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The mountain disappeared, and she was back in Smashland Mobile Park. She was standing behind Gunner, and his back was all sliced up. Sweat drenched his shoulders and he was heaving breath. He filled the air with a heaviness that made it impossible to draw a breath.
He was staring at the 1010 replica, and to their right, Lucas’s home was burning.
“Gunner?” she whispered, but she was scared of him turning around. He didn’t feel like Gunner at all, and the growl rattling from him was so loud and terrifying.
“Lucia! Don’t touch him!” a voice sounded, and she recognized it. Landon?
Her fingertips were stretched out, and she couldn’t stop herself. She couldn’t stop! The moment her fingertips connected with Gunner’s slick skin, he rounded on her and devoured her whole.
With a gasp, she came to. She was back on the bench with Gunner, gripping the edges of it so hard that the wood had splintered in her grasp. Chest heaving, she turned to look at Gunner, but he didn’t seem surprised by whatever she’d done when she’d fallen into that vision.
Instead, he said softly, “Can you see me now?”
“Oooh, Gunner,” she pushed through her thickening vocal cords.
He gave her a smile that didn’t even come close to reaching his eyes. “I know.”
“You have something very large inside of you,” she offered.
Gunner stole his gaze away from her. “That’s what she said.”
She let off a humorless huff. “It’s not funny.”
“You have your bear back.”
“Changing the subject?” she guessed.
“Yep. Is it working?”
Lucia shrugged. “I’m too smart for that, but I’ll go along. She came back to me last night.”
“Landon?” he guessed.
“Landon,” she agreed. “He’s also hiding something big. Too big for me.”
“Liar,” Gunner said as he leaned back onto the bench and stretched his arm out across the back of it. “Nothing is too big for Lucia Novak. You just haven’t realized how strong you are yet.”
“I’m just a person—”
“No. You wish you were just a person, but that isn’t your destiny. Never was. You can wish all you want to, but it changes nothing. We were both supposed to end up right here, in this moment, seeing each other exactly as we are. You’re supposed to still smell of Landon, and I’m supposed to smell of my bear. You were supposed to have that vision of me, whatever it was, and I’m not meant to ask, because we both know I don’t want to know. You’re supposed to figure out what the hell to do with your feelings about Landon, and I am supposed to control my bear for as many minutes on this earth as I can. Whatever happens to us is going to happen to us, no matter how stubborn either of us wants to be. You can fight this life right along with me, Lucia, or you can do it better. You can ride it and absorb the good moments that are going to feel that much better because you know how damn dark things can get.”
Her heart was being pierced with the truth of what he was telling her.
Gunner was right about everything. He saw so much more deeply than she’d ever realized.
“I’m meant to be sitting on this bench opening your mind to the possibility that not everything is on fire. Not all the time.” Gunner looked over at her and tossed her a half-smile, then stood. “I would offer you a hand up, but I’m guessing touching me will give you bad dreams. I’ll see you back at the trailer park.”
“Did you just say all of that as a distraction from what’s happening to you?” she called. “I came here to check on you.”
“Stop trying to get off the roller coaster, Lucia. Just ride it. Everything comes to an end eventually.” He tossed a two-fingered wave over his shoulder and disappeared into the trees.
Chapter Twelve
A box sat on her front porch in front of her door as Lucia pulled up to her cabin.
This place was special because she’d built it with her father years ago. She had every inch of it memorized, so when something was out of place, she noticed immediately.
She parked her car and then made her way to the door. The box was old and worn, and across the top was the same terrible handwriting she recognized from Landon’s “myce” letter.
