Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“You’re lying,” I mutter. “Tell me you’re lying.” He has to be. There’s no way he’s telling the truth. All my life, I ached for her. I still do. And even though I didn’t see the resemblance I had to them, I figured it was just a coincidence—that I’d grow into my face and look just like Momma. She was beautiful, with sable skin and bright brown eyes. Her hair was always nice and neat, never a hair out of place…at least not at first. How could she have just found us?
Warren rubs his jaw as if it hurts. “Dad said as soon as Momma took us in, she changed. And when we turned two, she started having nightmares about someone coming for us. It drove her to hysteria, you remember? And when she died, those nightmares shifted to Dad, apparently. He said he tried enduring them, but he couldn’t because they were so vivid. He swears there was a voice in his head, telling him to kill us. He said…” Warren’s voice cracks. “He said one night, he remembered raising a pillow above my face to suffocate me, but he snapped out of it.”
My heart sinks. I drop my gaze, trying to remember all the moments spent with Dad. He’d changed toward the end of the time he was with us, yes. He’d lost job after job, and we continuously downsized until we were in a one-bedroom apartment on a shotty side of Charlotte. Now that I think about it, I do remember him mumbling to himself a lot. Staying awake all night. He carried this bottle of pills with him all the time and told me once they helped him stay alert. “B-but how?” is all I can muster.
“I don’t know. But that day I found him, he described the thing that was tormenting him in his sleep. He said it was shaped like a woman, and that she was always red. She had hair of fire, and her eyes were like hot coals. He said she took over his dreams every time he fell asleep, and he couldn’t take it anymore, so he left. He walked away. He told me the dreams immediately stopped when he left us. He never had them again. He thinks…he thinks we’re possessed by something evil.”
“Do you think it was Decius?” I whisper, jerking my head up to find his eyes. “You think he was tormenting them?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what all Decius is capable of.”
“He couldn’t have reached their minds, could he?” I shake my head, pondering it. “He’s not strong enough for that—not to tap in with people on Earth. Good people, at that.”
Warren nods, but still looks unsure. “I’m sorry I never told you the truth.”
“It’s okay.” I take his hand, squeezing it lightly. “Warren, it’s okay.”
“I have the same nightmares as he does, even now.”
“What?” I gasp.
“About the woman with hair of fire. They’re stronger now that I’m in this world.”
I swallow hard, unsure what to say.
“She hurts me in my dreams. Tries to strangle me. Her hands are always on fire. It’s clear she wants me dead. Between her and Decius’ evil thoughts lingering, I feel like I’m losing my mind, Willow.” He huffs a laugh, but there is no humor to his tone.
“I know, I know.” I collect him into my arms. “It’s okay. We’ll get you better, I promise.”
“But what if I don’t get better?”
“You will. You have to. For Danica. For me.”
He shudders a breath, and I hear footsteps shuffling in the grass behind us. Danica approaches, looking between us.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, we’re good. Just having a heart to heart.” I smile up at her, but she doesn’t return the smile.
Danica cuts her eyes to Warren. “You closed me out, Warren. You promised you wouldn’t close me out while you’re like this. Open minds only, remember?”
“I’m sorry,” he responds, pulling away from me. “I just wanted to talk to my sister alone.”
Danica’s lips press, her eyes bouncing between us. “Okay, well, I’m going back to the guesthouse.” She lingers a moment, as if waiting for Warren to come with her. When he doesn’t, she shakes her head and turns away, tucking her Katana into her sheath.
Warren watches his mate go, then says, “What if that Hassha woman doesn’t take me in? Danica says there’s a possibility she won’t because I’m a man.”
“If she can’t take you in, hopefully she can at least heal you, clear your mind. Rid you of those nightmares. Maybe she knows what the nightmares mean.”
Warren says nothing, but he does inhale before exhaling. “I don’t think we were born on Earth. I think someone brought us from here and placed us in that parking lot. They were trying to get rid of us, or save us…maybe? I don’t know.”