We hurried down the stairs and into the basement. When we reached the large room where we had all played as children, Matt pushed a heavy, old pinball machine aside and opened a trap door underneath.
"You two hide in there. We're going to try and help the others."
"And do what?" Cassie asked, placing her hands on her hips. "It's not as if either of you have any of their powers."
"Maybe not, but we can open a portal and bring help."
"Open a portal? What's going on here?" I turned to Cassie. "First I hear you say those men aren't human and," I choked back a hysterical giggle. "Now you're talking about opening a portal and I know you're not talking about some TV show."
My mind was swimming in total chaos as it attempted to wrap itself around everything that my mother and countless psychiatrists told me wasn't possible. I took a deep breath, trying to compartmentalize my thoughts before my mind fragmented and my brain went into total meltdown.
"Can you…" I tried to keep the hope from my voice. If only one person would validate what had happened when I was eleven, it would go a long way toward healing my somewhat splintered mind. I forgave Cassie and her brothers for keeping their secrets then, because it reminded me of my own secret. The one I had kept from them, all of these years.
Could I finally say it to myself and not think I had gone completely mad? I can open doorways to other, magical worlds. My eyes widened with shock, for once in my life thinking about it didn't make me feel crazy.
Making a face, I walked away from the open trap door and plopped down onto the worn leather sofa. It still smelled the same even after all of these years. The scent of popcorn, pipe tobacco and leather wafted up when I lowered myself down onto the soft cushions. It reminded me of more carefree days.
Their father designed this room for his children as a place for them to retreat from life, to have fun. After what just happened on the beach, I wasn't sure he didn't put it down here to help keep them safe as well. He placed dartboards, video games, pinball machines and even a pool table down here for their entertainment. I wondered if they realized how lucky they really were--still are-- for that matter. They each had each other to turn to in times of stress. Me? I had no one. My heart clenched. I didn't even have them anymore.
I glanced over at the dollhouse their father built for Cassie and smiled softly in remembrance. It sat dark and quiet as it always had. The white paint still gleamed with the sheen of newness. To the best of my knowledge, Cassie, the consummate tomboy much to her father's chagrin, never touched a single doll or the dollhouse he'd built for her with such painstaking care.
With twin boys, Matthew and Mark, he wanted a prissy little girl to put up on a pedestal. What he had gotten was a little hellcat tomboy and her copycat friend.
Dragging myself from my memories, I glanced up at the three of them. "What would you say if I told you that I can open doorways to other worlds?" I waited for them to laugh and call me crazy, but they didn't. It was their turn to stand with their mouths agape.
Cassie was the first to come to her senses. She crossed the room and sat beside me. I half expected her to reach up and feel my forehead to see if I had a fever. "Would you like to talk about it?" she asked instead.
I had to smile. Leave it to her to take everything in stride. You would think that I just told her that I baked a batch of cookies this afternoon. She should become a psychologist. Nothing ever fazed her.
I shrugged and looked at her, my eyes wide. "What else is there to say? The statement speaks for itself, doesn't it?"
"When did you find out that you could do this?"
"Right after I turned eleven, not too long after my father disappeared."
She nodded. "Before you met us." She glanced over at her brothers and, after a moment, looked into my eyes. "Why didn't you ever mention it to us?"
I laughed. "Are you kidding? My own mother had me locked away in a mental hospital for six months after I told her. Believe me when I tell you, I was in no hurry to go back there." I stared at the floor, not daring to look up into her eyes. I couldn't bear it if they were filled with pity or censure. Still, I stole a peek back at her face to see if she believed me.
She nodded then her expression filled with understanding. "That's why you were so certain your mother wouldn't believe you about your uncle Bert, isn't it?"
Pressing my lips together, I nodded. "I was afraid she would think I was making it up and send me away again. I didn't want that. I never want to see the inside of another psychiatric hospital as long as I live."
She cast her gaze to the floor and shook her head. "I can't imagine a parent doing that to their child." She squeezed my hand. "And I don't believe we felt we should hide what we are from you all of these years. You're one of us."
"What do you mean? I'm one of what?" I looked between the three of them, still not understanding what they were. What I was.
Chapter Two
"You're a guide."
"A guide?" I frowned. "Okay, I'll bite. Who do I guide? Or more to the point, where do I guide them?" I knew next to nothing about my abilities. I'd only learned a bit before I opened my first portal. Then after I told my mom, I wanted to forget it ever happened. The time spent in the psychiatric hospital was like a bad dream--no, it was a nightmare.
"Well…" Cassie pursed her lips and tilted her head with a frown. "You don't actually guide anyone anywhere." She waved her hand in front of her. "That's not altogether true, either." She sighed and glanced at the guys. "It might be better if we let one of the guys explain it to you." She giggled. "No wonder those goons kept sniffing me. They smelled more mate material and wanted to know how I could smell like two different women."
"M--mate material?" God, if she tried to tell me that I was some sort of weird shape-shifting animal like those other guys, I just might decide to let my mind take a vacation for a year or two. I reached down and surreptitiously pinched my arm. Did insane people realize they were in an asylum? I hoped not. I had a feeling I was on a fast track back to one.
"You're not dreaming, Lily," Mark said, his mouth quirking up at the corners. "And you're not crazy. You're a Guide to the Portes en Cristal of the L'autre Monde. It means guide to the crystal gates. You can open portals to the otherworld." He looked between his two siblings. "We are all guides. We just never dreamed that you were one, too."
"When did you first discover you could open portals" Cassie asked. She looked like she didn't quite believe an eleven year old could do such a thing.
"When I first turned eleven." I thinned my lips at their dubious looks. "What? Isn't a girl supposed to be able to open a portal or something?" I crossed my arms over my breasts. "Well, take my word for it, we can." I refused to meet their disbelieving looks. Instead, I let my gaze wander around the room.
Dust coated nearly every surface in the rarely used basement and I wondered how long it had been since they came down here. I reached up and rubbed my nose. The musty smell started to get to me and I sneezed.
"Bless you," Cassie said then reached over to the end table beside her. She grabbed a tissue from the decorated box on the surface and handed it to me. "Of course we can open them. There was never any question of that. It's just a bit unusual for someone so young, that's all." She turned toward me a bit more and tucked her feet up under her rear. "A guide usually comes into their powers while going through puberty. For a boy, it's when his voice changes. For girls…" Her voice trailed off and she blushed. "It's about two years after the onset of their menses."
I nodded, finally understanding why they looked so skeptical. "That explains it, then."
"Explains what?"
"Why I was so young the first time I opened a portal. I first got my period when I was nine."
"Okay, that's it. Can we not talk about periods here?" Matt complained. "The next thing you know, you'll start talking about what kind of feminine hygiene products you use." He shuddered.
"What do you know about them?" Mark razzed his brother and punch
ed him on the arm.
"More than you ever will." Matt grabbed Mark in a headlock. They both fell to the floor and immediately began to wrestle.
"Hey! Can we stay on the subject, you guys?" Cassie glanced over at me and made a face. "You know, they're older than we are, but here they are still acting like a couple of kids. You'd think they could focus."
I smiled a bit, still unsure how much I should tell them. Opening portals wasn't my only talent. It was just one of my strangest ones.
"Do you feel like telling us the rest of the story?" Cassie shot her brothers a quelling glance as they stood, brushing the dirt from their jeans, and I nodded. Hell, I might as well share my tale. It wouldn't do anyone any good locked away in my memories. Besides, it felt good to talk about it after all these years.
"I watched my father do it once. I found out later that he knew I was there and had been teaching me in a roundabout way. I don't think my mother wanted me to know how to do it. Before he left, he told me that I would have to use my powers regularly or forever be a target for the evil forces in the world. He also found a way to tell me sex was a way to keep the evil ones from me." I shrugged. "I really don't think he wanted me to know that, but he'd written it in the journal he'd left to me. I think it was just in case Mom managed to make me quit using my powers which, of course, she did. And he wanted me safe at all costs."
I didn't tell them that for the last few years or so, I'd used sex to drain my powers. I had a relationship with a man I convinced myself I was in love with. It took me nearly two years to realize he'd been using me as a sex toy. I was nothing more to him than a steady piece of ass. I'd been using him in a way, too, but at least I had believed I was in love with him.
"Daddy opened a portal and he--" My voice caught and I cleared my throat. "He went through it and never came back." I looked at each of their pensive faces in turn and wondered what they thought about my declaration. I didn't have the time to wonder too much about it. Right about then we heard footsteps over our heads.
Matt and Mark jumped up. "Get in the hole," they hissed at us in unison.
I shook my head. "It's just your friends." There was no way in hell I was about to crawl down into some dark, dank cellar if it wasn't necessary. I've never been claustrophobic, but I was not climbing down into that hole unless I had to. I'd had it past my eyebrows with the mold around their house. They weren't sticking me in some moldering pit.
"How do you know that?"
I shrugged. "I just know things sometimes." That was a true statement and not only for today. For some reason I felt things and I could feel the presence of the guy who gave my body the once-over on the beach. There was something about him that stirred my blood. There was also something that let me know when he was near. My heart raced and my blood surged hotly through my veins. It was almost like I had some sort of weird connection to him. I couldn't explain it, if I had to.
"They've just figured out we're down here. They're on their way." I felt the man's smug satisfaction that we had listened to his instructions as they headed for the stairs. Nervous, I fidgeted with the bottom button on my blouse. My trembling fingers alternately plucked at the little pearl and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles down the front. What would they do with me now that I knew their secret? Again, the question nagged at me. If they weren't human, what were they?
"We are Cartuotey."
The man whose heated stare nearly turned me inside out on the beach replied from behind me and I jumped. "How the hell did you get back there?" I asked with a snarl because he scared me. "And what the hell is a Car-too-oh-tie?"
The gorgeous guy lifted a glossy ebony brow and gave me a look that clearly asked, are you sure you want to know? "We aid guides when certain…entities slip through portals from other dimensions."
I glanced around the room and noticed, for the first time, that I was surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous men. It was a damn shame I'd sworn them off six months ago. Each and every member of the male sex was a dog. I gave the guys another glance. Okay, these guys definitely weren't dogs, but they all were some kind of raptor. I bit back a nervous giggle.
"How did you--" I raised my hand and wiggled my fingers. "You know…" I don't know why, but I directed my questions at Mr. Tall-dark-and-delicious who couldn't seem to keep his eyes off me. Stop it, damn it! He's off limits. You swore off men, remember? So, no more sex, no matter how gorgeous you think the man is.
He caught my attention and winked. The half smile on his face told me that, somehow, he knew what I was thinking. My face burned and I turned away from him to address his companions. Don't be ridiculous. He cannot read your mind! "What was that thing out on the water, what was it shooting at us and why?"
One of the men stepped forward. He was just as tall, dark and broad shouldered as Mr. Delicious, but his eyes were blue. Sky blue. Even though I loved blue eyes on a man and his in particular, they didn't make my heart skip a beat the way the moss green eyes of his buddy did.
"It was a vehicle from another dimension. It is called a Dranushka. It is a weapon of mass destruction. It is very precise. It can kill with the accuracy of a surgeon. Its sole purpose is to kill the Cartuotey. We were lucky you warned us. Otherwise we would all most likely be dead, or dying."
The man volunteered this information as I made the valiant effort to ignore his friend who stood too close behind me. I felt the man move even closer. The hair on my arms stood on end, goose bumps rose on my flesh and the back of my neck tingled with sudden awareness. I imagined his breath brushed my hair, the illusory sensation of his hand curled around my neck and his teeth scraped against my pulse.
I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate. I refused to reach up and rub that spot on my neck. If I did, he would know how much his presence affected me. It was nothing but my overactive imagination. Besides, that way I could keep him guessing.
Are you sure?
My eyes widened at the unspoken message. The deep voice flowed through me like melted butter. Warm breath fanned the side of my neck and made my nether parts twitch. How the hell did he do that? I fought the urge to reach up and rub my ear, I shivered instead. Still, I attempted to ignore him. Just who the hell were these guys anyway?
I tried to wipe my mind clear of every thought since he seemed to know everything I was thinking, but it was something a lot easier said than done. So I tried to stay on task and kept asking questions. "Why would they want to kill us?"
"They want your world, of course." He breathed the words in my ear. This time it was no illusion. He stood directly behind me now. Bent at the waist, his lips nearly brushed my ear. Heat rolled off him, emanating through my clothes, touching me in places better left alone on a woman who had made a vow of abstinence. "And they want you."
Oh, my god! What was he saying? I spun around in my seat to look at him. It couldn't be true. Images of being tied to an altar, like the graphic descriptions in my father's journal rose up to haunt me. Once again my mind grew fuzzy around the edges and I wasn't sure I could retain consciousness.
"Enough!" Mr. Delicious said, moving closer. "I shall teach her anything else she needs to know. Learning this all at once has become too much for her to bear."
The cobwebs in my mind cleared at his words. That was just the thing I needed to piss me off. Being furious was always good when the fantastic realities of life began to get me down. It always made me stronger for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with adrenaline. I don't know.
The other men stepped back and did some weird ritualistic-looking thing then backed off. Matt and Mark just sat across from me gaping at them all. At least I wasn't the only person here who had never seen this type of behavior before.
Standing, I turned to address my problem head on. My mouth dropped open in a silent scream as I watched the man's eyes dim from the red glow of a predator. I stepped back, using the advantage of his distraction to put distance between us. The coffee table pressed against the back of my calves and I felt myself going down.
"Oh, damn," I said as I fell back. How godawful clumsy can I possibly be? Before I could finish another coherent thought, Mr. Delicious held me in his arms, his captivating face hovering over mine. How the man had rounded the couch and reached me so fast was a mystery I wasn't sure I wanted to investigate.
When I looked up into the strange beauty of his mossy green gaze, I got the distinct impression that my life had just been changed for all time. Something in his look, in his eyes, screamed I belonged to him.
Struggling, I tried to pull free of his hold. When he didn't immediately let me go, I cleared my throat and attempted to extricate myself from his embrace once more. "Thanks for the save, speedy," I said with a tight smile. "But you can put me down now, if it's all the same to you." I know I sounded bitchy and not the least grateful, but the man held me like he owned me and I couldn't have that.
I watched his gaze rove over my face. Nervous, I licked my dry lips. His eyes became even more intense as he sucked in a quick breath and lowered his eyelids to give me a smoldering look. I knew that expression. This man expected to have me beneath him and sweating before daybreak tomorrow.
Uh, uh. That so isn't happening, mister. If I've learned anything over the years, it's that all men are after one thing. Whether they realize it or not, they're looking for it every day and it's pure unadulterated pleasure and instant gratification through sex. Not once had any of the men I'd ever been with--not that there were many--ever taken the time to see to my pleasure or my needs. I'd always had to make sure I saw to my own orgasms during sex.
Every one of them had been out for their own enjoyment, getting their jollies and to hell with me. A few of them even had the nerve to suggest that perhaps there was something wrong with me. I even told the last arrogant ass who said that to go to hell, among other things.
I knew there was nothing wrong with me that my toys couldn't cure. I told him so. Along with suggesting he seek out a web site offering male enhancements. It was mean, I know, but he had been less than a gentleman anyway so he had it coming.
Afraid to Dream Page 2
