” My mom threw a sleeping bag on the
floor and plopped down on it stretching.

“Alright.” I said quietly praying that this
would work.

“How is this going to work Ms. Weathers?”
Wesley asked cautiously.

Had he just been in my head?

I had told my mother how he had figured out
what she can do by touch and he had no worries that had potential
of not working. She hadn’t seemed shocked. There had to be far more
to the story concerning the Jensen family than what she was telling
me.

“Well,” she started, “I’m going to sit here
and watch you fall asleep once I see you are REM sleep I am going
to place one hand on Dawn’s head and the other on yours. That way I
can see what is going on in both dream plains.” She gave him a
smile.

“Hope it works.” He smiled back at her and
laid down.

I admit it was weird at first but when I
fell asleep it seemed there was no time at all left between my eyes
closing and then opening again in the astral world.

I wasn’t in the bar as I had been the few
times before instead I was standing in an old house. The lights
were off giving it an eerie glow. I turned around and took at the
room as a whole. Wesley was sitting on the bed cross legged with an
odd look on his face.

“Where are we?” I asked him.

“This was my room.” He answered me.

“When?” I asked quietly wondering if we were
alone.

“When I was sixteen.” He got off the bed and
went to the door opening it to see what was on the other side. The
whole house seemed to be dark.

“Why do you think we are here?” I followed
him closely.

He exited the room grabbing my hand to make
sure that I was behind him. We made it to the bottom of the stairs
when things went to Hell. She came at me quickly shouting and he
dropped to the ground holding his head and screaming.

“See what you do to him!” I screamed at her
the fire percolating in my wrists.

“What I do to him?” she asked me her broken
English becoming harder and harder to decipher.

“Yes you!” I felt the fire let go and
suddenly the world went up in flames.

“If you would have left things well enough
alone it wouldn’t be like this.” The red head screeched.

“Leave what well enough alone?” I demanded
as the fire burned.

“Him. He was mine, and you stole him.” She
spit at me her mouth was twisted into a sneer.

“Miranda?” I asked my eyes burning.

“Who else would I be?” She smiled this
devious smile and the world turned to black.

My mother pulled me from the dream as fast
as she could. I could smell the fabric at my sides burning. She was
afraid that I would erupt into flames if she let me stay there any
longer. Wesley was crying out for me and I was on him in a second
running my fingers through his hair and whispering in his ear my
mother’s hand still planted firmly on his head her eyes white as
milk.

“All I see is darkness.” She said monotone.
“There is a voice but I do not know what it says, it’s speaking
another language.” She let go of his head as he shot awake mid
scream. By the time he was able to see her she had managed to get
her eyes back to normal.

“What was it?” He asked his heart racing as
he twined his fingers with mine.

“Darkness.” She said slowly looking at me.
There was more to it than just darkness I could tell.

“What does this mean?” I asked.

“I have no idea, I’m going to have to make a
few calls and look up a few more things and I will maybe have an
answer.” She got up and left the room quickly leaving us alone.

“Something’s up.” He said touching my
face.

“I know, but she will fill in the holes and
tell us what she thinks.” I said kissing him on the cheek and lying
back down. We slept our hands locked together.

****

The next morning he was still sleeping when
my eyes opened. His face was pale and dark black circles were under
his eyes. He looked like he had when we first met. All that work to
bring him back from the Hell he lived in was only there for a short
period. I sat up and scooted to the end of the bed hoping that
every squeak of the mattress would not wake him.

I got up and wondered into the kitchen where
my mother was sitting at the table. She had her signature coffee
mug in front of her a sad look on her face. I wondered if she had
been up all night. By the look on her face it looked like she
hadn’t slept a wink.

“He’s still sleeping.” I said pointing back
towards my bedroom. She nodded at me in understanding and motioned
for me to sit down.

“I have been up all night going over
protections spells. Sadly I have the wrong powers to cast them.”
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I wish I knew what was
attacking him honey.”

“I know mom.” I said frowning. I had been
hoping that whole thing would have worked out.

“It takes immense power to hide something
like that. To have an open line on one end and a closed one on the
other. This girl is something else.” She took a sip of her tea and
made a sour face. “I let it sit too long.”

I sighed and put my hands to my face. This
whole thing was turning out to be far more complicated than what it
was supposed to be. My mother should have been able to see what was
going on in his head. Instead she was able to see mine but not
his.

“So we are no further than we were
yesterday?” I groaned.

“No I would say we are much farther than
yesterday.” She sighed. “We didn’t know anything. Now we know who
it is just not why she’s doing it.”

“She said I stole him from her.” I put my
head on the table.

“Oh, well that’s not good.” She said
softly.

“What does that mean?” I asked an edge to my
voice.

“You pissed off the wrong girl it looks
like.” She replied frowning.

“Of course I did.” I smacked my forehead on
the table.

“Just means we have a bit of a bumpy ride
ahead of us.” She put her hand on my head. “We will get through
it.”

“I’m glad you are optimistic in all of
this.” I moaned.

“I’m just a bystander I just have faith that
you will make the right choices in the months to come.” She said as
I glanced at her from the table top.

“Great. This all falls on me.” I smacked my
head on the table one more time.

“I cannot fight your battles for you. You
love the boy you will find a way to make her disappear.” She said
sweetly.

“What if I can’t?” My head was starting to
hurt.

“I have faith that you will one way or
another.” I had a feeling she was smiling.

Innocence Lost

My mother spent a lot of time at the church
trying to figure out what was going on in our heads. She even tried
a few more times to pull images. All she got was more darkness.

Time seemed to fly by rather quickly it
seemed. Before I knew it we were in December and the holidays were
right around the corner. We were on Christmas break when Wesley
came up with the idea that we should go to a concert in town. A
local band that he had recently discovered was playing a gig at one
of the clubs four days before Christmas. I had never seen the boy
so excited. So I agreed, thinking that he deserved it after all the
Hell he was going through.

Adam and his girlfriend Nadine were going to
go with us on a double date. Adam and I came up with the idea just
in case anything happened with Wesley I would have someone there
that would be able to help me get him home.

I admit Adam and I had become closer as
well. He would try to keep Wesley entertained in the afternoons
while I slept. I had told him about Wesley’s nightmares one day
when I couldn't keep my eyes open in class, and how they were
keeping me awake at night.

So, thankfully, the two of them started
playing video games after school to “release tension.” I would fall
asleep to the two of them yelling at the TV and accusing the other
of cheating.

****

So now it is the day of the concert and here
I was standing in my room with a towel wrapped around me trying to
figure out what I would wear. Wesley had said they were a hard rock
band. I'm sure that I had heard them but honestly he listens to so
much I couldn't tell you what was mainstream and what was local.
However, I could get away with my normal attire if I wanted to and
not look like a total outcast.

After a moment of reflection and a cold
draft through the window making my body tingle I opted for a black
ankle length dress and my combat boots. It wasn’t low cut; in fact
it showed no cleavage at all. I was pretty much covered from neck
to toe. It cinched at the waist and tightened in the back with a
single red ribbon. The sleeves were my favorite part cinching at
the elbow and free falling past my wrists.

I let my hair fall free fluffing it with my
fingers to make the waves stand out. I leaned towards the mirror
and drew on my black eye liner with some black eye shadow and
smiled at myself. I have to admit I didn’t look to bad all things
considered.

They were supposed to pick me up at six so
that we could get to the show by seven. I was still standing in my
room when I heard the familiar steps of my boyfriend.

“Hey babe.” His arms wrapped around me and
his face appeared in the mirror over my left shoulder.

I smiled and turned around to look at him.
He looked rested, like he had actually had a chance to get some
sleep. The boy couldn’t even take an afternoon nap without
screaming.

How could he possibly be
rested
?

My mom was working nonstop to find out what
was after him. Maybe she had made a breakthrough. Maybe last
night’s events had actually assisted him in being able to get
enough shut eye so that he could be ready and rested.

“You ready to go?” He kissed the tip of my
nose. I nodded at him just as Adam rounded the corner Nadine at his
heals.

“Can she use your bathroom? Apparently she
didn’t think she needed to go before we left the house.” Adam was
making fun of her I knew it, but at the same time there was a hint
of annoyance behind his voice.