Find Me If You Dare (Dreamcatcher Book 2) (17 page)

Ivan leaned forward, his dark eyes full of tears, and kissed his girlfriend on the forehead. I rested Lian’s hand on her stomach and touched my friend’s shoulder.

“She’s going to be all right,” I said. “Don’t give up on her.”

He nodded, his gaze never leaving Lian’s face. Seeing him filled me with an image of what Kayla must’ve looked like when I’d been unconscious. I ground my teeth. No one should ever have to watch a loved one suffer.

“Here, Ivan,” Kayla said from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. She set an ice bucket on the nightstand. The outside was frosted, and water filled the container. “It helps if you have cold water next to the bed so you can keep the rag chilled. I froze the outside to keep it cold for a while.”

Ivan nodded, brushing Lian’s hair from her face. A corner of my mouth twitched, wanting to smile, but my heart hurt too much. My friends were in so much pain. Instead, I sunk into the mattress, praying this war ended soon.

Kayla touched my arm. “Come on. Let’s go next door.”

I nodded, patting Ivan’s shoulder again, and rose from the bed. In the doorway, Seth and Tabbi stood, their hands grasped like siblings, and near the window, Shawn watched, his dark face ashen. I turned to Kayla. “Do you know the warding spells?”

She nodded. “I already put them up. Nightmares can’t get in.”

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I drew her close and kissed the side of her head. We followed the others out of the room, pulling the door shut behind us. Seth, Tabbi, and Shawn entered the adjacent room, but when Kayla trailed behind them, I let go.

“I need a minute,” I said, my fingers twitching. The longing for a punching bag was overwhelming.

Kayla narrowed her eyes and shut the door to the other room, staying outside with me.

I sighed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I simply need to clear my head. Join the others.”

She rubbed her arms. “It’s okay. I don’t mind being out here with you.” But her gaze darted across the parking lot. The way she’d handled herself with Ivan and Lian told me she’d calmed since the attack in Philadelphia, but she was still as frightened as I was—though I hated to admit it.

“I was going to go for a jog. Sure you want to stay with me?” I asked. Truth was: I probably would’ve ended up punching trees or shattering car windshields to calm my anger and my nerves. But a good, long run would do the trick, too. Except, with Kayla beside me, I wouldn’t be able to sprint until I vomited. She wouldn’t last that long.

Kayla bit her lip. “Can we maybe just talk or something?”

I sighed; I hated talking. Punching things was much more satisfying. “Yeah, all right. But first sign of Nightmares, we race back to the room.”

She nodded.

Eyeing a spot of grass next to the motel’s parking lot, I took Kayla’s hand in mine and walked until we reached the lawn. Together, we plopped on the earth and lay on our backs, staring at the clear, dark blue sky.

“I’m sure Lian will be fine,” Kayla said.

I agreed but didn’t reply. There was no point. Even when Lian recovered, thousands of people would continue to fall ill or die. Richard had doomed the world to a terrible fate, and we’d done nothing to stop him. Lian would simply wake to more death and destruction. She deserved so much better.

“I talked to Nolan,” she continued. “He said lots of people were getting sick in Caelum. What do we do now?”

I flinched at the mention of Nolan’s name, remembering I still kept his secret from Kayla. But now was not the time to share it, even if I wanted to. She’d gone through too many emotions today. “I don’t know. Bartholomew’s called us back, so after we check in, we keep up the search for Richard, I guess. We try to stop whatever he’s planning next.”

Her hand stiffened in mine. A warm, summer breeze blew across my body, and lightning bugs danced above us. Kayla stared at the sky, an arm behind her head. Moonlight glistened in her watery eyes. I ran my fingertips along her neck, untucking a long strand of dark hair from her cleavage.

“We will end this,” I said, moving my gaze from her chest before I got carried away. “I can promise you that. One way or another, Richard will get what he deserves.”

Kayla bit her lip. “But, what if I’m that next step? Margaret was able to create this poison, right? Maybe I’m capable of something like that, too, but worse. I mean, I am his daughter, and I—”

“That’s enough.” I rolled onto my side and turned her face to me. “We’ve been over this. You have his power, but you don’t have his vile heart. Whatever happens, you’ll stop it, not play a part in it.”

Kayla’s chin trembled, but I kept my gaze locked with hers, determined to make her believe she was capable of so much more than death and destruction. She nodded, finally, and I brushed my lips against hers. They were so warm, so soft. I couldn’t stop the flutter in my chest. She’d been so strong, so brave these last few days; I was so proud of her—so in love with her. I wrapped an arm around her and drew her closer, kissing her harder. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had a moment alone, and after everything we’d gone through—everything that was about to happen—I wanted to lose myself in her.

The smell of sulfur hit me, and I shot upright. In the distance, a black figure loomed, red eyes glowing from behind a tree. Damn. It slithered toward us like a lioness stalking her dinner.

“Come on. Time to go.” I stood and pulled Kayla to her feet. A hand pressed between her shoulder blades, I rushed her through the parking lot and into the motel room where the Nightmare couldn’t get her. I slammed the door closed, and everyone’s gazes snapped toward us.

“Sorry. Relax,” I said, ushering Kayla to the desk’s chair. Other than the two double beds, it was the only seat left. Shawn sprawled across one mattress, and Seth and Tabbi watched the television from the other. I stood between them, my arms crossed over my chest.

“Preliminary reports estimate a total of 34,000 people died today between the seventeen cities that were massacred by a still-unnamed terrorist cell,” the reporter said. “All flights are grounded across the country, and the president is urging civilians to stay in their homes except in cases of emergency.”

“This is freakin’ insane,” Seth said. “Why go to the trouble of killing so many people and not take responsibility?”

I stepped forward and punched the off button. “Because Richard isn’t seeking fame. He’s looking for a way to spread Margaret’s disease. Simple as that. The corpses will transfer the disease, and it’ll spread like wildfire. Thousands of people will die.”

“Which is what he’s wanted all along,” Kayla said. “Ridding the world of ‘normal people’ is his ultimate plan.”

“So, what’s our next move? We can’t just return to Caelum,” Shawn said.

I shook my head. “We have to obey Bartholomew. It will only take us a few hours to reach the Allegheny Tunnel. He may have uncovered information, and we can’t consciously disobey him.”

“Oh, look at you, good soldier,” Shawn continued. “Well, I’m staying behind and searching for that bastard. Someone needs to put a stop to him.”

Heat filled my chest. “And you think that you, by yourself, will be capable of doing so?”

Shawn stood from the bed, sizing me up. “Hell yeah, I do. I’m even starting to think Trishna’s in on the whole thing, like Giovanni was. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have me taking orders from some pansy, his band of teenage misfits, and Richard’s messed-up daughter who’s a time bomb waiting to explode.”

I nodded, a sneer on my face as warmth spread from my toes to my head—and clocked him in the face. With a shriek, he spun, falling onto the bed.

“Daniel!” Kayla yelled, lunging at me.

I stepped forward, twisting Shawn’s arms behind his back, nearly popping his shoulders out of their sockets. He groaned and tried to buck me off, but I dug my knee into the small of his back. He shouted.

“You speak about Kayla like that again, I will break your arms. Do you hear me?” I yelled.

“Man, stop,” Seth said, a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged it off as Shawn nodded, swearing at me.

“And from now on, you will do what I say. I’ve had enough people get hurt on my watch. Damn it, Shawn, I’m only trying to keep you safe.” I pushed him into the mattress and let go, standing straight.

With a wince, he lifted himself into a seated position, rubbing his lower spine. “Fuck you, kid.”

“Feeling’s mutual.”

Kayla came out of nowhere, grabbing my wrist and yanking me to the bathroom. She shut the door, separating us from the others, and spoke as sternly as she could with her voice hushed. “What is
wrong
with you? He’s your teammate, not the bad guy.”

I clenched my jaw shut, unable to come down from my adrenaline high. My hands shook, itching to punch something else, and my gaze darted around the room. What I’d done was wrong, yes, and I was going to pay for it when I calmed and guilt wracked me from head to toe, but damn it—

Kayla grabbed my face. “Hey, look at me.”

I caught her gaze. It was full of concern and love, not the reprimand I expected to find. Instantly, my fury calmed, lost in the golds and greens of her eyes and the feel of her soft hands on my cheeks. I held her wrists as my stomach hardened. I never should’ve reacted like I did.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. I get why you hit him, but you can’t punch people every time they say something bad about me. Otherwise, you’d be hitting people a lot.”

I frowned. Trishna’s followers never spoke of Kayla around me. But, subconsciously, I knew that sort of gossip had to exist. The fact that Kayla validated it, though, made my muscles tighten again.

“Daniel.” She shook my head gently.

“I’ll talk to Shawn,” I said, stroking her wrists with my thumbs, calming my rapid heart rate as best as I could.

Kayla sighed and pressed her lips lightly against mine. “You’re a good leader. Don’t let him make you think otherwise.”

A corner of my mouth twitched. “I love you.”

“Ditto.”

This time, I couldn’t help but smile. “Since when did we start saying that?”

She grinned. “Since now.”

With a chuckle, I kissed her again, and then I opened the bathroom door to make more apologies.

woke the next morning with a crick in my neck. Seth, Shawn, and I had given the girls the beds and slept on rotting carpet—which meant I now smelled like piss and cigarettes and moved like an eighty-year-old. I stretched my spine as best as I could, then wandered next door.

After checking on Lian and finding there was no change, we packed our bags, anxious to get to Caelum. It was a cozy squeeze in the van with Ivan and Lian in the back so she could lay on the bench seat, Tabbi and Shawn up front, and Seth on the floor between my and Kayla’s captain chairs.

“This is snuggly,” Seth said as Shawn pulled out of the parking lot, heading for the Allegheny Tunnel.

When we reached Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Shawn called out that we needed gas. Tabbi wasted no time shouting that she was starving, and when word got around the vehicle, everyone wanted a Coke and junk food. Ivan stayed in the van with Lian while Seth, Tabbi, Kayla, and I entered the food mart.

The place smelled like burned hot dogs and strong coffee. With a crinkled nose, I headed toward the back to grab drinks while Seth and the girls loaded up on snacks. Goose pimples rose on my skin as I shoved bottle after bottle of cold liquid into my arms and headed for the counter.