The Girl In Between series: Books 1-4

by Laekan Zea Kemp

  She spoke in German again.

  “I don’t…I don’t understand.”

  Then she yelled, “Go!”

  A sound I couldn’t hear pricked at her and she spun. Then we were both racing down the steps and into the trees. I ran after her but the forest was dark, stars hanging overhead where they hadn’t been before.

  “Eve!” I called her name and she slowed, the two of us almost slamming into each other.

  She stared up into the canopy of the trees but we were no longer in the dense forest behind her German farmhouse. We were somewhere dripping and dense, the air as thick as the tree trunks all around us though it was still bitterly cold. The trees wound in spirals like melting wax, black leaves flapping in the night like wings. The entire forest looked like it was about to take flight.

  I held my breath, listening for the parting of branches, the crinkle of damp leaves, any sign that what was after us was getting closer. But the forest was quiet except for Eve’s breathing, each breath barreling out thicker than the last until all I could see was white. I lifted a hand, trying to part the fog, but it was everywhere. The night swirled with my breath too, the chill making my chest ache. This time I knew what was coming.

  Eve doubled over but there was nothing to shield her. She rocked, jerking at sounds I couldn’t hear. I whispered her name but she didn’t look up. She couldn’t. Vines had torn through the ground beneath us and were twisting around her wrists and ankles. I watched the ground beneath me writhing too but it wasn’t reaching for me.

  “Eve, what’s happening?”

  She grimaced and I spotted the blood dripping into her lap from the thorns snaking into her palms. I tore at the vines, but they only tightened, my picking and scratching riling them into a frenzy. Her cheeks burned red and she cried out words I didn’t understand, though I knew she was begging for air.

  I grabbed her, my thumb grazing her neck, and her eyes widened. Air poured out of her, or something stronger, but it was like we were magnets snapping into place. I pushed and pulled her at the same time and then we were no longer sitting on that forest floor. We weren’t sitting at all and we weren’t anywhere in existence.

  Instead I just was. I was in between the past and the present, connected and disconnected to everything at the same time. And I was watching. I was watching Eve as she was. Before she died. Before she was sick. Before she was even born. Her life unraveled in reverse and then she took her first breath into the world and I watched her grow up.

  I saw Sunday mornings as Dr. Banz taught her to play the piano, her mother barefoot and swaying to the music as she folded laundry on the couch. I saw Eve hiding notes and drawings in her father’s suitcase, some whimsical and full of color, others dark and scratched in harsh lines. She kept a tin full of chocolates by her bed and ate them in the middle of the night as she read books by moonlight past her bedtime.

  I saw the first day she fell, the doctors and the priests and the reporters taking turns going in and out of her hospital room. I saw the day Vogle first laid eyes on her and I could feel what he felt—awe and fear and knowing. He knew she was his. I even saw the day she felt that too, for the first time, as he took her for a walk outside the hospital grounds. He pushed her on a swing at a park across the street. He held her hand. They talked and she told him everything she’d seen and done and about the things that could see her too.

  He promised to protect her and she believed him. I saw every nightmare she’d ever had and every shadow as it hung like a beating heart over her unconscious body. I saw the day she died and I felt that most of all—splinters and fire and freezing and darkness. So much darkness.

  “Thank you.”

  The vines were gone and Eve was still.

  “Thank you,” she breathed and then she let go of my hand and I was alone.

  I sat there, reeling from everything I’d just seen—the sensations and the tastes and the smells, every memory trying to burrow its way inside me as if it were my own. I wanted to stand or run or wake but my body was lead and I could see the vines still reaching for the place Eve had just been. I waited for them to reach for me too, for the shadows to swell over my head, to trap me here like they’d done Eve.

  Something tugged at me to turn, fear pushing me forward and holding me back at the same time. I tried to sense the shadows like cold breath on the back of my neck but it was so quiet even though I knew I wasn’t alone.

  I finally turned, expecting that one movement to be my last, but there was no swarm. There was no shadow. No monster at all.

  There was only Dani.

  She was tangled in brush, standing perfectly still.

  I crawled towards her. “Dani?”

  She didn’t answer and when I finally reached her I realized that her teeth were chattering, words stalled. Air whistled between her lips, frantic, hushed. But she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were fixed on something I couldn’t see. I reached for her hand, something in the way, hard and cold as ice. Dani stood on the other side, blind to me, paralyzed.

  “Dani.”

  She twitched but I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me.

  “Dani!” Her name turned to fog the second it left my lips. “It’s Bryn. Pl—”

  “I don’t know!” Dani was screaming. “Please.”

  Silence. I held my breath.

  Dani stumbled. “I don’t know where she is.”

  She sunk to her knees, bruises sparking like drops of rain against her skin. I slammed my fists against the barrier, clawing at the grass and vines between us.

  “Please,” she said again. “I don’t know anything.”

  Dani seized, something holding her up, and then, as the vines scaled the space between us, blocking her from view, all I could hear were her screams.

  My hands met the damp soil as I tried to crawl back onto my feet, but instead all I could do was close my eyes. I thought I was dead. I thought for a second that we both were.

  And then I wished I was.

  I ripped in two, burning, my insides twisting until I couldn’t breathe. I opened my eyes and Roman was gripping my shoulders, shaking me.

  “Stop.” My voice was weak and he didn’t hear me. “Stop!” I choked.

  He loosened his grip, the flames in his hands simmering until they were dull.

  “Dani.” I pushed him back, trying to sit up. “Dani. I need to…”

  “Bryn...”

  I caught my reflection in his eyes, pale-faced and bleeding. I looked down at my arms and saw the wounds. I fell limp and so did he, his body pressing into me. He hugged me to his chest, breathing hard with relief, the loud pumping of his heart reminding mine to do the same.

  “It’s gone now,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I left you alone.”

  “Roman…” I looked up at him and the sorrow staring back was so deep I knew that he knew. “What happened to Dani?”

  Roman moved to open the door but it wasn’t Dani who stepped through. It was Felix followed by Andre, Domingo, Stassi, and Shay. They circled me, all staring at the floor.

  “Tell me,” I said.

  They were silent, Roman the only one at least attempting to find words.

  I turned to Felix. “What happened?”

  “Do you remember when Dani fell and hit her head?” He lifted an eyebrow on the word “fell.”

  I nodded.

  “Well, turns out she didn’t quite sleep it all off.”

  “What does that mean?”

  My mind was racing, that image of Dani clutching herself, tearing at the ground, all I could think about.

  I spotted Felix’s hand, the blood dark through the fresh gauze. “What…”

  “She sort of stabbed me.”

  “How?” I reached for him.

  “I’m fine.” He pulled away. “She’s not.”

  “She’s…” I wasn’t sure what she was. I knew the word that was hanging on my lips but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it.

  “Possessed,” Roman finall
y offered.

  “What?” The words fell off and I almost did the same, Roman catching me by the arm before I tumbled out of the chair. “Like Michael?”

  Roman nodded. “Like Michael.”

  “No.” I wanted to run but I couldn’t. I tried to breathe but I couldn’t do that either. “How? Why?”

  Andre cleared his throat. “I’ve seen it before, the shadows targeting someone besides a Dreamer. Someone close to a Dreamer.” I turned to him, waiting for an explanation. He was quiet for a long time and then he cleared his throat. “My Dreamer’s name was Olivia.” He cracked his knuckles. “Sara was her sister, the closest person to her, and when Olivia disappeared, Sara vanished with her.”

  “The shadows took them both?” I said.

  “The shadows took Sara first. Possessed her. For a long time Olivia thought she’d been sleepwalking, waking up on her front steps or down the street from her house. But it was Sara. She wasn’t herself and when Olivia was dreaming she tried to make her do things.”

  This was how it happened, how Andre had become a Rogue in the first place. His Dreamer wasn’t murdered or even attacked. She was stolen, quietly, by the only other person in the world who loved her as much as Andre did.

  “When did you realize the shadow had possessed her sister?” I asked.

  “As soon as I figured out what I was I ran away from home to be closer to Olivia. She’d done up the inside of her childhood tree house for me and she used to sneak up there when her parents went to bed. Her window led straight out to the foot ladder. But one night as I was watching the glass slide open, it wasn’t just Olivia, but her sister too, leading them toward the street. When I stopped them I realized Olivia was dreaming and that Sara was…well…” He ran a hand down his face. “I stopped her that night but then…”

  “They vanished,” I finished, turning to Roman. “Where is she?”

  “We’re looking for her,” he said.

  “Looking?” I snapped.

  “She disappeared, Bryn,” Felix said. “Like right before our fucking eyes.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  Roman led me back to the chair. “No. You’re staying here.”

  “I’m not.”

  There were live flames behind his eyes. “You are. I’m not risking it.”

  I glared at him even though I knew he was right.

  “We’ll find her,” he said and I could tell he blamed himself for losing her, for not realizing what was wrong in the first place.

  But none of us had. Or maybe I had known, somewhere deep down, when for days I couldn’t wake her. I’d known something was wrong with Dani I just didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t want to believe that there was something, someone else I couldn’t fix, that there was something else I’d broken. The truth was it was my fault, not Roman’s.

  “You will find her,” I said, the guilt in my voice just as clear. “And when you do we can do something for her. We can figure this out.” I looked right at him, pleading. “You can get it out of her. You…”

  Roman gripped my hand. “It’s…it would be too dangerous. None of us know how to force the shadow out without…hurting her.”

  “You mean killing her,” I said. “If you kill the shadow it will kill her too.”

  “We’re trying to think of something else,” Domingo said. “There could be another way. We just have to figure out what it is.” His resolve was spot on even though he knew there was no other way.

  The Rogues weren’t created to extract shadows or even to scare them off. They were created to destroy them. And the shadows were created to destroy me, which was exactly what it was doing to Dani now.

  So much had already been broken, so many mistakes made and things lost just because someone was too close to me, because I existed at all. Dani. My grandmother.

  My gaze shot to Roman. “My grandmother.”

  “You think she would know what to do?” he said.

  “I don’t know. She might know something. I just have to get her back.”

  “But how?”

  I stared down at the scratches on my arms, the blood a hard dotted line that made me itch. I didn’t want to close my eyes again, vulnerable to something that had the power to destroy me before I could set things right but I had to set things right.

  “I think I have an idea,” I said.

  When Vogle and I entered Dr. Banz’s office I expected him to already be examining my brain stills. I expected to see Eve’s face illuminated against his wall. I hadn’t thought about what I’d say if he saw her, if he knew I’d seen her too, but I didn’t have time to indulge him in his obsession, not now. I didn’t even have time to acknowledge the fact that I should probably be afraid of him.

  All I knew was that he was the only other person who’d somehow come to the realization that the past could be tampered with. It was the reason he’d sent me to find Eve, as if I could re-write the past, undo what he’d done. Save her. Maybe I could have if I’d gotten the chance but as soon as I touched her it was like I’d absorbed everything she was and could have been and then she vanished. The vines let go of her, the dream let go of her, and then just like that she was gone.

  When Dr. Banz saw me he rushed over. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

  “I’m fine.” I folded my arms and shrugged my jacket higher to hide the cuts.

  I tried to force myself to speak but I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. I examined them as he examined my wounds, trying to find a trace of something beast-like, of a monster. But on the surface there was nothing. Even though Eve had been clear. Well, as clear as she could have been. She’d showed me the picture of her father and then the one of the shadows that had been haunting her for as long as she could remember. I knew they were connected somehow.

  “Bryn, is everything alright?”

  There was no monster in his voice either, only genuine confusion and concern. I stared into his eyes once more, trying to lure the shadow out.

  “Do you need to sit down?” he asked.

  “No.”

  I blinked, still staring, still waiting. Vogle noticed too, his own eyes searching Dr. Banz’s face though I could tell he didn’t know what exactly he was supposed to be searching for. It struck me that if anyone was going to be able to see the shadow, to draw it out like I’d been trying to do, it was Vogle. He’d spent most of his life by Dr. Banz’s side, both of them old men now who had been through so much together. They knew each other better than anyone and if Dr. Banz was being controlled by darkness, Vogle would know. But he didn’t. I could tell by the aimless way his eyes searched that he saw the same thing I did. Absolutely nothing.

  So why would Eve have shown me those pictures? Why would she have tried to warn me? Because it had been a warning. I knew it was. Except…what if it wasn’t a warning of something that had already happened but a warning of things to come?

  “Bryn, please, tell me what’s going on,” Dr. Banz said.

  “Dani…she was attacked,” I finally forced out. “And now she’s…”

  “No.” He gripped his chin. “That can’t be.”

  “And she’s gone missing,” Vogle added. “The others have gone looking for her but once we find her…”

  “No one knows how to kill the shadow without killing her too,” I said.

  “What do you need me to do?” Dr. Banz said. “Anything.”

  “I need my grandmother,” I said. “She might know what to do.” I paced the room. “I’m just…I’m afraid that if I try getting to her without the photograph I’d used last time, I might wind up somewhere wrong, or worse, I might end up exposing myself again.” All I could see were Anso’s eyes, two black holes boring into me. “If he sees me…if anyone sees me it could ruin everything.”

  Dr. Banz kneaded his chin. “So you believe the visual is not only attached to a place but also a specific time as well.” Suddenly he was handing me back the photo of the place I’d seen Eve. “During your episode…” A slight tremor scaled his hand
. “Were you able to find this place?”

  “You haven’t gotten my stills back?” I asked, anxious.

  “Not yet. Sheila’s working on collecting the data now.”

  I looked away. I didn’t want to lie, especially when I knew that in just a few hours Dr. Banz would know the truth regardless. But I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. I knew he deserved to know that all of his searching and all of his hoping hadn’t been for nothing but telling him now would only distract him. I needed him to be focused. I needed his help.

  “I was back at the farmhouse,” I lied.

  He stared down at the picture, trying to hide his disappointment. “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to try again.”

  I shook my head. “But my grandmother. I don’t have any more time to try and figure this out. I have to find her and I have to do it now, before it’s too late.”

  “What you need is to learn to control this,” Dr. Banz cut in. There was a strange edge to his voice. “For all we know your grandmother could be lost. She could be gone indefinitely.” His hands shook harder, igniting a small tear in the corner of the photo. “But this, what if you could find what you’re looking for? What if—?”

  Vogle reached a hand out, steadying him. “Dr. Banz?”

  He gripped his desk, composing himself. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked, wondering if he already knew about Eve, if that was the desperation I’d heard in his voice.

  “I’m sorry.” His voice was flat. “I…let myself get distracted.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, feeling myself subconsciously take another step back.

  He turned to me. “Do you think you could sleep?”

  “Not without your help,” I said. “And I’m going to need something that will work immediately.”

  Part of me was anxious about asking for something stronger but I didn’t really have a choice. All I could hope was that Vogle would keep an eye on Dr. Banz, my grandmother would get back safely, and that with her help, if I was somehow injured in the process, the others could still save Dani.

  Dr. Banz nodded. “I…have something else, something a bit more potent. It should give you the time you need.”