Time Spell (27 page)

I felt the clawlike hand grasp my ankle and tightly latch on to both of my legs. I dug my fingers into the stones, trying to stop the sliding. He was pulling me back. I clung to each rock, stick, weed sliding under my stomach, but he was too strong. Nothing provided traction against my captor.

He pulled me through muddy potholes and cracked pavement for what seemed like a mile. The dragging stopped and he released my ankles. I heard a muffled voice whisper, “I got her. Coleman’s next.”

“No, no, not Jack. Leave him alone,” I screamed at the shadowed figure.

“Gladly, but you interfered, witch. He knows too much.” The figure shook his head and finger at me. “You shared too much.”

I scrambled to my feet and rushed at him. I swatted to part the mist swirling around my head. Where was he? I heard the dark, cold laughter, and then he was standing behind me. A mask covered his face. I clawed and scratched to yank the cover from his head.

“No! Not Jack!” I screamed.

“It’s too late.”

“Ivy, it’s a dream. Ivy, you’re dreaming.” I felt warm hands rubbing my shoulders but I was pushing them off, forcing myself out of their hold. “Ivy, it’s me, Jack. You’re ok. Everything’s ok.” I opened my eyes in the dimly lit room. A half-naked Jack sat on the edge of the bed, wrestling me into a still position.

“Oh. Um…yeah…sorry. Bad dream,
really
bad dream.” I sat up and stared at the sculpted abs and chest sitting inches from me. He had on pajama pants, but had left his shirt in the other room—probably in a hurry to scramble to my embarrassing nightmare. “I’m good. So sorry. You can go back to bed.” I blinked hard and pressed my palms into my forehead.

“How about I just take the other side of the bed tonight? Just to sleep of course.” He didn’t wait for my answer, strolled around to the other side of the bed, and climbed in. “Whoa. Did you do that?” He pointed at the twinkling lights on the ceiling.

“Yes.” My stomach dropped. Too much, I was telling him too much.

“What was the dream about? Want to talk about it?” He pulled the sheet over his chest.

My mind was still sluggish, but I knew I needed to share very little. “Oh, it was just one of those falling elevator dreams. I couldn’t get out.” I forced a fake laugh. “Silly stuff. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. You were screaming my name. Was I there?” He turned on his side to look at me.

“You? No. No, I don’t remember you in the elevator. I just need to sleep.” I wanted to stare into his eyes until he lulled me into that calm place, but I couldn’t shake what happened. This was bad.

“Of course. Good night, Ivy.”

He shifted on his back, and within a few minutes, had settled into a low rhythm of deep breathing. Amazing. Men could fall asleep at any time. Although, I couldn’t be upset with him; he had no idea what had happened.

I grabbed the blanket at the end of the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders as I padded into the living room. I couldn’t lie there next to him, not now. No matter how tightly I pulled the fuzzy cover around me, it didn’t ease the chill that had invaded my body. I plopped down in the chair closest to the windows and watched the city buzz below me. I pushed play on the scenes from the nightmare. Where was I? Who was the man with the mask? Why Jack?

I buried my head in my hands and let the sobs fill my palms. I didn’t know the why and I might never know. However, what I did know was that it wasn’t a nightmare; it was a Foresight. I had only had one other in my life and it had come true. I couldn’t take that chance again. If this Foresight was telling me that sharing my secrets with Jack endangered his life and mine, there was only one way out.

I pulled out my phone and tapped Holly’s name. “Hey, girl, I need a favor.”

“O
K, SO
I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock?” Jack dropped my suitcase next to my feet on the front porch overlooking Southern Avenue. He looked kind of nervous and shuffled back and forth on his heels.

“Perfect.” I smiled at him. I could hear Cooper whimpering on the other side of the door. “I probably should take him for a walk or something.” My eyes darted to the door separating us from Cooper.

Our flight from Las Vegas departed the desert early morning. By the time we took the short cab ride to my house, it was mid-afternoon in Sullen’s Grove. Jack said he wanted to make sure I arrived home safely. He wasn’t worried about my abandoned car in his gravel driveway. I could always pick it up from his place later.

“Right. Of course. It does sound like he wants to get out. See you at seven.”

He leaned down and kissed my cheek. I inhaled the wonderful Jack scent and bit my lip to keep tears from welling in my eyes. He squeezed my hand and let it fall back in place by my side. He kept looking over his shoulder at me before finally climbing in the taxi. As if Jack’s reluctance to leave was holding the cab in place, the driver sat fiddling with his odometer for a few moments. The wheels inched forward and the driver taxied Jack back to his house.

My heart ached as I watched him drive away. I turned the door handle, and I was greeted by a happy dog. He stood at my side, his tail rapidly wagging. “Oh, Cooper.” I burst into tears and draped my arms around his stocky neck.

A couple of hours later, I heard the doorbell chimes ring in the hall. “On my way!” I shouted from my bedroom.

I had barely had time to unpack or wipe the tears from my red, puffy face. I didn’t think everything would happen so fast.

“Ivy, oh, you look terrible.” Holly squeezed me tightly then let me go to assess the damage.

“I don’t want to do this. I don’t know if I can do this.” The tears started again, and I searched my pockets for a tissue.

She patted my back. “Are you sure it was a Foresight? Maybe you’re confusing a bad dream and you’re overreacting.” My petite cousin was as bubbly as always. She sought a silver lining in every situation.

I rolled my eyes at her, and dabbed the tissue at my nose. “Don’t you think I want it to be something else? I’ve thought about every possible scenario. It was a Foresight. I’m positive. There’s only one way to reverse it. I totally screwed up the last one.”

“There was no way for you to know that. You were a kid. Until you have your first Foresight, you can’t tell the difference between it and a dream. Maybe this one was a dream, a bad dream. You haven’t had that many.”

I shook my head, disagreeing with Holly’s assessment. I wiped a stream of tears away. My fingers were tinged with a coating of mascara.

She wrapped a hand around my shoulders. “Ok, waterworks, you’ll get through this. It’s not like you have to say good-bye to Jack.”

“Not say good-bye? He won’t know anything about me. He won’t look at me that way again or touch me or kiss me.”

“Girl, timing is everything. It’s not your time yet.” Holly had loved me like a sister since we were children. I needed her here for more than her magic.

“You’re right. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Just not now.” The words didn’t bring me comfort. My heart was ripping in two.

She smiled. “You ready to do this?”

I shook my head. I would never be ready. “Let’s get it over with. Take me to Jack’s house.”

Lights peeked through the closed shutters of the brick ranch. I thought I saw him walk past one of the windows. I inhaled sharply. Holly squeezed my hand.

“You can do this. You have to do it. For Jack.”

I returned the squeeze. “For Jack.”

Holly followed me up the path to the weathered door. I pushed the doorbell and waited for Jack to answer.

“Whoa, hey, Ivy, what are you doing here? I’m headed to pick you up in a few minutes.”

My eyes, blurred by aggravating tears, took in the incredibly gorgeous man in front of me. He was wearing charcoal pants, a tailored black sport coat, a crisp, white shirt still unbuttoned. His tie was draped around his neck in anticipation for a knot. A tie, I couldn’t believe he was going to wear a tie on our first date. His cologne wafted in my direction. Another deep sigh.
You can do this, Ivy. You have to do this.

“You look great, Jack.” He smiled at me. “Can we come in?” I pointed to Holly, who had ducked behind me but was now peeking out. “This is my cousin, Holly.”

He looked confused. “Um, yeah. Sure. Come on in. Nice to meet you.”

He reached his hand out to shake Holly’s. She walked into the foyer and spun around to take his hand. She held it firmly in front of her and placed her other hand on top, sealing his hand between her tiny clasp.

She looked like a pixie next to Jack’s tall frame. “Jack, Ivy has told me so much about you.” She held him in place with her double-hand hold.

He shot me another confused look. “Really? I’m sorry. I don’t know you.” He paused. “Yet. Do you all want to sit down?”

Holly didn’t budge. “I heard about your adventure in Las Vegas. Ivy told me all about the Proxy and the diamonds. Sounds like quite an ordeal you two went through together.”

Jack shook his head but kept shooting glances in my direction. I wanted to explain, but that would make this so much worse. He would fight it if he knew.

Holly continued. “Do you remember what you saw last night in the mansion?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Ok, can you tell me about it?” She searched his eyes for a response.

Jack looked at me and I assured him with a nod to keep talking.

“Well, we were there to take down a Proxy who threatened our families. She was old, really old. And Ivy stopped her. You should have seen her.” His eyes lit up as he retold last night’s events to Holly. “Wait, I think Ivy was there. And there were two guys or maybe one guy.” He stopped, and with his free hand, he pulled on his tie until it was no longer around his neck. “Ok, let me start over. I can get this right.”

“Go ahead, Jack. Take your time with the story. I’d love to hear every little bit.” Holly’s voice was smooth and calm.

He started over. “We went to the house to see, um…to take…you know, I don’t really remember. It’s a little fuzzy. I must have had a few drinks there or something.”

He chuckled but seemed embarrassed. My heart sank as each memory Jack had of us evaporated into thin air.

“Well, why don’t you try telling me about yesterday? Did Ivy show you the seam? Did you see her
Fade Spell
?” Her hands rested on his.