Dream Walker (The Coven, Book 3)

by Erica Stevens

  “No,” Avery interrupted. “I don’t want to be around people right now.”

  He clasped her hand as he leaned forward to brush her hair back from her forehead. “Understandable.”

  “Where is everyone?” she asked.

  “Downstairs with your dad and the rest of our parents.”

  She sighed and winced again. “They shouldn’t have to worry about this.”

  “None of us should, but they’re a little freaked out. They knew Regan was back but not the extent of what was going on. The others are trying to calm them down.”

  “I bet that’s going great.”

  Reid smiled. “About as well as calming a tornado.”

  “I’m not going to be able to dream walk tonight.”

  “That is the last thing you should worry about right now.”

  Guilt tugged at her as she leaned closer to Reid. A footstep sounded outside her door seconds before her father pushed open the door and entered. He glanced at Reid before his bright, leaf green eyes landed on her.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “I’m good,” she lied and forced a smile.

  “You should have told me all of what is going on,” he said, unable to hide the anger in his voice.

  “I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “You’re my daughter. I’m supposed to worry!”

  She winced at the distress in his voice. “I’m sorry.”

  “You used to tell me everything, Avery.”

  She really did used to tell him everything, but since she had found out she was a witch, Regan started attacking them, and they learned their parents had kept Regan hidden from them, their relationship had changed a lot. She missed him.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she tried not to cry.

  “Avery.” Sitting beside her, he pulled her into a hug. “You can tell me anything; you know that, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, though she knew she would keep more from him.

  Their parents couldn’t do much about Regan; they had their powers and their coven, but she couldn’t turn them into targets for Regan, and she didn’t see how they could help. The last thing she needed was to dream walk for all their parents because they pissed Regan off and he decided to make them pay.

  “We have to figure out if something can be done,” her dad said.

  “I’ve been dream walking for the others.”

  “They told me, but it’s not doing you any good.”

  “He won’t kill me. He will kill them. He’s already killed Talia.”

  Reid stiffened at the mention of Talia’s name. When she sent him a curious glance, he subtly shook his head.

  Her father sat back and ran a hand through his hair. “That poor girl. He’s a monster.” A few minutes passed before her father spoke again. “My coven will help you locate the skull.”

  “No,” Avery said. “You’ll draw Regan’s attention to you, and then I’ll be dream walking for all of you too.”

  “Not if we can help you find the skull.”

  “And if you can’t?” she asked. “He’ll have no problem with killing all of you too. You have to stay out of this.”

  “Avery—”

  “No, Dad. I’m sorry, but you can’t help us with this. Please,” she whispered as tears welled in her eyes. “Please stay out of this. Your coven’s powers are nowhere near as strong as ours. You’ll only do more harm than good.”

  His shoulders slumped. “Okay, we’ll stay out of it… for now.”

  Avery rested her hand over his. He turned his hand over in hers and squeezed it.

  “You’re helping the others, but he’s inflicting a lot of damage on you,” her dad said.

  “We’ll figure it out,” she assured him.

  “I’ve never known or heard of anything like your powers.”

  “I told you they were strong.”

  “I didn’t think they were this strong. No witch, good or bad, has ever been able to enter someone else’s mind, or dream walk, as you call it.”

  “Celia died so I could receive the full power she possessed, both good and evil,” she said.

  “I know; it’s just amazing.”

  “It’s a good thing,” Reid said.

  “Not to me,” her dad murmured as he tucked a strand of hair behind Avery’s ear. “It’s made you a target.”

  “We’re going to figure this out,” she assured him.

  Her dad smiled at her, but she saw the skepticism in his eyes.

  CHAPTER 31

  Avery woke and blinked at her lamp. She started when she realized she’d fallen asleep again and nothing happened. Reid rose and helped her when she began to push herself up to gaze around the packed room. The coven, Tina, Karen, and Lila were scattered around her room. Karen was curled against Mario’s side with her head on his chest while he played with a strand of her hair.

  “I slept again?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Isla said. “For the past five hours.”

  “Sorry,” she apologized.

  “You needed it far more than the rest of us,” Landon said.

  “How do you feel?” Rosie asked.

  “Much better.” She was still a little tired, and her stomach ached, but she almost felt refreshed.

  “Good,” Reid said and slipped his hand into hers. “We have something to discuss.”

  Avery frowned at the tone of his voice. “What is it?”

  He looked to Landon who rose from where she’d been sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. “Rosie and I went to Talia’s house yesterday.”

  “What?” Avery blurted.

  “Believe me, we did not want to be there,” Rosie said as she rose and stretched her back.

  “I was asked to go there,” Landon said and filled Avery in on the details.

  Avery’s skin crawled when Landon told her about all the pictures of Reid and the coven. Then Landon pulled a photo out and handed it to Avery. In it, Landon and Reid were standing in the school parking lot next to a battered Camry. Landon was looking toward someone else while Reid’s head was tilted back to take in the rays of the sun streaming over him. He looked so handsome and peaceful that it made her heart ache.

  She glanced at the picture before looking at them. “Nice picture.”

  Alex rose and came to stand beside Landon. “That’s my old car. I upgraded after school ended last year.”

  “We’re guessing the picture was taken around the last day of school, judging by what we’re wearing and the leaves on the trees,” Reid said.

  “And Talia had it?” Avery asked.

  “Talia took it.”

  “But…” Avery looked at the picture again. “She didn’t start school until this year.”

  “No, she didn’t, but they moved here before then,” Landon said. “We looked up the real estate records and learned they moved here a few days before school ended. We’re guessing she was probably at school that day to either check it out or to register for the next year.”

  “And then she saw Reid and the obsession began,” Rosie said.

  Avery shuddered and handed the picture back to Landon; she felt dirty touching it. “That’s just….” She didn’t know how to explain what it was.

  “Creepy as hell,” Mario said.

  “Yeah,” Avery muttered as she glanced around her room.

  Talia had started obsessing over Reid before she met him. The girl had been in her room; they’d talked for hours, laughed, and discussed her relationship with Reid, and the whole time Talia had been thinking… what? What had the girl been thinking about Avery’s relationship with Reid? Had she imagined herself in Avery’s place the whole time?

  “There’s more,” Reid said as he clasped her hand.

  She was scared to ask, but she did. “What?”

  Rosie handed another picture over, and Avery saw the coven gathered around a bonfire. Colors danced in the flames, and Avery recognized them as the colors of the dust the coven used for spells and r
ituals.

  “What is this from?” she asked.

  “You’re not in it, so we’re assuming it’s from the summer solstice celebration we held last June,” Rosie said. “That was our last celebration without you, and school was out by then.”

  “So….” Avery couldn’t put her thoughts into words.

  “She knew we were witches,” Sandra said. “The whole time.”

  “That’s not possible,” Avery said. “She was so confused and lost when Regan took us into his maze. She had no idea what was going on.”

  “She was an outstanding actress,” Sandra said. “Rosie and I never liked her, but look at how well she fooled the rest of you—especially you.”

  Sandra’s words weren’t accusatory, but Avery felt like she’d slapped her.

  “Plus, she may have known about us, but she was not expecting Regan. She wasn’t faking her terror,” Eric said.

  “It almost makes me smile to think about her manipulations landing her in Regan’s hands,” Sandra said. “But then it skeeves me out to think how much she knew about us and how well she hid how messed up she was.”

  “I was such an idiot,” Avery muttered, but sorrow swelled in her chest. No matter how messed up Talia was, there was something infinitely sad in her obsession with Reid and the coven.

  Reid rested his hand on her shoulder. “She fooled us all.”

  Sandra cleared her throat.

  “Okay, not all of us,” Reid amended.

  “Next time maybe you’ll all listen to me,” Sandra said.

  Avery ignored her as she handed the picture back to Rosie. “How often do you think she was watching all of you?”

  “Judging by the number of pictures, a lot,” Landon said.

  “And we never knew she was there,” Shawn said.

  “I need another shower,” Rosie muttered.

  “She slept in my room,” Avery said.

  “And that’s where this gets really frightening,” Landon said.

  “Gets?” Avery croaked.

  Rosie handed out a piece of notebook paper; Avery took it and glanced at the notes before looking to them. “Chemistry notes?”

  “Look closer,” Rosie said as Landon handed over a scrap of paper.

  Avery almost recoiled when she saw the words scrawled on the scrap of paper. Witches are burned for their sins!!! She recognized it as one of the death threats she’d received.

  “There was something familiar about the chem notes, that’s why I took them,” Rosie said. “It took me a little time to see it.” Leaning closer, Rosie pointed to the e and then the w on the chemistry notes before pointing to the e and w on the death threat. “She tried to disguise her handwriting, but she couldn’t quite get rid of the loop she makes with the e and the slant she does with the w.”

  A strange ringing started in Avery’s ears as she gazed at the papers. She didn’t want to see it, but once Rosie pointed it out, she couldn’t see anything else. “But Talia wasn’t in my history class. I received my first note in that class.”

  “She was,” Landon said. “You just didn’t realize it. Once Rosie noticed the similarities between the death notes and Talia’s notes, we did a little hacking to get into the school’s records.”

  “You can do that?” Avery asked.

  “There may have been a little magic involved,” Sandra said with a smile.

  “You allowed that?” Avery asked Landon.

  “Normally, no, but this isn’t exactly normal.”

  “We discovered Talia was in your class; for one day. She transferred out afterward. By then, she’d probably already seen you with Reid and knew who you were, but you were new, so you didn’t notice her,” Rosie said.

  “I never would have picked her out from the other students.” She’d been so overwhelmed by her new environment that she wouldn’t have noticed an alligator in that class. She thrust the papers away from her. “Take them.”

  Landon took them and handed them to Rosie.

  “She slept in my room,” Avery muttered. She couldn’t get over that. “Was she contemplating killing me in my sleep?”

  Reid sat next to her on the bed and drew her into his arms. “At least we know who was threatening you now, and it’s over.”

  Avery’s fingers dug into his shirt as she clung to him. “Do you think there’s some way she could have known about the skull?”

  “She knew about everything else,” Isla muttered.

  “I called her mom to ask if she took any trips this summer,” Landon said. “I played it off as we were doing a get to know Talia segment for the memorial and buried it with some other questions, but she said no. Talia never went away this summer, not even for a day. She would have needed at least a day, if not two, to drive to Canada, get the skull, and come back. Plus, she may have known about us, but she wasn’t a witch, so she didn’t have the power to set Regan free, and she was really shocked to learn about him.”

  “Plus, I don’t think she would have done anything that could have hurt Reid,” Rosie said.

  Lila twitched suddenly, and Avery glanced at her. Her head was bowed, and her shoulders slumped forward as she sat against the wall. “Lila,” she breathed.

  When Karen shook her, Lila’s head lolled to the side. “Lila!” Karen cried. “Lila!”

  Reid caught her when she tried to lurch out of bed. He steadied her as she got her wobbly legs beneath her and helped her over to Lila. She fell before the twitching girl and seized her hand.

  “Hurry!” Tina pleaded.

  Lila groaned as panic welled in Avery and flared her power as she was drawn into the tunnel linking her to Lila’s mind. Before she could completely connect, Lila screamed and ripped her hand away.

  Avery fell backward and would have hit the floor if Reid hadn’t caught her. The room spun as she tried to figure out what happened. She was ripped out of the tunnel so fast she didn’t know where she was, and it took her a minute to realize she was in her room.

  Reid knelt at Avery’s side as Lila gazed around the room.

  “Are you all right?” Karen asked Lila.

  “Yeah,” she choked out. “My side hurts.”

  Tina pulled Lila’s shirt up to reveal the eggplant-colored bruise forming on her hip. Helplessness filled Avery as she realized no matter what she did, Regan would get them.

  CHAPTER 32

  “I’ve been thinking about something,” Avery said a few hours later. Her room had been unnaturally quiet since Lila’s nightmare.

  “I don’t want to know,” Reid said.

  She smiled at him as she patted his hand. “It will be fine.”

  “What have you been thinking about?” Mario asked.

  Avery glanced at the weary faces surrounding her. “What if we can all connect?”

  “What are you talking about?” Sandra asked.

  “What if we can all connect to enter someone else’s dream and we use our powers in there?”

  “What good would that do?” Karen asked.

  “First, it would allow everyone to get a little more sleep. Second, maybe Regan will give up if he realizes we’re stronger and the nightmares can’t affect us anymore. Our powers connected during the truth spell; they can do it again. Also, if we use someone else’s dream, and we all enter it, we might have enough power to stop this.”

  The room grew silent as they all considered her words.

  “Whose dream?” Isla finally asked.

  Avery looked at Karen, Lila, and Tina. They stared back at her, and their eyes went wide in realization. She needed someone outside the coven so they could all use their powers in the nightmare. Avery hated the idea of using any of them for anything, but they had to try this.

  “I’ll do it,” Karen volunteered.

  “I think it’s worth a try,” Rosie said.

  “Are you up for this?” Reid asked.

  “Yeah,” Avery said. Her stomach didn’t hurt anywhere near as much, and she felt more rejuvenated after her last sleep.

  �
��How are we going to do this?” Karen asked.

  “You focus on going to sleep; we’ll worry about the rest,” Avery told her.

  • • •

  Avery clasped Karen’s hand while she waited for the first sign her friend was dreaming. The coven stood around her, staring intently at Karen on Avery’s bed. When her eyelids started twitching, Avery knew it was time.

  “Now,” she whispered, and they all rested their hands on her shoulders or her arms. “You have to concentrate on everything you know about Karen. Let your mind reach out to hers. It’s going to feel like you’re entering a tunnel; don’t fight it.”

  “All right,” Mario murmured as he rested his other hand on Karen’s.

  Avery took a deep breath as she opened her mind up to Karen’s and the others. She felt their powers swelling and merging with hers. Unlike the truth spell, this was a gentle merging and far more controlled.

  Then she felt them connect with Karen as the tunnel opened before them. This time, the tunnel wasn’t as frightening as their presences surrounded her while they moved into Karen’s dream. Avery was used to the jolt at the end, so she remained steady when they landed, but the others lurched and stumbled around her.

  Avery was prepared for the abrupt landing, but she was completely unprepared for her surroundings. Karen’s nightmares always involved a clown, whether at a birthday party or dolls coming alive, but there was nothing like that here.

  Instead, they stood standing in a massive dining room with candles lining the large table. Their dim flames cast shadows across the polished surface. Ten chairs surrounded the table; plates and silverware had been set out. The colorful jewels embedded in the golden goblets at each setting shimmered in the candlelight.

  “What is this?” Karen asked.

  “It’s your dream; don’t you know what it is?” Isla inquired.

  “My dreams never start like this.”

  A flicker of movement drew Avery’s attention to the back of the room as Regan emerged from the dark. The shadows hugged him close before finally releasing him and slipping away. A bolt of rage slashed through Avery as he glided toward them.