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His voice deepened. “I miss you, too, Peanut.”
There was a pause between us. I didn’t know what else to say to him then. My mind went blank.
He mumbled something away from the phone like he was talking to someone else. “I’ve got to go. Stay with the others, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Bye.”
After he hung up, I listened to the quiet in the phone, thinking about calling him back. I wanted to call Gabriel, too. And Luke. And Kota. And North. I wanted them all here. Slowly, I released the phone back on to the cradle.
I thought I needed sleep. I was strung out. I was oversensitive. Still, I couldn’t help feeling the tugging in my heart, in so many different directions. I brushed the thoughts away like flies hovering around me. Trust. They knew what they were doing. I had to believe in that.
A DREAM AND A SONG
I dreamed I was shot.
“Sang!” Victor called to me. In my half-asleep state, I sensed him hovering over me, shaking me.
“Victor!” I slurred his name as I sat upright in the bed. The dream’s images hovered in front of my eyes still. I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t.
“What is it?” he asked. His eyes caught the soft glow of street lamp lights from outside, and now they really did look like candle flames.
“Aggele mou,” Silas said softly. He was sitting up next to us, gazing down at me. He was in shadow. I just caught the outline of his hair and cheek. “You were shaking and moaning.”
I grasped at the sheets, clutching them around my hips as I stared off into the near dark. I willed myself to calm down, but I couldn’t shake the images from my head. My heart wouldn’t stop thundering. The best I could do was keep quiet. I was afraid if I started talking, I’d scare them.
“Sweetie,” Victor said. His hands found my back, and he rubbed. “What’s wrong?”
I swallowed, shaking my head. I pressed a palm to my cheek, willing myself to say something. “A dream.”
“What was it?”
I pulled away from Victor, crawling to the foot of the bed. When I got there, I stumbled to the floor. I wobbled around the edge of the room to avoid bumping into the piano, heading toward the bathroom.
Victor lunged himself off the bed, snapping the night lamp on. It caused me to pause as my eyes readjusted to the onslaught of light. “Where are you going?”
“I need to wake up,” I said, hurrying to get the words out. My voice cracked, betraying my shaken state. I shoved the bathroom door open, snapping the light on. I went right for the sink, turning on the faucet.
“What are you doing?” Silas asked, coming to stand in the doorway. Victor appeared next to him, looking pale and unsure if he should enter.
“Give me a second,” I said. I cupped my palms under the faucet, collecting the cold water and then splashing some at my face. Despite the coolness of the water, it wasn’t enough: no matter how many times I pressed my wet hands to my cheeks, the images remained.
Hands found me, sliding against the ribs along my back. Victor pulled me into his arms, dripping and shaking where I stood. “Sang,” he whispered.
“It won’t go away,” I cried, unable to hold it back any more. His arms around me forced me to relinquish every last bit of strength I had. The water wasn’t working. The memory wouldn’t fade.
“What won’t, Princess?” he cooed. His fingers found my hand at my cheek, and he pulled it away so he could press his own palm there, warming my skin. “What was the dream about?”
“Some guy with gray hair and a moustache. I don’t know. He had Silas.”
“What do you mean?” Silas asked. He’d moved closer, standing over us, watching. His hands were clenched. His eyes darkened as he gazed down at me.
“He had you in his house. I don’t know where it was and I didn’t recognize it. And he kept threatening you. He’d scream and then wave his fists like he was going to hit. I was there in the house. I was telling him to stop, and I was trying to get you to go with me and leave.” I sucked in a breath for more courage, finding little. “The guy had a gun behind his back. A big silver one. He was pointing it at me and said to leave without you. He was so angry. I yelled back at him, not sure he would actually shoot. I wanted you to go with me.”
“Did I go?” Silas asked quietly.
“You tried. You got up and walked with me out into his yard. I ran ahead out of the house, around the curb and I thought you were right behind me. Victor was up the road.”
“I was?” Victor asked.
“You were waiting with some sort of truck. When I checked and didn’t see Silas, I thought the guy did something to him, so I started running back for him. At the house, I couldn’t find Silas, just the old guy. And the guy had his gun...” I broke off, choking on the words.
Victor pressed his fingers over my forehead, stroked my hair. “Did he get you? Did he shoot you?”
I closed my eyes, turning my head away from him. I nodded.
“Did you feel it?” Silas asked.
I nodded again.
Victor breathed out what almost sounded like a curse. He embraced me, pressing my head to his shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him loosely, holding to his back and pressing my wet eyes against his shoulder.
“I don’t usually dream about anyone I know,” I mumbled. “I was so worried about Silas. And then you were coming up behind me and I couldn’t stop you. I woke up after the second shot hit me.”
“It’s all right,” Victor said. “It’s just a dream. He didn’t really get you, and Silas and I are right here.”
I had nothing left to say, and no energy to say it. I was exhausted, shaking, a mess of nerves. I wanted to say I was sorry for waking them.
“How do we stop this?” Silas asked. “She can’t keep getting these dreams. It sounds like they’re getting worse.”
“They don’t always get me like this,” I said. “Most of the time I can wake up and shrug it off. I don’t know. I guess because you two were in the dream that this one just felt bad.”
“Things have gotten pretty rough lately,” Victor said.
He smoothed his hand across my back, not letting go. “Between your parents and McCoy and now this.
“I have to tell North,” I said.
“Let me go call him,” Silas said. He turned around, heading back into the bedroom.
“What do you need, Princess?” Victor asked. He pulled back enough so he could gaze down into my face. “Tell me what I can do.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I feel a little better now. I just thought waking up a little would get the images out of my mind.”
“Do you want some more water?”
“No.”
“Do you want a shower?”
I trembled again at the thought, unexpected. I stiffened to try to stop myself, but my knees betrayed me by locking up, overcorrecting.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said. I pulled away from him, pushing my palm to my cheek. “I don’t want a shower right now.”
Victor blinked after me, his eyebrows furrowed. “What can I do?”
“I don’t know. There’s nothing to do. You’re right. I shouldn’t be so freaked out about it. It’s not real. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s probably just because of everything that happened yesterday.”
“Aggele mou,” Silas stepped through the door to the bathroom again. He held out a cordless phone. “I told North what you said about the dream.”
I nodded, forcing a grateful smile at Silas. At least I didn’t have to repeat it and think too much on it. I took the phone from his hands. “North?”
“Are you okay, Baby?”
“Yes, sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. Are you really fine?”
I sucked in another deep breath. “Yes. I just needed to wake up.”
“You didn’t stop breathing this time, did you?”
“No, Silas said I was moaning, so I guess I was okay there.”
“Baby, stop worrying about us so much. It’s going to drive you crazy.”
I guess this was what he interpreted the dream to mean to me. He was probably right. “Where are you?” I asked, not meaning to sound so pitiful, but hearing his voice was as soothing as Victor’s hug and Silas’s touch.
North sighed into the phone. “I want to come see you, Sang Baby, but I can’t right now. I’m sorry. There’s things going on.”
