by Zizi Cole
Jake came into the room cutting him off. “Are you telling all my secrets now, Cole?”
Cole grinned. “Only the fun ones.”
“That’s enough of that or I’ll let Mia rip you to shreds,” Jake laughed. Behind him, Mia actually growled at Cole. I couldn’t wait to hear what the story was about that. “But, fun and games have to wait. We have more pressing issues to attend to.”
Jake laid out the pictures that he had taken of the car and flowers when the incidents occurred. He motioned Cole over to the table. “Deputy Price, would you like to help explain to Cole what we discovered when we were in the room that day, as well as what you saw when you looked at the car?”
Jake looked back up at Cole. “Did you have a chance to check out the car when you got here? Did you see anything I may have missed? I didn’t see anything, but I think I’m getting too close to the situation.”
Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Getting too close? Dude, you’ve been too close for quite some time now. You were too close when the Coopers were murdered. Maybe your vision was clouded with grief for the family. I know how close you were to them, but you should have called me down when it first happened so I could help, not wait until the shit hit the fan. Which, just so you know, it has.”
“I don’t need a lecture,” Jake grunted. “Let’s just solve this shit.”
Cole nodded in understanding.
Mia stood up. She looked at me, then looked at the men in the room. “We don’t really need to be here, do we? We’re going to let you men pound on your chests and do cave-man grunting while we go upstairs and settle in for some girl talk, painting our nails, and giggling. I’m assuming that you guys aren’t going to let me go home anytime soon? Not like I have a way home, since I rode over here with Jake.”
Cole glanced up at her. “You assume correctly, Little Miss Attitude. Neither one of you are leaving this house until it’s figured out.”
“Excuse me? Did you just call me ‘Little Miss Attitude?’ I’ll show you attitude, you pompous, self-righteous, arrogant…” I grabbed Mia by the arm, cutting her off, and started to pull her towards the stairs.
“Good night, gentlemen,” I waved over her shoulders. Once we left the room, she started walking without a fight.
We made it upstairs to my bedroom and shut the door. I sat on the bed and grabbed the stuffed bunny off the window seat. I looked at Mia as she sat down on the bed with me. I knew she was thinking that I was pretty pathetic. I was almost thirty and was holding a stuffed animal for comfort.
Mia sat on the bed and watched me sit there staring at the bunny, picking invisible lent off of its fur. She put her hand on top of mine to still it. I looked at her. I decided that this would be a good time to ask Mia about the ring that I’d seen in my dream. I couldn’t get it off my mind and she would know if it actually existed. I rubbed my hand on my face and rolled my neck to pop it. I hugged the bunny, then set it in my lap. “I have a question and I know that you’ll know the answer. You knew everything in high school and you seem to know everything now. Did Jake buy me an engagement ring right before we broke up?”
The widening of her eyes gave me the answer that I needed. “Where did you hear that?”
“I haven’t heard it anywhere. I need to know whether or not he bought a ring. Please, Mia.” I pleaded with her.
“It isn’t my place to tell you. However, I can see the gravity of this on your face and I want to know why you think this is so important. So yes, he bought you a ring,” she told me.
“What did it look like?” I whispered. I felt light headed.
“I don’t know for sure. He never told me what it looked like. I never saw it. I do know he got it engraved.” She studied my face. “I’ll ask again, why?”
“What did it say?” I closed my eyes. I knew the answer. I could see the ring from my dream.
“Forever and always,” she said, frowning. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
I shook my head. There was no way that my dream had been just a dream. I knew nothing about the ring until this afternoon. I felt like my head was going to explode. If the dream wasn’t just a dream, did that mean I was going to lose Jake?
“Alexandrea, what the fuck is going on?” Mia asked, grabbing my shoulders. “You look like you are about to faint. I have never seen you so pale. Why a ring you weren’t even sure existed would freak you out this much is beyond me.”
“I have seen it,” I whispered. “But not in real life. I saw it in one of my last nightmares. I held it in my hand in my nightmare.”
Mia grabbed my hand. “Did you tell Jake about it?”
“I couldn’t,” I whispered. “I saw his death. Seeing it killed me, I didn’t think I would be able to relive it by telling him. What if it wasn’t a dream?”
Mia stared at me. “Was it a vision?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what having a vision is like. I’ve never had one before. I wouldn’t think it was a vision though. My nightmares are dark and horrific. I can’t accurately describe it. I wish I could just show it to you.”
Mia looked intrigued. “Maybe you can. Give me your hands.”
I placed my hands on hers. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Now, do exactly what I say. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Relax. Bring the nightmares to your mind. Relax. They won’t hurt you. They’re just pictures. Now take those pictures and push them through your hands into mine.”
I did as she said. When the pictures came to mind, I tried not to look too closely at them. I took a deep breath and willed the pictures to go to Mia. I couldn’t get the images from my head to hers. I sighed and leaned forwards until our foreheads touched. When they touched, my nightmares played through my head like a fast slide show. We both gasped. As soon as the images stopped flashing, I jerked back quickly and watched Mia. She kept her eyes closed and a frown formed along her eyebrows. She finally opened her eyes. They were filled with tears. I leaned forward and hugged her. The tears spilled out of her eyes as she clung to me.
I shouldn’t have tried to let her see the nightmares. She was an empath. She would have felt the nightmares more deeply than I did. I knew I should apologize for letting her see, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so.
“Did you see them?” I asked. I felt her nod against my shoulder.
“Yes, not in the same degree you did. It’s more removed and faster, but I saw everything you saw. The only way you’re going to know if that ring is the ring, is by asking Jake.” She finally pulled back and looked into my eyes. “I am so sorry you‘ve had to deal with these nightmares alone. No one should ever have to go through it. But I do have one question. Who do you keep talking to in the dreams? I could see you stop and talk to someone, but I could never see or hear who.”
“Momma. She’s in my dreams. Almost every single one. She’s always watching and telling me not to let him touch me. I don’t understand why. If it is just a dream, how can his touch hurt me? But since she says not to, I’m not going to question it.” I shrugged. “She is my mother; she would never steer me wrong.”
“Interesting,” Mia said. “If it was just a dream, you would think I’d be able to see your mom in it and hear what she has to say. Maybe it isn’t a simple dream. Maybe it’s something more complex than that. Have you ever heard of dream jumping? Maybe that’s what’s going on.”
“What’s dream jumping?” I asked.
“It’s basically just what it sounds like, jumping into other people’s dreams. I‘ve never heard of anyone being able to actually do it, but I think it’s possible. Dream jumping lets you enter someone else’s dreams and manipulate them. There’s also a spell that can be used to control someone’s dream. There’s a long process to dream jumping, including obtaining a personal possession of the intended victim. I believe that dream jumping is actually dark magic, which is why it doesn’t happen often.”
“Why would he need a possession of mine?
“To make the connection stronger.”
> I frowned. “How do you know all of this?”
Mia shrugged. “I do research when I get bored. Dream jumping is my best guess on what’s going on.”
Great, just what I needed. Someone entering my dreams and messing with me. “But if they are just dream jumping, why are my dreams so dark and scary?”
“Because when they enter your dream, they hijack it and make it how they want it to be,” she explained.
“Oh, so like in the Freddy movies,” I groaned. I hated those movies. They had always scared me. Now that it seemed to be really happening to me, it scared me even more.
“We really need to let Jake know about this,” Mia stood up. “And ask about that ring.”
I grabbed her arm. She wasn’t getting away so quickly. “My turn, sit your ass down.”
She sat and crossed her arms. She knew what I was going to ask and wasn’t too happy about it.
“Who is Cole and why do you hate him so much?” I asked. “Real answers here.”
She sighed.
“You didn’t pay much attention to anyone besides me and Jake in high school. Cole also graduated from Ravensville High, a year or two ahead of us. Anyway, we would hang out quite a bit when you and Jake were off on your dates. We were good friends. Nothing ever happened between us. Then he took off and moved away,” she explained. “He came back to town about five years ago. When he came back, he acted like he didn’t know who I was when he came into the diner. He had a meeting with Jake, then they both left. End of story.”
I didn’t think that was the whole story, but I knew that was all I was going to get from her. I looked at the closed door. I really didn’t want to leave the room and go ask Jake about things that would be painful for both of us.
“Okay, you heard my story,” Mia said standing back up. “Let’s go throw kinks in the guys’ plans and ideas.”
14
We went back into the kitchen. Cole and Jake were the only ones in there. I peeked through the window and saw that the forensics team had left. I didn’t see Deputy Price anywhere, either. I walked over, seeing that they had the computer open and some weird websites pulled up. They had brought in a giant dry erase board like they use in the police shows. There were names and symbols on the board that I couldn’t quite figure out. It also had Michael’s name with a question mark beside it.
Jake had his back to me and I couldn’t help but stare at his ass. He had always had a nice one. It was obvious that he kept in shape. I continued staring until I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up and saw Cole staring at me. He winked and turned back to the board.
“Uh, Jake, I need to ask you something,” I said.
He turned and gave me his full attention. I stared into his eyes. I knew it was going to hurt him for me to ask about the ring. Now that Mia had been able to see my dreams and determined that it was important, I had to ask him and tell him about the dream.
“Yeah, Lex, what is it?” Jake asked. He leaned against the counter and took a sip of his coffee. He smiled at me encouragingly.
“Did you buy an engagement ring for me before we left for college?” I asked.
I hated asking in front of his partner, but I knew he would have to tell him if it was important. I could tell by the look on his face that it wasn’t what he had expected me to ask. He went still and just stared at me. Cole had even stopped and was staring between me and him. Jake slowly turned and looked at Mia. She spoke before he could.
“I didn’t tell her about it,” she said with her hands up, showing she was blameless.
“Why?” he asked.
“Please, just answer the question,” I told him.
“Yeah, I did buy a ring. Now, you wanna tell me why this is important all of a sudden?” He set his coffee down and crossed his arms.
I stared at the floor while I asked him the next question. “Is it silver or white gold? A solitary diamond with the words ‘Forever and Always’ engraved on the inside?”
I held my breath while I waited for him to answer. I kept chanting in my head please say no, please say no. When he didn’t answer, I looked up at him and saw the look on his face. He looked completely shocked. He had his hand in his pocket. He slowly pulled his fisted-hand out of his pocket. When he opened his hand, the ring I had just described was there.
I slowly reached out and took the ring out of his hand. When I looked down at it, I recognized it immediately. I had held it in my dream. Looking at it just then, I wasn’t seeing the ring as it was, but covered in blood like it had been in the nightmare. I started shaking my head no. I dropped the ring and backed away from him until I was against the wall. I slid to the floor on my ass. I kept shaking my head no at him.
“You can’t have that ring,” I whispered. “If you have that ring, the nightmare wasn’t just a dream and you’re going to die.”
Jake sat down on the floor beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I started to cry. He looked at Cole and nodded at him. Cole and Mia wordlessly went into the other room. It was clear she was going to catch him up on what we figured out while we were upstairs.
“I’m not gonna die, darlin’,” he whispered into my hair. “It’s just a ring. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yes, it does,” I sobbed.
Jake continued to hold me until I calmed down enough to talk. He stroked my hair and swayed with me. I took a deep breath and pulled out of his embrace. I wiped my eyes and looked him straight in the eye.
“I saw your murdered corpse in one of my nightmares,” I started. “I would have just written it off as another nightmare, but in the dream, I stepped on something. It was the ring. That exact ring that’s in your pocket. It was on the ground under the, uh, your body.”
Jake continued to stare at me. He looked like he wasn’t sure what to say. Maybe if I could make him understand, he would be more careful. I held him close again.
“Jake, I know I fucked up a lot. I know that I’ve done things you can’t seem to completely forgive, but I can’t lose you,” I said. “It nearly destroyed me when I saw that body and realized it was you. I can’t risk you. You are everything to me. You always have been.”
“Well, darlin’ it is nice to know how you feel about me, but nothing is going to happen to me. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been doing this stuff for years, and I’m fine. I joined the agency a few years ago and I’m still around. We’ll figure this out. Then we’ll figure us out.” Jake brushed the hair out of my face. He cupped my face with his hands and leaned forward. He kissed me lightly on the lips, then whispered, “We will figure this out, I promise.”
I closed my eyes and leaned against him. Jake lifted my face and kissed me on the lips again. As he went to pull back, and I put my hand on the back of his head and pulled him back down for another kiss. We deepened the kiss, and someone cleared their throat. We both turned our heads to look towards the sound. Cole was standing there with a smirk on his face. No wonder Mia found him condescending, that smirk would annoy me pretty quickly.
“Not to interrupt the make-out session, but we have things to do, like make sure she doesn’t get herself killed,” Cole said, still smirking.
He strode in and refilled his coffee cup. Mia came back into the kitchen after Cole did. She sat down at the counter, and Cole handed her a cup of coffee without saying a word. We all watched him set the cup down in front of her. Mia picked it up and took a sip. She looked up at him gratefully.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
He nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Jake stood and held out a hand for me. I reached up and grabbed it. He helped me off the floor. We joined Cole and Mia at the counter. Cole passed coffees out to everyone.
“Well, since I’m sure you two didn’t get much talking done with your tongues down each other’s throats, maybe I’ll catch you up, Jacob,” Cole remarked. “Apparently, Mia and Lex are able to share visions, and after what Mia saw from Lex’s nightmares, she’s come to a helpful conclusion. Mia b
elieves that the perp is a dream jumper. I believe her theory has merit. It’s one of the only things we hadn’t considered.”
I looked at Mia. Was she blushing? I couldn’t believe she was blushing over a compliment from this man. What had happened with them?
Jake scratched his chin. “It isn’t a common practice. I haven’t heard of dream jumping except in DAMNED academy.”
Damned academy? “What damned academy?”
Jake looked at me and smiled, “No, DAMNED academy. It stands for Demonic Appropriation and Magical Nemesis Entity Detection academy. The academy is like the police academy, but it’s more rigorous. It’s the agency I work for.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s quite the name.”
“Anyway,” Jake changed the subject. “I need you to tell me every detail of the dreams. All of them you can remember. Any detail, big or little, will help. I know this is hard for you, Lex, but it’s important.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”
I began telling them about all the dreams in as much detail as I could remember. I was exhausted after I was finished with my descriptions. Cole had recorded it so that they could analyze it and not make me go through the re-telling again. The man may have an annoying smirk, but he did have a soft side.
I yawned. “I’m going to head up to bed, everyone. Mia, you can take the guest room next to mine. Cole, there’s a room at the end of the hall upstairs you can sleep in. Goodnight.”
***
I was standing in my bedroom looking over my dead body. Not only was my heart missing, but my hands had been cut off. I heard heavy breathing before I turned around. I turned and ducked as an arm shot out to grab me. I shot out of the room and ran downstairs. As I was heading towards the kitchen, I noticed the light in the pool room was on. I veered in that direction. When I walked up to the room, I made an effort enter cautiously.
The room seemed relatively untouched, except I did notice a smell. It was a mix of copper and chlorine. I knew the chlorine was from the pool. The copper smell had to be blood. I walked towards the hot tub. Inside the hot tub was another body. I knew by the long black hair who it was, but I had to see how she was killed. I put my hand in the water and jumped back, holding in a scream. The water was boiling hot. I had blisters already forming on my hand from it. I peeked in the hot tub again and the water was red from the blood. I looked around and found the pool skimmer. I grabbed it and used it to move the body so I could see the front. Mia.
