His life had been so simple before. She drew him to her in a way that made him abandon all reason. Though a constant struggle not to go to her, he somehow resisted.
Each time he thought to go to her, he forced himself to the falls to meditate. Like now, he would hover beside the water, listen to its soothing cadence. Absorbing the colors and sounds, he concentrated on them, trying to block out the thoughts of her.
And just like now, it didn’t work.
The red swirls in the water reminded him of the red highlights in her hair. The yellows and greens of the meadow reminded him of her eyes. Even in the quiet whisper of the wind through the tall grass, he could hear her soft sighs.
Without conscious thought he opened a portal to her room and looked through. In her empty room, sunlight streamed through the window to light her bed. She must be at work, he surmised, and stuck his head through the opening.
At once his corporeal flesh registered the warmth of the sun, the smell of her perfume. His nose took a deep inhale of its own volition. Smelled like, home? Love?
Before he could come to a decision, the sound of a voice drew his energy back into the Dream Weaver dimension.
“Greetings, Peacemaker,” the familiar voice called. “Blessings this day.”
“And to you, Gracyn.”
Her energy settled next to him, feeling more mellifluous than his, calm and peaceful. With her beside him, Zane felt a little more at ease.
“Going to feed?” she asked. “Do not let me stop you from your repast.”
“I have recently fed.” Zane moved slightly away from his mentor, wondering why she’d come. He refused to ask though, knowing she would reveal why she was there in her own time. Wise and intelligent, Gracyn always contemplated an issue fully before sharing her thoughts on the subject.
The pair sat in silence by the water. Zane’s mind wandered to thoughts of Maggie. He wondered how her day was going. Was she counseling some students? Had she been dreaming of him?
It seemed like forever since he saw her. He wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been, but it had been too long.
“You seem pensive, Zane,” Gracyn commented in a soft voice, drawing him from his thoughts of Maggie. “You are not yourself. Jolan is concerned.”
“Jolan came to you to tell tales on me?”
“No. He made a sojourn to the Council.”
“Why?”
“He was summoned.”
Zane silently waited for her further explanation, wondering what the Council could want with Jolan. A few minutes later his patience was rewarded.
“I recommended we find another Peacemaker,” his mentor finally informed him.
Zane’s energy bobbed in the tall grass from the shock at her statement. “Whatever for? Is the Ruling Council not pleased with the way I perform my duties?”
“I can feel the change in your energy, Zane. Be at peace. You did your job well.”
“Then why would you need another Peacemaker?”
Gracyn’s energy flowed to and fro. If she were in human form, she would have been pacing. “I think it is best to have a backup,” she replied softly.
“Is the Council expecting trouble?”
“No. But it is always wise to have two of something, is it not?”
What game did she play? In the centuries he had been alive, he had always been the only Peacemaker. They never needed two. His kind went rogue infrequently, making it easy for one Peacemaker to dispense justice. Zane could not imagine why two Peacemakers would ever be needed, unless the Council intended to strip him of his position.
“Have I displeased the Council in some way?”
“Were you not brought before them to be praised for providing judgment to Amnon?”
Yes, the Council sang his praises, but Zane knew the Council could be fastidious. His suspicion made him move, mirroring his mentor’s movements. “Then why train a second Peacemaker?”
“As I have already said, I thought it best to have a backup.”
“But . . .”
Gracyn’s energy stopped. She hovered in front of Zane, and her calm essence washed over him. “Zane, you are troubled. I can feel it.”
“Yes, because the Council is apparently displeased with my performance.”
“No, Zane. That is not it. Not entirely. When I came to find you, you were already troubled.”
He tried to keep his struggles private, hidden away from those around him, but it seemed they weren’t hidden as well as he thought. First Jolan sensed his unrest, and now Gracyn could tell he was troubled, perhaps he should confess. After all, humans believed confession benefitted the soul.
“I am,” Zane paused searching for just the right word, “unsettled.”
“You and I have known each other a long time, Zane. I helped you become a Peacemaker, and you watched as I joined the Council. We have been a part of each other’s lives for centuries. You can tell me what is troubling you.”
Could he? Would she think his obsession with the human to be an addiction?
A thought struck him. Maybe they thought their current Peacemaker had turned rogue and were preparing a replacement to kill him. It would explain why they were training another Peacemaker.
“It is the human woman, is it not?” Gracyn correctly guessed.
Zane knew better than to lie to a Council member, even if he felt close to her—especially because they were close. “I cannot stop thinking about her.”
“Have you been back to visit her dreams?”
“Once, since I killed Amnon.”
“Why do you think of her still?”
“There was something about her, Gracyn. She consumed my soul, entangled all my senses.”
“You love her.”
The world shifted around him. He couldn’t be in love with a human. It wasn’t done. “I do not love Maggie,” he denied. Even as the words came from him he knew they were a lie. His spirit ached for her.
“You do,” Gracyn’s voice softened as she continued. “I can hear it in the way you say her name.”
The Great Spirits help him, but he did love the woman. Maggie. Thinking her name bought her image to his mind’s eye. Images of her on the sandy beach. Images of her in this meadow.
“What am I going to do?”
“Go to her.”
Zane could not have been more shocked at his mentor’s advice if she had asked him to kill her. “What?”
“Go to her, Zane. Visit the human world for a time.”
“Get her out of my system, as the humans would say,” Zane quoted Jolan’s advice. Advice which he knew first hand wouldn’t work.
“Perhaps that.”
Zane got the distinct impression Gracyn held something back.
“Zane, go to the woman. Spend time with her in the human world, not the dream world. See what happens.”
“It doesn’t matter what would happen. I can’t be with her.”
“Love will find a way.”
“Only in human movies and books.”
“So cynical. Are you not a Dream Weaver? Who says the only dreams you can weave are in the subconscious? Go to her; weave a dream for the two of you. If it is meant to be, it will happen.”
“But I am not human. I cannot remain in their world.”
“It is a little known fact that Dream Weavers can remain in the human world for an extended period of time.”
“Why have I not heard that before?”
“What I am about to say is for Council ears only. I will have your vow of honor you will not divulge to another what I am about to tell you.”
“You have my vow. I swear to the Great Spirits above I will not repeat what you tell me.”
Gracyn paused, seemed to weigh the since
rity of his vow. After several minutes she must have decided to trust him for she spoke. “The Council thought it best to keep the knowledge that we can remain in human form from our people. Thinking they must return to our world after they feed was a way to discourage anyone from over-indulging. It put a time limit on the amount of time our people could absorb energy.”
“Why would they do such a thing?”
“They were afraid that if a Dream Weaver fed too much, even positive emotions could become addictive.”
“So by putting a time limit on the amount of time we could stay in the human world, they hoped to keep us in line.”
“Addiction free, Zane,” Gracyn corrected. “So will you go, visit the human world for a time?”
Zane assimilated the information Gracyn had shared. He never would have thought that when he came to the falls to meditate, he would learn he could be with Maggie—at least for a little while. But a little while with her in the real world was better than not at all. He made his decision.
“I’ll go to her.”
Maggie sat in her living room, surfing the internet on her laptop, in an attempt to find the number for a new drycleaner. She’d just come from her usual cleaners, upset because they lost the clothes she’d dropped off last week. When she showed up with her receipt, she waited patiently as the gentleman perused the automated rack. Suit after suit scrolled by, but hers were nowhere to be found.
She didn’t have time to be one of those people who went to the dry cleaners every week, so she would take them to be cleaned a bunch at a time. Which explained why she now found herself in her current predicament. She had very few work clothes left in her closet, since she’d taken a pile of them to the cleaners. A pile that was now gone.
This was just the latest of a string of bad luck. In the past week and a half, she had a flat tire strand her at school, and the GPS unit had been stolen from her car. To top it off, her dream man had only visited her once in her dreams. Yep, it seemed Karma was out to bite her on the butt.
The sound of her cell phone ringing pulled her from her thoughts. She pushed aside the laptop and crossed the room to fish the thing out of her purse.
“Hello?” Silence met her greeting.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
Maggie held the phone away from her, looking down at the screen. The blinking icon told her she had a voicemail. Guess I didn’t pick up in time. She tapped the code to access her voicemail on the keypad.
“Maggie,” She recognized Mark’s voice. Great, what else could go wrong this week? “I have some news about the lawsuit.”
Her stomach twisted in anticipation. This could not be good. “The Burtons dropped the suit. It’s over. We don’t have to go to court. Have a great weekend. I know Jennifer and I will.”
Maggie could just imagine the kind of “great weekend” Jennifer Lawler and Mark would be having, but she wasn’t going to let anything spoil her mood. Knowing the parents dropped the suit made Maggie feel lighter, like the weight of the world had been taken from her shoulders. She wouldn’t have to go to court and could get back to doing her job instead of preparing for the ridiculous lawsuit.
“Wonder why they dropped it?”
Maggie briefly thought about calling Mark to find out the answer to her question, but quickly dismissed the idea. It didn’t matter why. Maybe they realized the school had the law on their side of the issue. Maybe they found another way to pay for the private school they wanted to send their son to. It just didn’t matter. All that mattered was the family dropped the suit and she would not have to act as the District’s spokesperson anymore.
A genuine smile lit her face. Her week suddenly looked up. Maybe the old adage was true, bad luck came in threes—flat tire, stolen GPS, and lost clothes. Now her streak was broken. From here on out, the only thing coming her way would be good luck.
For the first time in months, the tension eased from her muscles. She could breathe a little easier, free of the oppressive stress. She cracked her knuckles, relieving the pressure in her joints. Maggie did a little happy dance, unable to contain her joy.
She needed to celebrate. She needed to shop, especially since she now needed to buy some new work clothes. Too bad Leigh went to Europe on a business trip. Oh well, she’d just have to somehow make it through a shopping trip without her.
A wide grin lifted the corners of her mouth as she put her phone back in her purse, grabbed her keys, and left, practically skipping to her car.
Two hours later, Maggie stepped from the mall with a smile, her arms full of bags. It seemed like her luck had changed. Everything she chose off the sales rack fit perfectly. She bought a new wardrobe and it hadn’t cost her a fortune.
Only the near constant sensation of being watched as she went from store to store marred the otherwise perfect day. After she checked over her shoulder several times throughout the day to find nothing, she chalked the feeling up to unjustified paranoia.
Her cellphone rang as she exited through the automatic doors. When she extracted the phone, one of her shopping bags caught on the bottom of her purse jerking her wrist. Her cell shot from her hand and flung across the paved entryway, skittering to a stop near an alcove.
Maggie walked across the pavers and bent to retrieve the phone. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the shadows shift beside her and looked up. Her heart stopped.
Emerging from the shadows of the alcove was a man. Tall, with broad shoulders, his powerful chest narrowed to trim hips. Encased in a pair of jeans, his thighs were thick, but not overly so. Maggie could see the play of his muscles work under his clothes as he advanced.
Her eyes traveled back up his body to his face. Now free of the shadows, she could clearly see his strong jawline and patrician nose were the perfect complement to his azure blue eyes.
Maggie straightened. Blood coursed hotly through her veins. Her heart beat in her chest like a stallion running the Kentucky Derby, setting a fast and furious pace. Her mouth went dry at the sight of him.
He wore blue jeans and a black tee shirt instead of swim trunks or a chartreuse sweater, but there was no doubt who he was. Her dream man. His eyes held hers while he bent to retrieve her phone.
He stood and offered the phone to her in his outstretched hand. “I believe you dropped this.” The dark timbre of his voice slid over her like a warm caress.
Their fingers brushed when she reached for the phone, sending something akin to electric current coursing through her. He was real. Here, in the flesh. And what flesh it was.
Yummy!
He looked delicious. Maggie barely kept herself from licking her lips. This man was stunning. A tasty bit of roped muscle and sinew.
Their eyes locked, his were the most unusual blue, just like the man in the dream. His gaze burned into her, seemed to be looking into her soul. She stood transfixed by his stare.
“I’m, Zane,” the man announced, bringing her out of her hypnosis.
He stuck out his hand in her direction and smiled. Maggie took his hand in hers. His fingers were large, his grip strong and sure.
Feeling like she knew him, Maggie forgot they had only met in her dreams. She had not thought to introduce herself. “I . . .” She swallowed, willing her mouth to work. “I’m, Maggie.”
“Nice to meet you, Maggie.”
“I feel like we’ve met before.” And she did. She remembered him from her dreams, but that was not what she meant. She not only got his face and body almost perfect in her dreams, but his name as well. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Could it? She must have met him somewhere and just not remembered. That would account for the dream image. But if that was the case then, how could she have forgotten meeting such a man?
Perhaps she’d seen him in a magazine. He definitely could be a model.
Zane smiled, and all thoughts le
ft her mind. “Do you have any plans this evening?”
Just to go home and watch TV. “No.”
“Would you like to?”
Oh, he was smooth. And, yeah, she’d love to have some plans if they could include him. “What did you have in mind?”
“How about dinner?”
“With you?”
He chuckled, the sonorous sound resonating in his chest. “I hope so. We could go somewhere very public. You don’t have to worry about being alone with me.”
Until that moment, she’d been talking to a lover, someone she knew intimately. His statement shocked her into reality. She didn’t know this man. The Zane she knew was from her dreams. This was a real, flesh and blood man. And by the looks of him, a strong man. For all she knew he could be a serial killer or a stalker.
Maggie worried her lower lip between her teeth. Zane’s eyes zeroed in on the nervous movement.
“You’re scared,” he said, his tone softening. “I’d never hurt you, Maggie.”
She saw the sincerity deep in his eyes. It may be insane, but she believed this man who was a stranger, but yet so familiar from her dreams. Trusting someone she didn’t know was not a wise thing to do, she chastised herself. She had been sleeping better the past week and a half, at least she hadn’t had any nightmares, but she was obviously still sleep deprived. No one in their right mind would trust a man who had emerged from the shadows.
Would they?
The look on his face, combination of wonderment and hope, like a child who has just asked his mommy to buy him a special toy in the store, pulled at her heart. It might be crazy, but heaven help her, she knew in her heart she could trust this man, believe in him. Something deep within told her to follow her heart and for once she would—but cautiously.
“Can we eat here?”
“At the mall?”
“Yep. It’s convenient.”
“And public. And you wouldn’t have to go anywhere with me.”
Weaver of Dreams Page 17