Jade looked thoughtful. She leaned back in her chair. “I guess. I grew up here, so it’s all familiar. There’s only so many times you can see the same trees, you know?”
“I don’t know. Have you gone hiking?” Brenna looked Jade over warily. Did people from Beaumont know about the oddities happening in the forest, or were they unique to her? “I’ve seen a lot of beauty out there on my own.”
“Oh?” Jade sat up straight as though Brenna had shared something incredibly interesting. “You’ve gone hiking in the woods?”
“Yes. It’s what made me most want to stay here.” Brenna picked up her drink and blew on it gently. “Do you not?”
“When I was younger. I suppose. Until recently, the forest hasn’t really interested me.”
“Until recently?” Brenna didn’t push too far. She barely knew Jade. It wasn’t her place to pry for information.
Jade took a sip of her drink, sighed, and set the cup down. “I think maybe I should start visiting it again. I hear it’s absolutely magical.”
Magical? She suspected Jade knew more than she was letting on.
“Magical?” Brenna repeated after considering the word for a while.
Jade studied Brenna in silence. She leaned forward and said, “My best friend, Lauren, she is drawn to the place. Fell in love, you could say. And can’t keep away.”
“There are some beautiful spots.” Nodding her agreement, Brenna adjusted the way she sat and let her fingertips trail over the cup. “I’ve had an interesting time exploring it.”
Jade laughed as if she understood. She quieted herself enough to sip again, then looked across the table at Brenna. “Do you go often?”
“Almost every day since I arrived. It’s hard to keep away,” Brenna admitted.
“Mm. It must be good.” The double entendre twisted in Brenna’s gut. “Think we can go together sometime?” Her eyes sparkled with an impish quirk in the way she smiled.
The red flags went up. The hairs on the back of Brenna’s neck stood on end. She knew that Jade wasn’t a villain, but she wasn't sure whether Jade was flirting. Brenna couldn't let Jade think there was an attraction between them that wasn’t there.
“Actually,” Brenna said, “I’m kinda seeing someone. I think. I don’t really want to give you the wrong idea. I’m sorry.”
Jade burst out laughing. She clamped her hands over her mouth and shook her head, then composed herself and sighed. She dropped her hands and folded them on her lap. “Seeing someone?”
“Just recently. It kinda came on suddenly.”
“I'll bet.” Jade’s blue eyes bore into her. “Okay, I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I'm told I flirt with everyone, I don't realize I'm doing it. Of course, your cute, Brenna. If I were in to girls, you'd be high on my list, but, honestly, I'm more into guys. And I'm guessing I'm not your type either.”
“I’m sorry.” Brenna laughed. “Yep, you are a little feminine for my tastes.”
No matter where she went, if she was alone or in good company, it was clear that something strange was going on in Beaumont. Brenna looked Jade over, seeking answers, but Jade’s eyes only laughed at her.
Brenna took a sip of her drink as the silence grew. She could see why it came so highly recommended—the chai tasted sweet and smooth, but still spicy.
“So,” Jade said after a pause. “Are you going to stick around?”
“The cafe?”
“No, Beaumont.” Jade cocked her head. Brenna’s thoughts shifted to the ravens. “I know you said you would head back to Riverside once the summer ends, but…”
“I don’t have plans to stay,” Brenna said. “Not right now.” All thoughts of leaving were dreary, but what reason did she have to stay? Strange sex dreams and bizarre ravens? Pale, nude individuals in the forest? Brenna was living a fantasy, and there was no indication of when that fantasy would crumble away and leave her crushed by reality.
“We’ll see,” Jade said.
Brenna wondered what Jade knew.
“You work in the library, you said. Are there books about the local area? Myth, legends, history?”
“It’s just a part-time job during summer vacation; I’m no librarian.” Jade sat back. “There are just about three books on the history of Beaumont in the library, and I’m hardly exaggerating. But they are very gray and dull. There’s nothing about local myths and legends of the forest. Nothing that you’d want to read.”
That was very presumptuous assessment of what kind of book Brenna wanted, and completely accurate.
“Really, it’s a very small local library. I think you’d need the big main library at Arlington and you might find something.” Jade drained the rest of her cup, then stood up. “I’d love to chat for longer, but I have to go. Let me give you my number. And relax, I’m not coming on to you. Do you have your phone handy?”
Without a word, Brenna obediently fished it out of her pocket.
“You’re seeing someone. It’s cool.”
“Don't I look relaxed?” Brenna unlocked her phone and tapped through to the create new contact window. She then passed it across the table, to her new contact.
Jade took hold of the phone. “Actually, no, you seem on edge.” She looked down at the screen and tapped away, entering her details. “I’m not looking to hook up with you, and I totally respect whatever relationship you have, but, you know, sometimes it’s good to have a friend,” Jade said as she handed the phone back. “And if you see my friend Lauren out in the woods, tell her I say hello. Oh, and you should call me.” With a wink, Jade left. Brenna watched as the door closed and Jade passed in front of the cafe window on her way back to the library.
Brenna spent a couple of hours in Beaumont. She visited the library, she wandered around the streets, and she returned to the cafe. She didn't talk to anyone else half as entertaining as Jade.
She ate dinner alone that night in front of her computer. She sat on the couch, now and then glancing toward the glass door hoping she’d see a raven perched there. Nothing greeted her but the night.
With a sigh, Brenna set her plate aside and lay back. No matter how drawn she felt toward the forest, there was nothing she could do about it as night set in. She wasn’t dumb enough to wander out into the woods in the dark.
“After everything you’ve been through out there, you’re dumb to keep going back at all,” Brenna scolded herself. She tugged a blanket off the back of the couch and snuggled beneath it.
“All of this is pretty stupid. I must be insane.”
Still, the glass drew her eyes. The light bled through the forest, inviting her. Brenna squirmed beneath the blanket, wanting to go, but logically knowing she couldn’t. It was approaching eight at night—total darkness would descend soon. She wasn’t going to spend a night out there.
Besides, she wanted to see the men who only ever visited her in her dreams.
Brenna made a face and shoved her head beneath one of the couch pillows. She was being unreasonable. She was a grown woman with a college education. Why was she letting this get the better of her?
She yawned. Whatever the case, everything going on left her exhausted. She came out from beneath the pillow and tucked herself against the back of the sofa. It wasn’t long before her eyelids drooped and sleep claimed her.
And with sleep came the dreams.
The place made no sense. It lacked gravity and light, but it didn’t have darkness either. The void truly contained nothing. For the first time, Brenna thought she understood what it might be like to be blind. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t find a way to focus. The nothingness gripped her tight and held her in place. And yet, no matter how she reached or twisted, there was nothing to anchor herself to.
The place was alien, like no place on earth. The air hung thick and full in a way she wasn’t used to, and when she breathed it in, it almost suffocated her with its intensity.
She missed her men: Corbin, Victor and Waldrom.
She missed them mor
e than she had any right to.
Brenna opened her mouth, but when she cried out, she couldn’t hear her own voice. It melded with the nothing and gave it power. Brenna felt helpless against it.
Where were the men?
Their sleep-time meets were the solace Brenna counted on. She longed for their touch more than she should have.
Why?
“Victor?” Brenna tried again. “Corbin?” This time she heard herself, but her voice was weak and didn’t carry far. “Where are you? Why aren’t you here?”
There came no reply.
Brenna struggled to see something—anything—but it was useless. She might as well have been trying to see out of her elbow. The world, if there was one, didn’t want her here. She didn’t belong.
In an anguished cry, she lashed out, seeking anything that might give her a sense of where she was. She found nothing. Brenna lashed out again and again, clenching her jaw and exhausting herself in her struggle, but she found nothing.
It ached.
She ached.
“Waldrom!” she called, and one last time she lashed out. She felt like a fish hooked and suspended by its mouth. Was there no escape? “Victor!”
Brenna woke abruptly, drenched in sweat and miserable. She’d fallen off the couch and landed on her ass. Her tailbone smarted.
Dazed from her dream, she rose from the floor and wandered upstairs, aiming for a shower before bed.
Night had fallen. The backyard was in darkness.
No eyes watched her from beyond the glass.
Under any other circumstance, Brenna would have been glad. But she wasn’t. The crippling feeling that she missed something vital overwhelmed her, and Brenna wasn’t sure she could ever make it go away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Apologizing to herself as she did it, Brenna tossed a frozen pizza into her shopping cart.
She had time to cook from scratch and no excuse not to, but sometimes she couldn’t be bothered. A frozen pizza or two wouldn’t hurt. Once she got back to Riverside and started a real job, she would rely on frozen, prepackaged meals, anyway. Why prolong the inevitable?
The time she saved on cooking could be well spent losing herself in a novel, safely distracting her attention away from the real world. The fantasy world she'd find in fiction seemed a lot safer than what went on Brenna’s head when she wasn’t reading.
No man had visited her over the last week, and it shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. Victor, Corbin and Waldrom, the men of her dreams, and Brenna wasn't sure if they were real.
Frankly, Brenna felt ashamed of herself, moping after men—especially when it meant taking the expression “dream guy” to a whole new level. Or whatever they were.
With a hum, Brenna pushed her cart past the ice cream and came to a stop in front of the popsicle selection. There was a box of strawberry watermelon ice pops that she lusted after. Brenna snagged them, tossed them into the cart, and continued onward.
The more normal-people things she did, the less she thought about Victor. If popsicles made her feel normal, she would get them. Why worry about what she ate, anyway? It wasn’t as if she had anyone to impress with her trim body.
Ugh.
Brenna concluded her shopping trip in the produce section, stocking up on fresh fruits and vegetables before she went to checkout. She paid, collected her bags, and left. On her way to the car, movement overhead drew her eye. She looked up, but by the time she did, there was nothing but blue sky to see. Brenna shook her head and pushed her cart to her car.
As she loaded her grocery bags one by one into the trunk, a black bird perched on top of her car and stared at her with dark, beady eyes. Brenna puffed up. She knew right away that the corvid wasn’t a familiar raven, but she couldn’t tell if it was a raven she'd seen previously or not. She didn’t even know if the raven had landed there by coincidence, or if this bird belonged to the Congress of ravens she’d met in the forest.
Brenna’s gut told her that nothing in Beaumont happened by coincidence.
“Hello,” Brenna said briskly, well aware that anyone nearby had to think she was insane.
The raven cocked its head to the side.
“Well, are you going to do anything?”
The raven did nothing.
“Then I’ll go about my day.”
Brenna placed the last of her groceries in the trunk, the hood latching back into place with a solid metal clunk. Once her car was secure, Brenna wheeled her cart to the cart corral, then opened the driver’s side door. The raven danced across the hood of Brenna’s car, claws scratching the surface.
“You’re not coming in,” Brenna said, she wouldn't put up with it. “You have wings for a reason. You can fly.”
The raven cawed and flapped its wings.
“Too bad.” Brenna opened her car door, then ducked in and shut it before the raven could come in. She rolled down her window just enough to say, “That’s why you have wings.”
There was skittering on the roof. The raven slid down her windshield, perched on her windshield wipers, and glared at her before taking off. Brenna watched it go, a little mystified and a little confused.
The men, her men, it seemed, were avoiding her. The other ravens hadn’t been around. Why was this one getting involved all of a sudden?
Brenna turned her keys in the ignition and backed out of her spot. She took the road home slow and easy—she didn’t want to hit any low-flying birds along the way.
A couple of miles later, she pulled up outside Dr. Kilpatrick’s house, where not a single raven waited for her. Brenna unloaded her groceries in peace. She put away the frozen foods first, then focused on the cool items for the fridge.
If she didn’t give herself a second to think, she didn’t have to worry about what was going on in Beaumont. She could fill her afternoon with cleaning, then collapse into bed exhausted, and dream of nothing all over again.
Brenna didn’t dream anymore. Not in the traditional way, at least. She always returned to the same, smothering nothingness. She was getting used to it, and not Victor, Corbin or Waldrom were never there to save her.
Brenna finished putting her groceries away and got to work. She started in the basement. Most of the rooms were in a state of disrepair, so Brenna focused on deep cleaning them to get them back into shape. She’d already spent significant time during her second week in the house cleaning the upstairs, but the basement was an entirely different beast. Brenna cleared cobwebs from the corners of the ceiling and scrubbed years of dust and dirt from the floors. By the time she was too tired to continue, she’d only cleaned out the workout room.
Feet like concrete, Brenna headed back upstairs to settle in for some relaxation. She’d make dinner tonight if her body didn’t give out from all the cleaning. Something light.
Brenna opened the box of Popsicles and took one back to the couch. As she sank down, she undid the wrapper and let her gaze wander toward the glass door. She had the feeling that someone was out there watching her but she couldn't see anyone, not even a raven.
“Hello?” she asked. “You don’t need to hide, you know. I won't hurt you. If I offended you by driving off, I’m sorry.”
There was no reply.
Brenna tried to push aside the feeling she was being watched, but it was a lot harder to do than she thought it would be. Her body geared toward her men, and her soul longed to return to what they had in their shared dream world. The sense that she was incomplete still haunted her. It was a hole that only they could fill.
Brenna finished her Popsicle and stuck the stick in an empty glass she’d left on the coffee table. For a moment, she considered taking a nap on the couch before pushing on with cleaning, but she thought better of it. If she napped now, she’d get no sleep tonight.
Listless, Brenna picked up the glass and took it to the kitchen. She washed the dishes, then dried her hands, and contemplated the rest of her day. She could return to the basement and keep going, but the churn felt endless. The d
raw she felt toward the forest was too powerful, and the sense that there were eyes on her disturbed her. She decided that it would be for the best if she got outside; she decided to go for a jog.
Brenna wasn’t much of a jogger. Then again, she’d never been much of a hiker, either. Beaumont stirred unusual longings in her.
She made her way upstairs and into the guest bedroom to change. She stripped off her shirt and turned to toss it into the hamper when she froze. A raven sat on the sill outside her bedroom window, staring at her. Brenna yelped and covered herself with her balled-up shirt. It wasn’t like she had anything to hide, but the fact the raven watched bothered her. It was intrusive. If the raven was one of the black-haired people she’d seen by the waterfall, then it was a peeping tom.
“Can you not!” Brenna cried. She stormed toward the window to rattle it, but the bird was unfazed. “Go away! I’m changing. Can you give me even a minute of privacy?”
The raven looked at her and blinked. Brenna thought it looked smug.
“Are you following me or what?” Brenna asked. She shoved the window open. The raven strode boldly into the room. “Is there some reason you’re tailing me? It’s creepy. The least you can do if you’re going to watch me strip is tell me why you’re here.”
Brenna didn’t expect an answer, but she got one.
The raven looked up at her, and quite suddenly, the raven’s body froze. Its beady eyes grew lifeless, and for a tense second, Brenna was sure it had died on the spot.
The illusion didn’t last long. The raven’s body shimmered like a road on a hot summer’s day. The bird’s wings stretched away from its body and grew longer. Its legs stretched, then started to change. The scaly talons smoothed over, then lightened in color. Feathers molted. The bird’s body expanded and reshaped. Brenna watched in awe as the five-pound bird on her bedroom floor transformed into one of the radiant humanoids similar to those she’d seen by the waterfall in the forest.
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