by M. R. Polish
Thankfully, the closest attendant was right next to us. I followed her every gesture, needing to know where my exits and oxygen mask where located. Victor’s plane didn’t have all this information, or a flight attendant. Heck, I never even had the option to fly first class with him! This was all new to me and I soaked in every piece of information I could.
Ian chuckled. “You are too cute, you know that?”
“Shut up.” I gave him the best annoyed look I could come up with in my state of panic. This time was definitely different. I’ve flown before. I’ve flown before. I’ve flown before, I chanted to myself. I could totally do this.
We taxied around to the runway strip. I gripped the armrest with white knuckles and tried to slow my breathing down, but it didn’t work. I might as well have had a paper bag held up to my mouth.
Ian was talking, but I couldn’t focus on what he said because all I could concentrate on was the whirring sound of the engines winding up for takeoff. I stared out the window and watched as the plane shot forward and we lifted off the ground.
Ian grabbed my face in his hands and turned me to look at him. “Es, look at me. It’s okay, I promise.”
I nodded, but every muscle in my body remained tense.
Ian twisted in his seat to Jarak, who sat behind us. “Dude, how’d we get her to fly last time? She’s freaking out.”
The plane hit a small bump in turbulence on our incline and I grasped Ian’s shirt, pulling him closer to me. “Get me off this thing!”
I could hear Jarak laughing, but I didn’t care. Please tell me we’re almost there. There was no way I could survive almost two hours.
“A sleep spell. Victor did it the first flight I ever took with her, but on the way back to Idaho she was still recovering from the Belladonna, so she slept, and on our way to Tennessee Adonia helped with a sleep spell, too. I can’t think of a time when she got through a flight where magic wasn’t used.”
I thought back to just a couple months ago when we flew to Tennessee. He was right, I slept the whole time, but I didn’t know it was because of my mom. Was I really that bad of a flyer that they had to put me to sleep?
“Seriously?” Julie whined. She hit the back of my head. I spun around to say something to her, but everything started to fade out.
Ian
“What the hell, Julie?” I pulled Es’s listless body half over onto my lap. “You could have warned her or something.”
“What is the problem? She was freaking out, and I fixed it.”
Ailaina looked over her shoulder at us. “Is Es okay?”
I waved her off. “Yeah, Julie just put her to sleep.”
Ailaina unbuckled and marched down the small aisle to the empty seat across the aisle from Jarak and leaned over. “You have some nerve.” Her finger dug into Julie’s shoulder.
Julie groaned, flinging Ailaina’s hand away. “Why is everyone so pissy about me helping her?”
I twisted enough to look back. “Do we really need to answer that?”
Ailaina glared at her. Jarak tried to push himself back into his seat out of the way of the two girls. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to stop. Es is trying her best to help everyone and you are just making things harder on her. What if something happened and we needed her?”
“Oh, sweetie, she is gonna need all the help she can get so don’t make me mad. Now go back to your seat before I put you to sleep.”
I could feel Dregan in his spirit form getting riled up. “That is enough. You play nice or you’ll regret it,” I threatened Julie.
Julie sneered at me. “You can’t do anything to me.”
“No, but Adonia can, and I’m pretty sure if I told her how you are treating her daughter she could make you regret it.”
She folded her arms and Jarak carefully put his arm around her shoulders. “Maybe you should just calm down a little.”
She stiffened, and then shrugged his arm off. “Don’t you start with me, Jarak. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
Ailaina glared at Julie one more time before getting up. She placed a hand on Es’s head resting on my lap before looking at me. “Just stay alert. Something doesn’t feel right. I haven’t seen it yet, but I think something is gonna happen soon.”
I nodded. “Thanks.” She walked back to her seat just as the attendants started pulling their refreshment carts down the aisle.
I glanced at Es, hoping nothing would happen. I moved her hair from her face and tried not to think about what could happen while in Spain. I finally found her, was able to touch her, hold her in my arms—I couldn’t, no, I wouldn’t lose her now.
Six
Esmerelda
“E s, wake up.” Ian’s voice sounded far away and it took a minute for it to register in my mind. “We’re in Frisco. You need to get up, Es.”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up to stretch, wincing as a kink in my back tried to work itself out. I looked out the window. He was right; we were getting ready to land. We survived.
The tires hit the tarmac and within minutes we were parking at a gate. Ian grabbed both of our carry-on bags, and I sleepily followed him off the plane.
“Well, we have a couple hours to kill before our next flight,” Jarak said as we all clumped together trying to assess our surroundings.
“I need a restroom, so that should be first,” Ailaina said.
I gave a short wave of my hand. “I second that.”
It was decided. Restroom first, then we would find food. Ailaina, Lauren, and I sluggishly walked into the restroom. I got a look at myself in the mirror and cringed. “Ugh, you guys couldn’t tell me that I look like the walking dead? What kind of friends are you?”
No answer. I turned on my heel. The restroom was empty. “Ailaina? Lauren? Come on, quit playing around. It’s not funny.”
That horrible feeling from earlier returned. A gray fog floated out over the entire floor. I backed up, trying to avoid it, but it was faster than I was.
“Esmerelda, I’m so happy to see you, sweetheart.” Laced in the woman’s voice was a thick venomous snarl. I watched in the mirror as the fog lifted and took shape into a human form. The vapor faded away leaving one person I didn’t want to see right now. “My little girl looks so grown up.”
My legs shook, not wanting to hold me up, and I held back a scream in my throat. I slowly turned around to face her. “Meadow.”
Meadow’s face still had the same features, but her skin was almost albino, bloodless, and making me realize more than ever that she was lifeless—a woman of the undead, and I had helped create her. Her eyes had the same copper color I remembered Trevor and Ree having. Her mousy brown hair hung in waves over her shoulders. She wore a tight-fitting blouse and even tighter jeans. She sauntered closer to me, stopping a couple feet away. “Is that any way to greet your mother?”
I took a step back. “You’re not my mom. You never have been.”
Where were Ailaina and Lauren? I glanced out from the corner of my eye but still couldn’t see them. How was a busy airport restroom suddenly empty? I couldn’t even hear the hustle and bustle of the busy travelers outside the entrance.
Meadow shook her finger at me. “Tsk. Tsk. You won’t find them here.”
I darted to the exit of the restroom, but fell back on my butt by an invisible wall before I got four feet. Meadow’s cackle echoed in the empty room.
She kneeled down beside me. I tried to back away, but she grabbed my arm. Her face was close enough for me to smell the metallic odor from her earlier meal. I fought the urge to throw up as my stomach wrenched from the stench.
I knocked her hand away from me and scrambled to my feet. “What do you want?”
“Well, I thought that would’ve been obvious by now. Nicholas needs your blood, now more than ever. He would’ve come himself but he wasn’t feeling up to traveling.”
“How did you know where I was?”
Meadow swished her forefinger back and forth. “I can’t tell you all my secrets. It w
ouldn’t be any fun if you knew everything.”
Luna’s deep growl rumbled inside of me, but she never came. My heart sped up. Where was she? Why wasn’t she standing next to me? Something was definitely wrong. I whispered Luna’s name, fearing the worst for her safety.
“Your wolf can’t help you here. Just like every other dream you’ve had, but this time it’s just you and me.”
I flinched. What was she talking about?
“So you haven’t figured it out yet, huh?”
“What are you talking about?”
The heel of Meadow’s high-heeled boots clicked on the tiled floor as she stood up and paced in front of me. “All these years I thought you were smarter than this.” She stopped walking to look at me. I almost thought I saw remorse in her eyes, but she glanced away too soon for me to look into it any further.
“Esmerelda, every time you fall asleep Nicholas can find you. One of his great abilities is control of the spirit. All he has to do is concentrate on your spirit. When you fall asleep, you keep letting your guard down, giving him every chance to slip in your dreams. It was so nice of Julie to use a sleep spell on you to let us know where you were. Without the spell I wouldn’t be able to enter your dreams. I don’t have the full strength of magic that I used to have.”
She spun around with her arms out. “And now here we are. In your dream.” She stopped and stared at me; the copper coloring in her eyes glistened, looking brighter than normal.
“What? No. You’re lying, I got off the plane with Ian.” I glanced away, shaking my head.
“Really? Then why is no one here?”
I spun around. It couldn’t be true. Could it? Luna. Where was Luna? “Luna, can you hear me? Answer me!” My breathing quickened when I didn’t hear her respond. I was alone—alone with Meadow. “What did you do?” My heart raced, and I felt sick.
“Me?” She splayed her hand over her chest. “I didn’t do anything. Nicholas sent me here to check up on you, make sure that you’ve been sleeping well, and to see if you’ve missed seeing him in your dreams the last couple of nights. Don’t worry, sweetie, I’m sure you will see him again soon enough. He’s about to make a deal that will change everything.”
Everything inside me screamed to be released. Without another thought, I raised my hand and a red ball of energy shot out at Meadow. It went right through her, and she laughed. The eerie sound echoed off the restroom walls. “You can’t hurt me here, just like I can’t do anything to you. I told you, we’re meeting in your sleep.”
If what she said was true, then I needed to wake up—fast. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block her out. I could feel the lighter atmosphere of reality form around me, and I gasped as I shot straight up and looked around. My heart raced so fast it ached in my chest and up through my neck. My breath came in short pants which I was unable to slow down.
Ian was next to me and we were still on the plane. He reached over and touched my leg. “You okay?”
I jerked my attention to him and shook my head. No, I was definitely not okay. My whole body began to shake. Images of Meadow’s eyes and the restroom flashed through my mind. Wrapping my arms around my middle I rocked back and forth as I concentrated on calming down. Ian placed his hand on my back, giving me the warmth and comfort that I so desperately needed.
Only after I was finally able to take long steady breathes did I stop rocking. I still felt a cold chill that raced over my skin, but I sat up without freaking out anymore.
I ran my hands over my face, wiping away all my tears, and cringed as I wiped off a line of almost-dried drool that must have come out while I slept. I glanced at Ian’s leg, where a small wet circle proved that I had, indeed, drooled all over him. Could I just die from embarrassment now? What else could go wrong?
I sat up a little more to look behind us. “You witch! You ever put me to sleep again and I will find ways to kill you over and over.”
Julie’s mouth went wide but I gave her my best ‘don’t talk or I’ll make it happen’ look. She must have believed me because she never listened to me without an argument before.
“Whoa, Es, that’s my girl.” Ian had a smirky smile plastered on his face as I slipped back down to my seat. He leaned over closer. “So really, what’s wrong?”
I couldn’t look at him without crying again. It was so hard to know that the past months I really had been sleeping with Nicholas in my head. There was no way I could sleep again. I let the tears come, not caring what Ian or anyone else thought as I told him about my ‘dream’. They weren’t there. They had no clue what it was like to have the world’s enemy breaking and entering their dreams. If that was indeed the truth. Or was my mind jut playing with me?
Ian pulled me close and listened as I tried to explain everything through my tears. He looked back at Julie and Jarak. “She’s right, you put her to sleep again and I’ll kill you myself before she has the chance.”
I rounded the airport restroom entrance with caution, stopping before making it all the way in. Ailaina held my hand tightly. “It’s okay. I won’t go anywhere. I promise, you’re awake. Meadow’s not in there.”
My mouth went dry. “I know, it’s just crazy.”
Lauren stepped past us. “Okay, well, I have to pee so you two just stand there, but I gotta go.”
I felt out for Luna for about the hundredth time since waking up. “Luna?”
“I’m still here. Don’t worry, everything is alright.” She was using her soft tone, probably trying to calm my nerves, but it wasn’t working a whole lot.
I snickered a little, even though I knew Luna wouldn’t lie to me. I nodded to Ailaina and followed her into the restroom. It wasn’t the same as the dream and that alone made me breathe better. It was enough that I relaxed, but only a tiny bit.
I grasped Ailaina’s hand tighter when she went to pull away. I didn’t want to be alone.
“Es, honey, you’re gonna have to let go. There’s not room for both of us in the stall.”
I looked at her, the stall door, then back at her. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I let go of her hand only to twist my hands together.
A stall door flung open, hitting the wall and making me jump and turn around fast to see Lauren coming out of it, slinging her carry-on bag over her shoulder. She smiled at me. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare you.”
I waved her off. “It’s okay, I’m just a little jumpy. That dream just really creeped me out.”
She walked over to the sink. “I bet, that would scare the crap out of me too. So what are you gonna do?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t thought about that. What was I gonna do? Was there anything I could do? “I don’t know.”
Ailaina came up behind me a minute later. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, I’m relaxing a little more.”
Lauren linked arms with both of us. “Let’s go find the guys and get going before we’re late for our next flight.”
We didn’t have to look hard. Ian was basically inside the restroom entrance he was so close, and Jarak and Julie weren’t too far from him. Although, I could see the disdain all over Julie’s face. I honestly had no clue why she hated me so much. After all, I brought her back from the dead. She should be more grateful. My shoulders slumped a little more.
Ian pushed through Lauren and wrapped his arm around me. Ailaina gave me a smile and moved away with Lauren. We ate lunch at some little café but I only nibbled on my sandwich, not caring to really eat.
Ian pulled his ticket out and read over it before placing it back in his pocket. “So, Princess, you ready? They’re about ready to board. Our gate is just right over there.” Ian nodded to the closest gate to where we were at.
I took a deep breath. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“You have a choice,” Julie muttered under her breath. I bit my tongue from saying something to her as she and Jarak walked ahead of us.
It didn’t take long to get through the ticket check. Ian carried my carry-on through
the long tunnel to the plane just like last time. I noticed Jarak was unusually quiet since we arrived in Frisco and watched him while we waited to board the plane. He thrummed his fingers on his leg impatiently and kept shifting his weight.
I leaned closer toward Ian to whisper, “Have you noticed anything strange about Jarak?”
Ian leaned back. “It’s Jarak. What’s not strange?”
I let out a long growling sigh. “You know what I mean. He’s acting weird, not himself. He hasn’t spoken two words since we got here.”
The line moved so we moved with it. Ian shifted our bags to rest more comfortably on his shoulder. “Yeah, I guess he has been pretty quiet. I’ll try and talk to him in a bit. See what’s up.”
I linked my arm with his and reached up to kiss his cheek. “Thanks.”
“Eww. You know we’re back here, right? We can see that.”
I stuck my tongue out at Lauren over my shoulder. “You guys are just jealous.”
“Oh yes, jealous. Please spare me. I’ve had Ian… Ouch!”
I spun around and saw Lauren rubbing her side and frowning at Ailaina. “Why’d you elbow me?” Lauren asked.
Ailaina shrugged. I gave her a thank you smile and we started walking again. This time we almost made it inside the massive double-decker plane.
Lauren might have had fun with Ian a long time ago, but now he had me. I needed to not let that bother me. Now was not the time to be jealous. I needed everyone on my side that I could get. That was the only reason I tolerated snooty-pants Julie.
Finally we stepped inside the plane. I could hear the engines winding up, making it much louder than the last one we were on. A blonde flight attendant took our tickets and redirected us to the stairs on the left just around by the plane’s galley.
I stopped in mid-stride. “Really?”
She looked back at the tickets then handed them back with a smile. “Yes.”
I followed Ian up the stairs, keeping a grip on the tail of his shirt all the way up. “Wow, this is so cool. At least Julie did something good. I was worried when we let her be in charge of getting our tickets.”
