The Dreamstalker (4 page)

“Thanks, Mom, but Kaziah is already planning on our coming there. Her parents are used to us. It would be too hard to change everything now. Another time?”

Her mother nodded and got interested in the news again.

“What will you eat for dinner?” Karen asked.

“I'll find something. Don't worry about me.”

Karen wouldn't worry, but she did feel sorry for her mother. She had so little in her life. She must be unhappy.

“Ten minutes.” Kerr yelled from the kitchen.

“Hey, give me a break. I want to change clothes and—”

“Put fresh goop on your face and make yourself beautiful. It'll take hours.” Kerr came into the living room, holding a Coke and a bag of potato chips, and flopped in a chair. “Get your rear in gear. I'm not going to wait all night.”

“Kerr,” Mom scolded, “you shouldn't talk about your sister's—uh—rear.” She had trouble saying the word. Karen looked at Kerr and bit her lip to stifle her laughter.

“Oh, sorry, sis. Swish your tush, then, but get a move on.” He didn't even bother to hide his grin.

Karen and Kerr were the first ones to get back to town. They parked by the lake that formed the center of the small mountain town. Surrounded by pines and firs and blue spruce, frozen over and banked by drifts of snow, the lake presented a Christmas card setting. The skating rink area was open, the ice solid except for the far corner, roped off, where a stream constantly fed in fresh water, keeping the surface mushy. There were a few skaters, but most people were evidently intimidated by the storm.

Snowflakes had become fat and fluffy, and they drifted down more slowly than they had early in the day.

“Oh, it's almost perfect.” Karen grabbed her skates and hurried toward the warming house.

Kerr followed her. “What else does it need?”

“Me out there skating.”

“Us out there skating. Race you.” He leaped ahead across the snowy path.

It was a tie. Both tugged off their snowmobile boots, yanked on skates, and laced them high up their calves. Kerr grabbed Karen's arm and pulled her onto the freshly scraped ice. When they had built up some speed, an automatic movement put them into couple position, arms crossed, hands clasped. Round and round they whirled, matching their strokes perfectly. Anyone taking time to watch would have marveled at their precision. It was as if they had practiced together forever, skated together for many years. And they had. They haunted the rink when it was open, lived on the ice every winter in free hours. Most of the time they left their skates in Kerr's car for spontaneous skating trips. They had grown apart in some ways the last few years. But on the ice they were one—hardly even a pair, but one skater with four blades.

After about half an hour, Kerr steered them toward the warming house. “Chocolate?” He didn't really have to ask.

“Sure. Extra marshmallow.” She didn't have to tell him that, either.

“I'll admit it. I'm jealous.” Jesse skated up beside her as she looked for a place to sit. More people were lacing skates now, but she didn't see her crowd.

“Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you were.”

“Were you really?”

Karen felt her face heat up. “Well, I would have been in a minute. I was just starting to wonder.”

“Sometimes I feel like I have to ask Kerr if I can be with you.” Jesse continued his thought.

“Oh, Jesse, that's silly. You know better.”

“Tell me again.”

“I will not. Let's sit down. I need to rest a minute.” Karen spun around and landed on a bench. She wasn't going to acknowledge Jesse's confession of jealousy by talking about it for one more minute. “Is everyone else here?”

“Almost everyone. They went on the ice. I waited for you to come off.” He looked up at Kerr standing in front of them. “Where's my drink, old man?”

Kerr stared at him. “You have to earn it.” He handed Karen a cup of steaming chocolate heaped with marshmallows, then sat on the other side of her.

Neither said anything, and Karen felt the tension between the two guys. This was ridiculous. She drank the cocoa as soon as it cooled, then stood and pulled Jesse up. “Come on, I need to skate to stay warm.”

She could feel Kerr watching them go onto the ice. She pretended Jesse had said something funny and laughed. Soon they were skating together, not as gracefully as she and Kerr, not as polished, but Karen loved holding hands with Jesse. She loved being with him. She had never had a “boyfriend,” for lack of a better word. When Jesse came along, she realized that she'd never wanted one before. She'd never thought she could love anyone as much as she loved Kerr. And while loving Jesse was different, of course, now she did. They'd met in the summer while she was lifeguarding at the pool. They'd arranged all their classes together this fall, spent all their free hours together. Karen hated the time he spent at football practice, but she loved watching him perform on the field. He was the best quarterback Evergreen had ever had, and scouts were starting to haunt the Friday night games. She didn't want to think about where he might end up in college. She had no idea what she was going to do next fall—go to CU, she guessed, since it was nearby.

Putting the future aside, she concentrated on their being close now. They had made several circles of the lake when she sensed someone coming up on her right.

“Cut,” Kerr shouted. His blades scraped the ice as he took Karen's right arm and pulled her away from Jesse. “My turn, old man.”

“Kerr—” Karen started to protest.

“It's all right, Karen.” Jesse turned loose of her hand and stopped, dead still on the ice, ignoring people who had to dodge him.

Swinging around, Kerr grabbed her hands, partner style, without missing a stroke. “Kerr,” she protested, “I wanted to skate with Jesse. Why don't you skate with Alysia?”

“She's not as good a skater as you are. I want to skate with you.”

Dusk was falling, and lights had come on around the lake. Karen didn't have to look at Kerr to know his perfect teeth were shining in a big grin. She looked instead at the soft halos around the lights, the huge soft flakes drifting down, lighting on her nose, her warm cheeks. So romantic …

Moving gracefully around the lake, matching strokes with Kerr, she spoke. “You're jealous, aren't you, Kerr? You're jealous! For God's sake, I'm your sister.”

“I guess God did plan it that way, but I think it was for Mom's sake. Maybe he knew Dad would get tired of her and she'd need us for company.”

“Kerr, stop criticizing Dad. And you're not listening to me. I said I wanted to skate with Jesse.”

Kerr tightened his hands around hers. “And I said I wanted you to skate with me.”

There was no getting away from him without making a scene. Karen hated that. She wouldn't do it. But she'd been going with Jesse for months. Why was Kerr doing this now? Why had he gotten so possessive? And what could she do about it?

Chapter 5

“Your brother is the best-looking guy I've ever known,” Lucy whispered to Karen when they were at the video store. Lucy realized that Jesse was standing right next to Karen. “Oops, Jesse, sorry, but he is.” Lucy grinned.

“That's okay, Lucy.” Jesse tightened his hold on Karen's arm. “We can't all be movie star hunks. Some of us settle for being strong and athletic.”

Karen tried to hold in her grin, but Jesse saw it. “What are you laughing about? Don't you agree?”

“Of course. And I guess I have to laugh about Kerr being so impossible. Otherwise, I'd kill him. Next thing you know, he'll have to approve of the guys I go out with.”

“I'll get in my resume tomorrow.” Jesse didn't laugh at Karen's remark. She knew it was too close to the truth.

“Hey look, guys, this is perfect. Have you all seen it?” Kaziah had one arm draped around Easy's shoulders, and her free hand held a colorful video box. “It goes right along with our class work.”

Groans went up from eight onlookers. “Can't you forget about school, Kaziah? It's the weekend.” Bill Jergens grabbed another tape. “Let's get this.”

“That's for jocks,” Kaziah complained. “This is not school work, believe me. It's about experimenting with people's dreams.”

Karen took the box and studied the blurb. The movie's title was
Dreamscape
. “This does look good. I vote for it.”

The murder buffs won over the jocks. Easy checked out the movie and paid the rental fee. The skaters piled back into their cars and headed for Kaziah's.

The Coles lived in a posh subdivision high above the lake, and it didn't take long to get there. Snuggled into the center of five acres, the house had been designed to complement mountain living. There were decks on all sides, big windows with views of the lake and the mountains beyond. Inside, centered in the huge living room, a standing fireplace burned with crackling, inviting flames.

Shedding boots, the young people headed for the kitchen, ushered by Mrs. Cole, to load their plates with food. Then they sprawled on the carpeted floor around the fire. There were big pillows piled everywhere, encouraging guests to sit wherever they were comfortable.

Karen and Jesse set their plates on the floor near a couch. Jesse stacked pillows so they could lean on the couch.

“Not a bad layout, huh?” Jesse smiled at Karen and went to work on a fried chicken leg. Mrs. Cole had told them to forget the pizza, she'd treat.

“I could live here,” Karen agreed.

“With me?” Jesse teased.

“Can pro football players afford this kind of luxury?”

“You'd better believe it. And after the season, I'll have lots of time off. Lots of time to snuggle.”

“Hey, when will I get my work done? I don't know if I want a guy hanging around full time with nothing to do.”

“Maybe I can find some hobbies. And I can cut wood and shovel snow off walks, chores like that.”

“You know, I'm really enjoying this psychology class,” Karen said, getting serious. “Maybe I'll major in it in college. But I think I'd rather do research than counsel with people.”

“You don't want to help people solve their problems?”

“I don't think so. Maybe I'll study twins. The way they relate to each other—like communicating without talking, stuff like that. I find that people are fascinated with us.”

“You're pretty fascinating. I don't know about Kerr.” Jesse licked his fingers before he started on a mound of baked beans. “Can you get inside his mind?”

“Sometimes. It was easier when we were younger. He's shut me out a lot lately. But then I've done the same thing to him. I needed the privacy.”

“What kind of thoughts were you having?” Jesse's grin suggested he hoped he was included.

“Oh, fantasies about tall, dark strangers. Older men, macho Aussies. The things women daydream about.”

Jesse was tall and blond, so he wasn't pleased. “You have no need to dream about other guys, lady. Tall, dark strangers? Not when you have a real, live, macho mountain man hanging around. I don't dream about other women.”

“Oh, yeah, you expect me to believe that?” Karen kicked him. “Go get me a Coke. I forgot something to drink. And six more napkins.”

Jesse got up to wait on her. “I needed seconds, anyway.”

From across the room, Kerr caught her eye. He stared without smiling, then she looked away. She was going to have to talk to him, make him talk to her. He was still acting jealous.

They moved into the rec room for the movie. Karen and Jesse sat in the back on a couch. Karen snuggled into the warmth of his arms and felt as happy as she had ever been in her life. She was pleased to see Kerr sitting beside Alysia. He needed to date someone. Then he'd stop giving her a hard time.

“Well, what do you think, gang?” Kaziah stretched when the movie was over, got up and turned on some lights, while Easy rewound the tape.

“I thought it was great, really scary, but you know it couldn't happen.” Danah was quick to put down the idea of going into someone's dream.

“Why not?” Kerr asked. “I think it's a neat idea.”

“You'd have to be really psychic.” Easy took the video out of the machine and put it back in its case. “Psychics get into other people's minds.”

“Yeah, and they see things,” Kaziah agreed, “but to go into someone's dream and participate—like that guy did helping that kid kill off his snake monster—that's pure fantasy. But a neat idea.”

“I heard the Russians assign a psychic to each of their astronauts.” Bill smiled at Alysia. “That way if they lose radio communication, they'll still be able to keep in touch.”

“That in itself is pretty farfetched.” Karen didn't know what she believed about being psychic, but all these ideas fascinated her. “All they could do is know whether or not the astronaut was still alive. I'm not sure they could communicate.”

“I read this book the other day about a psychic who was hired to find a dead girl,” said Lucy. “Then it got out of hand. She started receiving pictures of more murders—she'd see the murder happening—and then she could locate the body. Finally she saw one before it happened, but it did happen. It was a really scary book. She thought she was losing her mind.”

“She saw pictures in her mind, like a movie?” asked Danah.

“Well, if you want my opinion—”

“We do, we do.” Everyone laughed and interrupted Lucy.

“Okay, okay.” She held up both hands. “Nobody ever listens to me, anyway.”

Mr. Cole interrupted with popcorn before they could beg Lucy to share her ideas.

“Let's all try it.” Kerr tossed popcorn into the air and caught the fluffy grains in his mouth. “We know each other pretty well.”

“No way. I couldn't even go to sleep with you guys sitting around watching me.” Alysia laughed. “You and Karen might be able to dream walk, but not the rest of us.”