Stepping into the Sky: Jump When Ready, Book 3 (6 page)

Down the street? Nothing changed here, ever. It hadn’t
for as long as Rose could remember.

“The Tudor,” Nikki said. “Kind of an old clunker but
we’re thinking we can pull it up.”

Rose remembered it then, a house that had become so
familiar that she’d forgotten about it even being there. It had belonged to an
old couple, the Morgans. She’d known them once, she realized. But hadn’t they
died long ago?

Suddenly, Joseph stood beside her. He stepped forward,
placing himself between Rose and the couple. He appraised Henry and Nikki,
sizing them up.

When he didn’t speak, Rose said, “This is Joseph.”

Henry’s eyes remained guarded for a moment, then he
offered his hand. “Nice to meet you. Nikki and I just moved in down the—”

“I thought I heard that.” Joseph ignored Henry’s
outstretched hand. He turned to Rose. “We need to get moving.”

Rose checked his eyes to see if the anger from before was
gone. That seemed to be the case but she saw something else there now. He
seemed nervous, something she’d never seen before.

“I’m sorry,” Rose said. “We we’re running late for an
appointment.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Henry said.

The two of them turned and walked back toward their car.
Joseph reached out and took hold of Rose’s hand, his grasp tightening. Rose
started to follow him, then stopped.

“No, don’t,” Joseph whispered.

Rose almost did as she was told. But something inside
her—a feeling she couldn’t quite understand—told her she had to get to know
these two new people. “Wait! Would the two of you like to get together
sometime?”

Henry and Nikki turned around again.

“That would be nice,” Nikki said.

“You could come over,” Rose said. “We could listen to
music.”

“We’d like that,” Henry said. “When’s a good time?”

Rose broke free of Joseph’s grasp. She’d have to talk to
him later about being so rude. The fact was, it would do them both good to get
to know some new people.

“How does tomorrow sound?” she said. “Is that too soon?”

Moths to a Flame

Wherever they’d just been vanished as suddenly as it had
appeared. Moments before, they’d stood on a street in an affluent neighborhood talking
to Rose. She’d gotten out of her car and walked toward them, then he had
too—the one who’d introduced himself as Joseph. Now, they stood in a desolate
landscape where a cold wind pushed mist over gray grass, the sky having
darkened to twilight in an instant. Trees that had just towered green and lush now
stood withered and blackened. The large houses, set back from the road with
their manicured lawns and hedges, had disappeared along with the tree-lined
streets. Nothing obstructed the horizon now, where through the gloom Henry saw
that a cliff gave way to an expanse of roiling dark ocean. Above the water,
swirling black clouds promised thunder.

Nikki gazed around, her eyes narrowed with confusion.
“Where are we?”

“I’m not sure,” Henry said. “But I think this is another
part of Rose’s dream. Somewhere between her reality and her delusion.”

“The part she doesn’t see,” Nikki said.

“That’s my guess, yeah. It’s like she’s created her own
realm.”

Nikki wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the
chill. “It’s lovely. Remind me to send postcards.”

Despite their bleak surroundings, Henry had to laugh.
“Yeah, nothing foreboding about this place.” He wasn’t sure what they were
supposed to do or where they were supposed to go. All the same, he started
walking.

“Let me get this straight,” Nikki said. “Did she think we
were driving a car?”

That part had confused Henry too. He hadn’t known quite what
to say when Rose first approached them and apologized. But then she’d said that
thing about backing out of the driveway and he’d decided to go along with it.
“Martha told us some things would be arranged. I don’t know, maybe that was
part of what she meant. Either way, Rose definitely thought we were driving.
Kind of ironic.”

Nikki nodded, her eyes still searching the gloomy
hillsides stretching out before them. “No kidding. You never even got your
permit and the first time you drive you almost cause an accident.”

“Wait, she said she backed out of the driveway without
looking!”

“River Rat, are we really going to debate who caused an
accident that didn’t happen when no one was actually driving a car?”

Henry’s face grew warm even as he grinned. “Okay, good
point. But you saw everything I did, right? I mean, Rose and Joseph and the
cars and houses. All of it?” He had no way of knowing if Nikki had perceived
the same things and he had to be sure.

“Yeah, I did. You’re not crazy.”

“How did you know what to say? I mean, the part about us
buying a house?”

Nikki shook her head and thought for a moment. “I’m not
sure. It just came to me somehow.”

Henry wondered if that was another one of the things Martha
had mentioned being arranged for them. He suspected so, although he didn’t
understand how it was possible. Would he find himself saying things he hadn’t
anticipated moments before?

“And now we’re here,” Henry said. “Wherever the hell that
is.”

“Exactly,” Nikki said. “I’m only taking a guess but what
I’m thinking is that we’re only in Rose’s reality when she’s aware of us. I
mean, what she thinks of as being her reality. When she stops thinking of us…”
Nikki gestured at their surroundings. “For the record, I’m a little creeped
out. Do you think we should just leave?”

Henry shook his head. “I don’t know. Can we? And if we
left, do you think we’d come back?”

Nikki shivered. “I kind of doubt it.”

“Me too,” Henry said. “They did say everything would be
different.”

“This definitely fits that description.” Suddenly, Nikki
stopped and pointed through the trees. “Look, do you see it?”

Henry tracked her gaze but at first didn’t see anything.
A gust of wind parted the mist and then he saw it now too, a light in the distance.
“Where do you think it’s coming from?”

Nikki started walking again. “I think it’s a house. That
looks like a window.” She looked around. “Do you get the feeling we’re being
watched?”

Henry hadn’t wanted to say anything but he’d been
fighting the urge to look over his shoulder the entire time. But if they were
being watched, who was watching them? He felt pretty sure already that it
couldn’t be Rose, that Nikki was right. If Rose thought of them, they’d somehow
enter her reality again.

“I’m definitely reading thoughts too,” Nikki said. “Not
particularly nice thoughts, by the way. I don’t know who they belong to but
someone has to be nearby. Or
something
. I don’t know.”

Henry saw the outline of the house through the fog now, a
big house like the others that had been on the street before everything
changed. They continued walking toward it for no reason other than it offered
that beacon of light. The phrase “moths to a flame” crossed his mind. “Do you
think they’re in there? I mean, whoever it is.”

Nikki shook her head. “For some reason, I think we’re
supposed to go there. Of course, I could be wrong.”

“That’s reassuring.” Still, Henry picked up his pace. “If
it makes you feel any better, I kind of have that feeling too. Then again, it
appears to be the only thing out here.”

“Well, there’s that,” Nikki agreed. “Having fun so far?”

“Good times,” Henry said.

As they approached the house, the front door swung open,
emitting more light into a world otherwise comprised of mist and shadows. Henry
felt something brush past him and turned to see what it was. He saw nothing.

Suddenly, Nikki turned too, jerking her shoulder as if
someone had just tried to grab hold of her. “Come on!” she said, breaking into
a run.

Henry’s sole instinct now was to make it into the house,
to take refuge within that only source of light. He cleared the doorway just
after Nikki and slammed the door shut. They stood, breathing hard, both of them
looking around.

“What do you see?” Henry said.

Nikki’s eyes traveled up, then down again, then from side
to side. “We’re inside a house. A big house.”

Again, Henry had to be sure. “Like maybe where rich
people might live? Something like that?”

They stood in a foyer larger than any of the rooms Henry
had known in the house where he’d grown up, even larger than their living room.
The walls were lined with gleaming mahogany. An ornately carved staircase rose
to the second floor. Oak beams crossed the high ceiling, where a chandelier was
revealed as the source of light that had seemed to beckon from outside. A long
hall stretched past other rooms with wide, arched doorways. The house appeared
old in design, as far as Henry could tell, like something he’d expect to see in
a black and white movie. At the same time, everything appeared new, the carpets
plush, the paint on the walls fresh.

“We’re seeing the same thing,” Nikki said. “I think we
can trust that now.”

A moment later, something tapped at the front door.
Nikki’s eyes shot to Henry’s. “What the hell was that?”

Henry fixed his gaze on the door as the tapping
continued. A few ticks, then a pause, followed by a few ticks more. “Something
that wants in?”

Nikki shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s
something that wants us out. Did you see the look in that guy’s eyes?”

“Joseph?”

“Exactly, Joseph who’s not really Joseph. As bad as
Joseph was, he’s not really part of this picture. That guy died a long time ago
and went wherever nasty creeps go. As for the
Joseph
we met, he’s one of
the entities Lysrus told us about. And he definitely wasn’t happy to see us.”

Henry thought back to when something had brushed past him
outside. And when Nikki had reacted the same way. In both instances, nothing
more had happened. He wondered the same about the tapping at the door—if
possibly it was more of an attempt to intimidate them than anything truly
threatening. He nodded toward the door. “Here’s my opinion. Ignore it. This
place must have opened to us for a reason. Let’s take a look around.”

“Or go back out there,” Nikki said. “Great options.”

“Exactly,” Henry said.

They walked down the hall, past a massive living room on
one side and an additional sitting room on the other. Past that, they found
another room paneled with mahogany, this time the walls lined with shelves
supporting hundreds of books. The room featured leather chairs and a
fireplace—a cozy space someone had once enjoyed. A few moments later, they
passed through an expansive kitchen. Off of that, they found a grand formal
dining room. They circled back and climbed the stairs. They looked into rooms with
large four-poster beds and closet doors yawning open to reveal empty spaces.
The windows in each room offered only the same dark void they’d experienced
outside while the interior of the house seemed to offer sanctuary and light.
They descended the stairs again, crossing past the front door quickly.

Even so, whatever was out there refused to be ignored.
Tapping had been replaced by knocking while the wind outside howled. Henry
wanted to fling the door open and face whatever it was. As far as he was concerned,
he’d confronted way worse already—his own death, his parents mourning his loss,
his family suffering Bethany’s abduction. Nothing out there could possibly be
more threatening than what he’d already gone through. He wasn’t worried about
himself. But Nikki stood next to him. Strong, as always, but it wasn’t his
choice to make and something told him this wasn’t the right time.

Without thinking about it, he took hold of her hand.
Nikki wrapped her hand around his as she stared at the door, the knocking having
now turned to pounding. The door rattled on its frame against the force. None
of it was real, Henry told himself. They were inside the dream now. Only one
thing here was real—Nikki standing next to him, the warmth of her palm meeting
his. He led her down the hall to the room that had called out to him before as
being safe and insulated. None of the rooms were without windows but that room
lined with bookshelves had curtains covering the glass. They wouldn’t have to
see outside, into the churning darkness.

Henry pointed to a stack of wood, cradled next to the
fireplace. How it had gotten there—or if it was even truly there—didn’t matter.
They needed comfort and a glance showed that a box of wooden matches rested on
the mantel. Kindling poked up from where it was held in a brass bucket.

“I’ll build a fire and we’ll wait.”

“For what?” Nikki said.

Henry crossed the room and knelt next to the fireplace.
“For whatever happens next. We can do this, Nikki.”

He wanted to believe those words but he wasn’t sure. He
set wood into the fireplace and tucked in kindling. He struck a match and lit
the fire. Outside, the wind shook the house. Within the squall, he heard
voices, both male and female, a hiss blending with the gusts.

You’re not leaving again.

You’re never leaving.

You’re staying here with us.

Henry glanced at Nikki and knew she’d heard the same.
Again, he reminded himself that those voices weren’t real. Only one thing here
was real. The fire blazed to life, flickering within Nikki’s eyes as she
watched.

Henry stepped back and settled onto the floor in front of
the fire. He rested his back against the sofa. “This isn’t bad,” he said,
watching the flames spread across the wood.

Nikki looked at the walls and shrouded windows one last
time before settling next to him. She nodded in the direction of the sounds
outside. “I’m pretty sure we can kick their asses,” she said. “What’s your
take?”

Henry cracked a smile. “That’s our entire plan.”

“I like the plan, River Rat.”

“Remember the bullies back in school? Well, they probably
didn’t mess with you very much. But you know what they hate most, right?”

Nikki thought for a moment. “Being ignored.”

Henry stared into the flames. “Exactly.”

“It also makes them more angry,” Nikki said. “Just
saying.”

Henry laughed that time. “True, but that’s when they
usually screw up.” He looked over at her as she hunched forward to stare at the
fire, her arms wrapped around her knees. “Doing okay?”

“Doing great,” Nikki said. “How about you?”

“Yeah, I kind of like this. We need something like it at
Halfway House, don’t you think? Cozy library. Crackling fire. Demented spirits
whispering threats through the walls.”

Nikki burst out laughing, something she didn’t do often.
Henry had kept working on that and it seemed the plan was finally working.

“Yeah, totally,” she said. “We could add Joseph
psycho-face as an attraction too.”

“Just what I was thinking. We could prop him up in a
closet and wheel him out on Halloween.”

Nikki snorted and pressed her forehead to her knees as
she laughed again. “Oh, my God. Stop!”

She shoved him lightly with her shoulder. Henry leaned
into her, shoving her in return. Outside, the wind rose to a shriek, knowing
and angry. Down the hall, the rapping on the front door pounded louder, more
urgently.

“I think we pissed off the bullies,” Nikki said.

Henry put his arm around her. “But they’re still outside,
right?”

Even as he said it, Henry wondered how long it might be
before they got in. Not into the house, but into their minds, dragging them
further under. He felt sure this was what they’d been warned about. That
“everything is about to change” meant as much inside them as around them. So,
he went with a hunch.

“Tell me about something you really loved last time,”
Henry said. “Tell me about the thing you loved most.”

Nikki turned away from the fire, her eyes meeting his.
“Why?”

“Just because,” Henry said. “Got something better to do?”

Nikki smiled and thought for a moment. “You mean
something, not someone. Right?”