Regardless, I was going to meet with Parker in a bookstore downtown along with The Pastels, and by the time we were done I'd hopefully have some sort of answers.
***
I had Bonnie drop me off at the coffee shop, where I spent an hour hanging out with Drew and sipping coffee before it was time to meet Parker. The bookstore, Drew had said, was called Mystical’s Mystics, and I recognized the name as one Bonnie had mentioned. Drew told me that a lot of “kooky” locals hung out there, but not to be alarmed because they were all “super cool.”
“Much like the customers we get here,” he'd said with a chuckle.
At noon, I gave Drew a hug and kiss goodbye and left the coffee shop. The bookstore was only two doors down, and I was thankful for such a quick walk.
The door chimed softly as I entered the establishment, and I quickly wrinkled my nose at the odd combination of scents floating throughout the air. I recognized one as sandalwood and another as vanilla, which combined was a very pleasant fragrance, but the third was unknown to my sense of smell and one it didn't agree with.
To my immediate right was a large mahogany counter with loads of wind chimes and beads hanging from above it, each one for sell. A woman with bright red hair and lovely golden eyes smiled at me from behind the counter.
“Welcome, Rosalind!” She exclaimed. “We all have been very anxious for you to arrive!”
Her words put me on guard, and I took a hesitant step back. We all? Who all was she talking about? A trickle of caution edged down my spine and I took another step back just as the door chimed and opened behind me.
Strong, steady hands gripped my shoulders and spun me around. I looked up into the concerned face of Parker, who inspected me head to toe.
“I don't know what I would've done if she had hurt you,” he whispered fiercely, and then brought me into a gentle embrace.
I glanced over to the redhead awkwardly who watched us closely with some weird, happy expression in her eyes. I gave her a slight smile before lightly patting Parker on the shoulder and stepping out of his embrace.
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” I said uncomfortably and looked away from his intense eyes.
“Rosalind, I am Nicole Eversham,” the woman behind the counter said, and held out her hand. I shook it politely and smiled again, trying not to feel so foolish before her. Something about her made me feel like a complete dolt. It wasn't anything I could put my finger on, precisely, but in her presence I felt like much lesser of a human.
There have been times in my life when I felt like that around certain people, before getting to know them. The Pastels, for one, were definitely girls that I had felt this way around, before our friendship took hold. Bonnie was another. She had this easy confidence and carefree manner that, at first, had made me feel so awkward about who I was, in comparison.
And now, this woman had me feeling that way too.
Don't get me wrong, I liked her right away, and maybe that was the problem. I liked her and wanted her to like me, too.
“Nice to meet you, Nicole,” I said, nodding.
“The girls are all here and waiting,” she said happily.
I assumed ‘the girls,’ meant The Pastels, and nodded again.
She glanced around the pleasant little shop and leaned in close to me. “I couldn't believe it when Jimmy told me you agreed to meet today,” she said in a whisper. “I'm so glad you are here. True love is a gift, my dear, and not one that should be denied.”
I stared at her. She called him Jimmy. How was that possible?
I looked up to the young man behind me who merely shrugged.
“She knows my story,” was all he said.
“Hmm,” I responded.
It was all I could say.
“Gregor!” Nicole suddenly shouted. “Mind the shop!”
She quickly spun around, coming to us from behind the counter just as an old, hippie-looking man came lumbering forward. He had a ponytail and walked with a cane, and he was dressed just like I would imagine someone from Woodstock would be. When he looked to Nicole, his eyes were filled with love that it nearly took my breath away.
“I am here, beloved,” he mumbled.
She stroked his cheek and kissed his lips tenderly. He placed his free hand in her hair and and sighed against her mouth. I looked away in embarrassment, careful to avoid the gaze of a certain boy beside me.
“Come now my loves!” Nicole exclaimed suddenly. “We have much to discuss!”
She turned away and walked toward the back of the store through the aisles, pausing only long enough to extend her hand to me.
Taking a deep breath and ignoring the warmth of the one standing so close to me, I followed.
I prayed I wasn't making a huge mistake.
Chapter 24
~Roz~
Upon entering the room Nicole had described as, “the meeting chamber,” which honestly didn't set too well in my bones for some reason, I was instantly relieved to see The Pastels, plus one.
“Odie?” I asked when I saw the top of her red-and-yellow hair.
She smiled shyly and approached me.
“You might be upset with me,” she said, “But you're still my best friend.”
I grabbed her and hugged her tight. “I am upset with you, or at least, I was… but you are my best friend and I'm so glad you're here!”
She hugged me back and for that one brief moment in time, all was well with the world.
“Now then, let us sit!” Nicole announced. “We have much to discuss!”
The table was large and round, so I took the seat closest to me and subsequently, closest to the door. I suppose I wanted to know I could make an easy escape if I didn't like the answers I was receiving.
Odie took the seat to my right, and Devon to my left. I was surprised at this. I had figured Parker would want to be all over me since he had managed to get me to agree to this. But I watched in silent confusion as he walked around the table and sat directly opposite me.
Where his marvelous aqua eyes could look at me, undeterred.
Awesome.
Nicole sat beside him and the rest of the girls filled in the chairs that were left.
“Now then, we are all very excited to have you join us today, Rosalind,” Nicole began. “I know you have many unanswered questions regarding Jimmy,” she pointed to Parker at her right, “and we will get to those, but first we must address something else entirely.”
I narrowed my eyes. Something else?
“What is it?” I asked.
Devon spoke first. “Jimmy told us about the, uh, dreams you’ve been having.”
My head swiveled sharply to the side so I could peer at her.
“Jimmy told you about my dream?” I asked. “Do you mean, Parker?”
Devon shifted in her seat. “We have proof, Roz,” she said apologetically.
“Of what?” I demanded.
Erica spoke next. “We've seen his history through a spelled mirror,” she explained. “It showed us his life, prior to becoming trapped in Parker’s body. We even saw him save you from your stepfather!”
I stared at her. “What do you mean?”
“What she means,” Nicole said sternly, “Is we will get to all of that in a minute. Right now, what's most important is understanding just exactly what you are, Rosalind.”
I stared at her in confusion. “And what am I?” I whispered, suddenly feeling as if I was involved in an intervention of sorts.
“Tell me this,” she said gently. “When you dream, does it feel like real life to you?”
I looked at Parker briefly before lowering my eyes to the table. “Yes,” I whispered. “My dreams are very real.”
She nodded. “Have you ever shared the same exact dream with another soul?”
I looked up at her and felt my heart stop. There was the night Drew’s mother died. And there was the night I dreamt of a terrifying carnival with Parker as a scary clown. Jimmy was the one who had shared that particular dream with me.<
br />
“Yes,” I whispered.
She smiled at me in understanding. “After you dream, have you ever woken up with something… a material object… that could have only come from your dreams?”
I gulped, remembering not only the pocket goddess I had woken up with, but also the green polka-dot bowtie worn by Parker’s crazy clown. I didn't like where this was going.
“Yes,” I admitted. “But, that doesn't mean anything, right?” I looked around the table. “Weird things happen all the time in dreams. It can't be all that rare to share a dream with another person….” my voice trailed off as I realized no one would look me in the eye.
No one, except for Nicole and Parker.
“Roz,” he said in the most tender of voices, “We found something this week, looking through all these books.”
He motioned to the large shelves behind him, which I hadn't really noticed before.
I gazed at the books for a moment before looking back to Parker. His eyes were so loving and gentle, it made me ache for Jimmy.
“Roz, listen to me for a moment, sweetheart,” he said. “I told Nicole about the way you dream. I told her how you appeared in my room last week, and now again last night. I told her how I had given you the pocket goddess, and how you had woken up with it the next morning.” He paused and looked down at his hands, fidgeting for a moment before going on.
The burn marks were still there, although they were faint and already healing. I knew where those wounds had come from and for a minute, I thought I was going to be sick.
I looked from his hands to his face, and found the same type of wounds there. Burn marks. Like a cigarette. It was then that it hit me. I finally understood what they were saying. Chills flooded my spine and I suddenly couldn't catch my breath.
Perhaps somewhere deep inside me I had always known the truth, but denial had made it possible to ignore. This, however, being confronted with the undeniable image of those terrible marks, I could no longer avoid it. The room spinned slightly as the truth slapped me in the face.
“Oh my god,” I gasped, “Where she burned you, last night…” my voice trailed off and I felt short of air. “That really…” I struggled for breath, “That really happened.”
I think I hyperventilated. Or maybe I blacked out. Or both. It seemed like the entire room spinned faster and faster until it blurred before me as I fought to breathe and before I knew it, they were all out of their chairs and surrounding me as I lay on a cot in the corner.
“It really happened,” I whispered, finding myself in a sort of panic. “It really happened. Odie. Devon. It… oh my god I'm going to be sick.”
“Not again!” Jess exclaimed.
“I'll brew the tea,” Erica offered with a smile.
“I'm getting the bucket!” Cindy chuckled.
I was flabbergasted at how happy everyone was over the fact that I was about to spew my coffee all over the place.
“Stop, everyone please,” Nicole said. “She's simply overwhelmed with emotions. She's not experiencing a magical sickness. Hers is far more human. It's anxiety.”
“It's panic!” I cried. “I'm freaking out here!”
Suddenly, I was filled with intense shame at my behavior toward him… toward Parker. No, Jimmy. He was Jimmy. I had been so cruel to him, to my love. Oh my god, he was alive.
I wanted nothing more than to be in his arms and feel his forgiveness of my heartless treatment. I covered my face with my hands and sobbed.
“Roz, it's okay hun,” Odie declared, “You're friends with witches! It's okay if you've got some weird dream magic, too!”
“Shh,” Nicole admonished “It is not some ‘weird dream magic,’ it is something far more important. It is a prophecy, actually. A very important prophecy, spoken by one of the ancients, centuries ago.”
“Please stop talking,” I begged. “Please stop talking.”
Nicole paid no attention to my pleas. “The prophet says a dream walker will come to us and will be the one who saves our magic, preserves it for all time, and dispels the Dark once and for all.”
“It's not me,” I sobbed. This was all too much. My love lived, and I was a freak. How could I deal with all of it? “Please don't say it's me.”
“It is an honor!” Nicole exclaimed. “And we will treat it as such!”
I continued to cry into my hands as my soul cried out to the only one who would make everything better. The one I didn't want to need, but did. And just like that, strong arms were around me as he sat beside me and enveloped me with his form.
“I'm here,” he whispered into my hair. “I'm always here.”
I sobbed harder and harder with his words. I knew he was Parker, but could he also be Jimmy? Suddenly, the words of Mrs. Evans from my dream-that-was-real-life came to smack me in the face.
She had called him Jimmy. She. Had. Called. Him. Jimmy.
Parker’s own mother had not called him by his birth name. She'd called him Jimmy. In a dream that was actually real-life.
Everything stopped.
I pulled out of his grasp, seeing only Parker before me. I stared into his face, deeply. He stared into mine, taking in the wet cheeks and disheveled hair as if I were the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen.
He tilted his head to the side and said, “You know, don't you?” He placed his hand upon my chest. “You know the truth, here.” My lip trembled as a fresh batch of tears escaped my eyes.
“It can't be possible,” I whispered.
“Except that it is,” he whispered back.
“You left me,” I said. “You left me to go into the light.”
“And I was a damn fool for doing so,” he said passionately. “I'll never leave your side again.”
A wretched sob escaped my mouth at his words. It took me long moments to say his name, but at long last I finally did.
“Jimmy?” I whispered brokenly.
Tears sprang to his eyes. He grabbed my hands and brought them to his lips, kissing my fingertips and laughing and crying at the same time.
“I've been waiting months to hear you call me that,” he said as tears ran softly down his cheeks.
I threw myself into his chest and his arms gripped me like he would never let me go. I sobbed harder than I ever had in my life. I was filled with intense shame at my behavior toward him…I had been so cruel to him, to my love.
Oh my god, he was alive.
The others melted away, there was only us in this moment. It didn't matter that he looked like Parker. It didn't matter that I was apparently some crazy magic dreamer girl or whatever it was they were saying. It didn’t matter that he had left me to go into the light, or that I had treated him horribly when he appeared at school. The only thing that mattered was that I finally accepted what had been before me all along.
Jimmy was alive.
Chapter 25
~Jimmy~
She believed me!
She believed me, and I could finally breathe for the first time since waking up in the hospital.
She believed me, and I could finally let go of the fear that she would never accept who I truly was.
She believed me, and I could finally wrap my arms around my girl and hold her, kiss her, love her, the way I'd been denied for so long.
She believed me
And nothing else mattered.
We sat together in those quiet moments, both of us crying and holding onto the other. Her grasp on my body was a confirmation that she felt the same as I- we would never let go. Perhaps I had been right to have thought I was supposed to go into the light those months ago, but I should have known better. I wasn't meant to go anywhere that didn't include her. I knew that, now.
The ladies backed away, exiting the meeting chamber with happy sighs and looks of love bestowed our way. Allowing us our privacy was the best thing they could've done.
“How is this happening?” She asked, her voice small and beautiful.
“We're not sure,” I answered. “We've been poring t
hrough the books trying to find an explanation that makes sense. The closest thing we can gather is that Parker used some sort of necromancy spell to put me in his body.”
She sniffed and sat up straight to look at me.
“But, he was unconscious,” she said. “He was dying when you went into the light… or… you know… didn’t.” she shook her head as if to clear it.
I nodded. “Yes, his body was badly damaged, but if his spirit had already been separated from his body, and hovering nearby, he could've done it. His power goes beyond anything we can comprehend. I'm finding that out, now that I've tapped into it.”
She looked up at me, obviously confused. “I don't even know what to ask,” she chuckled lightly. “I came here with a list of questions and now, they're all unnecessary.”
I smiled tenderly at her. “Unnecessary, because you finally know who I really am?”
She nodded as another wave of tears came to her crystal eyes. “Nothing else matters after this.”
I couldn't agree more.
I pulled her close to me, intending only to hold her, but instead of allowing another gentle embrace, she placed her soft lips hungrily to mine. I tasted both the salt of her tears and the sweetness of her love in our kiss. She was the most delicious thing I'd ever known, and my hunger quickly grew. I deepened the kiss and she greedily accepted it. Our tongues danced together in a harmony I had longed for. The notes of our kiss drowned out every other sound in the world… including the quick knock followed by the door opening.
“Ahem!” Nicole said loudly, forcing us to break apart.
Her eyes clung to my face as she pulled away, embarrassed. The look I gave her was a promise, we would continue that kiss later.
But first, business.
“Now that we all finally know who each other is, I think it best that we get back to exactly why we are here today,” Nicole said.
Mumbling our unenthused agreement, Roz and I stood from the cot and made our way over to the round table. The others came in and took their seats, providing us the remaining two chairs side-by-side. As we sat, she slipped her small hand into my own and rested them on the top of my thigh. It felt completely seductive, even though it was innocent, and I had to focus hard on what Nicole was saying.
Rage in Pain Roz: The R.I.P. Series Book 2 Page 13
