Destined for Dreams: Book One (21 page)

“You’re beautiful,” I say. I should ask her if she has a plan or how she’s going to get me back to my body, but I don’t. I just want to be near her.

She hugs me. I breathe in the sugary scent of her hair and then kiss her forehead. We stand silently together without moving and I imagine this is what it would be like to be with her in the real world.

“Why is this only a dream?” I lean down and kiss her.

“I’m trying to fix it.” She smiles an inch from my mouth before she turns toward the empty street in the middle of a rundown neighborhood. The place looks abandoned, like something bad happened, and everyone had to leave in a hurry. Trash is strewn over the weed covered lawns and cracked street, and many of the houses have open doors and broken windows. It’s really creepy.

“This is my last visit here,” she says, peering at me from over her shoulder. “I have to stop before Jacqueline is too far gone.”

It’s hard to keep my face indifferent. Her words physically hurt and I want to leave the dream. “It doesn’t have to be forever. When I’m back in my body, I can find you.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear. “I’m afraid that’ll only get one of us killed. You know the board will kill me if they knew I existed. I don’t know what the council would do if they find out how much I care about you.”

She leads me to the stoop of the closest house and I kick the trash off the steps and sit next to her. I gaze into her tear-rimmed eyes and slide my arm around her waist, pulling her closer. She buries her face into my chest and I rub my hand on her side.

As much as it kills me to admit it, she’s right. Even if I abandon my family and friends, the board will always be hiding in the shadows. Always. They’re willing to kill their own to keep their secrets. They stalk, brainwash, force bystanders to join them, and murder all in the sake of saving humanity from so-called monsters.

“There has to be a way,” I say.

NADIA

My heart is breaking.

I’ve never been so sad in a dream before, and I can’t stop my tears from flowing.

My mind is set on helping Hunter get back to his body. I’m willing to die trying because I can’t live with the thought of Jacqueline holding his soul forever. I can’t bear it.

I stare off into the distance. “I don’t see one. We’re only two people, Hunter. It’s impossible for us to change things.”

“I promise I’ll find a way.”

I tilt my head up until my lips are an inch from his. I kiss him hungrily, desperately like he’s the one thing I crave. He tangles his hands in my hair and I press against him, kissing him deeper, pushing him back on the ground. My hands lace around his neck and I feel the heat of his skin on my fingers. His hand trails down my back to run along my bare leg.

Our breathing is heavy, rhythmic, and his lips wander from mine. They trail to my jaw and then to my neck, and I bury my face into his shoulder.

“Hunter,” I whisper. I lift my head and gaze into his hazel eyes. He stares at me so intensely that I’m afraid to move, afraid to shatter the love I feel in this moment. “We should stop.”

He leans on his elbows. “We’ll figure this out. We’re going to be okay.”

I want to believe him. I’d give anything to believe him. But, here we are, in a dream.

HUNTER

She sits up and stares at the abandoned neighborhood. I can see the doubt in her eyes. She doesn’t believe there’s hope for us. A tear rolls down her cheek and I rub it away with my finger.

She turns her head to face me. “The best we can hope for is that you get your body back and can be whole again. That you get your life back and can have some normalcy.”

“It won’t be the same. You’ve already changed things. I can’t go back home and live like I did. I’m not going to train to be an agent anymore. I want nothing to do with the board.”

She closes her eyes for a second. “I have to go.”

I kiss her temple. “Please, stay.”

She smiles. “You know I can’t, Hunter.”

She turns in my arms and I hug her. “I’ll never forget about you, Nadia, and I’ll miss you until the day I die.”

She cups my chin. “You’ll miss me until you forget about me. I’ll fade from your memory soon enough. Remember, this is just a dream.”

She drops her hands to her sides and turns her back on me. My skin is cold where she touched me and a hard pit forms in my stomach as I watch her walk away.

I kick a trash can and it clatters against the stucco wall of the abandoned house and the world ripples and splits. Utter blackness seeps through like oil and covers everything in its path.

Within minutes, Nadia is gone and Jacqueline’s dream world shatters into a million pieces.

NADIA

I cover my eyes with my hands.

I can’t let Alyssa see that they’re tear-rimmed and puffy. It was harder than I expected to visit Hunter, knowing it would be the last time I’d ever see him again. But, I had to do it. It would’ve been more painful if I’d left hope for us when I feel so hopeless.

I drop to the carpet and pull my knees to my chest. I need a few minutes to think things through.

“What did you talk about?” Alyssa asks, plopping down next to me. She touches my knee and I lean on her.

“I was telling him goodbye,” I whisper. “I can’t go into Jacqueline’s dreams again. Her sanity is at its breaking point.”

Alyssa hugs me. “Her fate could be worse, Nadia. Jacqueline’s lucky you don’t drop her off on the board’s doorstep.” She looks over my shoulder at Jacqueline asleep on the couch.

I frown. “Actually, I may have to do that. I found out from a succubus that the only way for Hunter to free himself and survive is if we have his body to anchor him.”

“So we still need Jacqueline,” she says. “But I see she’s not going to help.”

I nod. It’s hard to believe we can’t save Hunter without Jacqueline’s participation. I didn’t go through all this to just give up. I gave up my life for this—everything. Reconciliation with the council is impossible and my father’s going to be furious.

I steel myself. I mentally put up a giant wall around me with barbed wire and moats. “Then she’ll die by their hands,” I say. I tilt my head up and peer at Jacqueline asleep on the couch. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I’m so, so sorry. You deserve better than this, but it has to be done. I’m going to hand Jacqueline over to the board and at least you’ll be home. Maybe they’ll figure things out.”

The room is deathly quiet, even my own heart is afraid to beat after hearing my words out loud. I will be responsible for not only one death, but possibly two. But in the end Hunter will be out of Jacqueline’s head.

He will be free.

21
. IN OVER MY HEAD

HUNTER

It’s the longest night I’ve ever experienced with Jacqueline. Nadia is really forcing her to catch up on her beauty sleep, and it’s so boring.

It also doesn’t help that there’s a huge possibility that today will be my last day alive. I’m going home, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s going to be bad for Jacqueline either way, but she’s ridiculous enough to take me down with her so she doesn’t have to go alone.

I’m. Going. To. Die.

Well, crap.

Well, damn.

Well—

“There’s a payphone a block away at the Sunset Diner. We can call Hunter’s brother from there,” Alyssa says.

I want Jacqueline to open her eyes so I can be more involved in the conversation. I hate only being able to hear what’s going on.

“Jacqueline?”
I ask.
“Can you hear me?”

Silence.

“Jacqueline!”
I yell.

“What Hunter?”

“Open your eyes, please.”

“I can’t. I can’t do anything. I’m in the void.”

“How can you hear me?”

“I can always hear you when you talk to me.”

“Oh.”

“What are they saying?”

“That today is the end. Nadia is going to hand you over to the board if you don’t cooperate.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t get it, Jackie. Why are you so stubborn? Why can’t you just put me back in my body?”

“I’m sure the board is keeping tabs on your body and I have to make a physical connection to put you back. I don’t have the information they desire so what would be the point? They’ll kill me.”

“They won’t really care. They’ve killed their own for much less. I’m not valuable to them, either.”

“Then I guess we’re going to die together.”

“I guess so.”

NADIA

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alyssa strolls next to me, swinging her arms at her sides. We left Jacqueline asleep back at the apartment. I’m hoping it will help with her sanity.

I glance behind us for the millionth time. “I have nothing to say.” With the way I search our surroundings, I probably look overly paranoid. It’s not like we’re walking the streets after dark or lurking in the shadows of an alley, but I’m not letting my guard down for a second. The way to survive in the real world is to trust no one and notice everything. Even the mother of two jogging with a stroller and an iced coffee in the cup holder could be after me.

“Oh, come on. I see how sad you are.” We cross the street at a crosswalk.

I stop at the corner and turn to look at her. “I’m in over my head, Lys. I don’t want to lose Hunter, but the life he has right now sucks. Don’t you think it’d be better—” I tug the ends of my hair and stare up at the gray sky. “What else am I supposed to do?”

She hugs me. “I don’t have all the answers.”

I kick a rock off the sidewalk and into the street. “Am I doing the right thing?”

She shrugs. “If you think you are, then yes. It’s the right thing if your intent is good.”

“Can you live with knowing that I’m going to possibly be the reason for someone’s death?” I ask.

“Can you?”

I’d love to say I’d be perfectly fine with having blood on my hands, but the truth is that I’ll be haunted until the day I die or the day I decide to stop caring, whichever comes first. This is a situation that I can hope and beg for the best, but I really have to accept the absolute worst thing that can happen. With my luck, we’ll all die and then it will have been such a waste to give up everything for.

I can’t do it.

I can’t.

“There’s the payphone,” Alyssa says, dragging me from my thoughts.

I pull the phone number from my jacket pocket. “Let’s get it over with.”

I practically run to the front of the small diner where an old phone hangs from the wall. It looks as old as the battered booths I see through the glass window. I pop in some change and pound the numbers.

I feel like I’m going to die here on the sidewalk. My heart races and my palms sweat as the phone rings in my ear. I beg for it to keep ringing. I don’t really want to talk to Mason and maybe if I never get a hold of him, I can just forget about everything and say at least I tried.

“Who’s this?” A male voice echoes in my ear and my fingers fumble as I adjust the phone.

“Mason?” I ask. “Is this Mason?”

He breathes loudly. “Hold on.”

A bout of static buzzes through the phone and then it goes silent and I press the receiver harder to my ear, afraid that I lost him.

“Who gave you this number? It’s a private line.” His voice is deeper than Hunter’s.

I close my eyes for a second. “Hunter said I could reach you this way, but I only have a few minutes. I’m taking a huge risk contacting you.”

“You’re wasting your time. My brother is on life support. Everyone is just waiting for my mom to make a decision.”

I puff air through my lips. “That’s why I’m calling. You can’t trust your mother. I met Hunter, well, I met his soul and he asked me to help him. I need to know where to find his body.”

“You’re crazy,” he says.

My heart falls. “Please, it’s true. He told me to tell you that Dr. Sullivan gave his soul to a sin-eater and that she’s lying about everything. He wants you to wait by his body with clothes, his wallet, and his car keys,” I spit out. “You can’t trust anyone either, so don’t tell anybody.”

“I guess now is a good time to visit him. My mom did just ask me if I was planning on ever doing so.”

The phone beeps and I know it’s going to cut off soon. “Okay, so where is he?”

He clears his throat. “He’s been transferred to Northern Trin—” The line clicks and goes dead.

I slam the phone down and cover my eyes. “I didn’t get the hospital name!”

Alyssa’s eyes widen and she grabs my hand and pulls me in the opposite direction than we came. I’m so angry and defeated that I yank my hand away. I stomp behind her, tears rimming my eyes, and then finally give up and lean my back against the brick wall of a building.

“You did what you could, Nadia,” Alyssa says.

“It wasn’t enough. All I have to show is part of a hospital name. It’s Northern Trin-something.”

She smiles before reaching out to grab my shoulders. She gently shakes them with excitement. “That’s more than enough.”

“You’re right.” I relax and she steps back. I was so upset with losing connection that I didn’t really think about it. I bet Hunter can confirm where it is. He has to know about the hospitals and facilities run by the HPA.
But you swore you wouldn’t seek him out again...

I shake the thought from my head. Knowing the location of his body won’t do us any good if I can’t convince Jacqueline to just let him go. Visiting Hunter again will probably guarantee that she won’t cooperate. I have to show her that I have good intentions. I don’t want to see anyone die.

I cover my face with my hands. I know exactly what I have to do to help Hunter, but it’s riskier than just dropping Jacqueline off in front of an HPA facility somewhere.