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Chapter Twenty-three
Escape
Iwalkedthedeck with BeLew, my head filled with questions and desperate for answers. Their new watches, too big for them, hung on their little wrists. It was the best plan we had. I had told Dean I would take the kids on deck, and if he tracked us, he would assume Lori was in attendance. I doubted he would look for her in engineering, where she would find Sam and arrange a meeting.
The Assembly of the Eternal pins combined with BeLew’s dreams had me in a tailspin. Not too long ago, you saw people wearing them everywhere as a sign of loyalty. After the swim, they were nowhere to be found. I never found my sister’s after her death. Why are they here?
I asked the kids about school and their friends. Volcanos were still a popular topic, and I regretted not knowing more about magma and explosions. My sister would have made a paper-mâché replica and videoed the entire experience.
“BeLew, I need to ask you some serious questions,” I said.
“It was Lewis who said shit,” Beau confessed.
“You said damn in class,” Lewis countered.
“What? No, I don’t care about that.” I waved my hands at them. “I mean, shit, I do care. Don’t say shit!” I stopped walking and put my hand to my forehead, feeling the pulsing headache start in my temples. “Please stop cursing, okay?”
They nodded in unison, looking devilish but adorable, blonde hair whipping in their faces as we began walking again.
“I want to talk to you about dreams. Your dreams and my dreams.” They remained silent, and I continued. “Sometimes, Aunt Rowan has dreams that feel very real. And a lot of times, they repeat - the same dream over and over. It feels like it’s happening to me while I’m asleep, and it may not make sense.”
They only shrugged, and I realized I needed to give them an example so they could understand.
“You remember the old camera that your mama had? She would flip through all the pictures she took, one image after the other, but they might be pictures at different times and on different days. Sometimes those pictures could tell a story, but other times, they didn’t go together at all. My dreams are like that, the same as pictures from an old camera. What about you?”
The boys held hands, glancing at each other in the way twins do, speaking a silent language that had no words. I knew they had something to tell me, but they were deciding if I was worthy of the information.
Lewis reached for my hand. My brave boy cleared his throat. “We have the same dreams a lot, too. Sometimes they’re scary.”
Beau looked out at the water, and Lewis continued. “It feels like being at the beach. We’ve never been, but we’ve seen it on TV. But it’s not like a vacation. No one is in a bathing suit, which is so weird. And you’re there, in your clothes, but your feet are bleeding. And there’s lots of wood like someone broke a fence. Mamma would say it’s just a dream. I just wish it would stop. I don’t want you to hurt your feet.”
I tried to calm my reaction to the news, giving a soft smile and running my fingers through Lewis’s hair.
“It is just a dream, boys. No matter what happens, I’ll be okay. I’m tough. What about you, Beau? Do you have any dreams?”
Beau nodded and continued looking out at the ocean.
“Could you tell me about them?”
Beau turned to me, bewildered. “We did, Aunt Row.”
“No baby, tell me about what you dream. And boys, let’s keep this between us. It needs to be our secret. Do you understand?”
They nodded, and Beau turned back to the water.
“Beau,” I urged. “Please, baby. What are you dreaming about?”
“We just told you. The beach and the broken wood. Your feet are bleeding.”
I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, and then it hit me. “Boys, do you have the same dream? You each are having the same dream on your own?”
“That’s what I just said,” Beau responded, with a hint of frustration. “We always dream the same. We used to dream about the ditch. Sam was scarier in our dreams, though. He looked like a zombie. He was nicer when we got to meet him.”
They had the premonitions.
They could see what was coming, more than I ever could - clearer than I ever could.
They saw Sam.
