Harbinger

by Emme DeWitt

  Evangeline took a deep breath.

  “Maybe don’t mention the banshee part,” I suggested.

  “How am I supposed to skip over that?”

  “You know what? You’re right. We sound crazy. I just don’t know what else to do!”

  “I know this is going to suck, but…” Evangeline held her hand out about where my shoulders would be. “I think you’re going to have to wait. If the universe decides to give you a shot to save him, it will. And if not, you’re going to have to let him go.”

  “Let him go?”

  “Yeah. Everyone dies. Some people die young because they’re meant to. What do you think you’re going to do, save them all?”

  Evangeline looked sympathetic, but the thought of letting Colm die so horrifically made me sick to my stomach. Surely I was meant to help. Why else would I have this stupid gift?

  “I’ll find another way.” I stepped out of Evangeline’s reach.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Restrategize. You know me. I’ll find a way.” I mustered a slight grin, but Evangeline seemed skeptical. I wondered how well she could read me in this form. The answer was well enough to detect my bullshit.

  “Let me rephrase. How do you plan on getting back to…” Evangeline waved her hand again. “Wherever.”

  “Easy,” I said with a saucy grin. “You’re going to kick me out.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Put up your barriers again. Hard. Slam them so hard, not even a speck of dust could get in. The force should propel me back…wherever.”

  “I don’t feel good about this,” Evangeline warned.

  “Trust me. Remember? And if I don’t come back, I highly recommend messing with Adair until his brain melts. You know, my dying wish and all.”

  “Don’t joke like that,” Evangeline scolded. “But you’ve got a deal.”

  “Count of three?” I said, prepping Evangeline and steeling myself.

  “Three.”

  “Two.”

  “One.”

  Thirty-Six

  I opened my eyes, fully expecting to find silent mist nipping at my ankles and Colm silently collapsing into himself. Instead, I was staring into crystal blue eyes.

  “Noah?” Colm said.

  I gasped and sat up quickly. Colm had to jump from his seat on my bed to avoid knocking heads.

  “You’re fine.” Colm braced my shoulders with his hands before I could go any farther. “Shhhh. You’re safe. Everything’s fine.”

  I barked a laugh, looking around the room. We were alone but probably not for long. Colm was in pajamas and a monogrammed bathrobe. School. We were still in the school infirmary. I sighed inwardly, glad we hadn’t made it as far as my half vision. Colm moved his face in front of mine, trying to gain my attention.

  “Relax,” Colm said in an even softer voice.

  I blinked at him, wondering if this was a dream or not. I’d been out of practice for so long, I was still unsure when I was awake and when Adair was putting thoughts in my head. Our prolonged eye contact made Colm blush, and he removed his hands from my shoulders quickly, as if they had started to burn.

  “Where am I?” I asked, my voice breaking from disuse.

  “Infirmary,” Colm said, not taking his eyes off me, as if I were going to leap out of bed and through the door any moment.

  My limbs felt like lead, and I wiggled my fingers and toes absently to shake out the pins and needles. Seemed real enough.

  “You’ve been out for a while.”

  “Did I beat your record?” I asked dryly, my voice cracking on every other word. My hand found its way to my throat. Frowning, I looked to Colm, as if he had an explanation. Instead, he handed me a cup of water, and I downed it immediately.

  “Nah. Although you might have created your own to beat for future coma patients. Number of minutes of straight screaming while sleeping. Nightmares?” Colm had lines on his forehead and around his pursed lips. Could he possibly have been worried? Over me?

  “Something like that,” I managed, relinquishing my empty cup. Colm set it aside and returned, inspecting my face.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

  “I thought you said I was fine.” I smiled.

  “Well, you were loud enough three rooms away. I would hate to get one of your screams full in the face,” Colm said, letting a chuckle slip through.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, unsure what to say. Adele never mentioned any screaming, but then again, I’d never sung in my dreams before. Was that where the screaming had come from?

  “I actually got worried when you went quiet for so long. So I came to check.” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

  “Thanks, then,” I said. “For checking on me.” Even though you don’t even know me. And you still have a girlfriend. And you look ridiculously good straight out of bed, I thought.

  “No problem,” he said.

  “Do you happen to know how I got here? What happened?” I asked innocently. I cringed inwardly at the fakeness, but Colm couldn’t possibly know about Adair’s abilities, and I didn’t feel like blurting out some insane line about the boogeyman walking among us. I was not a fan of hug me jackets and padded rooms.

  “You came in a couple days back,” Colm said, looking at the wall as if trying to remember the details.

  I took his distraction as an open invitation to stare at him, relishing his close proximity. It was weird how comfortable we seemed to be, even though we had both felt the awkward tension in the room.

  “Your friends brought you in. Something about collapsing when you were studying? I’m sorry, I didn’t really hear.”

  “Oh, wow. A couple days?” I was mentally hitting myself over the head. Evangeline had been right. I’d been under way too long.

  “Yeah. And for most of it, you’ve been screaming. A couple times it almost sounded more like singing, but it was hard to hear through the walls. Sorry I can’t be of more help.”

  He seemed sincere. It was hard for me to tell, and the beginnings of a migraine were coming on. I was not supposed to be awake right now. I still wasn’t sure how I’d managed to wake up, but I had a feeling I should be thanking Evangeline.

  I looked toward the window, but either the blinds were shut or it was another concrete-block scenario. Surely it was dark by this point. My body was clearly averse to being topside this time of night. I swung my head around from the window to Colm instead.

  “What time is it?” I nodded my head toward the dark window. Colm flicked his wrist, moving his heavy watch face upward.

  “Uh, looking like three AM. Give or take,” he said.

  We’ve got incoming, I heard Evangeline say in the back of my mind.

  Incoming? I blinked in surprise at my interrupted inner monologue. How long had Evangeline been listening?

  Our favorite bump in the night is coming to check on you. Better get lover boy back in bed so he doesn’t get zonked. That can’t be good for a person’s health.

  My eyes must have gone out of focus while listening to Evangeline, and Colm reached out and held my chin, forcing my gaze to reconnect with his.

  “Noah?”

  “I’m fine. You should go back to bed,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. I flashed a smile, but it fell away quickly in my distraction. Colm, unconvinced, held my chin firmly in his grasp.

  “Is everything all right?”

  In the building. Hurry!

  “Oh yeah,” I lied. “Fine.” How was I supposed to get Colm to leave?

  You suck at lying. He’s taking the stairs. Thirty seconds or less.

  Colm was still in front of me. This was not good. He wasn’t leaving.

  “Please,” I said. “We’re running out of time.”

  “Noah, are you sure everything’s all right?” Colm asked, his hand dropping to the bed, accidentally bumping mine. “You’re awake. Everything’s fine.”

  “I wish,” I muttered. My hand flexed nervously, and Co
lm laid his more solidly over mine.

  Hold on tight, Evangeline said in my mind. You’re getting the express treatment.

  I felt a yank behind my belly button.

  Then everything went black.

  I opened my eyes in a swirling mist. My face was pressed against something hard, and I realized I was lying down in my dreamscape. I sighed, pushing upward.

  Brushing myself off, I looked up and yelled in surprise.

  “Why does this seem so familiar?” Colm asked, his eyes light and curious.

  He looked around, and I covered my face with my hands, hiding my jaw hanging inches from the floor.

  “You…” I started. How was I going to work this? “You’ve been here before.”

  “I think so,” Colm said, striding through some of the trees. He touched them as he passed and rubbed his fingers together, perhaps checking to see if what he was feeling was real. He didn’t seem to be freaking out. Yet.

  “It was lighter,” he said. “Last time, you know?”

  I followed him hesitantly. “Yeah,” I managed. My eyes were watching him without blinking. This was worse than the last time we had met in here.

  “You were here, too,” Colm said slowly, turning to face me. He smiled. “Weird.”

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “Very weird.”

  “Whoa,” Colm said. He had come upon a night visitor, something he had not seen before in his last escapade in my dreamscape. I held my breath, letting him explore before attempting to explain. As if I could explain what was really going on here. I’d like someone to explain it to me sometime.

  Colm stretched his hand out slowly to the moving mirage. This was one of the tamer ones, which I was eternally thankful for. A woman, slight and hunched with age, shimmered slowly out of existence, part running water and part evaporating mist. She seemed calm though, so I’d always assumed her death was a natural one after a long, full life. I had named her Martha.

  I slowly closed the distance between Colm, Martha, and myself. He seemed content in silent awe of the scene in front of him.

  “This is so cool,” he said, turning back to me, reminding me of an excited child who had just discovered an amazing new toy.

  “There are more,” I said quietly, nodding my head into the forest.

  Colm looked toward the light smudges at standard intervals in the distance. “Really? I wonder who they are,” he said.

  “I’m not always sure,” I admitted.

  “That’s right. You said you dream this often. Last time?” Colm said, tearing his gaze away long enough to look to me.

  “Every night,” I confirmed. “Although I did see you a few times during the day. When you were here, they weren’t.”

  I indicated all the other night visitors in the distance.

  “Then, this last time, when I was in the infirmary, they never left. A new one came,” I said, dropping my voice. No, I shouldn’t tell him about that. He can’t see it.

  “Awesome,” Colm replied.

  “Not really,” I said, walking past him to an outcropping of rocks. I couldn’t remember offhand where Colm’s death image was, and I was not up for giving Colm the full tour. He didn’t need to see anymore. He needed to go home.

  “What are you talking about?” Colm said, following me to the rocks. He stood in front of me, taking my hand in his. I pulled it out gently, shaking my head.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We need to get you home,” I said firmly, almost more to myself. “You don’t belong here. I don’t know what will happen if you stay.”

  “I’m fine,” Colm said, taking my hand again and squeezing it in comfort, probably more for him than for me. This time, I let him keep my hand.

  “Now,” I argued. “But I really don’t feel right about you being here. It was an accident. Evangeline was only supposed to pull me.”

  “Who’s Evangeline? Noah, what are you talking about?” Colm asked. He rubbed his finger across my knuckles, and fire lanced through me. I pulled my hand away, unsettled by the sensation so close to my banshee warmth. Now was not the time, and this was not the place.

  “Someone bad was about to come, and the safest thing would have been for you to return to your room. But there wasn’t time,” I said.

  “Time for what?” Colm asked.

  “To be more careful.” I sighed. “You’re stuck in here with me. Or at least until I can find a way out for you.” I wasn’t even sure if I would wake up in the morning or if Adair’s nightly visit meant he had renewed whatever spell he had over my ability to awaken.

  “We’ll wake up together,” Colm said with confidence and then blushed. “Well, not like that.”

  “You never know. You probably collapsed on top of me when we were pulled. Hopefully your sleeping self knows how to keep his hands to himself,” I said, raising an eyebrow playfully at him.

  “I’m sure he’s being a perfect gentleman,” Colm assured me. “We can blame my sleepwalking on your screaming. Can’t get any good shuteye around you.”

  “It’ll get better shortly,” I said. “I promise.”

  “Pinky swear?” Colm joked, holding his finger out expectantly.

  “Pinky swear,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I need you to promise me something now.” I was taking chances on whether he would remember, but I had to do everything I could. If he could recognize me at school from a few encounters in the dreamscape, I had high hopes this conversation would bleed over, too.

  “Anything,” Colm said.

  “Don’t trust Mags,” I said sternly. “Seriously, Colm. I don’t care what happens. Just stay as far away from her as possible. She’s dangerous.”

  My mind was screaming about Adair, too, but if I said any more, I felt like I would have to explain. There wasn’t enough time. My promise had to have impact.

  “Okay,” Colm said, searching my eyes, his own crinkled in concern. “I promise.”

  “Also, you have to promise me there are no hard feelings,” I hedged, our pinkies still hooked together.

  “About what?”

  “About this,” I said, gathering a full breath. I found the warmth traveling up my core and to my throat and thrust my hands out at the same time I released a scream.

  Colm looked horrified, but only for an instant as he was thrown back into the mist before he disappeared completely, leaving me alone with Martha and my court of silent night visitors.

  I felt a pang at the bottom of my stomach as soon as Colm disappeared. Now the dreamscape seemed lonelier than usual. Martha flickered quietly in the corner of my eye. Not quite the same.

  My feet followed their own path, my mind heavy with worry for things far out of my control. I needed to stop reacting to all the cloak-and-dagger threats and go on the offensive. I was a banshee, dammit. I would not take this attack lying down.

  I looked up and found myself in a mostly vacant area of my dreamscape. I couldn’t remember the visitors I’d passed, so I couldn’t orient myself to them. Not like this place had Google Maps anyway. I saw a night visitor along the edge of a copse of silent, dead trees and made my way toward it.

  My legs locked up as recognition hit me.

  It was Colm.

  Cautiously, I edged toward the night visitor. It wasn’t really Colm. Not the one I wanted to see by any means. He continuously folded in on himself, and the determined look on his face only left when he had no face at all. I bit the inside of my cheek.

  Focus. I needed to focus.

  Impacted, right? The working hypothesis had been a gunshot wound before I’d been ripped out of the vision. I needed to know more if I had any hope of stopping it.

  I took a deep breath and exhaled to the point of passing out. I was determined to finish the vision. Now that my personal connection with Colm was more than just a fantasy, I had warring arguments in my head as to whether or not I should see this. It might be painful to watch, but I knew I had to change whatever path I had directed Colm on. He was going to die because of me, so it see
med only right I would be the one to make sure that didn’t happen. At any cost.

  I shook out my hands to steady the trembling that had managed to escape from my agitation. Think of it as a chess game, I thought. We need to know the opponent’s endgame if we are to play any countermeasures.

  Chess. Not Colm, the caring musician with eyes the color of the ocean.

  “Chess,” I said out loud, gritting my teeth against the onslaught of new tingles tracing their way up my spine.

  I clenched my fists and stepped forward, allowing the image of Colm’s death to permeate my mind, welcoming it like an old friend.

  Thirty-Seven

  I was following Colm and Mags down the halls of the infirmary again, only this time, something about Colm’s posture was different. It seemed less trusting. Could my warning have worked?

  The inside of my cheek was becoming raw from my self-reprimands. He was still following Mags, so the warning obviously wasn’t good enough to dissuade him. Whatever his reason for still following Mags must be important enough for him to risk acting like an idiot.

  Mags’ hand was on the doorknob again, and I held my breath as it opened this time. No blackness followed.

  We entered the room, which was like a mirror image of Evangeline’s. Except it wasn’t Evangeline who was in the bed.

  It was me.

  “Dammit,” I said out loud to no one in particular. “Seriously?”

  Colm ran forward, relief on his face. What was worse than being here, and why had he been so worried? Mags stayed behind, her hand still on the handle. Something flickered across her face, but I couldn’t tell what. Her Future eye distorted a lot of her features, not that I was any good at reading them on a good day. I wished I could rewind the vision to study some of the details, but it ran full steam ahead, ignoring my desires.

  “Is she okay?” Colm said, his voice sounding pinched, as if he had been worried. “Why is she in here?”

  “She won’t wake up.” Mags shrugged. “Noah needed more attention than the school nurses could handle by themselves, so they moved her up to this secure floor. She’s perfectly safe here.”