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Chapter Five
Nightmares and Truth
Please still be in here.
I searched the bag briefly and found my cell phone at the bottom of my bag. Tapping the screen, I held my breath, waiting for it to light up.
The black screen stared back at me.
Dead.
I plugged it into the charger by my bed and sat down. Bouncing my foot against the floor, I looked around and then leapt for the laptop on my desk. Prying it open, I clicked it on and waited. Over the next ten agonizing minutes, I searched for every news story of missing men in San Diego County over the past three years.
Most likely those soldiers on the mountain would soon join the growing list of missing men. I had dreamt of that mountainside before; that’s why I was so drawn to it. I couldn’t place the feeling yesterday. But now it was undeniable. The views weren’t just spectacular. They were familiar. If I dreamt of the creature and the location before it happened, then I wasn’t crazy. I was just killing people with my dreams. I wasn’t sure which was worse. The latter, definitely the latter.
According to the police, there were dozens of cases, most never solved. I scrolled further down the page and made a detailed list. If the news article reported the body was never found, I added the name and age to my list. Then I delved further into the article and marked on the online map the last place the male was known to be. Some articles never listed a location, so I skipped those cases. Most places I had never heard of. Some were well-known spots to locals. All were marked and dated on my map.
Part of me wanted to know if I was right. Deep down, I knew I was. Trembling, I typed in the location of the oldest case and searched through the images. I had never been to Sisters Creek, but the photos were recognizable.
I should shut the computer and walk away.
But I couldn’t make myself do it.
The way the waterfall skimmed off the rocks was something I’d seen before.
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
The pool at the bottom of the falls had a large arching tree on the right side. I could see it in my mind like I had been there. Scanning down with the cursor, my eyes flicked on an image of the pool.
I jerked out of my chair, and stood, gaping at the photo. It was precisely how I envisioned it. It was straight out of my dream. It was the same place Gray Eyes had taken me. Right by the edge of the falls. How could I make up a place so precisely without ever going there?
My eyes couldn’t leave the screen.
Oh, this is bad.
Dread splintered through my thoughts as the images came flooding back. The willow tree branching across the soft grass lead to the three separate waterfalls.
It was the first night I’d dreamt of him. I never saw him that night, but I’d sensed him in the shadows of the tree. Too far away to touch, but still his presence had seeped into my mind. He had placed the dagger at my throat before I could turn to see his face. Then I'd jerked myself awake, like every nightmare afterwards. Gray Eyes didn’t turn into the creature that night. Last night was the first time I’d seen the creature in my dreams. Is my beautiful warrior a killer? Is he the creature, or is he leading me to the creature?
I wanted to crawl out of my own skin. I couldn’t be thinking these things and be a part of normal society anymore.
Shaking my head, I reached a quivering hand to the computer and flicked the screen back to the map.
I clenched the chair and bent over the computer.
The next case was a month later. The man was suspected to have drowned in a lake. His body was never found, but his boat was found two weeks later.
I typed in the lake and held my breath. I hit the search button. The images that populated weren’t right. Not a single one had I seen before.
Okay, this was good. Maybe the other case was just a one-off.
Before I clicked out of the screen, I looked at the last image on the news article—the boat. It leaned haphazardly against a cluster of jutting black rocks. Each looked like a pillar.
I froze.
In my second dream a month later, I had sat on those rocks, bathing in the moonlight as I waited for Gray Eyes to arrive. He found me, and I waded into the still lake waters. He had drowned me that night. But it wasn’t me drowning, it was really the man.The poor man whose body was never found.
Standing, I set the laptop on the bar and searched the next location.
