by Jordan Deen
he claimed me every time I slipped it onto my wrist.
Aunt Jamie and Michelle were behind the counter looking through gossip magazines when I walked through the door. They were watching the clock for closing time to come. They definitely did not need my help. I asked to go home and grabbed my stuff together when she said yes. Alex wanted me to call him when I was ready to go, but all I wanted to do was to go home and take a nap. I turned down a ride from my aunt and walked home instead.
The house was eerily calm when I walked in the door. Neither of my parents was home from work. I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and headed up to my bedroom to lie down. I needed to get some rest and figure out how to make the nightmares stop. Jillian tried to talk me into going to the lodge this weekend, but I made up an excuse to stay home. I used to tell her practically anything, but when I started to tell her issues I had with Alex she became defensive. After I told her that I was upset that he had brought Mom into our relationship she asked me what was wrong with me and told me I needed to wake up and realize what a good thing I had going with him. Since then, I hadn’t said much to her about Alex and she hadn’t brought it up either. I also hadn’t mentioned my nightmares; it would be my luck if they would not try to stage some kind of crazy intervention.
I drew the curtains close tightly, blocking out as much sun as I could from my room. I set my iPod to shuffle and slid in the earphones as I settled onto my bed. I closed my eyes only for a minute when I felt a finger tapping on my foot. I shot up from my bed and watched as my iPod flew to the floor taking my headphones with it.
“Sorry to wake you.” Lily said calmly as she perched delicately on the footboard of my bed. I blinked hard several times and looked around my room. The sun was no longer seeping through the edges of the curtains. I glanced over at the clock, it was 7pm. I had been asleep for several hours, but it didn’t feel like it. I was still exhausted.
“What are you doing here?” I pulled my knees up to my chest. Lily’s eyes were black as the night as she surveyed my room and looked back at me.
“You haven’t come to me, so I had to come to you.” She said as she shifted forward to kneel on my mattress; her doll-like white dress crumpled at her knees. “They’ve taken Brandon. Matt and Trevor have called for reinforcements from the pack. Brandon must be united with you again.” She picked up my hand and turned it over. Her tiny finger traced the small dot of purple that used to be the crescent. Lily turned her palm over to show me a purple crescent on hers. “Most of us have our mate the entire time we are growing. Our marks appear instantly, binding us to our other half for the rest of our lives.” Lily smiled and tilted her head so her eyes aligned perfectly with mine. “Matt is my soul mate,” she said proudly. “His mark is darker than mine since he has already transformed. He is my protector and my mark becomes darker and bigger the more we are together and the closer I become to my transformation.” She swirled her finger on my palm again. “Yours has faded because your connection and bond with Brandon is being broken by Alex. The longer that bond is broken, the longer it will take for your transformation to occur. Brandon will have to wait for you and the two of you won’t be whole until you transform.”
This had to be a dream; it was by far the weirdest of them yet. I looked around my room for any indication that Brandon would jump out of somewhere as a werewolf, but there was nothing. “Maybe I don’t want to transform,” I said pushing at the edges of this bizarre experience.
Lily’s eyes widened as though her lids would tear apart under the pressure. “You have to transform.”
I shifted on the bed and moved towards the edge to get up. “I don’t have to do anything.” I grabbed my robe from the chair and slipped it on thinking it would jar me awake. “I know this is a dream and I will wake up from it.”
“This is not a dream. This is the truth.” She said sternly and stood up on my bed.
“Lily, where is Brandon?” I tried to distract her as I moved towards the door.
“Matt and Trevor are looking for him, but Brandon is growing weaker the longer he is away from you.” Lily hopped down effortlessly from the edge of the bed to stand directly in front of me, blocking the doorway.
“This is just a dream.” I repeated to myself and started to pinch my arm hoping to stir myself awake before I had to watch Lily turn into a monster. If this dream was like the others, she’d be ripping apart any minute now. I heard the front door open downstairs.
“If you don’t transform, Brandon will die. You cannot remain a half of a whole. If you do not go to him, he will not be strong enough to defend himself. You must save him.” Her words were ominous as her eyes grew blacker than the night sky.
You must save him.
“How do you expect me to do that?” I threw my hands in the air.
“You have to stop seeing Alex.” She pointed to the bracelet on my wrist. “You cannot love him; you have to stop loving him. Alex is the reason Brandon is fading away.” I guess I had always known that. Your heart can’t be in two places at once, at least not while maintaining a relationship. Lily looked as if she was going to cry. “Please Lacey, you are Brandon’s mate. He’s risked everything to be here with you, to protect you. You have to help him.”
The lights turned on in my room causing me to see stars as my eyes adjusted from the darkness. “What are you doing home so soon?” My mother asked. I glanced around the room quickly. Lily was nowhere in sight. “Lacey?” This was just another dream. Lily couldn’t have miraculously disappeared from my room and, as far as I knew, she couldn’t teleport herself.
“I don’t feel well.” I said quietly and then threw up everywhere.
Jillian and Alex both came by the house the next morning. I could hear their muffled voices downstairs. Jillian protested that I was faking being sick to get out of going with them. Alex tried to argue that I would be sick anywhere, so I might as well go with them and have a little fun in the meantime.
I dreamed all night about Lily and replayed what she said word for word. The more I was around Alex, the more Brandon was being kept away from me. I stared hard at the bracelet hanging from my wrist as Lily’s words repeated in my head. Without thinking twice I slipped it off and laid it on the dresser. There was no way I’d wear it today for what I had planned, what I had to do. I wasn’t sure I would be able to find the house that Brandon had taken me to. But at this point, I needed answers for what was happening to me. My skin felt as though it was on fire and I couldn’t stop sweating. I didn’t have a temperature, but when Mom brought me the thermometer, I held it under hot water until it said I was a toasty 103. That was enough for her to tell my friends I wasn’t leaving the house; it didn’t matter the arguments they came up with trying to sway her in their favor, she didn’t budge. Mom not so subtly told them there was no way in hell I was going. It made me thankful that Mom was overprotective at times, especially when it suited my needs and wants.
Luckily my aunt made Mom keep her promise to go to the farmer’s market with her. Dad was at a conference for his work. I’d have the house to myself, or rather the afternoon to myself to try to find Brandon’s house. As soon as Mom and aunt were out the door, I sprang off the bed, pulled on some clothing and bounded out the front door. Looking briefly at Mom’s car, I tossed aside the idea of taking it. I knew I’d get into more trouble if I took it and they found out about it.
I pulled Dad’s old bicycle out of the garage and headed towards the subdivision that Brandon had taken me in my dream/nightmare … reality? All the houses on the street looked the same. The street looked so familiar, but I started to doubt that I had ever actually been there. I didn’t see Brandon’s truck in any of the driveways and I didn’t have a phone number to call. I stopped pedaling and looked up and down the street for the house. I closed my eyes and tried to remember walking up the sidewalk with him to the front door. Brandon put the key in the door. The door was red; the house number next to the door said 12578. My eyes shot open and I looked at the number on the house
beside me – 12570. I would never have known the numbers on this street if I hadn’t actually been here. I hurried past three houses down and saw it –the crimson red door with gold handles and the numbers 12578. It was real and I had been there. Thank god I wasn’t totally losing my mind.
I was disappointed to see that Brandon’s truck wasn’t in the driveway. I tucked my bike behind the bushes and walked slowly up to the front door trying to formulate what I would say when I finally saw Brandon or Lily. I stood at the front door for several moments before I finally got the nerve to knock.
The petite blonde that I had passed on the sidewalk the last time I was here answered the door. Her eyes were bright green, the color of grass after a rainfall. I felt my knees going weak and put my hand on the doorway to steady myself.
“Lacey?” The woman’s voice sounded like music. “Are you ok, honey?” She held out her hand to draw me inside. The farther I walked into the house, the weaker I felt. “LILY!” She called towards the back of the house. The woman was stronger than she looked; she easily carried me to the couch. Lily came from the kitchen and settled beside me.
“Lacey, are you ok?” Lily asked as she smoothed my hair away from my
