Jaden (St. Sebastians Quartet #1) (9 page)

"I love the view from her back deck."

Everyone looked at Sydney.

"What?"

"Edna really does know everyone," Kenda said.

"I helped her with the legal end of things when she decided she wanted to open a bakery."

"You're that Sydney," Jaden said. "Okay. I know who you are."

"And I know who you are. Your aunt thinks the world of you."

There was a small clearing of the throat that got everyone's attention.

Bria was sitting on the sofa again, her eyes red, but the tears were gone. "I've thought a lot about this over the years," she said, in her quiet voice. "I think it has something to do with those people in the Red World and the White World. I think..." she looked at Nico and frowned, before continuing. "...I think we're supposed to help them."

"Help them how?" Hayley asked. "We don't even know who they are?"

Bria shrugged. "I think we're supposed to find out."

"How do we do that?" Jaden asked. "I wouldn't know where to start."

"At the library," Sydney said. "All we have now is a Red World and a White World, it's not much, but it's a place to start. I don't mind helping. I'm an ace at research."

"I'm at the gallery till three tomorrow, but I'll come to the library after that. What about you guys?"

"I want to help," Bria said. "I'm free after three, too."

"Jaden?" Hayley asked.

"At this point, it can't hurt. I'm in."

"Does three work for you, Sydney?" Hayley asked.

"My last appointment is at three-fifteen. Once I'm done with that, I'll meet everyone at the library."

They talked a bit more, but Jaden didn't think anyone had come up with an idea better than Bria's. It wasn't necessarily right, but it was a place to start.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kenda had no idea what he'd gotten himself into. Or why, even? Things had spiraled out of control before he realized what was happening. Now, when he had a clearer picture of things, he still found himself walking Jaden home. Not because the streets of St. Sebastians were dangerous, or even because he was worried she'd lose her way. It was impossible to get lost in St. Sebastians. He simply wasn't ready to say goodnight. Not yet.

When he'd seen Jaden for the first time he'd had to do a double take. At first, he was certain his eyes were playing tricks on him. He'd never seen a woman like her. Her brown skin was smooth, she looked ageless. She was dressed simply, and the simple clothes seemed to accentuate her beauty. She had the kind of full lips he thought he could spend an entire night kissing, and a laugh that was infectious. Though, he hadn't heard much of it tonight.

He hadn't thought a woman like Jaden existed in real life.

She didn't have much to say on the walk home, but he didn't mind. Just being with her was enough.

What was going on with him? She didn't even live here. Not to mention the fact that she thought she saw ghosts and had one following her around. This couldn't go anywhere.

"This is me," she said, breaking the silence. "Thank you for walking me home."

"Will you be all right?"

She nodded. "I'm actually better than I've been in a long time. Maybe we can find the cause of these nightmares. I can't even imagine what it would be like to go to sleep without fear of what I'll see once I close my eyes."

"I can't imagine."

"It's amazing what a human can get used to."

They started up the walkway to the front door. Wildflowers grew along the path. He couldn't see the pinks, yellows, and purples, but he knew come sunrise, Edna's front lawn but be full of color.

"If you're worried about being alone—"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you."

With that, she went inside, then shut and locked the door, leaving him standing on the front steps feeling stupid.

Clearly, this attraction was one-sided. She gave no indication of interest in him. She had been preoccupied, but still. Not a fluttered eyelash, not a sly smile, nothing.

He started back toward the street and back toward home, thinking about the night. She had seemed a lot more engaged before she'd seen that last painting, the one that had made Bria faint.

Could there really be some mysterious figure out there, stalking these women? Who? And where was he from? How could a man appear to each of them as—he couldn't even get his mind around this—as an apparition, then control their dreams? Tyler had come down on Nico for being so resistant, but it was crazy. Kenda didn't think they were lying; he just couldn't see how it was happening.

He lived a few houses down from Edna and was turning into his yard when his cell phone rang.

"Hey Kenda, are you still with Jaden?" Hayley asked from the other side of the line.

"I just left her. What's up?"

"Shoot. She left her purse."

"No problem. I'll come get it and bring it to her."

"You don't mind. It's late."

"Hayley, after tonight I'm far and away from sleep. I can't get my brain to shut down. I might as well be useful."

*****

Jaden made herself a hot cup of tea as soon as she was inside. She didn't know what to think about. She had met women who had the same nightmares as her. She'd learned early on not to talk about the Man in White, or about her dreams. Mentioning the man would get her sent to her room and her video games taken away. And she couldn't count the doctors her parents had sent her to after she'd started having the nightmares. She'd had all kinds of diagnoses and been put on an assortment of drugs. Some made her sleep, which was horrible if she fell into a deep sleep on the night of a nightmare. Others prevented her from dreaming, which should have been fine, but she never felt fully rested when taking those. She'd spend her days feeling like a zombie. When she'd become an adult she'd made the tough decision of going off the drugs, all of them, and facing her dreams. There had to be a reason why she was having them. Tonight, she felt closer to finding out what that reason was.

She took herself and her drink out past the deck and to the pool. Instead of sitting on a lounger she sat at the edge of the pool, dangling her legs over the side.

There was also the man, Kenda. She'd been attracted to him immediately. But they were from two completely different worlds. And she didn't mean the fact that he was white and she was black. He was rich, like Aunt Edna. But not just rich, he carried himself like a man who'd never had to do without wealth or privilege his entire life. His brothers had the same feel of wealth and privilege about them. The way they carried themselves, their grooming, their confidence, these were men who had the world at their fingertips. What could she expect to have in common with a man like Kenda? She'd grown up poor and been in and out of hospitals and doctor's offices most of her life. When you had a ghost as your constant companion, you couldn't help but not fit in. She was an outcast and a misfit everywhere she went. She didn't have the world at her fingertips. She wasn't rich. She didn't even know what she'd be doing three months from now, or even where she'd be living. She wasn't the kind of woman a man like Kenda would fall in love with. She was the kind of woman a man like Kenda would want to have fun with. As in, a one-night stand, or at most, a summer fling.

Something brushed by her foot.

Startled, she looked into the water. She cried out when she saw the shadow of something large swim past her leg in the water. On instinct, she drew her feet up, but she wasn't fast enough. Whatever it was, it grabbed her ankle and pulled her forward, dragging her from the edge of the pool and below the surface of the water.

She tried to scream, but her mouth filled with water. She tried to kick away from whatever it was that was holding her, but it was too strong. She kicked and flung her arms out, but she couldn't break free.

Her eyes started to burn from the chlorine, but she had to see. She couldn't close her eyes.

Then, before her, the entire world changed. The water began to harden around her. She was suddenly at the bottom of a ravine. No, not a ravine. A cavern. An enormous cavern. She was down at the very bottom and couldn't see the top. And there were people. She was staring up at thousands and thousands of people, but they'd been enclosed in man-made tombs built into the rock walls surrounding her.

Where was she? Who were those people? Why were they entombed in white sheaths?

But that wasn't right. Instantly, she knew that was wrong. The water around her wasn't merely hardening and the people weren't entombed in white sheaths. The water was hardening to ice. And the people around her had been entombed in ice.

This, she realized, was the White World. Somehow, she was in the White World. But she hadn't been sleeping. She knew she hadn't been sleeping.

She screamed again.

More water filled her mouth.

She couldn't die like this.

She couldn't breathe, couldn't get away from the hand that was holding her.

One of the frozen figures jolted. Then it moved. The next moment it was flying toward her. She couldn't help it, she screamed again, swallowing more water.

The icy figure came at her fast, then stopped inches from her face.

She screamed again, kicked wildly, struck out, but she couldn't free herself.

"Help us, Kesi," the figure said. "Come home to Chimera and free us."

Something warm touched her lips. She cried out again, but this time, her mouth didn't fill with water. So she screamed again and again. She fought against the arms that encircled her, clawed at them. She had to break free.

"Jaden. Jaden, it's me."

The arms tightened, holding her so close that she could barely move.

"Jaden."

She recognized that voice.

She wasn't drowning anymore.

Blinking, she looked around. "Where'd they go? Where'd they go!" The entombed people were gone. The frozen figure was gone. The hand around her ankle was gone. She was back in her aunt's yard beside the pool and someone was holding her.

"Who? Jaden. Who was here?"

She turned to look at the speaker and nearly cried in relief.

"Kenda." Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled close to him. The warmth of his body surrounded her; comforted her.

He was nodding and stroking her hair so gently she wanted to cry.

"I'm here. It's okay," he told her, pulling her tight against his body.

She looked around, making sure the world didn't change on her again. She was breathing hard, but still couldn't manage to catch her breath. The sweet taste of fresh air was too good. She gulped it down.

"It's all right," Kenda said. "You're all right."

She shook her head. "It's not all right. I was sitting here by the pool, right here. I was awake, and he pulled me in." She looked around again, "I don't know if it was a dream or real. But he tried to kill me, Kenda. He reached out and touched me and he tried to kill me."

CHAPTER NINE

Jaden sat up in bed, a fresh mug of tea in hand. The previous cup had fallen into the pool. She doubted she'd be the one to retrieve it. She didn't know if she'd ever want to be in a pool again.

She'd changed into her night dress. While she'd been changing, Kenda had been heating water for tea. He'd gotten a cup for himself, too, she saw. Then he'd propped up her pillows so she could sit upright and drink without spilling it.

He sat beside her now, one arm around her shoulder. Under normal circumstances she would not have allowed a man she barely knew into bed with her, but she'd been shaking so badly, even with the comforter pulled up to her chin. He'd gotten in beside her and held her, waiting for the shaking to subside. They both knew it wasn't cold that had her shaking. It was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. She hadn't been this afraid since she'd been fifteen. When the nightmares had started. No, that wasn't right. She hadn't been this afraid since last night. Since the Man in White had thrown her into the cliff.

She told Kenda what she'd seen, emphasizing the fact that she'd been awake when it started. "If he can just pull me into another world like that, I'm not safe anywhere."

"You were unconscious when I pulled you out of the water, so you must have been having some kind of dream." He paused for a moment and rubbed his face with one hand. "I have to tell you; I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. I could hear you screaming from the front yard. That's how I knew you were in the back. Then I get to the backyard and there you were, floating in the water." He sucked in air and let it out slowly. "Scared the life out of me."

"I'm sorry. But I'm glad you came back. I don't want to think about what would have happened..." she shook again.

"Don't think about it."

He squeezed her tight for a few moments, making her feel warm and safe. When he released her, she wanted to ask him to stay. She was too scared to sleep alone tonight.

"Do you think that's when it happened? When you were unconscious, I mean? That maybe the world didn't change, but you lost consciousness and went into a dream state?"