We could handle this on our own.
* * *
I was dreaming.
In my dream, I was in the gazebo, and it was raining outside.
But this time, there was a couch in the gazebo, and Paige was sitting on it. She was dressed in the same clothes that Amy had been dressed in, a tiny skirt and an undersized sports jersey. She writhed, gyrating her hips into the couch cushions.
I felt embarrassed.
But I couldn’t stop staring at her, at all the places where her skin was bare.
It seemed like so much of her skin was uncovered.
Of course, in that last dream, she’d been completely naked.
I thought about it, remembering what it had been like to be so close to her, to be surrounded by her.
But that had been one of those dreams, and I wasn’t sure this wasn’t just a regular run-of-the-mill dream, something that my brain had cooked up and spit out at me after everything that had happened.
It was about Paige, and I knew I was dreaming, but it didn’t quite feel the same.
And besides, there was no Guns N’ Roses.
As if on cue, “Paradise City” began playing in the background.
I groaned. Great.
Paige began to move to the music. She got off the couch and sauntered towards me, swaying her hips. “Hey there Hunter,” she said in a sultry voice.
“You’re not dreaming this, right?”
“No, I’m not dreaming this,” said Paige. “I’m not really Paige. But you knew that. I’m just a figment of the world spirit. I’m using Paige’s form to communicate with you.”
“Uh huh,” I said.
“Paige’s connection to us here in the world spirit is not as strong as yours. We can’t get through to her as easily.” She ran her hands over her body, moaning a little. “You like Paige, don’t you?”
I still felt really uncomfortable. “Sure.”
“She likes you too,” she said. “That’s all we want. We want you two to like each other.” She stepped closer, placing her hand on my chest. “To be together.” She dragged her fingers over my skin. Wait a second. Where was my shirt? “To join together.”
I gulped.
She smiled. “You need to go back to the beginning, Hunter.”
Around the gazebo, I could suddenly see a country road. There was a sign sticking up—one of those black-and-white route signs. Route 50.
“And you need to be careful.” She put her lips against my jaw. She began kissing her way to my neck.
Shivers went through me.
“With you and Paige so close to each other, you’re breaking through that cloaking spell that was put on you before you were born. It tied you to your mother, and you’re severing that bond. But that means they’ll be able to find you, and you can’t let them do that. Not until the joining is done.” Her lips tickled my earlobe. “You understand that, Hunter? It’s very important.”
* * *
I woke with a start. I was sleeping on the floor in the living room, swathed in blankets. Chance had been next to me when I went to sleep, but he wasn’t there anymore.
Paige was still curled up on the couch. I watched her for a moment, glad she was okay. She looked peaceful now, and I knew that she was still in pain from everything that happened to her. I was grateful she was getting a respite, even a brief one, from her anguish.
My gaze searched the room, my mind still reeling from the dream. What had it meant? Those dreams were getting weirder and more disturbing.
Marlena was standing in the doorway.
We locked eyes.
I was uncomfortable being under that woman’s roof. She obviously didn’t like us, no matter if it was our fault what our parents had done. Why she’d even let us stay overnight was a mystery to me.
Marlena’s expression was unreadable.
I watched her, and she watched me. I didn’t want to look away, but I didn’t like the way she was staring at me.
“You love her.” Marlena’s voice was quiet, but it still carried across the room.
“Paige?” I said. “No. I barely know her.”
Marlena chuckled. “That’s the thing. People always mistakenly think that love is something that grows slowly. They think that the way people fall in love is to meet and compare compatible characteristics, check themselves against the other to see if they fit together. That would be the intelligent way to do it, I guess. I think we wish we did it that way.”
I pushed aside the covers and got to my feet. “I’m beginning to think that whatever is going on with Paige and me is not exactly a good thing.” I thought of the dream, the Paige-thing saying that “they” wanted me to like her and join with her. Who were “they?” Why did the thought of them give me chills?
“So, you’ll stop, then?” said Marlena. “You’ll push her away, and you won’t get involved with her?”
I swallowed, casting a glance back at her sleeping form. Her face was relaxed and innocent, and she looked so pretty lying there. It made my chest hurt.
“Of course you won’t,” said Marlena. “People think that love is a happy emotion. That it’s all rose petals and puppies and Valentines. But love is the most terrifying force on the face of the planet. Love makes us irrational. It doesn’t make sense for us to choose the people we choose. And once we’re committed to them, we’re motivated to do things… crazy things. Your mother and Jason? Their love ripped the world apart. And I…” She looked away. Her voice caught. “Without Hallam, nothing seems to mean anything.”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Love makes us fools, Hunter. And you’re caught in it. You might try to fight it, but no matter what, you’ll give in.” She laughed an acid laugh. “God help us all.”
She turned on her heel and swept back through the doorway.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
~hunter~
I lay back down on the floor after that, but I didn’t sleep. My mind was whirling, trying to take everything in. I didn’t know what was going on, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
These powers that I’d had my entire life had been the worst thing that ever happened to me. They’d stolen a normal life from me. And now, here was a girl that I thought I might like. But before anything could happen, it turned out that she was part of all this craziness.
Nothing belonged to me. Everything was part of the weirdness of my powers.
I glared up at the ceiling, feeling cheated. Feeling angry.
“Hunter?” said Paige’s voice.
I turned and saw her sitting up on the couch.
“You are awake,” she said. “I thought so.”
I sat up too. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I just woke up,” she said.
I toyed with my blankets. “Did you have any dreams?”
She shook her head. “Not that I remember.”
“That’s good.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It was…” How could I explain it to her?
“Listen, Hunter, I’ve been thinking,” she said. “I haven’t told you everything about my parents. I did know that they had power, and they ruled the world. They told me about it. They said it was the most empty and sad part of their lives. They said that when it happened, they could control everyone, and that meant no one really seemed real. Except for them, I mean. Does that make sense?”
“It does,” I said. “It’s like, people’s free will is what makes them… them. If they can’t make their own decisions, then they can’t really interact in any meaningful way.”
“They told me that they stole the power from people named Jason and Azazel, but I didn’t know that those people were your parents. You told me your mother’s name was Zaza, and I never made the connection.”
“How could you?” I said. “It’s okay.” She seemed like she was apologizing, but near as I could tell, she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“The thing is,” she said, “what that Marlena wom
an was saying makes sense. You and I probably do have those powers. And I think she’s right. We should stay away from each other.”
My heart sank. But I nodded. “I agree.”
“Because I don’t want to be like my parents were. I don’t want to control the world.”
“No, I understand that,” I said. “The dream I had, it was kind of disturbing. There’s some force out there that wants us together. But I don’t think being together would be a good thing.”
“Well, we won’t be together then.” She took a deep breath. “Tomorrow, I’ll go back home and—”
“No,” I said. “You can’t go back there. What if the people who killed your parents are looking for you?”
She bit her lip. “But it’ll be easier if we’re apart.”
I’d just remembered something else from the dream, something about the cloaking spell. The Paige-thing had said people would be after me, and that they’d be able to find me. We weren’t safe here. I threw aside my blankets and got to my feet. “Where’s Chance?”
Paige looked confused. “What?”
I explained to her about the cloaking spell and the dream. “They could be tracking me now. We need to get moving before they find me. We can’t stay in one place for too long.”
She sighed. “This is all the more reason for me to go somewhere else. If being close to me is messing up that cloaking thing, then I’m putting you in danger.”
I considered. She might be right. But the thought of her leaving, of not knowing where she was… Well, I couldn’t handle that. “I’m always in danger. Stop talking about going somewhere. You’re not going anywhere.”
* * *
We heard Chance’s and Kenya’s voices before we saw them. The two of them were in the room where Marlena had been cleaning the guns, and even though they weren’t talking very loud, when we got close, their voices carried out into the hallway.
“You feel obligated to help her out, right?” said Chance. “Because she’s your mom.”
“You don’t understand anything,” said Kenya. “It’s not obligation, it’s love.”
“I do understand,” said Chance. “I have people I love too. People I’m obligated to.”
“Your brother.”
“Yeah,” said Chance. “But that’s not the same thing, because he’s still a kid, you know? And your mom is an adult. She’s supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around.”
“I don’t even know why we’re talking about this. I don’t know why I’m talking to you at all. I mean, you walk into my house, and you’re all cocky and muscular and annoying. I don’t even like you.”
“Muscular, huh?” said Chance.
Paige and I were standing at the doorway. We exchanged a glance. This was starting to get a little awkward, wasn’t it? We should probably interrupt them.
“In an annoying way,” said Kenya.
Chance chuckled. “You’re annoyed by my muscles?”
“Completely.” Kenya’s voice was a little less steady.
I peered into the room. I could see them, standing over next to the window. They were awfully close.
“What about them annoys you?”
Kenya sounded flustered. “They’re very… distracting.”
Chance kissed Kenya.
My eyes widened.
Paige put her fingertips to her lips, grinning.
This I did not have time for. I thought my brother said that he and I couldn’t have relationships with real girls. I thought he was satisfied with prostitutes. Kenya was definitely not a prostitute.
I stepped into the room, making as much noise as I could.
Chance and Kenya pulled apart and turned to look at me.
Kenya looked embarrassed.
Chance looked pissed off.
“We have a problem,” I said.
* * *
“So, you’re saying that all the people who’ve been looking for you are going to be able to track you now?” said Chance.
“If the dream was right, and the dreams are always right,” I said. “We can’t stay here any longer.”
“Okay,” said Chance. “Where should we go?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “We need to be on the move. If we’re always moving, we can evade them.”
“Um,” said Paige, “do you think you should call your parents?”
Chance and I both looked at her. “No,” we said in unison.
Paige raised her eyebrows.
“Jinx, you owe me a Coke,” I said.
He rolled his eyes.
“Look,” I said. “There was one other weird thing in the dream. I saw a sign for Route 50. But I think the things in the dream want me to go there, and I don’t know if we should do anything they say.”
“We always do what the dreams say,’ said Chance. “They keep you from getting killed.”
“Yeah, but I think they want me to stay alive only so Paige and I can do whatever it is we’re going to do, which is probably to suck the world into hell or something.”
“We’re not going to do anything,” said Paige. “We already decided.”
“Right,” I said.
“Well, we have no other place to go,” he said. “So, maybe we should try to head down to Route 50. We can pick it up outside of D.C., right? If we take I-95 out of the city?”
Kenya nodded. “I think so.”
“Let’s do it,” said Chance.
“What if it’s a bad idea?” I said.
“Do we have good ideas right now?” he said. “It seems to me that if we do one thing, you get killed, and if we do the other thing, you turn into the evil emperor and empress. So… we might as well do something.”
I turned to Paige. “What do you think?”
“Maybe Chance is right,” she said. “We have to go somewhere.”
Chance turned to Kenya. “You should come with us.”
Kenya made a face. “I can’t. My mother needs me.”
“Your mother survived just fine for years and years before you were even born. She’s not an invalid or something. She’s not handicapped. She’s got no reason to stay shut up in here. You should come.”
Kenya chewed on her lip. “I don’t know.”
I furrowed my brow. “Chance, just days ago, you were explaining to me how people like you and me couldn’t actually have girlfriends, and I think—”
“Shut up, Hunter,” said Chance. He grinned at Kenya. “Don’t listen to anything he says.”
Kenya narrowed her eyes. “Girlfriend?”
Chance made a pshaw noise. “No. I didn’t say anything like that. I was only thinking it might be good for you to get out a little is all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
~hunter~
“I just think it’s weird to keep driving into the middle of nowhere,” said Kenya from the backseat.
I was driving, Paige was sitting up front with me, and Chance and Kenya were in the back. They were arguing.
“We all decided that it didn’t make any sense to go east on Route 50,” said Chance. “That takes us to the coast, and there’s nothing there.”
“I don’t think I decided that,” said Kenya. “I think you all decided that and no one asked me.”
“You were here,” said Chance. “If you wanted to give your opinion, all you had to do was speak up.”
Kenya leaned forward between the seats. “Hunter, why don’t you just let me out of the car, hmm? I think I’ll catch a bus back to New York.”
“Bus?” I said. “You think there are buses around here?”
“Where are we anyway?” said Paige.
“Uh… Winchester?” I said. “Is this Winchester, Chance? You were driving earlier, and there were signs—”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” said Kenya.
“Not nowhere,” I said. “Look, there’s streets and old buildings and—”
“Hunter, you have to turn if you want to stay on Route 50,” Paige interrupted.
�
�Shit.” Every three streets, there were these tiny signs that instructed us which way Route 50 was. I swear, for a route that was supposed to go through this town, it seemed to be taking the path of a snake. I put on my blinker, switched lanes, and barely made the turn.
“We’ve been driving forever,” said Kenya. “Hours and hours. We don’t even know where we’re going. If there’s a destination we have in mind, surely there’s some more direct route than taking this stupid road on some blind trip west bound.”
“Hunter dreamed about Route 50,” said Chance. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Why did you ask me to come along in the first place?” Kenya said.
“I really don’t know,” said Chance. “If I’d known you were going to get so shrill about—”
“I’m not shrill.”
“You’re giving me a headache,” he said.
Kenya heaved a huge sigh. In the rearview mirror, I could see that she’d leaned back against the seat and was staring out the window with her arms folded over her chest.
“Um… maybe we should stop?” I said. “For today, I mean. I know it’s only afternoon, but we’ve been driving since morning. We could find a restaurant or something and a hotel for later.”
“Oh, fine,” said Kenya. “We’ve gotten to nowhere, so let’s stop in nowhere and go out to eat like we’re on vacation.”
Chance smirked. “I would have thought you’d like that. How many family vacations you go on with your mother?”
“Oh shut up,” said Kenya.
“I am kind of hungry,” said Paige.
* * *
I knocked tentatively on the door to Paige’s and Kenya’s hotel room, which was only a few doors down from mine and Chance’s.
Paige flung the door open. “Hunter, hi there.” She looked relieved to see me.
“This whole thing is crazy,” Kenya said. “Everything about this is insane. There’s no reason to be here at all.”
Paige made a face. “Kenya’s really got a lot to say.”
“Hi, Kenya,” I said.
“Oh, hello.” She was sitting on her bed. “You were right, you know. There doesn’t seem to be a bus station in this town. It’s like Deliverance or something. Seriously.”
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