tell her.”
I nodded in silent thanks. Sometimes Knight could be so…nice (for lack of a better word) that it just threw me for a loop—especially when he could be such an ass at other times.
He pulled open the door and Dia walked in, offering him a cheery smile before her complexion blanched as she focused on me. I had an apology to make and based on her expression, I’d better make it quick.
“I’m sorry for ditching you the other day, Dia,” I said and smiled sheepishly. “Can you forgive me?”
She frowned. “Well, I guess I already have considering I’m here.”
“Thanks,” I started before Knight cleared his throat and opened the door further.
“I’m going to let you two get to it. I need to get back to the hospital to keep an eye on things,” he announced and then glanced at me again, his expression softening. “It appears my work here is done.”
I smiled back at him, not sure what to say or where to start. “Thanks,” I said simply.
“Any time, Dulcie, we’re in this together,” he answered, smiling before he left.
I was sad to see him go.
Dia faced me after watching him close the door and she looked amused. “Thought anymore about Tweety?”
I laughed as I considered it—yes, Knight was a cocky, arrogant, bossy pain in my ass most the time but I had to admit that he wasn’t all bad and even though I didn’t want to accept it, I had to face the fact that Knight seemed to genuinely…care about me.
“Yeah, I have,” I said with a thoughtful smile. “I don’t know what to think of Tweety but I’m thinking about him all the same.”
“It’s a start, Girl, and thank Hades for that because I thought I’d have to knock some sense into that stubborn head of yours!”
“Hey, I’ve got baggage,” I explained with a laugh.
She arched her brows. “Really? You don’t say?”
“Okay, enough, smartass,” I finished.
“You ready to get some sleep?”
I nodded. “Amen to that.”
#
I sighed as I glanced down at Sam, who didn’t look any worse but also didn’t look any better. Yep, we were definitely in a holding pattern, the Dreamstalker waiting for me to call his bluff and vice versa. Well, if I had it my way, he was going to call my bluff and we’d face off in dreamland.
“She doesn’t look good,” Dia said as she inspected Sam.
“She doesn’t look any worse than she did earlier though.” I said the words more for my own peace of mind.
Dia and I had been summoned to Sam’s room by Knight who had yet to show up. What the meeting was about, neither of us had any idea, although I hoped it had something to do with the fact that our current plan of sitting and waiting was working about as well as BP trying to control an oil leak.
Even though I couldn’t say I felt good by any means, I’d been able to sleep for two hours thanks to Dia and at least I felt sane again—no longer craving illegal narcotics, seeing random babies or lust-craved Lokis. My day was looking up.
“Dia,” I started, knowing this would probably lead to an argument but I was going to broach the subject anyway. I was running out of time.
“Hmm?” she asked and glanced at me before her gaze moved back to Sam. “It’s almost like everything is on pause.”
“How so?” I prodded, wondering if she’d reached the same conclusion I had.
She shook her head. “Sam isn’t any better but isn’t any worse. Meanwhile, Jenny, Travis and Shirley all look decently healthy, albeit in comas, but healthy all the same. Whatever this thing is, he definitely doesn’t understand how Dreamstalkers work.”
“Or he’s fully aware of what he’s doing,” I said, eyeing her to judge her reaction to my cryptic comment.
“Meaning?”
I sighed, long and hard, wondering if it was better just to blurt my possibly outrageous ideas or warm her up to them, one toe into the deep end at a time. Ah, screw it, I’d blurt. “The Dreamstalker is waiting for me, Dia, he’s waiting for me to fall asleep so I can fight him on his ground.”
Dia nodded but didn’t say anything although her silence was response enough. She either thought I was nuts and wanted to refrain from commenting or she was contemplating the idea. Hopefully the latter.
“And I think you know what we have to do,” I continued. “Sitting and waiting is getting us nowhere and pretty soon, he’s going to grow tired of waiting