The Fae King's Dream (Between Dawn and Dusk #2) - Jamie Schlosser Page 0,36
frighten them.”
More memories. The first day of school. Piano lessons. Birthday parties.
“I’m ten now. I had a nightmare that my best friend would be hit by a car at the bus stop after school. I’m so convinced it’s real that I make her promise me she’ll get off at the stop before hers. She does, but…”
Oh, God. I see it happen. She’s crossing the street when a red pickup truck comes barreling around the corner.
“She never had a chance,” I sob, hot tears welling in my eyes. “I told her to get off at that stop because I thought it would prevent her death. But instead, I was leading her straight to it. If she’d just stuck with her regular stop, it never would’ve happened. All my fault…”
“She needs a break.” Damon’s command echoes from somewhere close by, but the flow in my mind doesn’t stop.
“Her death changed me. I stay away from friends. I’m scared something will happen to them, too.” I barely feel the electricity anymore. It’s as if the current is working with my body instead of invading it.
Then freshman year of high school comes around. I’m socially awkward. Too skinny. I join the swim team because it’s a solitary sport, and no one can talk to me when I’m under water.
“I’m fifteen when I have another nightmare. This time it’s about a flood in a town thirty minutes from ours. I don’t tell anyone about it. I should have. Maybe no one would’ve listened, but I should’ve tried. Twenty-seven people died, and half of them were kids.”
Friday night football games. Art club. Prom.
“A guy asked me to the dance, and I said yes.” I hear Damon growl. I’d probably be jealous if he were talking about dating someone else, too, but this is important. “Three days before prom, I dreamed he was going to—” I gulp “—rape a girl from our school. I faked being sick for the rest of the week and told him I couldn’t be his date. He took that girl instead, and he—he—” An anguished cry bursts from me. “I basically delivered her right to him.”
“That’s enough,” Damon grits out. “This is too hard on her.”
Astrid shushes him. “We’re almost done.”
Graduation. College acceptance. The absolute loathing of my confusing nightmares.
“I hate my mind. I hate that I dream. I just want it to stop. When I learn about lucid dreaming, it seems like the perfect solution. With practice, I’m able to go to a peaceful place when I sleep.”
The memories are coming to an end. My head feels like a bucket that was full of water, and now we’re down to the last cup.
And that cup is a sad one.
The accident. I remember it now. My parents, bleeding and broken. Me, in and out of consciousness as the rescue team came with a helicopter.
I even remember Damon from when I was in a coma. How beautiful he was standing there in the road. How he took me away from the looping. How sad he was when I slipped away.
Astrid sprinkles something into the bowl, cutting off the power supply, and I immediately slump over in the chair. My body doesn’t hurt the way I assumed it would. My skin isn’t on fire. Nothing is burning or hot. I’m just wrung out, completely exhausted. My limbs feel like they’re made of Jell-O. I can’t even lift my head.
“Congratulations, Whitley. You’re a Seer,” Astrid announces. “There’s more to this gig than having premonitions. When you’re ready to find out what that is, let me know.”
My face is squished against the arm rest when I ask, “My parents. Did they survive the crash?”
“No,” Damon replies softly, kneeling in front of me. “I’m sorry.”
Tears leak from my eyes. The grief is strong. At least before, I was unaware of the fresh pain my parents’ death. Now, on top of that, I have a lifetime of loss and tragedy to cope with.
The weirdest part is, it doesn’t even feel like I lived my life. I have no sense of time passing as I experienced these memories. It’s more like I watched a movie about myself, and my existence is just starting now.
“Did you know you were adopted?” Damon takes one of my hands.
His fingers lovingly toy with mine, but I don’t have the energy to squeeze him back. “Yes. My parents told me from an early age.” A lump clogs my throat. “They devoted their lives to me, and I got them killed.”