Burnwood - The Dragon Arum

by Sarah La Rose

CHAPTER THIRTY

  I could feel the heat blazing over my skin and I knew exactly where I was before I opened my eyes. But something was different this time. I wasn’t the child me this time, I was the present day me and I was looking on as the circle of fire closed in on my child-self. She looked scared… or I looked scared. Part of me could even feel what she felt, maybe because I had lived it once before.

  “Mama!” she screamed.

  I moved forward and reached my arms out for the little girl, but she wasn’t looking at me.

  Her face was fixated on the slender figure hunched over on the floor. The women’s blonde hair hung loosely over her face, but I didn’t need to see her face to know who she was. I had seen her so often in my dreams that it is now my only memory of her.

  I raced toward her. “Mom.”

  I reached out for her, but she couldn’t see me either… neither of them could. My hands passed through her body like a ghost, and for a moment I was sure I was dead, cursed to live the worst day of my life for eternity. It would be my own personal hell.

  I stepped back feeling hopeless and alone. I could see the pain in my mother’s eyes as she cried out. I watched as my child-self fell to her knees and covered her face from the growing heat. I wanted to run away, to leave this place and never return, but something deep inside me forced me to stay.

  I couldn’t believe I was reliving this moment, but only worse. Instead of being a defenseless child, I was completely capable of helping them… except that I couldn’t. All I could do is watch on in horror as the room filled with smoke and their bodies slowly sunk to the floor.

  I remember this part of the dream as vividly as any… the part where the fire stopped burning, or at least that was what it felt like. For so long I had wondered about this exact moment. I never could understand how the heat just went away like it was never there to begin with. Only it was still there, it was everywhere I looked. The flames hadn’t disappeared, just the heat, and now I knew why.

  “Annabelle!”

  I jolted awake, feeling a set of strong hands on my shoulders shaking me to life.

  “Carter,” I grumbled, shielding my eyes from the light.

  He sat back and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You really don’t know, do you?”

  I pushed myself up into a sitting position and quickly scanned the room. Everything looked in place.

  “Annabelle…”

  I followed his eyes down to the blanket still covering half of my body. My eye widened as I took in the burnt cotton spots scattered randomly all over the duvet cover. I jumped out of the bed and stared at the blanket from afar. I was about to scream, I could even feel it building in my throat, but my attention was quickly turned to the drenched clothing covering my body. I quickly peeled my shirt from my body and threw it across the room, feeling the cool air against my bare skin.

  Carter took the housecoat hanging from the hook on my door and draped it over my bare shoulders. “Calm down.”

  I could feel the panic bubbling under the surface, ready to emerge. I paced the room, shaking my hands as I moved. “Carter…”

  “No.” He took my face in his hands and stared into my eyes. “You’re okay. Relax. Everything is fine.”

  “What happened?”

  He was quiet for a moment and I could tell he was deliberating.

  “I want to know,” I said.

  He nodded and led me to the edge of the bed where neither the water nor the fire had destroyed. He sat down and waited for me to join him.

  “Jane called me and said she couldn’t get a hold of you. She said your phone kept going to voicemail. I got here as fast as I could but when I got here…”

  “You found this.” My gaze trailed down to the burnt duvet cover. I looked around the room. “Did I fall asleep with a candle on or something?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”

  I stuck my finger through one of the burn holes on the blanket. “Well, it had to be something. Thank God you got here when you did.”

  “No, Annabelle you don’t understand.”

  “It wasn’t you who threw the water on me to put out the fire?”

  “No… I mean yes. I did throw the water,” he fumbled. “Wait. Just listen to the rest of the story. There was no fire when I got here.”

  I furrowed my brow and he held up his hand in response.

  “When I got here you were having some kind of horrible dream. I thought it was a nightmare, but then your skin got hot. You started to scream like you were in pain. I grabbed you and tried to wake you up, but then this happened,” he said, running his hand over one of the burn holes. “Before I knew it the whole blanket was bursting into tiny little fires. I ran to the bathroom and filled the garbage pail with water. When I returned, there was even more fire. I couldn’t believe that you were still sleeping through it all.”

  “But… what started the fire?”

  “Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “It was like they started out of thin air.”

  “Not out of thin air,” I said, the realization sinking in so deep that I felt it in bottom of my stomach. “It materialized out of my dream.”

  Carter stood up and started to pace the length of my room. I had expected an entirely different reaction, one that involved screaming and running in the opposite direction. After all, what more could I ask for after saying something as crazy as that. He stopped pacing and stared out the window, deep in thought. He didn’t seem put-off by what I said and that’s what scared me the most.

  I crossed the room and joined him at the window.

  “I know it sounds crazy,” I started.

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t. If I can be what I am than I’m pretty sure there are no limits to this world we live in.”

  “Why do you say it like that?”

  He looked questioningly at me and I continued, “With malice… like you’re some kind of beast or something.”

  He half smiled. “Well, I have fangs and claws so maybe I am.”

  I frowned.

  “It’s okay, Annabelle. I’m okay with it.”

  Every so often I had moments in my life where an invisible force guided me. Perhaps it was intuition or a sixth sense, but whatever it was, it was never wrong. And, right now, it was telling me to let this fight go. I could love Carter with everything I had, but it wouldn’t make him love himself.

  I nodded and took his hands in mine. He pulled me close and I rested my head against his solid chest. I could hear his heartbeat, the rhythm lulling me into a sense of security. In his arms, all my worries melted away. I pulled away just enough to look into his eyes. I pressed my lips against his, pulling him closer until our bodies were pressed together. His hands slid down my back, gently moving to my hips. I slid my hand under his shirt and glided them over his chiseled abs.

  “Wait,” he said, glancing over at the door. “Your uncle could come home soon.”

  I stepped back. “He’s not here?”

  Carter furrowed brow. “He’s never here. Why is that so shocking to you now?”

  I tried not to meet his gaze, but his eyes just kept boring down on me. I didn’t want to lie, but I also didn’t want to ruin the Red and Black Lantern Festival by telling him the truth.

  I started for the stairs. “He wasn’t here when you got here?”

  Carter followed after me. “What’s going on?”

  I raced through the house searching for Felix, hoping that Carter had been wrong. More than anything I wanted to find him passed out on the sofa or in the backyard tidying up, but he was nowhere to be found.

  I ran my hand through my hair. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe he just left me here alone after…”

  I stopped, but it was too late. Carter was on to me.

  Carter lifted a piece of paper from the kitchen counter and held it up. “He left a note.”
>
  I took the note from Carter and read it.

  Work called. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

  I couldn’t believe it. How could he take a work call after what had just happened in the woods? Why isn’t he here, protecting me like he should be?

  Carter stepped in front of me, taking the paper from my hand. “You’re looking kind of pale right now.”

  “It’s just… I didn’t expect him to be gone when I woke up.”

  My voice cracked as I finished my sentence and everything I was holding inside came pouring out in a flood of tears.

  “Annabelle, what happened?”

  I let him pull me into his arms as I wept. It was a moment of weakness, but he didn’t make me feel weak. He made me feel safe and that feeling was everything to me, especially after discovering how lonely this half-packed house really was.

  I looked up at him, but he wasn’t looking at me anymore. His gaze had turned to the pile of boxes in the corner of the house.

  I pulled myself together, dabbing away the tears from my cheek. “Carter, I think there’s something I need to tell you.”