Knowing Silver, she wasn’t going to let her question go unanswered, so he opened his treasure chest of secrets and handed her one free of charge.
“I was stabbed by a werewolf a few hours ago.”
Silver started to interrupt him, but he rushed on.
“I had some trouble healing.
It got kind of hairy for a few minutes, but it worked out eventually.”
“You’re okay now though, right?”
“I’m good,” he said.
“I just wish I knew what the problem was with my healing powers.
What if it happens again?
Next time I might not be so lucky.”
“I’ll ask mom and dad about it.
Maybe they know something.”
“You want to finish our dance?”
She returned to his arms, and they continued their dance in silence.
Jack rested his chin on the top of her head and breathed in deep.
The scent of her hair teased his nostrils.
It reminded him of the night they’d first met.
He had smelled her before he’d seen her.
Funny, her scent had been the first thing he’d fallen in love with, fruit and wildflowers.
After a few minutes she said, “I wish we could stay like this forever.”
Before he could respond to her whispered words, she disappeared.
Her body turned to vapor.
He stopped dancing, arms empty.
His fingers tingled, missing her already.
There wasn’t anything to worry about.
Silver was awake now.
When she left their dreams, she did it abruptly, no goodbyes, no promises to meet up later.
Unfortunately there was no way to know when they were about to wake up.
Sometimes he left her, but most of the time it was the other way around.
Apparently she was a light sleeper.
Since Jack remained in the dream alone, he decided to see what else he could do.
The first thing that popped into his head was the question of bringing someone else into the dream.
Was it possible?
And if so, would they be in the dream like Silver or a figment of his imagination like the roses?
Before he had time to consider the consequences, his mind conjured the person he most wanted to talk to at the moment.
A twig cracked under a heavy foot behind him.
Feeling scared and excited at the same time, he slowly revolved to see the person he’d sucked into his dream.
He knew it was wrong to care about Jersey Clifford.
Jersey was the head werewolf, a certifiably crazy individual who’d kept wraiths in his basement and had promised to kill Jack on more than one occasion, but there was something about the man.
Jack couldn’t turn his back on him even though he knew Jersey believed they were destined to try to kill each other.
Okay, so Jersey wasn’t the only one who could benefit from seeing a psychiatrist.
Jersey approached with an amused glint in his pale blue eyes.
Dressed in black as usual, Jersey had his red sneakers on—and he had a black rose in his hand.
It was the one color Jack had forgotten to create.
“You summoned me?”
Jersey took a second to smell the rose before crushing it in one hand.
He let the petals drop from his loose fingers.
“I have to admit I’m impressed.
Even if I’d for one moment thought you capable of this kind of power, I wouldn’t have suspected you’d have the nerve to use it.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Jersey shook his head in wonder.
“Now that you have invited me into your dreams, I can reappear anytime I want.
Did you think you would have the upper-hand in a dream world, Jack?
I brought my power with me.”
An invisible hand grabbed Jack by the throat, cutting off his oxygen.
It squeezed hard until he couldn’t breathe.
He dropped to his knees, and his eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his head.
Panic had him clawing at his throat.
There was nothing for him to grab onto, no way for him to stop it.
It was going to be a slow and painful death.
Jersey towered over him.
“You’re okay.
Get up.”
As quickly as the manacle around his throat appeared, it was gone.
He drew in a deep breath and coughed.
After he could breathe again, Jack struggled to his feet.
He glared at his former teacher, no longer happy to see him.
The idea of killing Jersey was becoming more appealing by the second.
“I apologize,” Jersey said without a trace of sincerity.
“I don’t want to waste time fighting with you, but I had to make certain you understood the consequences of your actions.
You should be more careful in the future.
As long as I’m here, let’s talk.
Did you get the book I mailed to you last month?
Did you read it?”
“I read it.”
“Your thoughts?
I’m curious to hear them.”
Jack pushed the disturbing anger down as he tried to return to the good old days when he and Jersey discussed literature on a regular basis.
It was damn near impossible.
The man had almost strangled him to death.
His mind was cluttered with warring voices, and he was having trouble thinking clearly.
“Umm…it was interesting.”
Jersey rolled his eyes and snorted.
“Interesting?
I could get that kind of response from half the student body at Jefferson Memorial.
You can do better than that.
Tell me what you thought about the running theme of reincarnation.”
“Honestly I don’t buy it.
We live once and die.
End of story.”
“Go on.”
Jack quickly leafed through the book in his mind, summoning every major plot point he could remember.
It was hard to think with Jersey scowling at him.
Even the title slipped his mind.
It was something like The
Majabarata
…
Mahabarata
…whatever.
The book followed five brothers on a quest.
At least one of them, the main character, had lived before.
“There was this one scene where the main character was walking on the beach and talking to a god he had known in various lifetimes.
They had been best friends, but the memories were lost to him.”
Jersey’s eyes danced with excitement.
“Yes!
When you were reading it, did you notice anything familiar about these two men?
Did they remind you of anyone?”
They hadn’t.
“Is that why you wanted me to read it?
Are you trying to say you believe we knew each other in another lifetime?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Jersey dismissed the idea with a flick of his hand.
“Back to the book.
What did you think about the major part
destiny
played in the story?”
Jack worked hard not to roll his eyes.
“You know I don’t believe in that garb… stuff.”
“Stubborn.
You are the most stubborn human I have ever met.”
Jersey was worked up now.
His voice raised a few decibels, and he gestured wildly with his hands as he spoke.
“Destiny is a real thing.
It locks us in chains, but it can be fooled on occasion.
We can fool it now if you would simply learn to cooperate with me.
Open your mind to the possibility of us working together.”
“What are you suggesting?”
Jack folded arms over his chest, not liking the detour the conversation had taken.
“Join me.”
Jersey’s voice lowered, becoming seductive in nature.
His smile was crooked, lazy now, but Jack wasn’t fooled.
The story of Adam and Eve sprang to mind.
He could picture Jersey dressed like a beautiful snake in the garden, tempting Eve to take a bite of the forbidden fruit.
Jersey had told Jack that he thought he was an angel.
Of course it wasn’t true.
Jersey had lost his mind after killing his wife.
But if it had been true, Jersey would have been a fallen angel, maybe even the devil himself.
“Join me or die.”
Jersey added a quote from Shelley.
“With plough and spade, and hoe and loom, trace your grave, and build your tomb.”
“There’s a third option,” Jack said.
“Our side could win, and you could die.”
Jersey held a hand out.
“Don’t be a fool, Jack.
Join me.
Now.”
******
Jack’s eyes snapped open.
He was safe, back in the living room and on the sofa.
It took him a few minutes to lose the disoriented feeling that came with visiting the dream world.
An obnoxious rock song echoed in his ears.
It was his cell phone.
He jumped up, following the music to its origin.
The Caller ID told him Silver was on the other end.
He smiled as he pushed the green button.
“Thanks for waking me.
You have no idea how great your timing is.”
“What happened after I left?”
He hesitated.
The truth was on the tip of his tongue.
If he told her about Jersey, about his threats, she might be afraid to join him in his dreams.
Jersey had warned him that he could visit them any time he wanted.
Silver wouldn’t like that.
A little voice screamed at him to tell her anyway.
By hiding it, he was putting them both at risk, making them vulnerable.
First he sighed.
Then he confessed.
“I sort of… brought Jersey into my dream.”
“You did WHAT?”
“I know.
I know.
It was stupid.”
“Why would you do something like that?
Do you have a death wish?”
“No.”
He sat on the arm of the sofa, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Silver would never understand how he felt, but he had to try to explain.
“I kind of miss the guy.”
Dead silence.
“Are you there?” he asked.
“Uh…yeah.
I just don’t know what to say.”
Jack sighed before trying again.
“Jersey reminds me of my father.
I told you that.
I can’t have my father back because he’s dead, but I thought I could still have Jersey for a while, at least to talk to.”
“No way.
You can’t possibly miss that lunatic.
He had wraiths in his home, imprisoned in their own bodies.
How can you miss someone who would do that to another person?”
He groaned and rubbed his aching head with his free hand.
“I don’t know.”
Jack thought about his mom, wondering what she would say about his dependence on a werewolf.
Truth was he was so damn lonely he could barely think straight.
Lily and
Summer
were dead, Cowboy had left town, and Billy was spending more and more time with his new girlfriend.
Then there was Silver.
She was too busy trying to get into a good school to bother with him anymore.
They were drifting further apart by multiplying inches every day.
Hot emotion clogged his throat.
“I have to go.”
Silver’s voice sounded far away, both physically and mentally distant from him.
“Okay.
I’ll see you at school, I guess.”
He didn’t disconnect the call.
As much as he wanted to hang up, he couldn’t end their conversation this way.
If he didn’t say something to reassure her, he could inadvertently build a chasm between them that couldn’t be crossed.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I’ll meet you at your locker.”
“My locker?
Okay.
Sounds good.”
He got off the phone and went to his bedroom even though he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep.
The disturbing dreams he’d suffered through had his mind whirling in violent circles.
Blanca growled deep in her throat.
Her glittering green eyes fixed on the window.
“What is it, baby?” he asked.
Jack went to the window, but he didn’t see anything.
Blanca hissed behind him, insisting there was something bad out there.
He pushed the window open and leaned out.
Still nothing.
He started to pull back inside when something caught his attention, a slight movement to the left.