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The incessant chirping and squeaking had her hands subconsciously lifting to her ears. When she finally got close enough to see, she froze. Not a bird. A bat. And it wasn’t the only one.
Her gaze jerked to the tree, the branches bending under their overwhelming weight. Hundreds of bats gathered along every square inch, squeezing in wherever they could fit and fighting for whatever was underneath.
She stepped back only to trip over a twisted root and fall to the ground. The deafening screeching swallowed her scream as one looked directly at her and hissed, exposing twin fangs. It crawled on all fours, little claws protruding from the wings like talons.
Red dripped from its rumpled snout. She crab crawled away as it charged toward her, and slipped to her elbows when it rose on its tiny hind legs and spread its wings.
The ground rippled against her skin, something sharp puncturing her thigh and she screamed. They were everywhere. Thousands of tiny bats crawling like spiders to get to her skin.
Swarms of them crawled over her limbs, pulling her down as she screamed. Clammy wings slapped against her flesh as their fangs pierced her skin. Tiny sores burned everywhere they bit. Like furry frogs, they squealed in the night, their cries overlapping and swallowing her own.
Blood seeped through her gown as they dug their claws into her, biting into her flesh. She thrashed and scraped her hands down her legs and torso, ripping their teeth from her skin and flinging them away, but they kept coming.
One bit into her throat and pure hysteria took hold as she screamed for help.
“Annalise!”
Her body jerked and the screeching stopped. Shaking and panting with jagged breath, she opened her eyes. Adam wore a pained look of concern, begging her to focus and look into his eyes.
“Look at me, Anna. I have you.”
Disoriented, she scanned the room. A dream. But how much was a dream?
He cupped her cheek and she flinched away from his touch. He frowned and whispered, “You’re safe.”
She glanced at the door, unsure where the dream started, and reality had left off. “I’m still here.”
His brow tightened. “You said you would stay.”
She swallowed, tasting a hint of sweetness on her tongue. She looked at her thumb, examining it for a cut.
“What’s wrong?”
“I cut myself.” She thought she had.
“When?”
“It was just a dream.” She dropped her hand and he grabbed it. When she tried to pull away, he tightened his grip and gave her a warning look.
“Let me see.” He unfolded her fingers and studied her hand. He drew in a deep breath through his nose. “You’re not bleeding.”
“I know. It was just a nightmare.”
He continued to hold her hand and frown. “Explain it to me.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Please.”
She twisted her lips. “I thought you were calling me. I heard you, but I couldn’t find you. I followed your voice into the woods.”
“You’re sure it was my voice?”
“I thought... I’m not sure.” She didn’t know what was more unsettling, when he acted like he shared her dreams or when he acted like he took no part in them. “This is stupid.”
“No. Tell me more. You followed a voice into the woods...”
She ran a hand over her face. “There was this big tree and I was eating oranges—blood oranges. And this horrible screeching. Everything was black and gray, and it was hard to see. I was incredibly thirsty, but the oranges tasted so good. Then there were bats everywhere, but not normal ones. These were tiny, with fangs, and they sort of flopped and crawled. They were biting me, and I couldn’t fight them off.”
“They were feeding from you?”
She shivered. “Yes.” Her hands brushed down her arms where phantom bites still tingled.
“What did the voice say?”
“Come to me.”
“Anything else?”
“No, it just kept calling come to me, come to me. It’s like I was compelled to follow it.”
He released her hand and sat back, a deep frown furrowing his brow. “I need to speak to my grandfather.”
He climbed off the bed and she caught his arm. “You’re leaving?”
“I won’t be long.”
Yesterday she would have given anything to be left unsupervised, but she didn’t want him to leave when she was still shaken from the dream. “Can I come with you?”
Appearing surprised by her request, he stilled. Cupping her face, he looked in her eyes. “I promise I’ll be back as soon as possible. My mother and Gracie are in the kitchen. They’ll keep you company.”
She frowned, disliking the sense that he might be hiding something from her. “Why do you need to see your grandfather?”
“I want to ask him about your dreams.”
His open disclosure eased her suspicions. “Does this have to do with your illness? The cure?”
“Perhaps. But don’t worry. My grandfather’s old and very knowledgeable. He’ll have answers.”
“I still want to get you to a real doctor, Adam. If you’re sick, you should at least get a second opinion.” She didn’t want to utter the C word, but she needed to know what sort of illness he was up against. “Is it ... cancer?”
