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“My roommate told me she doesn’t want to find her pair because she doesn’t want anyone to have control over her.”
She sighed. “There have been cases of people who misuse the bond and try to manipulate their pair, but I promise those are the exceptions. When you find your pair, it’s such a harmonious relationship. If you hurt them, you hurt yourself, so those that do abuse the situation are negatively impacted but endure it.”
I cringed. “That sounds scary.”
“You’d have to be a masochist, which is why it’s rare,” she explained.
“Oh.” Natasha made it seem like it was a very real possibility, almost like it happened to most people. What was she exposed to? Maybe she heard terrible stories from her grandpa. “So, my parents? Do you know if they were?”
“No, sweetie. They weren’t. It’s become rarer and rarer to find your pair as the supes spread out. We used to live in much more condensed communities, but it’s not that way anymore.”
It didn’t matter to me if they were bonded or not. I knew they loved each other, and me. “And you haven’t met yours?”
“No,” she sounded a little sad. “Not yet.”
Was that why she was single? I’d never even heard her talk about dating before. It was a topic that never came up. It didn’t feel like my place to ask, and I was too young to give it much thought, but now I wondered.
“I’ve got to run, but I’ll talk to you soon. I’m so proud of you, sweetie.”
“Thanks. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hung up and had the urge to call my parents, but it was already two in the morning there. I didn’t want to wake them up or have them panic. I could wait until tomorrow. I gathered my things, and when I got back to the room, the infernal headphones were back in place. I returned to being nonexistent in Natasha’s world, and after the night I had, it didn’t even bother me.
I climbed into bed and wished for a dreamless sleep. When I opened my eyes, I was in a different country. Somewhere tropical, if the humidity and plants were any indication. I spun around, looking for anything amiss.
If I was here, then something horrible was about to happen. My gut clenched. I closed my eyes, screaming to wake myself up, but it didn’t work. It never did. I was stuck here until whatever I was meant to see took place.
I stepped out of the thick foliage and onto a dirt path. I heard the chatter of voices and cars, so I headed in that direction. When I followed the turn, an open-air market appeared full of men, women, and children.
I couldn’t enjoy their smiling faces. Their friendly conversations or the hugs and handshakes. This was a community. Families.
And something was about to destroy them all.
I wanted to run into the middle of the market and scream for them to run! To take their children and go somewhere safe!
But I couldn’t. I wasn’t really here. I learned that the hard way after years of terrible dreams. I was forced to watch what happened, but I was helpless to stop it or change the future in any way. These people, wherever they were, likely wouldn’t be alive within a day or two.
My heart seized, breaking as I took in the joyful faces. They all seemed so happy. I hope they remembered this. That they appreciated how blessed they were. I’d seen areas before their destruction that seemed miserable.
Whoever these people were, at least they had known peace and love.
A crack broke through the air, sending chills down my spine. It was louder than anything I’d ever heard. I spun in the direction of the sound and my jaw dropped. A mountain—no, it was a volcano—spewed an angry cloud of ash into the sky.
The crowd behind me screamed, and chaos broke out. People ran, clenching one another and saying something in Spanish I didn’t understand.
I wanted them all to make it. I wanted them to survive.
It was just ash. That would be okay. Right?
But as I stared up at the volcano, a dark gray avalanche came barreling toward us. Images of Pompeii I’d seen in my history classes ran through my mind, and somehow, I knew. These people would all leave similar shadows. They were dying as they ran. Nothing could stop this.
A sob broke through my chest. No. It was too horrendous to conceive. I cried and shouted but couldn’t hear my own screams over the deafening roar of the wave of ash and rock crashing down.
Chapter 25
Ijerked awake and rubbed my hands over my face, trying to scrub away the memory. It didn’t work. Nothing ever does. I’ll have that dream with me for the rest of my life, just like all the others.
