if you knew what I was like, before I met you, you would understand what a huge concession that is.”
“I don’t know you. For all I know, I invented you.” She looked alarmed, then her face relaxed. “But I know that’s not true. I know you’re real.”
For a second, he was fascinated by her certainty. “How can you be so sure?”
She shrugged. “I just am.”
Her faith humbled him. Even though he’d always prided himself on being logical and rational, for a second, he envied her ability to simply believe, and go with her instinct.
“Where were you?” he asked, putting an arm around her shoulders. “I looked for you everywhere.”
He could feel her shake, pressing tighter against his side. “I was taking your advice,” she said with a trace of bitterness. “I was trying to wake up.”
He stopped, startled. “You were? How?”
“I told you there were things on this island,” she muttered. “Things that frightened me. Well, I went there.”
“And…?” He felt excitement—and, strangely, a little apprehension.
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” she snapped. “It didn’t work. I don’t know how to get myself to wake up. But I don’t ever want to go back there again.”
“Back where?”
They headed toward her room, more out of habit than for any specific reason. “Back to the grove,” she said. “When you head down the path, into the rain forest, there’s a small village. Further on, there’s a path that leads into the darkest part of the woods. That’s where it happens.”
“Where what happens?” Jacob pressed.
“Rituals.” She shuddered. “I’m making myself a cup of tea.”
He wanted to keep asking her, but she was obviously still frightened, so he backed off, sitting on a barstool at the counter of her suite’s kitchenette. He watched as she put the silver teakettle on to boil. “You’ve been there before?”
She nodded, her eyes looking haunted. “When I first arrived here, I had started to realize this wasn’t just a dream—or if it was, it was the longest dream I’d ever been in,” she said. “I decided to explore the island. Like you, I figured my subconscious was trying to ‘tell’ me something.” She chuckled bitterly. “Every place seemed to be abandoned. Then I went to the woods. I heard music, drums, chanting. I figured it must be what I was looking for.”
The teakettle whistled, and she started. Then she rummaged for a cup, pouring the boiling water over the teabag. Jacob waited patiently.
“There was a woman there,” she said slowly, holding the teacup absently, warming her palms around it. “A tall, beautiful black woman. She had drawn something on the ground. There was an assortment of people around her. The chanting grew louder, and she started to dance.”
Jacob found himself mesmerized. “Then what?”
“She fell to the ground, as if she were having a seizure,” Rory said in horrified remembrance. “When she stood up, it seemed like her eyes had changed colors. There was a goat tethered, and she…” Rory gagged. “She slit its throat, catching the blood in a silver bowl.”
Jacob’s eyes widened.
“The crowd started to pass the bowl around,” she said. “They started to sing. And drink.” She put the teacup down with a clatter on the granite countertop. “That’s when I noticed that they weren’t really people. I don’t know what they were, but they weren’t human.”
“And that’s what frightened you?”
She stared at him. “It was more than that,” she said. “If you saw them, felt them, you’d understand. The feelings were unbelievable. Overwhelming.”
Jacob didn’t understand. The answer seemed to lie there, in that grove. Granted, what she was describing sounded unpleasant, but at the same time, it was just a dream. Nothing could hurt her. “So, you went back there today?”
She nodded curtly. “I saw the same woman, the same…people.”
“Did she kill anything else?”
Rory shook her head. “She was too busy having sex.” She grimaced. “With two men.”
Jacob choked at that one. “Why was she doing that?”
“Because one wasn’t enough?” Rory said. “How should I know? She mentioned something about Erzuli.”
“Erzuli…” Jacob frowned. “Wait. That sounds familiar. I think I remember my brother telling me something about that.”
“She said that I couldn’t leave,” Rory continued. “She said that I’d leave when I die. She offered to teach me pleasure and power. Even offered to share her men with me.”
Now Jacob was riveted. “What did you say?”
Rory paused, then smiled bitterly. “Why? Jealous?”
Jacob stood up, almost knocking the barstool over. “Yes.”
Rory looked at him, surprised. “What if I’m not real?”
“I don’t care.” He closed the distance between