Lucid (6 page)

“You better start talking... Quick.” she said finally looking  up from the milkshake she had stirred until it was just liquid. “And it better be
good
too.”

“Sorry... Sorry.” I fidgeted nervously under her unwavering gaze. How much could I tell her without being crazy? How much would she even believe? Especially when I'm not sure how much
I
believe.

“Okay lets start slow... why did you ask me to come here?”

“Thought we could hang out,” I mumbled almost incoherently.

“Then why did you not show up?”

“Uh...” Cause I thought my teacher turned into a lizard?

“Well in class I was there... and then I started seeing things...” Her eyebrows only went up the slightest bit to indicate that she even heard me. “It freaked me out pretty bad so I skipped school,” this time the shock was evident on her face. I never skipped school.

“You skipped school?”

“Yea... I know. Listen Livs your necklace is doing something really weird... what the hell did you do to this thing?”

“The necklace? You think this is about the necklace?”

“All of this crap started after you gave me the necklace. So yeah I do think it has something to do with it.”

“Mercy... all I did was spell a little energy into it... to help you sleep. Danburite is a stone to help with sleep and good dreams it isn't able to make... things... just show up out of nowhere.”

“Well I don't know how to explain it but weird things have happened since I put it on...”

“Then take it off?”

Always the voice of reason. But its not like I can explain it... if I take it off the dying will start again... If I take it off I cant see
him.
And somehow that to me seems like no option at all. He has become my sanity in all of this... he has become my safe place. Even if I've only known him for a few days. He is my protector.

“I can't Livs... I just can't.”

“Can't what?”

All my muscles tightened as my head snapped up to meet his liquid blue gaze. I hoped and prayed that he hadn't heard to much. That would be the last thing I needed. Was for Ethan to think that I was crazy too. I could almost imagine what my life would turn into if he found out and spread it around the school I'd be even more of an outcast that I was already.

“I hope your feeling okay. You left class pretty fast this morning.”

The calmness and comfort that his melodic voice had given me just days before was no longer there. Now it was like I could see past the handsome facade and silver tongue. This man, or boy... whatever he was, he worried me.

“I needed to get some sleep,” I replied trying to hedge around the question. If I was unwilling to tell Olivia about the details of what happened in my dreams there was no way I was about to tell Ethan.

“Well I am glad your feeling better. I hope the two of you don't mind if I join you?” He asked as he took a seat without waiting for a response. “ I know you hate me after all Olivia.”

“I didn't say I hated you... I simply said I don't
like
you.”

“Isn't it the same thing?”

“Hardly.”

“Okay guys take it easy,” it was like every time they got near each other they couldn't help themselves. I don't know Ethan at all but I know Olivia. For all her dainty appearance, she was not afraid to get into a fight... with anyone, for a reason she felt strongly enough about. And I really didn't want to explain a brawl in the middle of a family diner. “Both of you should just-”

“What was it you said before?” Ethan cut in. “You didn't trust my Aura? What exactly is my Aura telling you about me that you dislike me so much?”

I locked my gaze onto Olivia and tried to silently beg her to stop here...

“It's green... muddy green. You're lying about something... hiding something. Now that leads me to wonder what exactly you don't want anyone to know.”

She wore a cunning smile, it was the smile she wore when she won an argument without a single doubt in her mind. Ethan's suddenly pallor tone confirmed her victory. He was hiding something... but wasn't everyone? I only hoped that my uncomfortable feeling I had been getting around him had nothing to do with the secrets I was hiding.

“Mercy, I only stopped by to see if you would be willing to work on our project at the library after school on Friday?”

“Sure.”

He simply inclined his head in our direction and then made his way out of the diner and back into the cold fall air. The whole exchange had felt off, and whatever caused it made my nerves go into overdrive.

Chapter 11

Tonight was going to be hell. Not only did I have to run to keep from dying, since I promised Deegan and all. Now I had to deal with the overbearing humidity making it even more miserable to try. The thick moist air clung to my skin and caused my clothes to stick to my body with all the heavy perspiration from running for however long this was going to take.

My nervousness since the first sound of a howl through this thick tropical forest continued to send short skittering bursts of panic through my body. My skin was puckered up as all my hair stood on end, hyper sensitive and waiting for the pulse pounding moment when I would have to fight for my life.

Even as I ran harder and faster then I had ever run I knew it would catch up with me eventually unless Deegan showed up... maybe I had ruined it. Maybe he wouldn't be here since I had taken a nap and seen him during the day, even if he hadn't seen me... but I had promised, so I ran on anyways.

As I continued the tiredness began to catch up and my breathing became harsh and ragged. My feet fumbled trying to find purchase in the soft tropical soil. As I rose up from the ground there was a cracking sound behind me and I knew that whatever monster was going to kill me today it was behind me. All my muscles tightened as I prepared to launch away from it, but before I could even let out a scream, the creatures strong arms grabbed onto me.

“You're a hard girl to catch up with when you really try.”

The deep burr of his voice was almost like a whisper, making my sweat slicked skin break out into an even worse case of goose flesh. When I turned to face him he was standing there with his arms at his sides, calm and collected.

“That's a lie... your not even breathing hard.”

His lip twitched almost hinting at a smile that never fully formed. “You're right that was a lie. You're really slow.”

“Well excuse me for not being some... wolf... bear... thing...”

“A wolf bear... thing? Is that what you think I am?” His heart melting hormone inducing smile was fully formed now, and in full effect. I had to turn away before he saw how red I knew my cheeks were becoming. If the burning sensation in them was any indication they were getting pretty damn red.

“Okay, maybe the correct term would be werewolf then.”

He let out a snort of derision before jogging ahead, indicating to me that I should follow. “I am no werewolf, and I would
greatly
appreciate you not calling me such.”

“They're real?! You mean there are really werewolves?”

“Of course there are.”

That's when it hit me. The only reason he would say werewolves were real is if I subconsciously thought they were real. Just like every other monster that plagued me in my dreams and more recently my real life. Because he was only a figment of my subconscious thought anyways. Whenever this craziness goes away,
if
this craziness goes away, there will be no more Deegan. My dreams will go back to being a regular boring dreams about things that make no sense. Not that any of this makes any sense. But it will become mundane things that make even less sense. And that scares me... a lot more than it should.

“What are you then?”

He watched me for a long time then. Like he was deciding if he should answer. Or if he was deciding if I could
handle
the answer.

“I'm a hellhound.”

“I've never heard of those.”

“It's not surprising we aren't as common as weres or shifters or even vampires.”

It was my turn to watch him back. From his lean sinewy muscles, to his strong jaw and curiously colored eyes, he was a predator. One hundred percent predator.

“You... don't think I'm real do you?”

All this beautiful scenery, the tropical rainforest we are stuck in, even if I hated it before, with Deegan by my side even the heat of this beautiful place wouldn't keep me from enjoying it. If it were real. If
he
were real. But even as we walk into an opening that should in all rights blow me away with its splendor, I can not bring myself to feel any joy. Not for the roaring echo of the waterfall crashing into the deep blue lagoon at least thirty feet below. Not for the beautiful flowers in all the shades of the rainbow. There is only one thing on my mind.

“No... you're not real,” I replied. The silence between us was deafening, it spoke volumes between us as we just stood at the edge of the cliff. I took a quick glance at the water below, and instantly I regretted it. Leaning back away from the ledge to be perfectly certain I wasn't accidentally going to tumble off I glanced over at Deegan.

“Can you swim?” He asked softly breaking the silence.

I watched him carefully but there was no indication of what he was thinking. He just wore a curious sort of frown. Was this some sort of test? Was he trying to find out if I would go swimming in the forest with some guy I barely knew? Even if I felt like I knew him. Or was he really asking me to get into that water with him? What if he wanted to swim naked? Glancing down at my shirt I tugged lightly on the baggy hem. It was a dream after all what could the harm be in swimming naked with a hot guy? Maybe my dream mind would do me a favor for a change and make my body more athletic, like that girl that was packing around a dead deer.

“Yeah I can swim,” I replied slowly bringing my gaze back up to him.

He gave me one curt nod before I felt his warm and gentle hand on my back. Then he shoved me off the edge.

Chapter 12

I thought it would be different. I thought the water would rush up and it would only take the blink of an eye. But it didn't. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. A slow enough motion to allow me time to panic. And when I finally hit the water, I hit it
hard.
 

All the air in my lungs was gone in that instant, when I began tumbling around under the heavy current of the waterfall. The weight of the blue lagoon pounding around me. Pulling and pushing, the pressure of tons of water crushing me.

That
asshole
tricked me! There I was thinking of him as a comforting knight a
protector
. It was all a sham, he really was trying to kill me... just not like anyone else was. He wasn't trying to eat me he was trying to drown me and probably eat my drowned body. I wasn't sure what was worse. But I was
damn
sure I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

Slowly I worked to open my eyes against the pressure coming from tumbling through the water. My body scraped roughly against the rocks at the bottom of the lagoon, stirring up thick black clouds of sediment. As I took in the surrounding darkness the panic that had been replaced by anger was slowly coming back. I knew I only had moments longer to find which way was up before I would run out of air and drown down here.

The sapphire blue world I was in kept getting darker and darker until there was no way I would be able to find my way out of the murk. My only option was to pick a direction and hope it was the right one. So I began kicking my  legs furiously to propel myself forward.

Just when I thought I must be going sideways my hands made contact with the harsh rocky ground stirring up even more murky sediment. Wrong way. I tried to force my heavy limbs to the ground so I could propel myself to the surface, but I didn't have any energy left. I was beginning to think that the darkness of the water was less sediment and more lack of oxygen. As my heavy body refused to move and the world became even darker the only thing I could feel were hard bands pulling on my body.

Light exploded across my vision and I closed my eyes against the sudden intrusion. My body was just a dull weight that I could not move. Even my fingers weren't responding. There was a light scraping against my stomach and chest, and then the feeling scrapped across my arms and face. The feeling was gone for a slight moment before returning on my legs. Finally the feeling stopped and all I could feel was the ground beneath me.

The burning of the light finally stopped and I managed to slit my eyes open. My vision was filled with lush tropical trees, an almost never ending view of blue sky, and deep red eyes. His his handsome face was fraught with worry like he hadn't just tried to kill me. Like he hadn't just shoved me off a cliff. When he saw I was still alive his face broke into a grin and he slowly shook his head.

“I thought you said you could swim.”

I couldn't help myself. My hand reacted before my mind had a chance to stop it. And the sound of it slapping across his face was more than gratifying. Normally I wouldn't think violence is the answer to a problem but it felt damn good to show him exactly how I felt at this exact moment. Which was
extremely
pissed.

He looked amused. I had hit him as hard as I could and he looked like he thought it was funny... faster than I ever felt myself move I lunged at him. I lunged at his stupid handsome face that I didn't want to hate. I lunged at his stupid perfectly chiseled naked chest... naked... that's when I saw my clothes, and they weren't on my body.

I grabbed at my chest and skittered back as far as my weak arms and legs could drag me. My hands never came in contact with my flesh, instead they landed on a soft, warm, dry shirt. His shirt. All I could do was sputter and continue my backwards movement. My body froze when I came in contact with the lukewarm water at the edge of the lagoon.

“You tried to kill me,” I managed in a broken whisper. I could feel the hot tears welling in my eyes, as I continued to slowly back up. I had trusted him. I had felt
safe
with him. And he had betrayed me. The water slowly began to reach up past my ankles with each slow pulsing wave.