Lucid, YA Paranormal Romance (Brightest Kind of Darkness Series, Book #2)

by Patrice Michelle

  When he mentioned my father with that sneer of malice lacing his tone, all the justified rage that I’d buried under the pile of “stuff I don’t want to think about right now” after I’d learned the truth about my father, rushes to the front of my mind.

  “How does it feel to have your house, your whole world, turned upside down by an outside force, Fate?” I goad, folding my arms over my chest to cover my false bravado. I didn’t initiate that lucid dream on purpose. I didn’t even know how I’d changed the past, but since Fate doesn’t seem to know that I’ll use it to my advantage. “That’s what you did to my home, you twisted bastard! You stole my father from me and tore my family apart. We could’ve been happy!”

  Fate doesn’t lash out, but instead answers in a calm, cajoling tone, “And you still can be.”

  I blink at him and my quivering insides suddenly still. “What are you talking about?”

  He lifts his hand toward his face and pretends to inspect nonexistent fingernails. With a sigh, he uncurls his fingers one at a time, flicking them in a puff of swirling smoke as if he has all the time in the world.

  “Tell me!”

  Fate looks up and narrows his hollowed eye sockets in devious slits. “Not until you promise to never change the past again.”

  I have to know what he knows about my father. Please let him be okay. Let him be alive. “Fine!” I snap. “I promise to never consciously change the past again.”

  Fate pushes off the tree, then steps close, bending toward me with a pleased smile. His coldness seeps all the way into my bones. “Now that you’ve given your oath, if you break your promise, little Nara, I can strip you of your power.”

  I gape and drop my fists to my sides. “You can’t do that!”

  He straightens to his full, towering height, an arrogant smile on his face. “Try me.”

  I clench my closed fists so tight my nails dig into my palms. I can’t believe he’s tricked me into agreeing without disclosing all the facts. Fury, justice, and payback slither through my veins like baby snakes full of concentrated venom.

  Before I can speak, Fate sighs dramatically. “He’s alive.”

  As all my tense muscles relax and I mumble, “Thank God!”

  Fate snickers. “Well, you could be a happy family if that’s what he still wants. He didn’t mention your mom in that last video—the recent one—now did he?”

  Fate pointed something out I hadn’t realized while watching the videos. With purposeful intent, he’d dangled the carrot, given me false hope, then gleefully planted the seed of doubt, hoping it would rot me from the inside.

  I grit my teeth and narrow my gaze. “I didn’t change that dream on purpose. No conscious effort was used.” I shrug my innocence. “Guess it was just pure self-preservation kicking in, like when I made my promise to you,” I finish with a smirk.

  Fate let out a furious roar and before I can move, he attacks me with lightning speed, slamming his body against mine.

  I sail through the air, my arms and legs flailing. He hit me with such force, I can’t even scream as I glance back and see a tree in my path. I try to turn to avoid hitting it, but my shoulder clips the trunk. Bone-jarring pain rips through my body as it spins straight toward the ground.

  I land on my side with a loud ooumph, skidding along damp leaves and bumpy forest underbrush. Once I finally stop moving, my hip and shoulder throb and a handful of leaves are jammed inside my coat.

  I twist around, looking for Fate. He’s taking his time making his way in my direction. The fact he isn’t rushing terrifies me more than anything. He’s going to drag this out as long as he possibly can. My dad might believe he’s covered my marker in life, but in Fate’s world I’ll be covering his.

  I push to my feet and ignore the pain radiating along the right side of my body as I shake the leaves out of my coat.

  I don’t want to die here! I jerk my gaze around to see if there’s a place I can hide. There’s nothing but rows and rows of endless trees that are too thin to hide behind.

  But I am asleep, so why can’t I run much longer than in real life?

  And so I do. I run from Fate. For a while, I evade his physical assaults, but he ups his speed, which forces me to change tactics. The next time he gets close, I wait until he’s almost on me, then dodge around a tree, since I’d seen him avoid them earlier. As he bounces off the tree, I raise my fist in silent victory.

  But my victory’s brief and he comes after me with hypersonic speed. I can only dodge around so many trees for so long. When Fate suddenly disappears behind me, I glance back to see where he’s gone even as I keep running. I don’t believe for one second he’s given up. Just as I shift my gaze forward, he reappears right in front of me. I bounce off his cold body and hit the ground with a powerful force.

  As I look up at Fate staring down at me with a cold smile, my stomach churns. This isn’t a battle I’ll win. Leaves fall around him, hitting his head and shoulders before bouncing off.

  “You’re not giving up that easily, are you?” He spreads his arms wide. “I really thought Jonathan’s little girl was made of much stronger stuff.”

  Another leaf falls and instead of sliding off, it sticks to his head. Before the cool wind can whip it away, Fate smacks it off, grunting his annoyance. “Well?”

  “It’s sad that you’re wasting your time on one girl,” I say even as I stare at the trees beyond his head and wonder, Why can’t I use the leaves? In this dream world, the trees were still full of leaves in colors of red, yellow, orange, and shades of purple.

  “Your dad keeps re-stitching new paths in my painstakingly balanced web, but you…” he points to me, “you put your hand inside and spin it around, ripping my web to shreds.”

  When a clump of leaves falls from the canopy of trees above, I wish more would quickly follow. Just as the thought enters my head, more leaves begin to fall in huge colorful sets. My heart pumps faster. Had I done that? I sit up, then stand, brushing the leaves off my hands. “Do you really think I sit around trying to come up with ways to beat you?” I say, while thinking, Form a whirlwind. As the leaves begin to spin, my heart beats harder. Amazing!

  “Yes, I do!” he hisses.

  Engulf him, I order the leaf funnel, then say, “Well, maybe in this one instance.”

  The whirlwind of leaves spin into him with hurricane force, quickly dispersing his form. As fast as Fate disintegrates, he reforms a few feet outside of the funnel of leaves.

  Instead of displaying anger, he’s clapping his shadowy hands. “You’ve consciously manipulated your dream environment. Your power is mine!”

  I tense for a second, then exhale and smile. “You might want to recall the vow I made. This world isn’t my past. That was my promise…that I wouldn’t consciously change my past.”

  Fate fists his hands by his sides, then begins to vibrate so fast I can’t see him. Now that’s anger and he’s about to blow. I need time to get away.

  Hit a home run! I tell the funnel. It turns sideways, then smacks into Fate, hitting him so hard he flies through three trees, cutting them in half as he drills through them.

  I take off running and Fate comes after me in fast pursuit, but this time I use the environment around me. Move in his way. Don’t let him past, I tell the trees. Loud, resounding thumps sound behind me again and again, followed by Fate’s bellowing roar, “Enough!”

  Suddenly everything disappears. I can’t even see a floor under my feet. No forest. No trees. Nothing to manipulate.

  I stop running and turn.

  Fate approaches, a victorious smile on his smoky face. “Now it’s just you and me.”

  And me, I hear a voice in my head, yet it spoke in Latin. Open your hand.

  It’s Ethan, but different. I realize it’s the same Ethan from my dream before, the one who sounds older, wiser, like several voices at once.

  I glance down and both my hands are curled into fists by my side. I uncurl my right hand.

  Your other hand, Nara.<
br />
  I lift my left hand and slowly uncurl it. Even though nothing’s there, something brushes across my palm at the same time Fate yells, “No!”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I jerked awake, my heart running full speed as something slid off my palm and along my fingers. Patch stood on the bed beside my hand. With a quiet raaack, he lifted his head and pulled at the chain, slipping the crystal completely away from my fingers and onto the comforter.

  “Thank you, Patch!” I whispered shakily and pulled the sheet up higher as I laid my head back on the pillow to catch my breath.

  “What is it?” Ethan sat up in the dim light, blinking to wake up. When he saw Patch, he frowned. “We shouldn’t have left that window cracked.” He shooed at the bird. “Go on! I can’t believe you followed me here.”

  I sat up on my elbow. “Followed you? Patch has been here with me the whole time you were gone.”

  Ethan shook his head, but then paused when he noticed what Patch held in his beak. “What’s he doing with your necklace?”

  I pushed my hair out of my face. “Saving my life. I let him play with the necklace on my nightstand, and I guess he dropped it in my bed. I must’ve touched it in my sleep, and since you and I were sleeping, it was the perfect combination. Fate zapped me to his world for a battle of wills.”

  Ethan glared at the necklace Patch toyed with. “We need to destroy that crystal.”

  “It was a gift from my aunt. I’m not destroying it. I’ll just lock it away.” At the moment, I was more interested in what Fate had told me about him. I tilted my head and held his gaze. “What’s Corvus, Ethan?”

  Ethan had started to run his fingers through his mussed hair, but his hand stilled. He glanced at Patch, then shooed at the bird once more. “It’s a raven.”

  “I’m talking about Corvus from another realm,” I said in a calm tone.

  “Another realm?” His brows drew down, confusion flitting across his face. “Where did you hear that?”

  I shrugged. “The last time I faced Fate, he said he didn’t know your fate. While I was there with him, I asked him why he couldn’t see your fate.”

  Ethan stared at me intently. “What did he say?”

  “He called you Corvus and said you have a destiny—a purpose—but he couldn’t see your fate because you exist outside of this realm.”

  Ethan shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. I exist.” He hit his chest. “I’m here!”

  Patch squawked at his raised voice, then hopped to my nightstand to play with the paper cube. I could tell Ethan recognized the term Corvus, but the rest was new and it freaked him out. I laid my hand on his shoulder. “It makes sense why you’re the only one I can’t see in my dreams.”

  Ethan cupped my face, his troubled gaze locking with mine. “I’m here, Nara! I’m right here.”

  I touched his jaw. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Ethan’s gaze shuttered, then he pushed the covers back and slipped his hand in his pants pocket. I sighed at the reminder he’d refused to take his pants off last night, and he wouldn’t let me take anything else off either.

  He pulled out a long chain with a flat silver inch-and-a-half wide disk dangling from it, then slipped the necklace over my head, saying solemnly, “Never take this off. Not even when you take a shower. Don’t let anyone see it. Keep it hidden under your clothes. It’ll keep you safe. When I get back, I’ll tell you what I know.”

  I’d started to glance down at the disk on the necklace when his comment registered. I pulled my eyes back to his. “Back? You’re leaving again?”

  He shook his head. “I’m just going to get the rest of my stuff. I’ll be back on Monday at the latest.”

  “Oh.” Relief flitted through me as my gaze slipped back to the silver disk. It was the same yin-yang raven symbol as the one on his sword tattoo. “Where’d you get this? I’ve searched everywhere on the Internet for any mention of this symbol and found nothing.”

  Ethan lifted my chin. “Thank you for spending all that time on my journal, Nara, but I was serious when I asked you to let me do this on my own.”

  To hear him say that in person hurt even more. He must’ve seen in it my eyes because his gaze softened. “I’m trying to protect you. I think your Internet searches have attracted attention. And that’s why Drake and that guy from the library wanted your journal.”

  “I got the impression they were working for the same boss.” I paused, then frowned. “What’s weird is that it was almost like they shared the same brain too, based on the things Drake knew that had taken place between me and the guy in the library.”

  Ethan stiffened. “I doubt you’ll have to worry about that guy from the library.”

  I shrugged, since I didn’t plan to go back there. “Regardless, there’s nothing in that journal that anyone couldn’t find on the Internet.” As soon as I spoke, I realized that the raven symbol on the necklace was unique.

  “What is it?” Ethan asked.

  I pointed to the necklace. “I drew this symbol in your journal from memory. The guy in the library saw it when I dropped the book and it fell open.” I touched the necklace once more. “Where did you get this?”

  “I found it.” He shook his head and snorted. “I wasn’t even looking for it, but I was drawn right to it.”

  “You found it in Michigan?”

  He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple. “I was taking a tour through a turn-of-the-century house and I discovered it hidden in a drawer.”

  “You took it?” I couldn’t believe he’d remove something from private property.

  Ethan shook his head. “I told you, I was drawn to it. Watch this.” He lifted the medallion in his hand, held it for a second, then set the disk in my palm.

  It felt like an oven-warmed stone. Awed, I met his gaze. “How’d you do that?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It warms to my touch, so I didn’t feel guilty taking it. I was led to it for a reason.” Letting the necklace fall, he gripped my shoulders. “I mean it, Nara. Don’t take it off. Understand?”

  “Why?”

  “It’ll protect you,” he said, his brow creasing with worry.

  My eyes widened. “Protect me from what?”

  “From guys like Drake.”

  “Where’d you find that sword you used on him? And don’t tell me it was one of the swords from Mr. Martin’s Civil War shadow box,” I said, giving him a stern look.

  Without a word, Ethan grasped my waist and settled me on his lap, facing him. Taking my left hand, he placed it on his right shoulder, then closed his eyes.

  A few seconds later, a cold hardness began to form under my fingers. I jerked my hand back and gasped.

  Ethan’s grip around my waist tightened and his lips set in a grim line. “My tattoo is definitely permanent.”

  “Was that the hilt? It’s…real?” My hand shook as I tentatively slid my palm across his shoulder once more. This time I only felt firm muscles bunch under my fingers. “How’d you make it do that?”

  “I pictured Drake attacking you.”

  That must’ve been the hardness I felt along his back when we were dancing. He was pretty riled about Drystan. “When did your tattoo change again?”

  “While I’ve been gone.”

  Fate had said he was an enforcer. Is that what the sword was for? But what did Corvus equalize?

  “What was Drake?” I asked in a hushed voice.

  Ethan’s dark gaze glittered with anger. “Pure evil.”

  I wanted to demand that he tell me everything, but Ethan’s expression suddenly shuttered. I had a feeling if I pushed him for more now, he’d shut down. “When you get back, you’ll tell me everything?” I prompted.

  He nodded, his fingers flexing on my skin. “Everything I know.”

  I looked down at the dragon tattoo on his forearm and slid my fingers along the flames edging it. Various religious symbols graced each leaping flame that licked around the dragon. Ethan h
ad gotten the tattoo as a way to help him overcome the evil images that pervaded his dreams, since the images were projections of negative energy he’d absorbed from people he came in contact with. I touched each symbol one at a time. “Is it still helping you?”

  “It does some, but not as much as being with you does. He trailed his fingers down my cheek, his gaze following the path. “You settle me, Nara. More so now than ever.”

  I smiled and grasped his hand, kissing his palm. Now that we’d spent time together, Ethan would absorb my dreams. At least for a few days, he’d see my entire day along with his nightmares each night. I liked being the bright light spearing through the darkness of his dreams, slaying his night demons.

  Patch began to make annoyed tok, tok, tok sounds. He was ready to leave. I shook my head at the temperamental bird and climbed off Ethan, then pulled a quarter out of my nightstand drawer to set it spinning.

  Patch grabbed it, then hopped/flew to the window, where he squeezed underneath the small opening and took flight.

  “I don’t believe it.” Ethan sounded dumbfounded.

  “What?”

  He held up his finger. “Just wait.”

  A few minutes later, Patch flew back to the window, landing on the ledge outside. When he pushed his beak through and dropped the quarter on the floor, then flew away, I looked at Ethan. “That’s never happened before.”

  He ran both hands through his hair and laughed. “Yes, it has. I wondered where that raven with the white patch got all those quarters he brought to me every day. Sometimes he’d just drop them on my head.”

  “But…” I looked at the quarter on the carpet, then back to Ethan. “That’s impossible for him to be in two places at once. He couldn’t fly that many miles every day.”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea how he’s doing it.”

  “Aww, he was making sure we stayed connected,” I said, comforted by the idea.

  “You’ve never left my thoughts.” Ethan touched my chin, then glanced outside at the dawn getting ready to break the sky. “Happy birthday, Sunshine.”