Strange in Skin (17 page)

“It’s like I go to another place, a different world.” He stopped to perceive my reaction from his big
secret that he had just exposed to me. “It’s like I literally leave here and am there.”
“In your imagination?”

He shook his head. “I think I need medicated,” he joked. “I think at one time I tried to convince
myself of that, but no. It’s real. It’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen, Anna.” His eyes lit up
as he relived the memory in his head.

“So you go to this place …?” It did sound insane. He was even crazier than I was.

“It’s like I’m able to physically warp there. I can’t really control when it happens though. I don’t
know how to force it to happen when I want it to.”
I was trying to be open-minded, really, but if he could only hear what he was trying to convince me
of. “So you did this while on the tower, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, exactly. I was laying back looking up at the stars, totally relaxed and then bam, not here any
longer, but there.”
“Gone from this planet you think?”

“This place is not Earth.” He smiled. This little fantasy he had created within his mind really
excited him.

 

“So, what happens to you here when you’re not … here?” I asked, sounding just as foolish as he did
trying to describe it.

He ran his fingers through his hair again, little pieces automatically falling back into his eyes. “I
don’t know what happens physically. I don’t know if I’m really here anymore when I’m there. So
that’s what I mean when I say I don’t know what happened here while I was gone. Had I fought with
Wes and not known it, or was I not there altogether? I just don’t know.” He seemed sad again, yet still
staring at me, waiting for a response to his madness. “But then there’s something else, too, something
new that I’ve just recently become aware of.”

I waited for him to go on, unsure of how to respond right now anyway.
“When I said Buck Brady slammed into a tree, but I didn’t hit him?”
I nodded, remembering how odd it had sounded when he first had mentioned it.
“That’s because I willed him into the tree.”
“Willed him?” I repeated.

“Yeah. I got really angry with their accusations and how he was treating me like some heartless
criminal. I wanted to hit him, really, I did. I pictured him in my head flying through the air and his
back cracking up against the tree that was a few yards away, and then suddenly, he did. He was really
freaked out. Everyone was, including me.” His eyes locked on mine. He let out a nervous chuckle. “I
guess I’m giving away all my secrets to you.”

His words pierced through me. He was confiding in me in a way he hadn’t with anyone else, ever.
“Emry, I don’t know what to say.” I looked away from him, not wanting him to be able to see the
doubt I was sure was clearly written across my face.

He released my hands and turned his back to me. “I know. This is why I’ve never told anyone. It
sounds ridiculous, and it came out all wrong just like I figured it would. You probably either think I’m
making it up or that I need thrown in an institution.” He whipped back around to face me. He put his
hand under my chin to pull my face upwards. “Tell me what you’re thinking, Anna, please.”

His eyes looked so sad I thought my heart was going to burst from the pain I saw coming from
within him. I had to at least try to believe him. I couldn’t turn my back on him, not now.

“I’ve never felt like I belong,” he continued. “I’ve always tried to blend in, and it seemed easy
enough. I tried to make a life for myself here with Lainey and Wes and even by marrying Candace,
and look how that ended up, because I’m different. And only with you, Anna, only now have I ever
felt like I’ve connected with someone on a different level. You and I. I felt it that first day I saw you.
You drew me in with this instant attraction.”

“You’re not going to lose me, Emry,” I reassured him. I grabbed his arm and he pulled me in
tighter, my head against his chest as he wrapped his muscular arms around me tightly and we stood
there in the courtyard bound tightly. “I want to help you sort all of this out.” And if that meant that he
was manic and needed my help in that way, I would be there for him.

“That means so very much to me,” he whispered, his arms wrapping around me tighter still. “You
have no idea how much I’ve longed to have someone like you in my life.”
“Emry,” I whispered, knowing this would ruin the moment but needing to know despite the fact. I
pulled my head back to look up at his face. “When this
thing
happens to you, you said you didn’t think
it was your imagination because why? Like, can you physically touch things in this place?”

“Yes,” he replied quickly. “I can feel the sunlight on my face, the water bubbling underneath my
toes, everything.”

I attempted to process what he was telling me. He thought he was able to just warp to another time,
another place? A time traveler? What exactly? It seemed so profoundly preposterous. It was
impossible for me to understand or believe. I decided I probably wasn’t going to be able to, but
nevertheless, I wanted and needed Emry Logan’s arms around me in this very moment. He was still so
beautiful and so innocent, almost child-like with this wild fantasy he had created around him, and I
had to get to the bottom of it no matter what. I wouldn’t stop until I had and helped him gain his
freedom as I did so. Together I was sure that we would be able to uncover everything. And what
about this other
strength
he was telling me about, how he got upset and willed Buck to do something
he had first imagined in his mind?

“So Candace knew nothing about this?” I suddenly asked.
“No.” He frowned. “I’m sorry about her, you know.”
“Don’t be. It’s in the past.”

“Exactly, but still, I am sorry. She was just another cover for me to fit in. I got along with her and
thought she was fun, but she really wasn’t that way at all when I got to know her. She’s conniving. She
makes poor choices. She was dragging me down along with her. I felt bad for her, I suppose. I felt
bad for leaving her, but I had to. It didn’t feel right anymore. I just wish I had never married her, but if
it makes you feel better …”

“No, really, Emry.” I didn’t want to hear anymore about his having been married, and now I was
the one sorry for having had brought the subject up. “I’m fine about it,” I lied.

He remained silent then and took my hands. His head was lowered, his eyes shut, and I
automatically shut mine too. I just stood there, feeling the warmth of his skin on mine, the feel of his
fingers completely intertwined in mine. I listened to our breathing and tried to place all of my
concentration on just being in this exact moment with this wildly beautiful man standing before me.

It didn’t feel so chilly out anymore. Actually, the sun was starting to burn through the back of my
dress, and I could hear the lovely song of birds in the distance, the sound of a roaring ocean nearby. I
opened my eyes and looked all around. I raised my hand to my gaping mouth and gasped in total
horror at what I saw.

Chapter 8

I no longer was dressed like Amelia Roberts. I was Anna James again, dressed in cut-off jean
shorts and a white tank-top. My long brown hair swirled around my shoulders as the warm breeze
tossed it up and down. My feet were bare, and I looked down at the golden sand beneath my toes. I
wiggled them a little. The sand was soft and sparkled gloriously as the sunlight danced off the tiny
crystals.

Before me was an ocean containing silky water that looked so clear as if it was made out of liquid
glass. I could see a brown canyon below the water’s surface plummeting downwards. There were
edges of rocky cliffs that were jagged and high above my head. There were holes in the tops of these
rocks and just beyond them a red hazy sky with bright white dots sparkling in between darker red
clouds. Stars perhaps? And just beyond the ocean, you could see where the water met land again,
extending out into a velvety canvas of high golden grass.

My eyes were large in surprise as my mind made multiple attempts to process what my eyes were
truly seeing. This was it. Emry had brought me to this very special place, this
world
that was so
breathtakingly beautiful that Earth could not hold claim to it. And it was real. My toes were feeling
the sand beneath them, I could feel the breeze on my skin and my lungs filled with the sweet aroma of
the air. This place wasn’t a figment of his imagination at all. And as quickly as that, all of my doubts
about what he was trying to tell me were washed away. The thrill of this place made my head spin
even faster than it had before, but in a good way. I felt so drawn to my surroundings. I wanted to
belong to this world and be a part of its magnificence.

I turned around slowly, almost afraid that any sudden movements would make me disappear from
this place and end up back at the prison. Just the thought of being in the prison again made me cringe.
As I turned, I saw Emry in front of me, his bare back toward me as he was only wearing a pair of
khaki shorts, his arms wide, every muscle bulging in a flexed position, and his head upwards as he
was basking in the light of the sun.

“Emry,” I called out, my voice cracking slightly. I was hesitant to take him away from the peaceful
moment he seemed to be having.

 

He turned then, his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me standing there. “Anna? I don’t
believe it!” He hurried over to stand next to me. “You’re here … with me … wow.”
“This must be heaven?” My eyes continued to span and take in every detail of wonder around me.

He chuckled and smiled again. His happiness had me smiling back as my eyes couldn’t help but
take in his wonderfully toned chest and abs. He looked like he was the one who belonged here living
as one with the beauty all around.

He had his arms around my waist in a moment, spinning me around and hugging me tight. “I’m so
happy this happened, I just don’t know how. How did this happen?”

 

I raised my eyebrows. I had no clue where we were, let alone how I had got here.
“I mean, we were just in that courtyard holding hands …” Another grin spread across his face.
“Amazing. I didn’t know I could do that.”

 

“Something tells me you’re still pretty new at this,” I said.

 

He laughed back, agreeing.

 

A chillingly high-pitched whistle echoed through the rooftops of the caves that engulfed us. Had it
belonged to a bird of some sort?

 

“I feel like I’m dreaming.”

He grabbed my hand and pressed his fingers between mine so that they were intertwined. He
peered down at me, his blue eyes gleaming softly in the glow of the light shining around us. “Anna,”
he said in almost a whisper. “Welcome to Evadere.”

“Evadere?” I repeated, trying to make sure I pronounced it correctly.

He nodded. “That’s what I call this place. When I was little, I found this old book titled Evadere. It
talked about another world that was very beautiful and had wondrous things in it. It reminds me of this
place.”

“What’s it mean?”
“Escape.”

“Oh,” I said in awe. “It suits.” All around me my eyes found more and more to focus on.
“Everything is just so … vivid here.” This place was beginning to overwhelm me. “I feel like I don’t
even have the vocabulary to describe it, as if there aren’t the right words to bring justice to it.”

He dipped the edge of his toe into the glassy waters and then brought it back into the sand. “I know
exactly
what you mean.”

I began to feel guilty about having not believed Emry when he was trying to tell me all of this. This
was his big secret, and I was getting to actually be a witness to it all. And then a profound sorrow
weaseled its way into heart and mind as I realized that everything I had been taught as a child seemed
somehow lost to me now. It was as if I had been lied to. The supernatural had been frowned upon, did
not exist and wasn’t tolerated. And yet, here I stood, in another world, brought here by supernatural
powers. It was as if I were just now waking up, finally seeing reality for what it was. Those that
believed in these kinds of things were labeled as insane, locked up and abandoned from society.

Other things do exist beyond the boundaries of our minds. Perhaps no one knew, but surely someone
did. There had to be others out there like Emry Logan. He couldn’t be the
only
one. So who else
walked among the human race with extraordinary abilities? It just didn’t seem right. These types of
people, or whatever they were, existed and yet, we just locked them up? We ignored the fact because
we didn’t really believe it or we were afraid of something different? It was infuriating.

“Are you okay?”

I looked into Emry’s beautiful blue eyes and felt the anguish start to melt away. He wrapped his
arms around me, studying my face.
“It’s a bit too much all at once, isn’t it?” he asked. “I just tell you about this and then poof, you’re
here.”
“It is a lot to take in,” I agreed, my eyes scanning the motionless water.

“Let’s take a walk,” he suggested. “Clear your head a little?”

 

I felt the warmth of his fingers still intertwined in my own and followed along. “If that’s even
possible.”

We walked along hand-in-hand on the beach for a while. I couldn’t understand that if there was
such a strong breeze, then why was the water so still and undisturbed by it? I had to try to expand my
thinking as if I were dreaming or in some sort of fantasy land where the normal rules I was used to
didn’t apply. Anything was possible in a place like this. And if anything did happen, I shouldn’t be
surprised by it.

“I feel like I have a million questions.”
“I may not have many answers, but I’ll do my best,” he promised me.
“When did you first realize you were able to do this, to come here?”

He grinned as if he were remembering it all too clearly. “I was in high school, a junior. A bunch of
us were out in the woods, bored and having a few drinks. I was on the tailgate of a truck staring into a
bonfire and then it happened. When I came back, I looked around me and saw everyone passed out
and sleeping. I didn’t know how long I had been gone, and I thought at first that someone had maybe
slipped something in my drink, like I had hallucinated the whole thing, until it happened again.”