Dreamwalker

by Heltsley, Andrea

  We were back in Mr. Greene’s office once more, the Mississippi river just outside the window. I was relieved to see him but he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His normally clean shaven face was now stubble and his eyes were gaunt. When he saw us he let out a sigh of relief, then his brows furrowed.

  “Where’s Townsend?” he asked.

  “Compromised,” Sam said sadly.

  “Damn, we have lost too many good people because of PLI. Let’s hope I can get you guys home at least,” Mr. Greene said trying to shake off the bad news.

  “Do you have the box?” Sam replied all business once again.

  “Yes, it is right here,” he said opening the box and spilling the contents across his desk.

  I saw the contents and swallowed hard. Pictures of Sam and I as kids were splayed out for everyone to see. Pictures of mom and dad brought tears to my eyes. The starfish Sam and I found on the beach our first time in Florida was there as well. That is when I saw the cross. It was beautiful and mesmerizing. Then Sam spoke up breaking the chain of memories.

  “Good, that small rounded cross with moonstone pieces embedded in it is what you need.”

  Mr. Greene picked up the ornate cross and peered back at Sam. “What now,” he asked.

  “Now, you need to let me invoke the spell,” she said.

  We were all waiting as she repeated each piece.

  Then as if we were being ripped to shreds I began to howl in pain. The pain was intense and I felt the suck of the world flashing by at sickening speeds. In seconds I felt the snap of my body and soul reuniting and retched at the intensity of it. I heard similar reactions from everyone else and could do nothing to stop the embarrassing display.

  A little while later, I sat with a blanket wrapped around me, shivering and disoriented. I looked up to see everyone else coming to. They looked like hell and I wondered if I looked as bad as them. Given the amount of retching I did, I suspected I looked awful.

  Mr. Greene was shaky, but was passing out bottles of water. I wasted no time tearing off the cap and downing the taste of something other than blood and pomegranate. It was perfect, the tasteless beverage that quenched my thirst. I was so grateful to be back, that I reached over and threw my arms around Sam.

  “I love you so much sis,” I said once again, tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

  “I love you too. I am sorry about Jared,” she replied, a pitying look in her eyes.

  At the mention of him, tears streamed without reserve. I would always be haunted by the memory of him. I still felt that we should have tried harder to save him, but it was too late. I just had to have faith that he would emerge in six months along with Persephone. Oh, and hope he was still the Jared we knew. Sam just hugged me tighter and stroked my hair until I had slowed my tears.

  Boone broke the silence, addressing Mr. Greene. “The good news is we got out of Persephone’s Lair. The bad news is that we didn’t come away unscathed. We are her new immortal initiates. This is far from over for any of us.”

  Chapter 23: Marked

  The blood drained from Mr. Greene’s face as the reality of our words set in. A full sixty seconds went by before he was able to form a response to our sordid confession.

  “I guess it’s too late to save you from Persephone’s League of Immortals. Our next move is going to have to be working against them. We will have to tear them apart piece by piece. No mortal with abilities will ever be safe with PLI on the loose.”

  “No, no way I am going anywhere near them again. I say we run,” I suggested indignantly.

  I was surprised when Sam stepped forward to speak up. “We are immortal now. Running forever is an awful long and miserable way of life. I hate to side with Mr. Greene, but I think he is right. We have no choice.”

  I was still shaking my head no as the tears streamed from my glassy eyes and Boone wrapped his arms around me in a comforting embrace. It was tentative and I found myself sinking into it. He was calming and soothed my tattered nerves.

  “I am in. These bastards changed our lives without giving us a choice. I don’t want it to continue to more innocent people. This is no life for anyone to wish for,” Autumn said.

  It was clear that I was outnumbered and I sighed in resignation. “Fine, what does this entail?” I asked.

  Before I had a chance to manage a response, I was being pulled under. My body went limp in Boone’s arms and my vision tunneled to a solid black. For a minute, I couldn’t see anything but the blinding blackness all around me. Then it was like a light switch was flipped and I was bathed in the glow of a black light.

  I saw a stunning woman making her way towards me. She was wearing a long flowing white dress that looked luminous under the lighting. Her lips were crusted with florescent pink and glittered. Her blond hair lit up and glowed like an ethereal halo. I just stared, unable to tear my eyes away from her splendid presence. Her violet eyes seemed to glow as they penetrated my green ones.

  I managed to stammer out a “hello” before taking a small step back from the magnificent woman. I tried not to show my intimidation by her and stood up a little straighter with my chin up.

  “I must scan your tracker in order for you to gain entrance. I hope you understand, protocol dictates. Besides, I have never seen you before and I know most of Persephone’s immortals.”

  “I am one of her new initiates,” I told her as her words sank in.

  My cheeks heated in panic. Tracker, what on earth was she talking about? Entrance to what exactly? My heart was thudding in my chest a million miles a minute but I tried to calm myself and nodded in compliance.

  To my relief, she didn’t wait for me to show her. She took some sort of tiny grey hand held scanner and lifted my shirt slightly on my left side. I just stood there trying to slow my rapid breathing and she soon scanned over my skin. There was a beep and she pulled the bottom of my shirt back down.

  With a curt smile, she nodded. “Sorry for the intrusion Ms. Maristolla. Please, enter and enjoy.”

  She stepped aside and I looked quizzically at the tall arched wooden door as she buzzed it open.

  Light bathed the luminescent space as the door opened and bright white lightness engulfed me. Before I could adjust to the lighting, I was being pulled back to reality. I came to with Boone crouched over me with obvious concern.

  He was so close I felt as if I could dissolve into him. I could smell the leather of his jacket and then I shook my head. I had to snap out of it. Boone was not my boyfriend at this point. Then again, Jared wasn’t either. What a mess my life had become.

  “I am ok. It was just another vision. This time though, it was a vision of the future. I think I am getting better with my powers,” I said trying not to let Boone distract me more.

  Everyone seemed to perk up at the mention of the future. I could understand since we were in such limbo right now and it would be a relief to know anything pertaining to our future.

  “I think you are gaining powers because I magnify them. That is a great sign as long as we stay together. What did you see sis?”

  My eyes met Sam’s and I answered grimly. “We have trackers.”

  “What? Are you sure?” Autumn asked with an edge of panic in her voice.

  I nodded solemnly. “They are on our stomachs, in the lower left quadrant.”

  Everyone began to scramble around and the color started to drain from all of our faces as we saw the trackers. They were in the form of a tattoo. A small sheath of wheat was tattooed in black ink on each and every one of us.

  I ran my fingers over mine, but couldn’t seem to feel any sort of notch to indicate a chip. My brows furrowed in confusion until Boone spoke up.

  “It is coded ink. It is sort of like money. It has its own unique signature and built in markings that can’t be reproduced with just any normal tattoo. We have officially been tagged.”

  “I think this just reiterates my point about taking them down. If Noel saw this in her future then we must have gone with t
he plan,” Mr. Greene pointed out.

  “Also, it means you are not safe here. They can track you to us and that would be very bad. After this meeting, you all are going to secured phone contact only. I can’t have this blow up in our faces. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah, we can’t risk jeopardizing the whole operation. That makes sense. If we do this though, we need a plan and a good one at that,” Boone said.

  I shivered in pleasure at the sound of Boone’s voice. How could I ever think that I could be without him? He was so kind and understanding. The warmth of his body against mine made me want to relax into him every time. I tried to shake it off and break back to the conversation.

  “They will all know soon enough that we have made it out of the house of Persephone. We need to strike before Persephone has the chance to emerge. It will be a lot easier to incur her wrath without as much reinforcement on their side,” Sam added.

  “I agree with Sam. You all must leave as soon as possible and gather someplace else. I think this party is over and the less I know the better. I don’t want to end up as leverage against any of you.”

  He paused before continuing. That being said now is a good time to gather your selves together and start that phone only contact that I mentioned. Stay at Noel and Autumns’ apartments tonight. I will send you a secure phone over for each of you as soon as possible,” Mr. Greene said.

  “I vote for getting a room for the night somewhere and recuperating. We could also stay at Noel and Autumn’s like Mr. Greene suggested. We can form our plans there and get some rest as well,” Sam said authoritatively.

  “Great, I choose to go back to our places. How are we going to get there? It’s a little too late to be walking around all the way across town.” I explained.

  “Well, we aren’t being looked for yet, and your car is still parked down by The Green Vixen. I say we walk down and take your car, Autumn. Don’t you think?” Sam replied.

  “I guess it is a good idea; I will be able to tell Jimmie I will be away for a while and give him a promotion. That should keep him happy for a while.”

  “Then it is settled, let’s head out and brave the cool fall air,” Sam said.

  I looked down at my outfit and shuttered. I was dressed for hell, hot weather. The cold weather would be a shock to the system. I had to remind myself to be fearless, to grin and bear it.

  We bid Mr. Greene goodbye and departed. It was a cold fall evening and my breath pooled as I began to walk. I was actually incredibly relieved when I felt Boone wrap his leather jacket around my shoulders. He never parted with it, not even in the depths of hell.

  His warmth radiated from it and I gave him a grateful smile as he put his arm around me. In his other hand he managed to get a cigarette lighted and was smoking in satisfaction. Damn he was definitely an incredibly sexy bad boy.

  Sam and Autumn walked ahead of us, chatting in a relaxed tone. I let myself sink into Boone’s warmth as we made our way to The Green Vixen in a comfortable silence.

  The trees had begun to lose their leaves and they littered the sidewalks in a trio of reds, oranges and yellows. The lights from the shops glistened in the dimming evening and I rejoiced in the quaint feeling this town emitted. I would be sad to leave it if things didn’t work out.

  Autumn didn’t have her keys so we entered the brightly lit store from the front entrance. Jimmy looked up and the light in his eyes held unmistakable relief. I cringed internally knowing that Autumn was in fact not there to relieve him.

  The inviting smell of lemongrass wafted towards us and the notes of Celtic music filled our ears. I smiled to myself at the familiarity. With our worlds turned upside down, little was familiar anymore.

  Autumn wasted no time breaking the news to Jimmy and the rest of us slid into the back room to leave them to it. Shelves of stock surrounded us in an orderly fashion.

  I sank down on the olive green fabric couch and sighed. I was still wrapped in Boone’s jacket and loving every second of its heat. Sam sat down next to me and met my eyes. I tried to turn away, but she gently brought my chin around to face her. I know she could see the conflict in my eyes and I could only hope she wouldn’t say anything in front of Boone.

  Instead, she turned to Boone and spoke with authority in her voice. “Can you help Autumn gather the supplies we are going to need? I am sure she won’t be able to carry them on her own.”

  His face was masked in hesitation, but he finally agreed. I didn’t turn back to meet Sam’s eyes until I saw the door to the front of the shop swing shut behind him.

  “Are you okay?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I said stoically.

  “Drop the act; it’s me you’re talking to. Boone and Jared, what are you going to do?”

  “I already made my decision before we came back,” I admitted.

  “Six months is a long time to wait, immortal or not. Especially since we don’t know what condition he will be in when he returns. I am no genius, but the choice looks pretty clear to me,” Sam said pointedly.

  “I care about them both, but there will only be one for me. I just wish I could make sure both guys knew my choice. I don’t know how I got into this mess. I feel like we are in the middle of an episode of a television soap opera and if I close my eyes long enough it will be over.”

  “Noel, you know that won’t happen. This is a battle we were destined to fight. The ideal thing you can do is make the best of a bad situation. I am your sister; I am only looking out for you.”

  “How can you be so calm about all this,” I asked.

  “I have prepared for a long time. My world has been turned upside down, but not like yours. For that, I am truly sorry. I thought I was doing what was best for you.”

  “God, I am starving,” I said changing the subject.

  “I am too; let’s order Chinese when we get to your house. I think everyone is going to be just as famished. Or, we could order pizza. I am so hungry my mouth is watering at the mere thought of food, argh!”

  I giggled at my sisters’ exaggeration and let myself be free for just the tiniest of seconds. Then I grew serious once again.

  “Do you really think we can do this?”

  “Dear sis, we can do this. We have the element of surprise. August is in the land of fairy ruling his new goblin kingdom and Wren is still stuck with Persephone. No one can surprise us, we are the surprise. They won’t know what hit them,” Sam said.

  “Okay, but how do you kill an immortal?”

  “We can’t, not really. We can however, stop any more people from falling into their trap.”

  Just then, Autumn opened the swinging door with unnecessary force, Boone trailing behind. She looked frustrated and Boone looked like a deer caught in the headlights as he carried a handful of supplies.

  “What’s wrong Autumn? Is everything ok?” I asked.

  “Jimmie just quit. He is juggling school and work and can’t handle the added responsibility. I have to wait for the customers to clear out and then close up.”

  “I’m so sorry Autumn. What are you going to do now?” I asked in a sincere tone.

  “Close up shop indefinitely for now. It is the only thing I can do. Besides, I don’t even know if I have the luxury of coming back in that capacity. It is for the best I guess,” she answered unconvincingly.

  I could tell her heart is breaking. All the blood sweat and tears she put into this place could be all for nothing now. It showed on her face as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and she swiped at them with her index fingers.

  “Let me make you a sign for the door while you check the remainder of the customers out,” Sam offered.

  “Thanks,” Autumn sniffled.

  They ventured back into the store and I remained on the couch, now alone with Boone. I knew he could sense my confliction and he sat down next to me. Just his proximity made me comfortable and reassured. Unsure what to say, I just leaned in and let him wrap his arms around me.

  I could feel
the beat of his racing heart and it sent tingles through my core. I looked up and saw his blue eyes staring intently at me as if I was the most valuable treasure in the world. Before I could think, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his and fell into a soft tentative kiss.

  Boone was the first to pull away. He looked deep into my green eyes and hesitated for just a moment, as if wrestling internally.

  “Are you sure Noel? I know you are conflicted and I don’t want to be the default prize. I care so much about you and I can’t in good conscience consent to this unless you are choosing me.”