PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  I send Seth a mental kiss, and he sends one back, along with another of us snuggling. I smile and get comfy under the covers with thoughts of Seth’s arms lingering around my waist.

  Chapter 10

  Sleeping Arrangements

  My ears are ringing and everything is blurry. I blink a few times and rub at my face. Looking around, I recognize I’m in downtown Lupiterra. But it’s off. This street is abandoned, not full of shoppers and commuters. I also notice belatedly that I’m holding Seth’s hand, but there are no tingles.

  Someone pokes my arm, and I spin around to see Skeeter. Her mouth is moving but there’s no sound.

  Hmm . . .

  I shake my head and stick my finger in my ear. If I can force it to pop, maybe I’ll be able to hear her.

  I look between the two of them, their mouths are moving but it’s like someone hit the mute button. I try speaking but I can’t hear my own voice either. I don’t understand what is going on.

  I shrug, and try to motion to them that I can’t hear anything, when I spy a huge shadow heading our way from the opposite side of the street. I grab Skeeter’s hand and try to pull them into a faster speed, but they dawdle. It’s like they can’t see that huge shadowed blob that’s getting closer by the second.

  Everything goes dark, like the clouds blocking the sun on a bright summer day. But the sun doesn’t return with the wind. The wind blows, and kicks up road dust, creating tiny swirls in the street as pieces of trash dance along the sidewalk like they’re living and breathing. The wind picks up more speed with enough force to sway the three of us off balance, and suddenly I can hear.

  “That wind came out of nowhere,” Seth mumbles. His voice sounds off. It’s usually a smooth baritone, but now it’s scratchy. Before I can ask what’s wrong with his voice, a gargled scream and thump echoes off the empty buildings. I spin in the direction the scream came from to see Skeeter lying face down on the sidewalk.

  I scream and fall to my knees beside her. I yell at Seth to help her, and he starts to move towards us as I check her pulse.

  Nothing.

  I start to roll her over, but hear a tearing sound. It sounds off, not like the tearing of clothes or paper, it’s something wet.

  “Seth? What was that?” I ask, and look up just in time to see Seth’s head fall off his shoulders to the sidewalk right in front of me.

  I do the crab walk and scramble away from the carnage. I scream, cry, and beg for help. Someone has to hear me. There has to be one other person in these damn buildings that can help us.

  I feel pressure on my face. I can’t breathe.

  I fight back, trying to get this crap off my face, but it’s hard to fight something you can’t see. I touch my face and that’s it. All that’s there is my face.

  One lone wolf howls and charges down the middle of the road.

  I can breathe again.

  While gasping for air, I crawl over to Seth’s broken body. Touching his cheek with my finger, the texture of his skin is the same, without the tell-tale tingles. I look into his lifeless dull-green eyes, and feel my heart rip out of my chest.

  With tears flowing, I kiss his cold lips for the last time and swear to myself I will end whoever did this. Even with his death, I still feel him in my mind. I guess that’s what it’s like to have a soul mate. The bond doesn’t die when one passes.

  A gut-wrenching sob rips out of my chest.

  Skeeter. I should’ve let her in sooner. I should have gone to that stupid party with her, just to hear her laugh or make fun of the fan club again.

  I feel hands on my shoulders, like someone is shaking me, but all I see around me is the lifeless bodies.

  “Jazzy!” Someone yells for me, but I can’t find them. I stand up and look down the street. I hear my name being called again and again.

  Something snaps in my head and my eyes pop open. It was a dream?

  I look into Henry’s eyes and know it was just a dream. But I can’t shake the effects. I gasp for air through my sobs.

  These dreams feel so real, I don’t know how I’ll prevent any of it, but I will find a way.

  I latch onto Henry like he’s my life preserver.

  “I, I’m sor . . . ry,” I stutter. Henry is rocking with me, and Leland tries to calm me down with kind words.

  Finally, my breathing gets close to normal and Leland goes back to bed, a very pale Barry sits on the foot of my bed.

  “This one was worse than last night, was it the same one or different?” Henry asks me.

  “Both. I couldn’t save Skeeter or Seth, then the suffocating feeling again. Everywhere I looked, it was like they multiplied, I saw Skeeter’s body, and Seth had been decapitated. The shadow thing was coming back,” I start sobbing again.

  “Shhh. Jazzy, calm down. No one is broken or dead. It was just a dream. Do you want me to stay again?” he rubs my back in a comforting way.

  “No, I think I’ll be okay this time,” I tell him, and lay back down.

  Barry clears his throat. “I’m just, uh . . . Gonna leave your door open. I’ll buy you a new door and lock this weekend. I kinda had to kick it in so we could get to you.”

  I look over to my door and sure enough, it is definitely broken. At least it can still mostly close if I need it to.

  “Are you sure you don’t need me to stay?” Henry asks again.

  “I’ll yell if I need you,” I try to smile.

  “Not funny,” he glares at me. “You scared the shit out of us.” He shakes his head slowly and squeezes me. “I love you, sweet dreams this time, okay.”

  “Love you too, I’ll try to tell the sandman that when he stops for his next visit,” I mumble.

  When he leaves, I grab my phone from the stand and tap out a quick message.

  I know it’s late but I need to know that you’re okay - I send to Seth and Skeeter.

  I fall asleep with my phone in my hand.

  ***

  After having a second nightmare in one night, and waking everyone up again, I have banned sleep from my life. Completely.

  That’s the reason I’m standing in my kitchen, after midnight, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. I’m so freaked out and paranoid that these morbid nightmares are a premonition, that I’ve triple checked the locks and have every single light on.

  I’m so tired I could fall asleep standing. I force my eyelids open and walk over to the sink and splash some cold water on my face.

  As I’m pat drying my face, I hear footsteps behind me. I grab the first thing my hand touches and spin around to face whoever is intruding.

  “A spoon?” Barry chuckles. “Sorry for sneaking up on you, please don’t spoon me!” he teases.

  I roll my eyes. “Shut up and go back to bed.” I turn back to the pot.

  “We need to talk,” he takes a deep breath. I glance over my shoulder at him, and he motions me to the bar. As I climb onto a barstool, he continues. “I just got off the phone with my father. I’m disturbed by the nature of the dreams you’re having.”

  I interrupt him. “And you think a shifter alpha can help me with dreams. How?”

  “He’s been around a lot longer than either of us, and he’s dealt with devuxen more than once.”

  “What the hell does a demon have to do with my dreams? Obviously the explanation is that since I’ve dealt with death and loss, I’m now afraid to lose anyone else,” I glare at him and jump off the barstool. “They’re just dreams. They aren’t coming true,” I say the last part mostly for myself.

  The coffee pot stops gurgling so I walk to the counter and reach for a cup.

  Barry sighs. “They’re still impor . . . ”

  “Go to bed Barry. I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I cut him off and add cream to my coffee.

  Something outside thumps on the deck, right outside the sliding glass door. Faster than I thought possible, Barry’s hand clamps over my mouth before I can let out a scream.

  “It’s just my dad. You’re okay, I pro
mise,” he whispers in my ear as the door slides open.

  A large man steps into my kitchen. He’s maybe an inch or two taller than Barry but he’s thicker and wider, that alone is intimidating. He really reminds me of one those humungous wrestlers you see on TV, you know, all hopped up on steroids.

  Something tells me this is far from steroids.

  Looking at the man’s features closer, he and Barry look so similar, it’s almost creepy. Barry’s hair is a bit longer, and his dad’s has a touch of gray to it, but otherwise the same. The biggest difference is the man’s eyes. He has kind eyes.

  “I’m Fane, Barry’s father,” he says, and motions for us to sit at the table.

  “It’s nice to meet you, sir,” I whisper and grab my coffee and head over to sit across from Fane.

  Fane’s chair protests. It wouldn’t surprise me if the thing collapses, but it doesn’t. Fane looks at Barry for a moment, then turns his gaze to me. He smiles gently and with his smile, I find myself relaxing for the first time in hours.

  “Did Barry tell you he called me?” Fane asks.

  I nod. “Yes. I still don’t see why,” I say and glare at Barry.

  “I was trying to tell you, if you’d just listen,” Barry grumbles.

  “I know this isn’t going to be easy, but I need you tell me a few things,” I look to Fane in confusion. “I need you to tell me every detail of these nightmares you’ve been having and when they started.”

  I sit up a little straighter and feel the tension move back into my muscles. I don’t want to. “What’s the point? They’re just dreams,” I whisper.

  “It will determine how to better protect you,” Fane says, without missing a beat.

  Confusion weighs over me in a heavy blanket. Judging by the look on Fane and Barry’s faces, I’m not going to get out of this.

  With a heavy sigh, I start at the beginning. “Well, the first one was two nights ago. And . . . ” Fane interrupts me, his features scream surprise.

  “They only started the other night?” he repeats and looks from me to Barry, like Barry would freaking know. I just nod. “Go on,” he says, and I do. I tell him and Barry every single detail of the dreams.

  Fane stills in his seat and the look on his face turns to something resembling fury, when I describe the shadow and the suffocation inflicted.

  Barry winces when I describe the wolves in my dreams. They were huge, and frightening. The look of pride on Fane’s face, and the “I told you so,” look Barry gives me when he realizes, they were the only things saving me in each dream, was clear.

  They both go pale with my description on how Seth was killed in the dream. I have no clue how to connect their reactions to something tangible.

  Once everything is all on the table, so to speak, I’m in tears. Retelling those dreams was almost like reliving them. I felt like I was suffocating, the fear and relief the wolves provided, and saw Henry, Alex, Skeeter, Seth, Mom, and Leland, in the most recent dream, die all over again. Barry moves into the chair next to me and rubs circles on my back.

  Fane pulls out his phone and tells someone to come to my deck, before returning the phone to his pocket again. He then refreshes my coffee, and gets some for himself. By the time he comes back, there are thumps and footsteps on my deck. From where I’m sitting, I can see who’s arrived.

  As soon as he’s through the door, I jump up and launch myself into his open arms. I fling my arms and legs around him, and squeeze him, as I continue to feel the effects of his murder in that damn nightmare.

  He chuckles as he unwinds my legs from his waist and cradles me like you would a small child. He sits in the seat I vacated next to Barry, as Luke and Athan find seats as well.

  “It’s okay, I’m here with you now,” he says with a kiss to the top of my head.

  I listen to Seth’s breathing, while I work on calming my tears. Seth breathes in, I hiccup as tears stream down my face. Seth breathes out, and I try timing my breathing with his.

  I feel so stupid for crying over a few dreams. I chide myself for showing weakness to my own subconscious. Stupid dreams, stupid tears that show no sign of stopping, stupid nightmares for depriving me of sleep that I clearly need.

  Fane fills them in on every detail of my nightmares. He speaks without leaving anything out and with emotion seeping into his voice. It’s so strong that it causes me to shiver.

  It’s not like reliving them. It’s like watching them on a movie reel in a theater for all to see.

  ***

  Fane, Athan, Luke, and Barry dissect and digest as much information about my nightmares as they can, and what happened to my body during the nightmares was brought up by Barry.

  I ignored them and mentally went to a happy place. I picture myself at the beach, soaking up the rays, and I can practically smell the saltwater. With tingles surrounding my body, it’s easy to imagine Seth beside me in my happy place.

  Seth pats my arm, bringing me back to reality.

  “This demon is certainly determined, but now that we know what’s going on, we can stall or prevent certain things from happening.” Athan drums his fingers on the table for a short time. “The dreams you’re having, aren’t dreams. A devux is attacking you.” I gasp and sit straighter. “They’re like nightmares to an extent, but if he were to mark your skin, or break your bones during these attacks, you’d wake up with those injuries.” I squeeze Seth’s fingers. “If he were to succeed in killing you, you regrettably, would not awaken.”

  I stop breathing and war, internally, with the urge to hug Barry and thank him for waking me, and protecting me. I’d probably do that, and wake my brother, and uncle for the same thing, if I could move and breathe.

  “These are three very real attacks. There are a few ways to stop these attacks. One is to kill the attacker. You wouldn’t be able to do that in the nightmares, even if you knew who the attacker was. That’s how they are designed. But there are two options available to you that are the most convenient,” Athan says.

  That statement thaws me out. I’m so grateful for those words, I could kiss the man! “Anything! Tell me, please. I love sleep and I love coffee. I’m afraid if I give up on sleep and drink coffee all the time, I’ll end up hating it.” Under different circumstances, I’m sure the room would’ve been bursting with laughter from my desperate outburst.

  “You must sleep in the same bed with someone who has pure intentions. Someone who wants to protect you, keep you from harm. Anyone in this house would be a perfect candidate for that job,” he responds.

  Sleeping with me is a job, what a lovely way of putting it. “I can’t always sleep with Henry. He’d begin to ask questions. There is no way I’ll allow Barry in my bed,” I turn to him and mouth “no offense,” he shrugs. “And I’ll be grounded for life, if Seth is caught in my bed.”

  “There is another way for you to have a decent night’s sleep.” Athan shifts a little and looks me square in the eyes and says exactly what I don’t want to hear. “It involves a shifter while in their other form.”

  I’m still not ready to see that, not after those nightmares, er, attacks. After seeing that, I’d end up with nightmares just as bad as the attacks, with my imagination. Seth gently squeezes my hand and smiles at me, reassuringly.

  ***

  I close the door behind us and pause before turning around. I can’t believe Luke, Seth’s father, encouraged me to allow his son to sleep in my bed. I don’t see how any parent would willingly allow this behavior. My uncle will blow a gasket if he finds out. I’m not even going to think about what Henry would say or do should he find out this bit of information.

  I’m not prepared for this. I can’t do this. I can’t share a bed with my boyfriend. That has bad news written all over it, like an invite to be the next teen mom.

  What am I talking about? We’re just sleeping. He wouldn’t take advantage of me.

  A tingling and warm caress in my mind tells me that Seth agrees, he wouldn’t take advantage of me, ever.


  I take a deep breath and turn around, only to see him sitting on my bed with his shoes kicked off.

  I gulp.

  “Come ‘ere.” He opens his arms. I go to him and sit on his lap. He gives me a few pecks and then pulls back. “Hey, we’re just taking a nap. Okay? Just some cuddling and some sleep.”

  I nod and breathe a sigh of relief.

  He lifts me like I weigh nothing and shifts on my bed, so his head is on my pillows and my head is on his chest, tucking me tightly in his arms.

  I feel like I’m in a bubble, a protective bubble to be exact, and it smells like heaven. He runs his fingers through my hair, and sleep finds me quickly.

  ***

  Seth wakes me up forty-five minutes before I usually get up. He captures my lips with his before I can even wipe away the sleep dust from my eyes.

  “Good morning,” he whispers.

  He looks so awake, so perfectly refreshed. I really hope he doesn’t wake up looking that perfect and rested, that doesn’t seem fair. I probably resemble a twisted blonde version of Cousin It crossed with The Mad Hatter.

  “Drink plenty of coffee so you don’t doze off before school. I’ll bring some Red Bull for you,” he promises.

  I smile. How he knows me so well, while not actually knowing me, is beyond me. I just nod at him.

  He gives me another kiss and then walks over to my window. He looks back, winks and holds his finger to his mouth, indicating I should be quiet, and leaps out my window. I gasp and race over to the window, and see him running through my yard.

  He’s insane!

  ***

  I’m starting on my fourth cup of coffee already, and I’m so ready for the day to actually begin, that I’m dancing around the kitchen like a fool with my ear buds blaring in my ears. I twirl around and shimmy to beat, and freeze, when I feel eyes on my back. Someone is watching me. I slowly turn to find Leland standing in the doorway with Alex on his hip.

  I smile. “Morning, guys!” I say and pull out one of my earbuds so I can hear.

  “How much coffee have you had?” he asks slowly, and it’s easy to hear just how tired he is.