Crimson Dahlia (5 page)

“We’re
here, Ramsey,” he heard Lucy call out the second they appeared in the woods.
“Please tell us she’s not—”

Ramsey
shook his head. He took Lucy by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I
don’t know for sure. The link I felt with her is gone. I don’t feel it anymore.
I don’t feel… her.”

“What
does that mean?” Hugh asked.

Ramsey
looked over Lucy’s head at him. “I don’t know. I’m not sure when I lost it. I
was following our link, trying to find her. I stopped and ate lunch. And when I
went to start looking again, the feeling was gone. It just faded away.”

Lucy
wrapped her arms around her waist and started rocking. “Oh my God… oh my God.”

Hugh
pulled her into him and wrapped her in a warm hug. “Shhhh… it’ll be all right.”

Ramsey
turned to Adelaide, who stood there with tears running down her cheeks. “Do you
see or feel anything different with your relationship to her?”

Adelaide
sniffed, and then her face went blank as she reached for her power. She had the
ability to see relationships in the form of colored strands of light. “It’s
hard to tell ‘cause she’s not here, and I see relationships better when people
are right in front of me. But it’s not gone. That has to be good, right?”

“That’s
better than good,” Ellie said. “That must mean that she’s still alive at least.”
She glanced at Griffin, and everyone waited patiently through their mental
conversation. The twins shared a unique connection that allowed them to share
each other’s powers. They’d been talking through Griffin’s telepathy most of
their lives. The rest of the family were used to it now. After a moment Griffin
shook his head.

Ramsey,
who had felt a tiny amount of hope at Adelaide’s words, deflated again. Griffin
obviously couldn’t hear Lila anywhere. He had just one more option for them to
try.

I
hope to heaven this works.

He
turned to the group. “I didn’t want to share this yet, in case I raised false
hopes… but I saw Lila the other night in a dream.”

No
one said anything, but they all looked at Selene, who had the ability to visit
people in their dreams. Ramsey turned to her and described the dream to her – without
the details about Lila in the pond, of course – but how it felt and most of
what he saw.

Selene
let out a long breath. “The grey mist you described sounds a lot like what
dreams look like before they form. That’s usually when I enter, so I see it a
lot.”

“So
you agree that maybe it was Lila’s dream?” Ramsey asked.

Selene
made a little clucking noise. “Hard to say. It might just have been your own
dream. Or Maddox could’ve been trying to control you. He has that ability,
remember?”

“If
it was Lila, and our link lets her contact me that way, wouldn’t it be worth a
try to see if you can step in and communicate with her?”

“Absolutely
worth the try. We can try now…”

“But?”

Selene
scrunched up her face. “Well, first of all, there are a lot of ‘ifs’ in there.
If
it’s Lila.
If
she’s reaching you through dreams…”

“And…?”

“Well…
if
all those are true…what if she can’t reach you that way now, nor you
her, because your link is gone?”

Ramsey
sat down on a nearby log and put his head in his hands. “I’ve never felt so
helpless. I wish to hell I knew what to do,” he groaned.

Selene
walked over and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You do. You’re doing everything
you can.”

“It’s
not enough!”

A nearby
bush suddenly burst into flames. Selene didn’t move, but when Ramsey didn’t
immediately put it out, she cleared her throat. He looked up at the sound and
then, with the flick of a wrist, the fire died out. His head fell back into his
hands.

“Is
that happening more often?” Selene asked.

Ramsey
shrugged, but didn’t lift his head. “I’m a bit stressed out these days,” he
muttered.

“Is
it getting difficult to control?” she asked.

“Not
yet. Worried?” Now Ramsey did look up. Selene didn’t bother to hide the concern
on her face. Glancing over her shoulder, he saw the same expression on everyone
else’s faces too.

“Don’t
worry, I’ll tell you if it does.”

Selene
nodded, satisfied with that answer.

“Okay.
Let’s go see if we can find Lila in your dreams together.”

He
stood and moved to help get things arranged.

*****

“Ramsey.”
Selene’s soft voice floated through the grey mist surrounding him.

“Where
are you?” he called.

“Here,
but you have to let me in.”

“How?”

“Relax.
And picture me there, beside you.”

The
wisps of cloud and fog drifted away. Suddenly Ramsey was standing in a dense
forest. The sun broke through the canopy of trees in streamers of golden light.

“Nice.”
He whirled at the sound of Selene directly behind him. She stood there in a
shimmering white gown that set off her pale beauty to perfection. She looked
like a goddess.

“Where
are we?” he asked.

“You
tell me. The setting is always determined by the dreamer. Did you grow up in
the woods?”

Ramsey
raised his eyebrows. “I spent the first half of my life hiding in them.”

Selene
shrugged. “Then a forest is where you feel safest. Which is slightly ironic
given your particular gift.”

Ramsey
gave her a crooked smile. “I guess it is. Nice dress by the way.”

“Well,
the dress is also your work. This is how you picture me. I’m flattered.”

Ramsey
merely grunted by way of reply. “But this is my dream,” he realized. “Not
Lila’s. How are we supposed to find her?”

Selene
sat down on a nearby rock. “I’ve been thinking about that. We have one of two
options. First, I try to enter Lila’s dreams through your link. I’ve tried on
my own already and it hasn’t worked.”

“Okay.
What’s plan B?”

“Option
number two is that we wait here each night on the chance that she pulls you in
again. And I try to follow you through.”

“Griffin
okay with that?” Ramsey wondered. He wasn’t so sure he’d appreciate his girl
spending her nights with another man, even it was just a dream. Or maybe that
made it worse.

Selene
looked surprised. “What is it with men?” she muttered and rolled her eyes. “If
this becomes a regular thing, I’ll bring him into our shared dream. If we do
get pulled into Lila’s, he can maybe help get through to her mind.”

“Good
plan… I’m impressed.”

Selene
wrinkled her nose at him. “Okay. I’m going to try to find Lila through your
link. Give me a little bit.” She closed her eyes and sat perfectly still. At
first Ramsey watched her, waiting. And then he started pacing.

“Trying
to concentrate here,” she muttered.

“Sorry.”
Ramsey winced and then sat down and waited. At one point Selene gave a tiny gasp.
But the sound was so faint that when she didn’t move, Ramsey convinced himself
that he’d imagined it.

After
what seemed like an eternity, Selene opened her eyes. “The good news is that I
can feel her. Your link is definitely still there, though it’s faint at the
moment.”

“Thank
God.” Ramsey breathed a sigh of relief. The sick feeling inside him eased
slightly. “And the bad news?”

Selene
shook her head with a frown. “It’s as though she’s on the other side of a sound-proof
room with a one-way mirror. I can see her, but she can’t see or hear me.”

“So
what next?”

“Now
I bring Griffin in and see if he can help me break down that mental block.”

Selene
looked up to the sky. “Did you hear that, baby?” She appeared to be listening
to something. Ramsey waited, used to watching Ellie - and now Selene - communicate
with Griffin in this manner.

With
a nod she looked back at Ramsey. “He’ll be here in a minute. He was called away
for a second. Something to do with Talia apparently.”

“What?
Her watchdog missing?” Ramsey asked, referring to Nate. He’d noticed Nate’s
absence tonight.

“I
didn’t ask,” Selene said and gave Ramsey a sharp look. “What do you think about
her?”

“Talia?
I haven’t even talked to her yet. But based on just hearsay, my first
impression is that something’s not quite right with her.”

Selene
propped her chin on her hand. “I get that feeling as well.”

“What
feeling?” Griffin asked as he appeared from behind a tree.

“That
all is not as it appears to be with our little guest,” Selene filled him in.
“How is she?”

“Fine,”
Griffin said, in his typical stoic fashion. He sat down with his back against a
tree trunk and patted the ground between his legs. With a smile, Selene went
over and leaned back against him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her
in close.

“Ready
to try this?” he asked Selene.

“Yes.
Close your eyes and follow me through if you can,” she answered.

Once
again, Ramsey was left waiting and watching as the
te’sorthene
pair
didn’t move or speak while they tried to reach Lila.

This
time took even longer. But eventually they opened their eyes, and Ramsey’s
heart dropped at their twin expressions of frustration.

“No
luck?”

Griffin
rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I think I was able to nudge her a
little bit. I can’t quite reach her, but I tried to plant a thought in her
mind. I tried to make her think of Lucy.”

“And?”

“She
did mutter the word
Mom
,” Selene replied.

“But
then it was like she forgot it the second she thought it,” Griffin added.

“Okay.
Well, at the very least we can tell everyone that she’s alive,” Ramsey said.

Griffin
nodded. “I’d hoped for more, but it’s a start.”

“Me
too,” Ramsey muttered.

“We’ll
keep trying,” Selene assured him softly. “We’ll figure out a way to reach her.
I know we will.”

Ramsey
gave her a halfhearted grin. “If sheer stubbornness were a successful strategy,
no one would ever mess with this family. Especially our women.”

“Ain’t
that the truth,” Griffin muttered. Selene jabbed him with her elbow and then
leaned back to give him a kiss.

“Remember
what I told you about mixed messages?” Griffin teased her.

Selene
ignored him. “We’ll stay here with you the rest of the night.”

“Won’t
that be exhausting for you?” Ramsey frowned.

Selene
shook her head. “Because it’s a dream, our bodies are still getting the rest we
need. All three of us will just feel a little tired in the morning, because
it’s not the best sleep.”

“It’s
more important that we be here if Lila pulls you into her own dream,” Griffin
said. “And we can keep trying to reach her.”

“Do
you think we’ll get through to her?” Ramsey asked Selene.

She
gave him a direct look. “Well, I was never able to reach Talia,” she said. “But
even though you can’t feel it, I’d think that your special connection to her
gives us a better chance.”

Ramsey
nodded. “We’ll reach her,” he said with more conviction than he felt.

…
God,
please let us reach her.

Ramsey?
Gosh that name sounds familiar.

Lila
roused herself enough to look around. She lifted a lazy hand and swirled
patterns in the thick grey mist surrounding her.
Ramsey. Ramsey. Ramsey…

That
name meant something to her.

Lila’s
brow furrowed as the image of a tall boy with dark red hair and serious green
eyes flashed through her mind.

Ramsey.

“Lila,”
she heard a
voice echo through the clouds surrounding her. A familiar one. The deep timbre
of that voice skittered down her spine.

Who
was he?
The answer to the question was just on the tip of her brain. Just out of her
reach. Her lids drifted shut again.

“Lila,
can you hear us?”
A female voice this time. Another familiar feeling. A pulling sensation ran
through her. As if she were a kite on a string being reeled back to her owner.

With
a gasp, Lila’s eyes shot back open. The fog had drifted away, and she was
standing in a clearing surrounded by trees and mountains.
Was this a dream?
Or a memory?

She
looked around and felt that she knew this place.
A memory then?

A
group of people stood on either side of her, but she didn’t know who they were.
She tried to look more closely, but their faces and forms were blurred images.
She then focused on two other people standing across from her in the clearing,
a boy with red hair and a girl with black. The boy… what was his name?

Ramsey?

“We’ll
need Lila,” the girl called.

Lila
started to walk across the field toward them. As she drew near, the boy shook
his head vehemently. “I don’t want her anywhere near me!”

Devastation
ripped through Lila. He didn’t want her. The pain of that knowledge was almost
overwhelming. But Ellie—
that
was the girl’s name. This
was
a
memory!

It
was all starting to come back to her. Ellie was able to manipulate other
people’s powers when she was touching them.

Lila
managed to control the painful feelings ricocheting inside her. Ellie murmured
something to Ramsey, and he turned to see Lila standing right behind him. With
a grim expression on his face, he said nothing and turned back to Ellie.

Lila
took a deep breath, trying to collect herself. “You wanted me to come over?”
she asked Ellie, refusing to even look at Ramsey.

“Lila,
I think you may have an untapped power,” Ellie stated.

Lila
was mildly surprised but nodded. She was aware of a vague feeling of déjà vu.
She knew just what she was going to say, although she didn’t know why. “Does it
have something to do with my Dad’s healing ability?”

“Good
guess. I think you have the ability to heal people’s emotions.”

Lila
felt Ramsey flinch. He turned to Ellie. “Do you think that’s why I have better
control around them than by myself?” he asked her softly.

“Yes.
I think once Lila masters her skill, she can help you learn to master your
emotions. Eventually, you won’t need her help. Until then, though, she can at
least give you some unconscious help.”

Lila
wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. Would that mean having to spend
time together? Ramsey clearly wouldn’t like that
.
She could feel the
tension rolling off him in waves.

Ellie
looked directly at Lila. “I’d like to try something just with you for a second,
and if my guess is right, then we can work with Ramsey together.”

“Sure.”
Lila immediately held out her hand to Ellie.

“Don’t
go away,” Ellie directed Ramsey and then let go of his hands to take Lila’s.

Lila
stood very still as Ellie did…well… whatever it was that Ellie did.

“Woo!
Lila, you will have some fun mastering these skills,” Ellie assured her with a
conspiratorial grin.

Lila’s
heart sped up. For whatever reason, that meant something positive to her in
this memory.

After
another second Ellie said “Oh!” and looked up. Lila glanced over her shoulder
to see that all the other people were walking toward them. She still couldn’t
quite place them but realized she should know them. She watched in confusion as
they talked to Ellie for a second.

A
tall boy with dark hair whispered something in Ellie’s ear that made her face
light up. And then a boy with golden hair moved to stand beside her. He took
Ellie’s and Lila’s hands and made a little circle.

Lila
gasped. She
did
remember this. This
was
a memory. Griffin. That
was the boy’s name. Griffin and Ellie worked together to show her how to use
her gift to heal people’s emotions.

“Do
you know where you are?” Ellie asked in a voice that didn’t quite sound like
hers.

Lila
frowned. That wasn’t what happened next. More memories flooded her mind. They
were supposed to work with Ramsey next. Right? She remembered… she looked
around at the other people standing around them. Their faces now clear and
recognizable. Tears filled her eyes.

How
could I have forgotten my parents? My sister?

She
lifted her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God. What’s happening to me?”

Suddenly
all of the figures around her dissolved. “Don’t go!” she cried and reached out
her hand.

“Lila?”
a female voice called her name. “Lila, can you hear me?”

“Selene?”
she called back. Confusion overwhelmed her. What was happening?

“Yes.
I’m here. You’re caught in some kind of perpetual dream. Can you relax? Picture
me standing there beside you? Picture me with Ramsey and Griffin? Can you do
that?”

“I’ll
try,” Lila called back. She was afraid to close her eyes. The last time she’d
done that the grey fog had taken over.

 “We’re
here, Lila,” Ramsey said. She turned at the sound of his voice. She had to stop
herself from running to him. He wouldn’t want that.

He
approached her slowly, as though he thought she’d be frightened. But he’d never
scared her. Even when he’d gotten really angry and flames had jumped from his
hands, she’d known he’d never hurt her. Griffin and Selene appeared on either
side of him.

Then
something occurred to her. “Wait. Why are you in my dreams? How do I know
you’re even you?”

Ramsey
stepped toward her. “Not long after we moved to Estes Park, you wrote a note on
my bathroom mirror in lipstick. Do you remember?”

“You
were so mad,” Lila whispered. She looked up at him sharply. “What did it say?”

Ramsey
shifted, his mouth compressed. “It said, ‘This is the last kiss you’ll ever get
from me.’ And it had lips drawn.”

Griffin
choked back a chuckle.

“Laugh,
Aubrey,” Ramsey snapped, “and I’ll send a fireball up your—”

“Enough
of that now,” Selene said, trying to hide her own amusement.

Lila
frowned. “What if you’re just a really good telepath that pulled that memory
from my mind? What if you’re all a figment of my imagination?”

Ramsey
shrugged. “Selene?”

Lila’s
gaze shifted to her friend. “Dream control,” she muttered as it all started to
come together. “You brought them in?”

Selene
nodded. “Sort of. You are connected with Ramsey in an interesting way. So we’re
here by way of your connection, my dream control, and Griffin’s telepathy.”

“And
where is here?” Lila asked.

“We
were hoping you could tell us,” Ramsey said. “We’ve been trying to track you
down.”

Lila
frowned again. “Why would you need to track me—?” More images and memories
flashed through her mind. “Maddox.”

“Yes.
He’s got you somewhere, and we can’t find you.” Ramsey said. “Can you tell us
where you are?”

Lila
shook her head, confused by the angry tone in Ramsey’s voice. “I don’t know
much. They kept us in cells. Underground I think. The walls were rock, and I
was always cold.”

“Are
you still there?” Griffin asked.

Lila
struggled to find her memories. She closed her eyes to better picture things.
“I think so. They dragged me through hallways and up an elevator, but never out
of the area. I’m in a separate room now, strapped to a table.”

“Griffin,
did you catch any of that?” Ramsey asked.

“Yeah.”

Selene
rolled her eyes at her fiancé’s brief answer. “Is it enough to find her?”

“No.
Once we get to where they’re holding her, we probably could find her. But she
doesn’t know exactly where that is,” Griffin said.

“Underground,”
Ramsey muttered. Everyone turned to look at him.

“What
about it?” Lila prompted.

Ramsey
eyed her as though anticipating her reaction to what he was about to say. “I
feel a link with you.”

Lila
snorted. “Since when.”

Ramsey
frowned and stepped right up to her, within inches of touching. But she
couldn’t feel his warmth, though this close up she should be able to. “Since
you decided to go off on your own adventures. I’ve known every second where you
were and how you were.”

Lila
paled. “How?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“I
don’t know. I started feeling it around the time of Maddox’s attack on the
Vyusher castle.” Ramsey took a deep breath and backed away to give them both
space to breathe. “But it disappeared just recently. I was using it to try to
find you.”

“Do
you think you know where she is?”

Lila
caught her breath at the hope she could suddenly see in Ramsey’s eyes. It was a
desperate sort of hope. Wild.

“I
think so,” he said, his eyes never wavering from hers. “She’s underground.
Right where I stopped feeling her is my bet. It’s why I could feel her in those
woods so constantly but never find her. She was under my feet.”

“Jeez,”
Griffin muttered. “All this time.”

“So
how do we get her out?” Selene asked. “What’s the plan?”

Griffin
turned to Lila. “Do you know how many of Maddox’s people are down there?”

Lila
shook her head.

“Then
we’d better gather a hefty group to go,” Griffin said. “Just in case we face a
lot of resistance.”

“I’ll
just wait here then, I guess,” Lila said.

“I
think Griffin needs to stay with you, to keep that line of communication open
until we can get to you,” Ramsey said.

Lila
glanced at Ramsey’s determined expression and then looked back to Selene.
“Why?”

“If
we all leave, then you could disappear back into that fog again. I’m fairly
certain it’s the same stasis Talia was in.”

Lila
gave her a confused look, “Uh… who’s Talia?”

“Oh!”
Selene made a face. “Talia is that sleeping girl. She woke up just recently.”

“Sheesh.
I get myself just a little bit captured, and all sorts of interesting things
happen.”

“Not
funny,” Ramsey muttered to Lila.

She
shrugged. “Yeah, it was. You just don’t have any sense of humor.”

Ramsey
turned to face her, “Griffin’s telepathy can keep him here with you. Selene
will need to organize the Vyusher coming with us. We’ll be as fast as we can. A
few hours maybe.”

“O—”

Ramsey
and Selene disappeared.

“—kay,”
Lila finished on a drawn out breath.

She
glanced at Griffin who just shrugged. “It’s good to see you, Lila.”

She
sent him a halfhearted smile, but her eyes remained on where Ramsey had just
been standing.

And
she hated that it felt like a little piece of her had left when he did.