by Ginna Moran
Ryder taps his fingers on the table. “You work for the council? I saw you with Dmitri. You know people around here call him the Night Terrorizer? He’s pretty badass as long as you’re not on his bad side.”
“I only live at the compound,” Jacqueline says. “Moved in a few days ago. What do you mean the Night Terrorizer?”
“You know, because he’s a nightmare inflictor. I had a friend volunteer to be his victim once, said it was the craziest, freakiest thing he’d ever experienced.”
Jacqueline bats her eyelashes and then thinks, “I’ve been having a lot of nightmares lately. I wonder if Nadia...”
Oh crap. This isn’t good. “I’d know if someone was intruding your thoughts, Jackie. I’d definitely know if it was Nadia,” I say.
Her suspicion melts away. “You’re right, Hunter. I’m being paranoid.”
I really hope she believes me and I hope Nadia comes back to see me so I can tell her that Jacqueline suspects something. Nothing good can happen for anyone if Jacqueline finds out.
Jacqueline leans back and stares at the crowd of dancers. “I’ve never heard of that ability,” she says to Ryder.
Ryder lowers his eyebrows. “Funny how the council makes you register and inform them of what you are, but aren’t exactly open about their employees.”
Jacqueline shifts nervously. “How do you know if someone invades your dreams?”
“I told you I’d know.” She ignores me.
“Why do you ask? You been having nightmares? I know someone who can give you something to find out if you want.”
Jacqueline peers at the dance floor. “I don’t know. My friend never mentioned her ability, but I don’t think she’s hiding it from me. I’ve just never asked.”
Ryder grins. One side of his mouth is higher than the other. “Everyone hides something though, like you for example. It’d be a shame if anyone found out your little secret. Lucky for you, the council doesn’t allow incubuses there.”
What? Who is this guy?
He licks his lips and leans forward to grab Jacqueline’s hand. “But don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
Jacqueline laughs nervously. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“That body isn’t yours. You stole it from a human, huh? Their aura keeps peeking through.”
A rush of alarm courses around me. “Oh, no. I’m losing it. I’m being careless. No one should be able to see Hunter, not even an incubus.” Jacqueline’s thoughts ring clear as day even though she didn’t mean for me to hear them. Something is going on with her. I hope it doesn’t affect me.
Then it hits me. Ryder is an incubus. His kind is well-known with the HPA because they’re lethal. They siphon energy from people, and that’s why he can see me.
I can’t believe it.
“Oh, god. This is so embarrassing.” Jacqueline squeezes Ryder’s hands. “How awful it would’ve been if someone other than you found out. How can I thank you?”
Jacqueline is laying it on pretty thick and she has Ryder wrapped around her finger already. She doesn’t correct his assumption about stealing a body and probably never will. I bet he thinks he has a chance with her. He better not have one though. This situation sucks enough as it is. I’ll be permanently placed in the void if that were the case. It’s what I would do.
He grins at Jacqueline. “Dance with me.”
NADIA
I sit in the dimly lit stairwell outside the exit from the kitchen. I’m pretty sure my father told Cian to stop me from leaving, but it’s not like I’m brave enough to go anywhere alone. So, here I am avoiding contact with everyone except a brief greeting to the cook.
Something is seriously wrong with me because I can’t even relax and have fun for a few hours. Maybe I’m the one who’s actually going crazy from visiting Jacqueline’s dreams over and over again. I only know of the consequences for the dreamer, not for myself. You can’t live with him in a dream forever.
But I want to.
Part of me is terrified of visiting him again. I’m frightened because of the board and what they could do to me and I’m scared of the council, too. They’d never allow it. It would be breaking a serious rule—putting the compound in jeopardy. It’s impossible to even consider a future with Hunter, but I still want to imagine it.
I wish my mother were here. She’d know what to say or what I should do. She picked a hard life for herself falling in love with my father. Her life was one consequence after another. Look where it got her. I wonder if she thought it was worth it. I wonder if my father would agree.
“Nadia?”
I tilt my head up and stare at a silhouette in the bright light of the kitchen. Alyssa steps in and closes the door behind her. Her stilettos echo off the concrete stairs as she takes a few steps to join me.
I pat the spot next to me. “A lot is going on in there.”
“Sorry I left you,” she says.
I look at her and smile. “As long as you had fun, it’s okay.”
“But you didn’t.” I lean my head against hers.
I tap my foot. “It’s not that, it’s just—this is going to sound crazy.” I take a deep breath and blow a puff of air through my lips. “I can’t stop thinking about Hunter. I know I should just forget about him.”
I press my lips together and stare at my hands. Alyssa doesn’t say anything and I know she agrees that my thoughts are crazy. To her, liking Hunter is like being infatuated with an imaginary person, a dream boy. He’s only real to me. No one but me can see or hear him inside Jacqueline’s mind. Alyssa couldn’t possibly understand.
After a minute, Alyssa says, “I don’t think you sound crazy. I think you are crazy.” She giggles and then touches my knee. “You do realize that life will be hard and the only way you’ll have some semblance of normalcy is if you figure out how to free Hunter, right?”
I sigh. “I can just live in the dream world.” I’m mostly joking, but the thought is way better than having to confront Jacqueline and then force her to let him go. If she’s working with the board, that’ll most likely start a war I can’t win. It’s also possible that Hunter’s not interested in me and I might be just a way out. I’ll never know for certain unless I do it.
“Can you at least pick a place I can visit?”
We both laugh and it lightens the depressed mood I’m in. Maybe after I make a decision, Alyssa can tell me whether or not it’s a good one. If only her visions were concrete. Life would be a lot easier.
Alyssa grabs the rail and pulls to her feet. “My advice is to just not make any decisions yet. First think about the future you’d have with Hunter and if it would be worth risking everything you have for it.”
She’s right, like always. “You can’t tell me that?”
“That’s only something you can decide.” She takes my hand and pulls me up. “Now, come on, your dad is about to notice we’re not inside.”
14. REAL TO ME
NADIA
Jacqueline was quiet the entire ride back to the compound and the moment my father parked, she was greeted by Mr. Soto and whisked away. She was acting bizarre after I pulled her away from the incubus on the dance floor, and I’m pretty sure I was mentioned in conversation. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes.
My father strolls next to me in the bright moonlight. “I have to escort one of the council members to a sanctuary in Arizona.”
I sigh. I thought I’d get to spend more time with my father than a measly day. “They can’t get someone else? You just got home.”
“It’s a short trip. A few days tops.”
I run my fingers along the chain-link fence of the perimeter. “That’s what you said last time.”
He slings his arm around my shoulders and hugs me. “It won’t always be like this, Nadi, promise.”
He sounds so sure that I almost believe him. But, as long as the HPA is around, it’ll always be like this. He’ll be sent out for weeks at a time to places I’m not allowed to know, doing who knows what.
I’m afraid it’s going to eventually wear him down.
I stop in my tracks and look past him. “I hope you’re right.”
HUNTER
“What’s wrong with me?” Jacqueline says out loud. She’s staring at herself in the mirror, combing her curly hair with her fingers. “I can’t focus. I feel so tired, but I know I slept. I’m losing control.”
“Hey, Jackie, just thought I’d mention that you’re talking out loud.”
“Shut up, Hunter! I can’t think!”
She rubs her eyes and blinks a few times. She leans closer to the mirror and presses her nose to the glass. Her purple eyes look different, wider, scarier.
“Too much fun hanging out with Tats?”
“His name is Ryder.” Her voice echoes around me again.
“Well, there you go. You’re thinking again.”
“Go away, Hunter. You’re distracting me.”
The lights go out and Jacqueline tosses me into the void. I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but she was freaking me out a little. It was like she was trying to pluck me out of her head, and failing miserably.
Fear and loneliness swirl around me in the darkness and I try to imagine being with Nadia. She’s the one who understands what I’m going through, and just the thought that she may come back to visit me gives me enough hope to not lose myself in this black abyss.
The air around me shifts and I hear a pop before I see the familiar darkness of the inside of Jacqueline’s eyes. She finally fell asleep and let her guard down.
NADIA
I hug my father outside of the guest apartment building. He doesn’t have a permanent residence on the compound because he’s not here enough. The council thought it’d be a waste of space for us to use one of the family cottages for that reason. I don’t mind much though. I like having my own personal space.
I glide across the grass and toward the dorms. It’s well past midnight and I consider not going to my room because sometimes the temptation of sleeping people is too hard for me to manage.
I wring my hands together outside the door and take a deep breath before going inside. The lobby is quiet and the television is off. I force myself to keep moving toward the hallway to my dorm room. My stomach burns and I grab the wall to support myself. Jacqueline is asleep in her room and excitement and anxiety pulse through me when I think about Hunter. It’d be the perfect time to visit him again. Morning won’t be here for hours.
Jacqueline is hunched over in a chair, resting her head on her vanity table. She’s sleeping deeply and I close the door. I glide across her room, touch my fingers to her head, and then fall into her dream.
HUNTER
I can’t help being pissed at Jacqueline for throwing me into the void. Now that she’s decided to stay here, I bet she’ll do it more and more and I can’t do anything about it. From how crazy she was acting, I bet she’ll keep me locked away during her wakeful hours.
“Hunter?”
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I didn’t even feel Nadia arrive.
“I’m here,” I say as I slip into Jacqueline’s dream world.
Nadia stands on the edge of a cliff overlooking a greenish-gray ocean. The sky behind her swirls with dark clouds, and in the distance is a rundown power plant.
Nadia wrings her pale fingers together. She looks uneasy and nothing like the last time she appeared in Jacqueline’s dream. Her light gray eyes shift and she presses her pink, heart-shaped lips together.
I step closer and she turns, touching the tips of her boots to the ledge of the cliff. She gazes at the murky ocean and I half expect her to dive off the edge, abandoning me again. She doesn’t move when I touch her bare arm, but instead reaches up and rests her hand on mine.
She looks at me in her peripheral vision. “Tell me why I should trust you.”
I want to tell her to trust me because I’m not a bad guy and that I would never hurt her, but instead I say, “I don’t know.”
She tilts her head up to look into my eyes. “Do you trust me?”
I don’t even have to think about it. “Yes.”
“I’m dangerous.”
“Everyone can be dangerous.” I shift on my feet and turn to face her. I hold her hand to my cheek. “It doesn’t make you bad, though.”
She smiles. “This is crazy. I can’t seem to keep away from you as hard as I try. Deep down I know that this is just a dream and it can’t be real. We can’t be real, Hunter.”
I tuck a strand of her shimmering, white hair behind her ear. Her words sting, but I keep my expression neutral. I don’t want her to see the pain in my eyes. “You’re real to me.”
She cups my face in her hands. “I wish things were different.”
It’s my turn to smile. Nadia has imagined what life would be like if I weren’t trapped in Jacqueline’s head. It’s what I constantly think about—how life could be.
“They can be. You can help me,” I say.
She turns away from me and faces the ocean again. “I don’t know, Hunter. I just don’t know.”
NADIA
My heart races thinking about all the things that could go wrong if I decide to help Hunter escape from Jacqueline’s mind. First, I have no idea how to help him. Only Jacqueline can free him. And second, I can’t forget about where he comes from. He’ll always be the son of a board member.
Hunter’s hazel eyes reflect the dark clouds looming over the ocean. He brushes his dark hair out of his face before shoving his hands into the pockets of his black corduroy jacket. “I understand. I know how afraid of the HPA you are. I wouldn’t blame you or hold it against you if you don’t help me.” He frowns and presses his lips together. “I’m grateful you’re giving me a chance.”
I turn and meet his eyes. “You know an agent ruined my life.” I don’t know why, but I need to remind him why I’m terrified of the board. It’s not an irrational fear.
He rubs his stubbly chin. “I don’t know what to say. I wish I could make things right for you.”
I press my lips together. “What’s done is done. All I can do is move forward.”
HUNTER
I want to pull her to me, wrap my arms around her, and kiss her hair. I’m starting to despise the HPA. I’m ashamed that my mom is on the board and is okay with all this. I’m livid just thinking about the agency. How they caused so much pain and did something so horrible to Nadia and her family. It isn’t right.
“I promise you that if I get out of here, I will do everything I can to change things. It shouldn’t be like this.”
She stands on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. I press the spot where her lips were before sliding my arms around her shoulders. She leans into me and rests her forehead to my chest and I just hold her and breathe in the flowery scent of her hair.
Thunder booms over the ocean and the wind picks up, gusting around us. The dream is shifting and growing darker and I know Nadia will have to leave soon. It’s a cruel fate that we can’t stay like this forever. I want to do everything I can to protect her, but I can’t even get myself out of this mess.
She tugs at a few strands of her hair. “You’ve done something to me, Hunter. I should be afraid of you, but I’m not.”
I smile. “I’m glad. I was nervous that you’d never come back. I need you to see that I’m different. Meeting you has changed me.”
She pulls away and peers over the ledge of the cliff. “I’ll always come back. I just wish I didn’t have to go.”
I move closer. “Then stay.”
She stretches up and kisses my cheek again. “I can’t. It’ll be too much on Jacqueline. I can feel the nightmares starting to affect her.”
I want to tell her they are, but I don’t. Jacqueline deserves this for imprisoning me here. I can’t feel bad for her.
A scream rips through the quiet air and I glance over the edge at the soft, tan sand below. Jacqueline runs on the beach, wearing a flowing, purple cotton dress, and two people in biohazard suits chase after her.
&nb
sp; She trips and screams again as she gets back to her feet. “Leave me alone! I haven’t done anything!”
“We don’t want to hurt you!” A deep voice echoes over the waves.
Nadia stiffens next to me.
I reach for her hand. “This is a strange dream.”
She plays with her hair with her free hand. “My presence alone is enough to disturb dreamers without doing anything. The longer I stay, the more intense it’ll be for Jacqueline. It’s why I try to get in and out quickly.”
I watch Jacqueline’s nightmare unfold. She’s slowing down as the sand gets softer under her feet until she’s knee deep in it. Her cry is loud enough to get under my skin. It’s hard to watch her struggle to escape the two people, but I can’t save her from herself.
“Please, get away from me. Please. I don’t want your help.”
The two people swoop in, unfazed by the sand, and one of them grabs Jacqueline by her dark brown, curly hair. She screams, jerking back, and a clump of her hair rips from her scalp, leaving behind a bloody wound.
My stomach churns.
“I have to go, Hunter,” Nadia says, her voice barely above a whisper. “Jacqueline has been through enough tonight.”
“Ouch! My fingers!” Jacqueline screams.
The biohazard man reaches to grab Jacqueline again and falls back when her skin peels away in his grasp. She cries out, waving her bloody hand, trying her best to keep the people away from her.
“Stop fighting. You’ve been contaminated. We need to take you back to the lab,” the man says.
“Goodbye, Hunter. I’ll try to see you again soon.” Nadia’s lips are cool on my cheek, but I don’t turn away from Jacqueline.
The air shifts and the dark sky cracks, sending pieces of clouds into the roaring ocean. Within seconds, the world collapses. Nadia’s presence disappears and I’m alone with Jacqueline again.
