Dhampyre Chronicles: Twisted Dreams Part 5

"You could have picked up the phone and called me yourself."

"Oh, I didn't want to bother you. I knew you'd be settling in, meeting new friends. I didn't want to ruin your street-cred."

I cringed at my mother's choice of words. "Don't be silly. I did tell you'd I'd wait until Dad was up before I called."

"I know you did, but still ... I was worried you might have had a car accident or something."

I rolled my eyes. That was my mother-the constant worrier. I guess after everything we'd been through it was only to be expected. I'd almost died as a child, something they never spoke to me about and thought I couldn't remember, so it was only natural for her to be overprotective. Even so, her overprotective nature was definitely one of my reasons for wanting to get away from home. I loved her more than anything, but I needed my own s.p.a.ce. I had no intention of telling her about the incident with the fallen wire on my drive into town, and that my car was in the shop.

"So you're okay, then?" she continued. "You've made some friends?"

"Yes," I said, thinking of Brooke and how I didn't think I'd ever be cla.s.sed as a friend.' But then I remembered Flynn, Laurel, and even Dana. "I've made some friends," I told her. "Everyone has been great, and a group of us went out this evening."

I sensed her relax on the other end of the line. "That's wonderful, sweetie. Sounds like fun. I can't believe my baby-girl is all grown up and living away from home." She gave a sniff.

"I'm hardly a baby anymore, Mom."

"No, I know you're not. I'm just going to spend the next few months having to remember that you're not in the house anymore." She lowered her voice, though if my dad was anywhere in the vicinity he'd have heard her anyway. "The daytimes are going to be very lonely."

"So sleep in the day and spend time with Sebastian at night. Isn't that what you've been looking forward to all these years?"

She sighed. "I lose one of you, but gain the other. I just wish I could have both."

"You've still got me, Mom. I'm only at college."

I heard a muttered voice beyond my mother's. "Your father is hovering," she said. "I'd better pa.s.s you over."

"Sure, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie. Stay safe."

There was a shuffling as she handed the phone to my father.

His deep voice came down the line, "Hey, kiddo." I pictured him standing in our hallway, with his pale skin and dark hair, still looking no more than mid-thirties, despite being hundreds of years old.

"Hi, Sebastian," I said with a grin, knowing my habit of using his first name irked him. "Sleep well?"

I felt the smile in the tone of his voice. "Like the dead. How are things with you? I a.s.sume by your mother's lack of panic that you made the rest of your trip safely."

I laughed. "Yeah, no twenty car pile-up on the freeway, or freak aircraft cras.h.i.+ng into the school."

Just a freak electrical wire and a runaway carnival ride.

"Glad to hear it, though the way your mother has been acting, you'd think that's exactly what had happened."

"You've only been awake about ten minutes."

"Good thing, too. At least she only had herself to drive insane."

"You don't mean that."

It was his turn to laugh. "Of course not."

Despite his teasing, I didn't have any doubts that my father would always be there for my mom, Serenity. They'd been through so much together and regularly embarra.s.sed me with their very public displays of affection. Okay, maybe not public, but certainly around the house, and that was enough for me. The last thing any kid wants to see is their parents making out on the couch.

"And how's everything else," Sebastian asked me. "How are you getting on with ... things?"

I knew what he was asking me. Both my parents were aware of my precognitive abilities, though my mom liked to pretend I'd gotten a handle on everything. My dad, who had lived with his own abilities for hundreds of years and still struggled to fit in, understood a bit more.

"There have been a couple of weird moments, but nothing I can't handle."

No breathing came down the end of the line, I could have been speaking into a dead connection, but I knew I wasn't. "That's great. You know any time you need us, just shout and we'll be there."

"I don't need you coming to my rescue now, Dad. I'm a grownup. I want to handle things my own way."

"Too independent," he grumbled. "You always were."

"I think my genes have something to do with that." I paused. "Look, Dad, I really have to go. Some people are waiting for me."

"Okay, no problem, sweetheart, as long as we know you're okay. Shall I put your mom back on?"

"No, don't. You know what she's like, she won't let me go."

"Okay, we'll say bye to you together."

There was a m.u.f.fled sc.r.a.pe and jointly their voices came down the line, "Bye sweetie, we love you!" I could picture them with their faces pressed close together as they both tried to use the phone simultaneously. The image made me feel strangely homesick, even though I'd been so desperate to escape all this time.

"I love you too, guys. I'll call soon, I promise."

I forced myself to hang up before the repet.i.tions of I love you' came down the line.

As awkward as I felt heading back to our room, knowing Brooke would most likely be there, I had nowhere else to go. I could always go and sleep in my rental car, but not only would it be super uncomfortable, I also didn't want to be a coward. Hiding from Brooke because she'd gotten an insight into my dirty little secret made me look pathetic.

I took a deep breath, forced my feet to move, and went back to our room. She was lying on her stomach, reading a book, and only glanced in my direction before turning back to it, a scowl narrowing her eyes.

I shrugged out of my jeans and undid my bra, slipping it out from beneath my top. I probably should have changed, but I only wore a camisole and panties to bed, and I didn't want to expose my skin to the other girl any more than I already had. Slipping beneath the bedcovers, I turned my back on Brooke, facing the wall. I pressed my face into the pillow I'd brought from home, wanting to be comforted by the feel and smells of home. Instead, the pillow only served to cause a huge wave of homesickness to rise up and crash over me.

Even though I had come to Sage Springs in order to escape the vampirism that had shadowed my entire life, right then I would have given anything to be at home with my mom and dad, Serenity and Sebastian.

Chapter.

8.

I stood on a road on the outskirts of town. Pine forests bordered both sides of the road, but, beyond the bend ahead, I could just make out the lights of town glowing into the night sky.

A s.h.i.+ver wracked through me. What was I doing here? How did I even get here? The trees on either side of me rustled as a breeze stirred their branches. I needed to get out of the middle of the road, a car might come along any minute and mow me down, but at the same time I didn't want to go near the forest. I couldn't explain why, but something in my gut told me to stay away.

Movement on the road ahead caught my attention. A woman was walking up the road, a strange walk, her head held perfectly straight, staring ahead. She wore a long dress, though her feet were bare. I frowned. No, that was wrong. It wasn't a regular dress she wore, but a nightgown. Was the woman sleepwalking?

I began to walk toward her. "Hey, are you ...?"

But I trailed off as someone else rounded the bend, appearing behind the woman. It was an older man this time. He wore only boxer shorts and an old t-s.h.i.+rt, but slippers were on his feet as he shuffled along.

What the h.e.l.l?

More people appeared, a stream of them following the woman who'd come first. Couples, teenagers, even children, clutching their teddies, their hair mussed up as though they'd just gotten out of bed. All wore the same, blank expressions. All seemed to be coming from Sage Springs.

As I gawped at the spectacle, the first woman slipped off the road and between the trees, heading deeper into the forest.

"Hey, no!" I called out. "You don't want to go in there! Something bad is in the forest."

I knew it was true. Though I'd seen nothing to make me think such a thing, my instincts were rarely wrong.

A dream, I realized. I was dreaming one of those dreams. A dream that was trying to tell me something.

Though subconsciously I knew I was dreaming, I couldn't stop myself from reacting, from trying to change an event that wasn't even happening yet, if it was going to happen at all.

One by one, the people followed the woman, disappearing between the tree trunks, vanis.h.i.+ng into the darkness. I ran to those who remained on the road, clutching at arms. "Don't go in there, please, don't follow her!" But no one listened. No one even appeared to notice me.

They could have been sleepwalking, but more than anything they just seemed ... empty.

I woke the next morning with absolutely no idea where I was. For a few wonderful, peaceful seconds, I'd completely forgotten about the events of the day before, but then they all came cras.h.i.+ng down on me, and inwardly I shriveled.

Would someone, the police or people from the carnival, come and talk to me about my foresight of the accident? There was bound to be some kind of investigation, despite no one being seriously hurt.

Then I had Brooke to deal with.

I concentrated, but got no sense of anyone else in the room. No breathing or low thud of a heartbeat. Still facing the wall in the same position as I'd fallen asleep in, I cautiously rolled over to face the rest of the room. Brooke's bed was empty.

The absence of my roommate made me check the small alarm clock on my bedside table. s.h.i.+t! I hadn't remembered to set it. It was almost eight thirty, and my cla.s.s started at nine. I couldn't be late for my first cla.s.s.

I grabbed my wash bag and a change of clothes, and raced to the bathroom for the world's fastest shower. I dried and dressed, dumped my stuff back in my room, and ran out of the building and toward campus. My first cla.s.s was math-not my favorite-and I quickly checked the small map with my schedule, trying to locate the room I needed to be in. Luckily, I found it right before the bell went to mark the start of cla.s.s, and burst through the door, flushed and with a sheen of sweat on my forehead. Most of the students were already seated, and I quickly scanned the room for a spare chair. My eyes met with a wide grin, and with a thrill I recognized the girl I'd met yesterday, Laurel, beckoning me over and motioning to the spare chair beside her.

I darted across the room, but someone else, a skinny guy wearing too-large jeans, tried to take the seat.

"Sorry, dude," Laurel said, reaching out to block him. "That seat's taken."

The boy c.o.c.ked his eyebrows in disbelief, but didn't bother to argue, finding a different chair near the back of the room. I slid in beside Laurel.

"Thanks," I said. "I overslept."

"On your first day?" She had laughter behind her voice.

"I know, great start, huh? The thing is, I never oversleep!" Most of the time, I didn't need more than three or four hours' sleep a night. It was the reason I'd been able to make the drive up to Sage Springs in so little time. Yesterday's events had obviously taken their toll on me.

She leaned in, conspiratorial. "Dorm beds that comfy?"

I grinned. "I guess they must be."

A man walked into the room. He was handsome, in a clean cut kind of way, with salt and pepper around the edges of his dark hair, and creases at the corners of his eyes that looked to be more from laughter than age. I couldn't help myself. I stared at him, knowing my brow was creased in concentration, a couple of lines appearing between my own eyebrows.

"Settle down, everyone," he called out. "My name is Doctor Spencer, and I'm your math professor for your first year."

I recognized him, I knew I did, but I just couldn't place him.

"If you can open your text books at trigonometry ..." Groans rose around the room. He laughed, "Come on, it's too early in the term for you to be jaded already."

He turned to his own book, a serious expression replacing the smile, and instantly I knew where I recognized him from. Dana's future. I quickly glanced around, wondering if I had missed her. But she wasn't in this cla.s.s, of course she wasn't. She must be taking his cla.s.s at a different time. Was that how they'd meet, I mused. Or did she already know him? She said her family was from around here, so their paths might have already crossed.

Doctor Spencer put us to work, talking us through the exciting world of lengths and angles of triangles. He was engaging and funny, not what I'd expect of a math teacher at all. He made the next hour pa.s.s quickly, despite the tedious subject, and eventually the bell rang and we were allowed to go.

I stood from my seat and gathered my belongings, heading out into the corridor.

Laurel fell in beside me. "So, did you hear about what happened at the carnival last night?"

I stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"There was an accident. One of the cars of the Waltzer came off the platform. People were inside, and it flew into the crowd. But apparently some girl seemed to know what was going to happen before it did."

"Really? No way." I mumbled, ducking my head down. "You weren't there though?"

"No, my family has a thing against the carnival people." Her lips twisted. "They can be a bit over protective." She must have realized something. "So you were there then?"

I felt my normally pale cheeks flush with color. "Yeah, I was there."

"But you didn't see anything?" She eyed me curiously.

I glanced away and mumbled, "No, I didn't."

Laurel either ignored my awkwardness or didn't notice. "What cla.s.s have you got next?"

I was glad for the distraction. Checking my schedule, I said, "Looks like English Lit."

She grinned. "Great. Me too."

I wanted to feel pleased at our shared cla.s.ses, remembering the hope I'd had at getting to know her the previous day, and also my lack of friends, but the mention of the carnival incident had set me on edge. The last thing I'd wanted to do was lie, but I couldn't stand the barrage of questions I knew would have followed.