Go away.
You don’t belong here.
This place belongs to us.
I steeled myself against an irrational bout of fear. Normally the dreams that often plagued me left me feeling unsettled rather than afraid. This time my stomach twisted and my heart rate picked up a notch.
Something very dangerous was hiding in the trees.
“Hello?” I don’t know why I called out. I recognized I was in a dream, something most people couldn’t grasp as they were trapped in their subconscious. I never had that problem. I felt the danger pooling around me. “Who’s there?”
I wasn’t expecting an answer. I didn’t get one, but I remained determined.
I stopped by the wrecked vehicle and crouched down to peer inside. There were four bodies. A man and woman, both frozen in death, their eyes open, giving them terrifying countenances. It was the children in the backseat that truly unsettled me, though. A boy and a girl. Both appeared younger than ten. The girl clutched a stuffed bear in her hands. Her mouth was open, as if silently screaming for help.
Had they been aware when they went over the embankment? If so, why hadn’t the man at least tried to hit the brakes? It would’ve been a natural reflex. If he’d fallen asleep and then wakened as the truck began to careen over the side he would’ve tried to stop the forward momentum.
Go away.
You won’t like it if you stay.
Go away.
I looked back to the trees and squinted. There wasn’t much light to work with. It was night in the dreamscape, which I found intriguing because we’d discovered the vehicle during the day.
“Who are you?” I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important about the wreck that I was missing. “What do you want?”
Go away.
This is our place.
Death will come if you try to stay.
The whispers were starting to grate. I straightened and stared into the trees, my heart skipping a beat when I caught a hint of movement. There was definitely something in there. It wasn’t my imagination going into overdrive.
“I’ve had enough of this.” I strode toward the trees with purpose. I wasn’t about to let fear overtake me in my own mind. This was a dream, for crying out loud. I controlled the outcome. I was in charge. I ... .
The moment I pushed back the first branch I was assailed by snapping teeth and hissing. I jerked back as if I’d been bitten, which was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the teeth. My heart hammered and I scrambled to put distance between the creature and me. I was too late.
I felt more creatures — monsters of some sort — moving in behind me before I could turn. All I saw were more teeth. There had to be at least twenty sets of teeth, and their gleaming white took over my brain as I bolted to a sitting position in my bed.
“Poet?” Kade stirred next to me. He was naked, only the sheet covering his lower half. His eyes were shrouded in sleep, but he’d obviously woken with me, because concern etched lines into his face. “What’s wrong?”
My heart was still hammering so fast I momentarily worried it would pound right out of my chest. I forced myself to take a deep, calming breath. I dragged a hand through my snarled hair and clutched the sheet tightly against my chest as I struggled to anchor to reality.
“It’s nothing,” I said after a beat. “Just a dream.”
Kade didn’t look convinced as he rolled to a sitting position next to me. “Looks like it was one heck of a dream.” He trailed his hand down my bare back, hissing when his warm hand came in contact with my cold skin. “You’re freezing.” He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight. “You’re okay.”
He was used to the dreams. We’d been together for months, and crazy dreams were simply part of the package. Sometimes I think they affected him worse than me, but only because he couldn’t travel with me and kill whatever terrorized me in my subconscious.
“I’m okay,” I agreed, smiling for his benefit. It was a half-hearted effort, but he looked relieved all the same. “It was just a really weird dream.”
He rolled to his back, pulling me with him. I was tucked in tightly at his side so he could share his warmth, and his fingers were gentle as they feathered my dark hair from my face. “What was it about?”
I could’ve brushed him off. It would’ve been the easiest thing to do. But we were a unit, something we both stressed daily. When he hurt or struggled with his newfound powers, I wanted to know about it. The same was true for me. We were invested in each other to the point that when one of us hurt so did the other.
“It was weird more than anything else,” I offered, resting my head on his chest as he stroked the back of my head. “I saw the wreck again. It was a couple and two small kids. One of them had a stuffed bear.” I don’t know why the bear bothered me so much, but it was one of the images that stuck in my head.
“Do you think that’s real or did your mind fill in the gaps?”
It was a fair question. “I don’t know. We can look it up after breakfast.”
“Okay.” He brushed his lips over my forehead. “Is that all of it?”
“No.” I thought back to the dream. “I heard something in the trees by the truck. I went to check it out. I ... there were a lot of teeth.”
“Teeth?” His eyebrows drew together. “Like ... monster teeth?”
“I guess. I didn’t focus on them that much. I was caught off guard. There were also whispers to stay away, warnings. I don’t know what to make of it.”
“You’ve had dreams before that turned out to be just dreams.”
“Yes, but those usually revolve around you and me on a beach.”
He smiled. “Who doesn’t love a beach?”
“Right?” I grinned at him because we both seemed to need it, and then sobered. “It was a little freaky, but I’m okay.”
“Our lives are often freaky.” He didn’t move to climb out of bed, instead nestling deeper and holding me tight. “Do you think any part of it was real?”
“I don’t know. I’ll do some research after breakfast.”
ONCE I FINISHED WITH THE BREAKFAST cleanup I went looking for Luke. He and Cole had been late for the meal and they’d spent the entire thirty minutes we were all together whispering and laughing. Luke hadn’t as much as wished me a good morning, and it grated.
Kade was checking the fairgrounds to make sure nothing had been disturbed during the night. It was obvious that my dream bothered him. I wanted to tell him everything was going to be okay, convince him that he needn’t worry, but I wasn’t sure I believed that myself so I didn’t put in the effort. I needed time to research the accident so I could make up my mind. Before that, though, there were things that had to be done, including our weekly grocery shopping trip. Luke pitched a fit whenever he wasn’t included, which is why I needed to track him down.
I found him with Cole in the empty animal tent. They were sitting at the table at the center of the space and had a laptop open. Cole was operating the computer as Luke sat next to him and watched. Their backs were to me, which allowed me to study them without interruption for a few seconds.
“You’re not working fast enough,” Luke complained, oblivious to my presence. “Let me do it.”