Foreshadow

by Brea Essex

  “I want to. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Okay, well, if you feel like it. See you two when I get back.”

  I got up from the couch and locked the door behind her. “Well, I guess I’m going to start dinner,” I told Logan. “Care to join me in the kitchen?”

  “Of course.” He stood up and followed me into the next room. “What are you going to make tonight?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I think enchiladas.”

  He seemed to like that idea. I started pulling things from the refrigerator.

  Just then, a knock rattled the door. Shoving the cheese back into the fridge, I anxiously walked to the front door and glanced through the peephole.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  As I stared through the peephole, my heart plummeted. It was Andrei! This time, there weren’t any parents home to deter him. I knew Logan being there wouldn’t stop him, and I was afraid what might happen.

  Logan had followed me into the foyer. “Call the police!”

  I started to panic. How had Andrei even known I would be home?

  “I know you’re in there, Rae. Open the door before I open it for you. I need to talk to you!” he yelled through the mahogany wood.

  “Go away, Andrei! How many ways do I have to tell you that I don’t want to see you anymore? If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police!” I hoped I didn’t sound as terrified as I felt.

  “Call them, love. If it makes you feel better, then call them. I will see you, so you might as well open the door.”

  I slid to the floor, bracing my back against the door, praying I could block it with my will.

  “Raena! Get out of the way!” Logan yelled, running toward me. I cringed, thinking he would try to attack Andrei through the door. Logan grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me to safety just as the door imploded.

  “Get out of here! You don’t belong here. She doesn’t want you! Go! Leave now!” Logan screamed, terror in his voice.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. How are you going to stop me?” Andrei taunted, as if talking to a small child. “How are you going to make me leave? I will have her, boy. She will be mine. Just stay out of my way.”

  Logan bristled, but had enough good sense to grab my hand and run. Andrei tore after us, loving the thrill of the hunt. I felt like Logan and I were feeder mice trapped in the snake’s tank. I took the lead, dragging Logan through the house, trying to find a way out. I made a sharp left turn toward the dining room, hoping to make it to the French doors before Andrei reached them.

  Logan must have realized what I had planned and pulled me behind him as he dove into the glass. Shattering, the glass rained glittering shards down all around us. I managed to only get a few minor scrapes, but because we couldn’t stop to check, I worried Logan might be more seriously injured. Logan jerked me through the yard and toward his waiting car, but I realized with horror that Andrei had parked behind it, blocking us in.

  “Get in!” Logan yelled at me.

  “What? How are we going to get out?” I could barely breathe, running on pure adrenaline.

  “Just get in! Trust me!” He pushed me through the driver’s side of the car. I plunged into the passenger seat while Logan jumped in behind me and slammed the car into gear. He couldn’t back out of the driveway—he could only go forward. He floored the gas and steered hard to the left, barely missing the front of the house.

  Veering right, we sped through the side yard, and I watched in shock as he shifted quickly through the gears, popping the clutch like a race car driver. I would never be able to drive like him.

  Andrei ran straight for the car, and Logan pressed the accelerator to the floor. “Logan, watch out!” I screamed as I ducked down on the floorboard. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact. We had nowhere to go. The house blocked us on our right, the hedges on the left, and Andrei straight ahead. If he didn’t brake, someone would get hurt.

  “Rae, hold on!” Logan yelled. I heard a huge thump, and the tires squealed loudly.

  The car rocked as we hit something. Logan reached down and yanked me back into my seat. “Put your seat belt on. Are you hurt?”

  I looked around wildly. I didn’t see Andrei anymore. We were driving through the backyard now. I glanced behind us and saw Andrei rise from the ground. He started to run after us, but the car moved too fast. We plowed through the back fence and into the field of the middle school behind the house. From there, we drove through the parking lot and out onto the street. I kept glancing behind us for signs of Andrei as we drove through town, but saw nothing. When we pulled onto the freeway, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Logan.

  He hesitated. “I’m not sure. I need to find a safe place to take you. Maybe I can take you to my house.”

  As much as I liked that idea, I had to turn it down. “He may have figured out where you live.”

  Logan sighed. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Let’s try going over the hill. Hopefully it will be far enough.”

  I had visited San Jose many times. I thought it might be large enough to lose Andrei. Using funds from my savings account, we could check into a hotel there. A warm shiver trailed down my spine as she thought of being alone with Logan in a hotel room.

  Logan’s voice cut into my thoughts, reminding me that I should call Genevra. “We need to warn her! We don’t want her and Tanis coming back to the house when Andrei still might be there,” he said.

  “Good point. Wait, what about Nuada?” I asked.

  He gave me a slightly worried look. “I’m sure she will be fine. We’ll have the police look for her and take her to wherever your family stays. With the front door gone, we need to get the police there as soon as possible.”

  I dialed the station first, trying to give a quick and calm report. I begged them to look for Nuada as well and hold her until Genevra could come pick her up. The police station wasn’t too far from the house, so I figured they should be able to get there quickly before anything else happened.

  I phoned Genevra as Logan pulled onto Highway Seventeen, hoping my cell signal wouldn’t cut out in the hills. As soon as she picked up, I blurted, “Genevra, whatever you do, don’t go home!”

  “What? Raena, what happened?”

  I quickly outlined how Andrei had shown up at the house and busted the door down. I even admitted how we had to run the car through the back fence in order to escape from him. I cringed, hoping I wouldn’t get into too much trouble. “He may still be there, staking out the place, waiting for me to get back home. Please, Genevra, don’t go home until we know he’s gone! I don’t want to put any of you in danger.”

  She sighed through the phone. “All right, I’ll call the police.”

  “Already done,” I told her. “I called them before I called you. They’re going over to secure the house and make sure he’s gone. You guys might want to get out of the house for a few days. I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m safe. I’m with Logan. He’s taking me somewhere to hide out.”

  “All right. Tanis should be out of class any minute. She and I will go to Shane’s office, and then we will call the police for an update. When Shane gets off work, we’ll head out to a hotel or something. We all have our cell phones, so I expect updates. As soon as the police find and arrest Andrei, I want you home.”

  “No problem. Can you keep Nuada there for me? The police said they would look for her and bring her to you.”

  “Yes, of course. Call me when you’re someplace safe.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you soon.” We clicked off.

  Chapter Thirty

  When Logan and I got into San Jose, we drove around for a while, trying to decide on a hotel. I knew my way around from the shopping trips my mom and I made when we had visited Genevra and Shane.

  We settled on staying at the Fairmont. While kind of pricey for two teenagers, my mom and I had stayed there before, an
d I knew they had good security. Unfortunately, they also had a policy restricting guests under eighteen registering for rooms. Logan dialed his mom and explained the situation. Understanding the danger we were in, his mom agreed to call in a reservation for us. I protested—I’d been planning on paying for the room. He grinned, saying, “You can pay her back, then.” I nodded, agreeing. He laughed, and I realized he’d been joking.

  We took our time parking the car and getting out. We walked slowly to the lobby, wanting to give his mother enough time to phone the hotel.

  Logan marched right up to the front desk, slapping his ID and his parents’ credit card on the counter. “Reservation for Conner,” he stated.

  “Yes, of course,” the concierge said. She typed on her keyboard, checking us in, and handing us key cards. “A two bed suite was requested, but unfortunately we only have a one bed suite available. Will that be okay?”

  I glanced at Logan. He shrugged. “Sure that’s fine.” We really had no choice, unless we went to a different hotel. The concierge told us the room number, adding, “Do you need help up to your room?”

  Knowing it would look strange if we checked into a hotel with no luggage, Logan quickly replied, “No, we’ll bring our bags up later, thank you.”

  We didn’t have any bags. We had escaped so quickly, we hadn’t grabbed anything.

  We took the elevator up to our room. When Logan unlocked the door, I was amazed to see that the suite came complete with a couch, a desk, and a mini kitchen. I wandered over and sat down on the couch. He came over and sat down next to me. “Are you feeling any better now?” he asked.

  I gave him a wry smile. “I’m a little better. I’m as good as I can be, knowing we’re hiding out from some psycho guy.”

  “I’m going to take you shopping,” he announced.

  “What?” At first I was surprised he could think about shopping at such a time, but then visions of Santana Row and Valley Fair began to dance before my eyes. “Aren’t we supposed to be hiding?” I asked.

  “Yes, we are. I have my laptop in the car. I’ll bring it up, and you can order whatever you want. We’ll have it delivered here. We’re going to need clothes and other things since we might be here for a while.”

  He had a point. Why argue with logic?

  He got up and left the room, making sure the door locked behind him. I wandered over to the window and gazed down onto the city. We had an incredible view, and it would be even more amazing at night.

  I was pouring over the room service menu when Logan returned with his laptop. We sat down at the desk, and as the computer booted up, he began to rub small circles on my back.

  I pulled up the website for a high-end department store. Shaking his head, Logan leaned in front of me and keyed in the address for a different one. “I like that one and all,” he explained, “but this one is better.” He put his credit card down on the table. “Get whatever you want.”

  As much as I appreciated his generosity, I didn’t want to be spending a lot of his money this early in our not-quite-relationship. I tried to type in my ATM card number without him noticing, but he saw and insisted upon putting everything on his card. He ordered almost as much as I did. I had known he liked nice things, but I hadn’t pegged my new almost-boyfriend as such a clotheshorse.

  While I arranged for next-day shipping, he picked up the hotel phone and called down to the concierge. He asked her to send someone up with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and pajamas for us from the gift store. He then proceeded to order a ton of food from room service, including not only every vegetarian dish on the menu, but also every dessert. I raised one eyebrow at him when he hung up. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to sleep in my clothes. As for the food, I didn’t know what you wanted for dinner. We can put whatever we don’t eat in the fridge,” he explained.

  I grabbed the remote and plopped down on my back on the sofa, hoping to distract myself from the recent events. Logan walked over and joined me, gently lifting my head and settling it against his chest. I lay there flipping through the channels, listening to the beat of his heart and the calming rhythm of his breathing.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to see Logan’s face in front of mine. He crouched beside the couch, shaking me awake. “Sorry to wake you. I know you’ve had a pretty tiring day, but the food is here. I thought you might want to eat it while it’s still hot.”

  I sat up slowly, stretching my tired muscles. “Thanks. I didn’t even hear the knock on the door. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

  “No problem. Understandably, you’re tired. When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep?”

  I hadn’t thought about that. “I’m not sure,” I answered. The nightmares had become a common occurrence in recent days. I couldn’t remember the last time I had slept well. I hadn’t had a nightmare the night before, but I still woke up exhausted.

  “Have you been having bad dreams?” he asked. “I mean, more than just the one I woke you up from the other night?”

  His piercing emerald eyes were filled with concern. I wished I could forget about everything else and just stare into Logan’s eyes forever.

  Yes,” I admitted. “I’ve been having nightmares almost every single night for a few weeks.”

  “Will you tell me about them?”

  “Well…” I hesitated. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell him. It was just that I didn’t know what to make of them myself. “I always seem to be running. I’m not sure what I’m running from. It’s always really dark and scary. Right before I’m caught, this bright light comes out of nowhere, and I’m saved.”

  He sat silent for a moment. “Is it always the same dream?”

  “No, but similar. In one dream, I was happy for part of it. It wasn’t all that frightening, but something felt wrong. The rest were a little worse. Then the one you woke me out of was downright scary. Whatever I was running from actually grabbed me. I sort of saw it one time—it looked like a man.”

  “When did these dreams start?” he asked.

  I thought back. Suddenly, it hit me. “Not long after I met Andrei,” I said.

  Logan’s eyes narrowed. “When did they start to get worse?”

  I jumped up. “When you and I started hanging out! When Andrei started freaking out!”

  Logan seemed pretty irate. He tried to speak calmly, but his voice gave away his anger. “Well, maybe you knew subconsciously that something was wrong with him.”

  I started pacing nervously. “You could be right. What are we going to do about him?”

  He stood up and halted me, pulling me into his arms. “Don’t worry. We will think of something.”

  I stifled a yawn. “You’re still exhausted,” he told me. “Why don’t you go change? We both could use some sleep”

  Sleep sounded like a wonderful idea. The pajamas and toothbrushes had arrived earlier with the food. I knew I was suffering from fatigue, but I still couldn’t believe I had slept through the knock on the door.

  Logan had thoughtfully laid out my new pajamas on the bed. They were cute, silk shorts and a tank top with a matching teal silk robe. I headed into the bathroom to change. I stripped out of my clothes, pulling on the shorts and tank top. The toothbrushes and toothpaste were lying on the counter. I quickly brushed my teeth.

  Realizing I hadn’t eaten a single bite of the delicious-smelling food that Logan had ordered, I wrapped myself in the silk robe and walked out of the bathroom, carrying my clothes. I folded them and placed them on a chair. “I’m so sorry. I forgot about the food. Let’s eat before we head to bed.”

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Then let’s just go to sleep.”

  “But all the food!” I protested.

  He came over to stand in front of me. He reached one hand up and smoothed my hair away from my face. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get some sleep.”

  He had alrea
dy changed into pajama pants and a T-shirt. It seemed a little odd to see him so casual, but it looked good on him.

  We walked back into the bedroom. Logan pulled back the covers, and we climbed into opposite sides of the bed. Now that we were actually in bed together, I felt so nervous I shook a little. I had never been in bed with a guy before, and it was a strange, exhilarating experience. “Are you sure you’re ready to go to sleep?” I asked, my voice trembling a little. “I mean, just because I’m exhausted, it doesn’t mean you have to sleep now.”

  “I’m sure,” he told me, smiling. “I’d like nothing more than to be right here, sleeping next to you.”

  My heart melted a little. What had I done to deserve this wonderful guy?

  We finally lay down. I curled against Logan, my head pillowed on his chest. His arm circled around me protectively. I felt so safe with him. I breathed a deep sigh of relief as I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I found myself running again, but the setting had changed. I wasn’t at the beach this time. I stood in a long hallway, and it seemed familiar for some reason.

  The fog hung low in the hall, surrounding me. Fog inside a building? It didn’t make sense, but in horror, I watched as it pulled at my clothes, twisting around my legs. I ran harder, trying to distance myself from it. I tried each hallway door, but they were all locked.

  I saw a shiny door at the end of the hall. The elevator! With the rate I was tearing down the hall, I would hit the elevator at full speed. I thrust my arms out to brace myself for the impact. My palms collided with the doors, and I bounced off of them. I stumbled back a few steps.

  I stabbed my finger at the button frantically, silently begging the elevator to hurry up. The fog thickened around me and began to coalesce. I could hear horrifying laughter echoing from within the fog. The elevator wasn’t coming. I turned, hoping to escape the other way. But I couldn’t get past the shadow forming behind me. I threw my hands over my head in a futile attempt to protect myself. Crouching down, I could not stop my hysterical sobbing. I expected the worst, but prayed for a miracle…