Bloodlines Page 0,99

I cried, backing away from him. "Make it end. Get me out of here."

Because in accepting that this really was a spirit dream, I'd had to acknowledge something else: I was surrounded in vampire magic. My mind was ensnared in it. I felt claustrophobic. The magic was pressing on me, crushing the air.

"Please." My voice grew more and more frantic. "Please let me go."

Adrian straightened up, looking surprised. "Whoa, Sage. Calm down. You're okay."

"No. I'm not. I don't want this. I don't want the magic touching me."

"It won't hurt you," he said. "It's nothing."

"It's wrong," I whispered. "Adrian, stop it."

He reached out a hand, like he might try to comfort me, and then thought better of it. "It won't hurt you," he repeated. "Just hear me out, and then I'll dissolve it. I promise."

Even in the dream, my pulse was racing. I wrapped my arms around myself and backed up against the wall, trying to make myself small. "Okay," I whispered. "Hurry."

"I just wanted to say..." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced away uncomfortably before looking at me again. Were his eyes greener here than in real life? Or was it just my imagination? "I wanted to... I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" I asked. I couldn't process anything beyond my own terror.

"For what I did. You were right. I wasted your time and your work today."

I forced my mind to dredge up memories from this afternoon. "Thank you," I said simply.

"I don't know why I do these things," he added. "I just can't help it."

I was still terrified, still suffocating in the magic surrounding me. Somehow, I managed to echo my earlier conversation with Eddie.

"You can take control of yourself," I said. "You aren't a victim."

Adrian had been gazing off, troubled by his thoughts. He suddenly jerked his gaze back to me. "Just like Rose."

"What?"

Adrian held out his hand, and a thorny red rose suddenly materialized there. I gasped and tried to back up farther. He twirled the stem around, careful not to prick his fingers.

"She said that. That I was playing the victim. Am I really that pathetic?"

The rose wilted and crumpled before my eyes, turning to dust and then vanishing altogether. I made the sign against evil on my shoulder and tried to remember what we were talking about.

"Pathetic's not the word I'd use," I said.

"What word would you use?"

My mind was blanking. "I don't know. Confused?"

He smiled. "That's an understatement."

"I'll check a dictionary when I wake up and get back to you. Can you please end this?"

The smile faded to an expression of amazement. "You really are that scared, aren't you?" I let my silence answer for me. "Okay, one more thing, then. I thought of another way I can get out of Clarence's and get some money. I was reading about college and financial aid. If I took classes somewhere, do you think I could get enough to live on?"

This was a concrete question I could deal with. "It's possible. But I think it's too late. Classes have started everywhere."

"I found a place on the internet. Carlton. A college on the other side of town that hasn't started yet. But I'd still have to act fast, and... that's what I don't know how to do. The paperwork. The procedures. But that's your specialty, right?"

"Sad but true," I said. Some part of me thought Carlton sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

He took a deep breath. "Will you help me? I know it's making you babysit again, but I don't know where to start. I promise I'll meet you halfway, though. Tell me what I need to do, and I will."

Babysit. He'd been talking to Jill or Eddie or both. That was reasonable, though. He'd want to know that she was okay. I could only imagine how my tirade had been paraphrased.

"You were in college before," I said, recalling his record. I'd scoured it when putting together the ill-fated resume. "You dropped out."

Adrian nodded. "I did."

"How do I know you won't this time? How do I know you aren't just wasting my time again?"

"You don't know, Sage," he admitted. "And I don't blame you. All I can ask is that you give me another chance. That you try to believe me when I say I'll follow through. That you believe I'm serious. That you trust me."

Long moments stretched out between us. I'd relaxed slightly, without even realizing it, though I remained up against the wall. I studied him, wishing I was better at reading