Rose spun in her seat to see him standing in the French doors leading off the kitchen. Joseph grinned as he looked out at them. Rose’s heart jumped at the sight of him—thin waist and broad shoulders, gleaming blue eyes and that perfectly straight nose. The fact was, she wasn’t the most beautiful girl. She accepted that about herself. Not exactly ugly, but certainly nothing stunning. That a man like Joseph had fallen for her, Rose sometimes found hard to believe. She knew that looks really weren’t supposed to matter, that what was inside was what counted. As far as Joseph was concerned, she’d won the lottery twice, since he was a total sweetheart too.
Joseph strode toward them. He kept his eyes on Rose as he approached, then winked at the last moment as he passed her by. He bent over Olivia and gave her a hug.
“Oh, stop,” Olivia said, but her face lit up in a smile. “You’re hugging the wrong woman.”
“I’ll always have hugs for you, Olivia. You look stunning today, by the way.”
Olivia laughed again and Rose laughed too. Joseph shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels as he looked around the yard. “Do you think this day is nice enough?” He brought his gaze to bear upon Rose. “And as for you, young lady. Don’t we have something on our agenda?”
Suddenly, Rose felt foolish for trying to drag him along to look at flowers. Why didn’t she and Olivia take care of that? She rolled her eyes and said, “Honey, it’s ridiculous. You probably have a million better things to do.”
Joseph cocked his head. “What? I love flowers. Come on, let’s get moving.” He turned to Olivia again. “Provided you ladies have finished breakfast.”
“Go, you two,” Olivia said. “Rose, you are one lucky young lady. Don’t’ forget that.”
~~~
They were just about to get into Joseph’s Camaro when Rose stopped in the driveway. It didn’t make sense, she knew, but that image came to mind again—Joseph racing up the coastal road, the sunlight gleaming off his car as he careened around a corner. Where that image had suddenly come from—or why it brought with it a sense of unease—wasn’t clear. What was even stranger was that she could swear she’d encountered this image in her subconscious before. She’d heard of Déjà vu without really knowing what it meant. Now, a chill rippled up her spine. Rose had never believed in psychics or any of that foolishness but she had to wonder if someone was trying to tell her something. Was it possible that if Joseph drove they might have an accident?
Joseph turned to see why she’d stopped following him. “Everything okay?”
Was everything okay? Rose wanted to think so. After all, her wedding was just days away. But first she’d suffered that horrible dream. Then she’d seen that image of Joseph driving. Now she recalled that other moment, when she could have sworn Olivia didn’t truly like Joseph. Rose touched her palm to her forehead checking for warmth. She sure hoped she wasn’t coming down with something. Not now of all times.
“What’s going on?”
Rose shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s just that it’s such a beautiful day. Why don’t we take the Thunderbird so we can roll the top down?”
Joseph’s eyes narrowed in annoyance for just a split second. Or maybe he was squinting against the sun, since a moment later he shrugged. “Sure, why not.”
Rose fished her keys from her purse.
Joseph held his hand out, palm up, waiting for Rose to toss him the keys. Normally, she would have but she couldn’t get that image out of her mind.
She smiled her sweetest smile. “Do you mind if I drive, babe? I just kind of feel like it today.”
Joseph studied her for a moment. “Who am I to argue with a lady’s wishes?”
A moment later, Rose turned the key in the ignition and backed down the driveway. Everything was going to be fine now. She was being silly, she knew, but she’d read stories in Readers Digest about women having premonitions. “Intuition” was the word they often used but it amounted to the same thing. There’d been one really sad story about a woman who’d imagined seeing her son standing in her bedroom one morning months after he’d been sent to Korea. He’d just appeared there suddenly, wearing his uniform, staring back at her and not saying a word. The next day, the woman learned that—
“Rose!”
A horn blasted and tires squealed. Rose stomped on the brake, realizing only now that she’d backed into the street without looking.
“What’s gotten into you today?”
“I… I don’t know.” She looked into the rearview mirror and saw the other car. Whoever it was had veered off the road to avoid hitting her.
Joseph turned to look. “They’re fine. Just keep going.”
“Shouldn’t we… I mean, I should apologize. Don’t you think?”
Joseph stared at her, his eyes cold. “They shouldn’t be here.”
Rose understood why he’d be angry. After all, she’d almost caused an accident. Still, it seemed rude to just drive off without saying anything. Rose opened the door to get out of the car and Joseph grabbed her arm.
“You don’t know them,” he said.
Rose had never seen that kind of darkness in his eyes before. Nothing even close and it scared her. “Honey, you’re hurting me.” She yanked her arm free and walked toward the street. What was wrong with him? Maybe he’d stayed up half the night with his friends. He was probably just tired.
The other driver got out of his car and Rose knew right off that she’d never seen him in the neighborhood before. Part of her understood Joseph’s reaction now. There weren’t any cut-through roads in this part of town. On the Cliffs, everyone knew each other. What was he doing here? A young woman got out too. Chinese? Japanese? Rose had no idea but she’d definitely never seen her around either. Still, Rose told herself not to be a snob. Maybe they had no business being here but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t acknowledge her mistake.
“I’m so sorry,” Rose said. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. I just backed right out of the driveway.”
Whoever he was, he hesitated, as if confused about something. Then he smiled. “I don’t know. That might have been me. We were talking. I probably should have been paying better attention.”
Rose took a closer look at him. He looked to be about Joseph’s age. His brown eyes showed no concern over what had just happened. Almost happened, Rose reminded herself, trying to get past her own embarrassment. She noticed his hair, that it was thick and dark and that he wore it a little longer, more in the fashion she’d been wondering about earlier for Joseph.
He smiled again, watching her, waiting for her to say something.
Rose’s face grew warm and she realized she’d been staring. “Not at all. I’m so sorry. I was distracted.”
He took a step closer and offered his hand. “I’m Henry.” He gestured to the girl next to him. “This is Nikki.”
Nikki offered her hand and Rose noticed the ring immediately. In the past she might not have, but these days she recognized a finely cut diamond when she saw one.
Nikki shook Rose’s hand, her face lighting up in a smile. “Henry and I just moved in down the street.”
Down the street? Nothing changed here, ever. It hadn’t for as long as Rose could remember.
“The Tudor,” Nikki said. “Kind of an old clunker but we’re thinking we can pull it up.”
Rose remembered it then, a house that had become so familiar that she’d forgotten about it even being there. It had belonged to an old couple, the Morgans. She’d known them once, she realized. But hadn’t they died long ago?
Suddenly, Joseph stood beside her. He stepped forward, placing himself between Rose and the couple. He appraised Henry and Nikki, sizing them up.
When he didn’t speak, Rose said, “This is Joseph.”
Henry’s eyes remained guarded for a moment, then he offered his hand. “Nice to meet you. Nikki and I just moved in down the—”
“I thought I heard that.” Joseph ignored Henry’s outstretched hand. He turned to Ros
e. “We need to get moving.”
Rose checked his eyes to see if the anger from before was gone. That seemed to be the case but she saw something else there now. He seemed nervous, something she’d never seen before.
“I’m sorry,” Rose said. “We we’re running late for an appointment.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Henry said.
The two of them turned and walked back toward their car. Joseph reached out and took hold of Rose’s hand, his grasp tightening. Rose started to follow him, then stopped.
“No, don’t,” Joseph whispered.
Rose almost did as she was told. But something inside her—a feeling she couldn’t quite understand—told her she had to get to know these two new people. “Wait! Would the two of you like to get together sometime?”
Henry and Nikki turned around again.
“That would be nice,” Nikki said.
“You could come over,” Rose said. “We could listen to music.”
“We’d like that,” Henry said. “When’s a good time?”
Rose broke free of Joseph’s grasp. She’d have to talk to him later about being so rude. The fact was, it would do them both good to get to know some new people.
“How does tomorrow sound?” she said. “Is that too soon?”
6
Moths to a Flame
Wherever they’d just been vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. Moments before, they’d stood on a street in an affluent neighborhood talking to Rose. She’d gotten out of her car and walked toward them, then he had too—the one who’d introduced himself as Joseph. Now, they stood in a desolate landscape where a cold wind pushed mist over gray grass, the sky having darkened to twilight in an instant. Trees that had just towered green and lush now stood withered and blackened. The large houses, set back from the road with their manicured lawns and hedges, had disappeared along with the tree-lined streets. Nothing obstructed the horizon now, where through the gloom Henry saw that a cliff gave way to an expanse of roiling dark ocean. Above the water, swirling black clouds promised thunder.
Nikki gazed around, her eyes narrowed with confusion. “Where are we?”
“I’m not sure,” Henry said. “But I think this is another part of Rose’s dream. Somewhere between her reality and her delusion.”
“The part she doesn’t see,” Nikki said.
“That’s my guess, yeah. It’s like she’s created her own realm.”
Nikki wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill. “It’s lovely. Remind me to send postcards.”
Despite their bleak surroundings, Henry had to laugh. “Yeah, nothing foreboding about this place.” He wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do or where they were supposed to go. All the same, he started walking.
“Let me get this straight,” Nikki said. “Did she think we were driving a car?”
That part had confused Henry too. He hadn’t known quite what to say when Rose first approached them and apologized. But then she’d said that thing about backing out of the driveway and he’d decided to go along with it. “Martha told us some things would be arranged. I don’t know, maybe that was part of what she meant. Either way, Rose definitely thought we were driving. Kind of ironic.”
Nikki nodded, her eyes still searching the gloomy hillsides stretching out before them. “No kidding. You never even got your permit and the first time you drive you almost cause an accident.”
“Wait, she said she backed out of the driveway without looking!”
“River Rat, are we really going to debate who caused an accident that didn’t happen when no one was actually driving a car?”
Henry’s face grew warm even as he grinned. “Okay, good point. But you saw everything I did, right? I mean, Rose and Joseph and the cars and houses. All of it?” He had no way of knowing if Nikki had perceived the same things and he had to be sure.
“Yeah, I did. You’re not crazy.”
“How did you know what to say? I mean, the part about us buying a house?”
Nikki shook her head and thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. It just came to me somehow.”
Henry wondered if that was another one of the things Martha had mentioned being arranged for them. He suspected so, although he didn’t understand how it was possible. Would he find himself saying things he hadn’t anticipated moments before?
“And now we’re here,” Henry said. “Wherever the hell that is.”
“Exactly,” Nikki said. “I’m only taking a guess but what I’m thinking is that we’re only in Rose’s reality when she’s aware of us. I mean, what she thinks of as being her reality. When she stops thinking of us…” Nikki gestured at their surroundings. “For the record, I’m a little creeped out. Do you think we should just leave?”
Henry shook his head. “I don’t know. Can we? And if we left, do you think we’d come back?”
Nikki shivered. “I kind of doubt it.”
“Me too,” Henry said. “They did say everything would be different.”
“This definitely fits that description.” Suddenly, Nikki stopped and pointed through the trees. “Look, do you see it?”
Henry tracked her gaze but at first didn’t see anything. A gust of wind parted the mist and then he saw it now too, a light in the distance. “Where do you think it’s coming from?”
Nikki started walking again. “I think it’s a house. That looks like a window.” She looked around. “Do you get the feeling we’re being watched?”
Henry hadn’t wanted to say anything but he’d been fighting the urge to look over his shoulder the entire time. But if they were being watched, who was watching them? He felt pretty sure already that it couldn’t be Rose, that Nikki was right. If Rose thought of them, they’d somehow enter her reality again.
“I’m definitely reading thoughts too,” Nikki said. “Not particularly nice thoughts, by the way. I don’t know who they belong to but someone has to be nearby. Or something. I don’t know.”
Henry saw the outline of the house through the fog now, a big house like the others that had been on the street before everything changed. They continued walking toward it for no reason other than it offered that beacon of light. The phrase “moths to a flame” crossed his mind. “Do you think they’re in there? I mean, whoever it is.”
Nikki shook her head. “For some reason, I think we’re supposed to go there. Of course, I could be wrong.”
“That’s reassuring.” Still, Henry picked up his pace. “If it makes you feel any better, I kind of have that feeling too. Then again, it appears to be the only thing out here.”
“Well, there’s that,” Nikki agreed. “Having fun so far?”
“Good times,” Henry said.
As they approached the house, the front door swung open, emitting more light into a world otherwise comprised of mist and shadows. Henry felt something brush past him and turned to see what it was. He saw nothing.
Suddenly, Nikki turned too, jerking her shoulder as if someone had just tried to grab hold of her. “Come on!” she said, breaking into a run.
Henry’s sole instinct now was to make it into the house, to take refuge within that only source of light. He cleared the doorway just after Nikki and slammed the door shut. They stood, breathing hard, both of them looking around.
“What do you see?” Henry said.
Nikki’s eyes traveled up, then down again, then from side to side. “We’re inside a house. A big house.”
Again, Henry had to be sure. “Like maybe where rich people might live? Something like that?”
They stood in a foyer larger than any of the rooms Henry had known in the house where he’d grown up, even larger than their living room. The walls were lined with gleaming mahogany. An ornately carved staircase rose to the second floor. Oak beams crossed the high ceiling, where a chandelier was revealed as the source of light that had seemed to beckon from outside. A long hall stretched past other rooms with wide, arched doorways. The house appeared old in design, as far as Henry coul
d tell, like something he’d expect to see in a black and white movie. At the same time, everything appeared new, the carpets plush, the paint on the walls fresh.
“We’re seeing the same thing,” Nikki said. “I think we can trust that now.”
A moment later, something tapped at the front door. Nikki’s eyes shot to Henry’s. “What the hell was that?”
Henry fixed his gaze on the door as the tapping continued. A few ticks, then a pause, followed by a few ticks more. “Something that wants in?”
Nikki shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s something that wants us out. Did you see the look in that guy’s eyes?”
“Joseph?”
“Exactly, Joseph who’s not really Joseph. As bad as Joseph was, he’s not really part of this picture. That guy died a long time ago and went wherever nasty creeps go. As for the Joseph we met, he’s one of the entities Lysrus told us about. And he definitely wasn’t happy to see us.”
Henry thought back to when something had brushed past him outside. And when Nikki had reacted the same way. In both instances, nothing more had happened. He wondered the same about the tapping at the door—if possibly it was more of an attempt to intimidate them than anything truly threatening. He nodded toward the door. “Here’s my opinion. Ignore it. This place must have opened to us for a reason. Let’s take a look around.”
“Or go back out there,” Nikki said. “Great options.”
“Exactly,” Henry said.
They walked down the hall, past a massive living room on one side and an additional sitting room on the other. Past that, they found another room paneled with mahogany, this time the walls lined with shelves supporting hundreds of books. The room featured leather chairs and a fireplace—a cozy space someone had once enjoyed. A few moments later, they passed through an expansive kitchen. Off of that, they found a grand formal dining room. They circled back and climbed the stairs. They looked into rooms with large four-poster beds and closet doors yawning open to reveal empty spaces. The windows in each room offered only the same dark void they’d experienced outside while the interior of the house seemed to offer sanctuary and light. They descended the stairs again, crossing past the front door quickly.
Stepping into the Sky: Jump When Ready, Book 3 Page 5
