Spiral (Spiral Series) (24 page)

Until now.

I pondered his hatred of Pierce. I had wanted to talk to him about it, but he had left before I could.

The trouble was I didn’t hate Pierce at all. Or Jackson
either
, which meant I had a problem
. But I couldn’t solve it right now, so I decided to try to get back to sleep.
With only a couple of hours left before sunup I was reasonably sure I wouldn’t have the nightmares again.

I flopped back down on my pillow, intent on sleeping
, but I couldn’t get comfortable
. Frustrated, I
turned
onto my side.
At that point merely e
xisting
seemed
stressful
enough, but when I rolled over, a
searing pain on my forehead made me yelp in surprise
.
I sat up with a start, hurrying to rub my fingers over the offended spot on my head.

“Ouch,” I muttered. I didn’t find what I was expecting. Instead of smooth skin where my hairline hit my forehead
,
I felt a lump.

Well, it was bigger than a lump.

I scrambled out of bed,
keeping my right hand on my head even though
panic
was
making my hands shake.

Flicking on my bedroom light I dashed over to my mirror
. H
orror
made
my jaw drop
at what I saw
.
I stared at myself, feeling
the
panic over
whelm
me
as I tried
to force air into my deprived lungs.

I had a massive pimple on my head.

Well, no, it looked more like a horn, but who had horns sticking out of their heads?

Crazy people! So, we were back to that. More proof that I had lost my mind. Was the hard surface of the giant zit on my forehead real
,
or was I imagining it? I felt like my mind was spinning out of control as I fell further and further down a black hole. I gave a tiny sob as I examined my head more closely.

“This is not real,” I muttered to myself. “I am dreaming. This is another bad dream. And it’s not real. Maybe I suddenly got cancer and this is what that looks like.” I highly doubted it, but seriously
,
who did stuff like this happen to? I was slowly turning into a white rhino
ceros
.

The horn/pimple/ruination of my life was a bright silvery white. If I hadn’t been so unbelievably panic
k
ed I
might
have thought it was beautiful. Instead, I wanted to throw myself down on the floor and cry.

Gently, I wrapped my hands around the thing and tugged, only yelping slightly when it pulled at the skin around my head. That hurt. It was st
u
ck in there under my skin
in
stead of somehow glued to it.

That just made everything worse.

Desperately trying to stay calm
,
I fled back to my bed. Maybe if I didn’t look
at it,
it would disappear.

Solid plan
,
Nat!
I told myself, pulling the covers up to my chin. I wanted to text Jackson and tell him what was happening, but I was too
angry right now
.
Still, i
f this dream turned out to be real I would have to show him
sooner or later
.
And m
y dad wou
l
d have fits. Like those children you read about in magazines
who
were born with pigs
’
tails or something
,
I might have to have surgery. I felt more crazy than ever, my mind racing faster than I could keep up with it. I had stopped making sense a long time ago.

Breathe, I told myself
.

I forced my eyes closed, willing the painful horn at the top of my head to disappear. “When I wake up, it will be gone,” I muttered to myself. “I won’t see it any more.”

I don’t know how I
finally
fell asleep, but I must have, because when I opened my eyes again
there
was
day
light out
side
.

I was still lying on my back, clutching the blanket up to my chin.

Take a deep breath and pretend you’re like everyone else, I told myself as I pulled my body out of bed. I felt stiff,
as if
I had been running, but I knew my muscles were just fatigued from stress.

Tentatively,
as if
I was worried a monster was going to leap out of my mirror and eat me, I moved to stand in front of the glass.

There was my reflection
:
a
pale, white
-
haired girl star
ing
back
at me
. I was thin, but not wa
i
flike, and my silver eyes burned brightly in my face.

To my utter astonishment and relief, the top of my head looked totally normal. There was no horn,
no
pimple,
no
massive cancerous lump. I breathed a huge sigh, but my hands still shook.
Leaning closer to the mirror, I examined my hairline more carefully and felt a slight prickle of fear when I saw what looked like a tiny scar hidden there, with skin that was scabbed over and shining. 

Maybe my nightmares were expanding bey
o
nd the Snake Man.

I needed to talk to someone, and the only possible someone was Jackson.  I grabbed my phone to text him.

I’m coming over right after school. Get excited - Nat

Can’t stand to be away from me? - Jackson

You’re funny - Nat

I know - Jackson

Don’t let it go to your head - Nat

Too late - Jackson

I also planned to go see Mrs. Tiger.  Since she was the town “witch,” I was hoping she might have some insight into what was happening to me. Despite how much I cared about Jackson, lately he had been kind of a jerk, and the horn sticking out of my head was one thing I was not going to tell him about. But the worsening dreams - that was another story.

After school, my dad gave me a ride to Jackson’s place. He lived an odd sort of existence with parents who never seemed to be around; in other words, he basically lived alone. He never wanted to hang out at his place, but I figured he was letting me visit today because he felt bad about how he had acted at my birthday dinner.

“Hey,” he said, opening the door dressed in a dirty white t-shirt and jeans. He could make anything look good. I scowled.

“Hey,” I said.

“You haven’t seen Pierce outside of school, have you?” he murmured.

“So, what if I have?” I muttered. “It’s none of your business.”

“Look, Nat,” he said, sounding exasperated as he led me into his tiny kitchen. “The guy is trouble.”

“That doesn’t explain anything. And anyhow, maybe I could use a little trouble in my life,” I countered. Why was he ordering me to stay away from the first guy who had shown an interest in me in, well . . . ever? And what right did he have to be giving me orders anyhow?

But I was determined to know why he didn’t like him, so I tried not to start a fight.

“Did anything happen last night?” he asked. My eyes grew wide with panic.

“Um, no, just the usual dreams,” I said. Now that Jackson was curious I didn’t have the guts to tell him.

Jackson’s eyes searched my face.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “You look upset, and stuff always happens on your birthdays.”

I’m out of my freaking mind with worry, I thought to myself, and just out of my freaking mind. Of course I’m upset. I just want to know what’s wrong with me. But I couldn’t say any of that out loud, not even to Jackson.

Some of my inner turmoil must have shown on my face, though, because Jackson’s eyes widened further.

“You would tell me if something happened, wouldn’t you?” he asked, gently reaching out a hand to touch my cheek. My eyes closed in anticipation of his touch. Sometimes I wondered if he knew how much his touch affected me.

“Look, Nat, I know you think there’s something wrong with you. I know you’ve always thought there was something wrong with you, but there isn’t. There never has been. You’re great. In this moment, in all the past and future, you’re the best.”

I stared at him. Jackson rarely complimented me or anyone. He wasn’t harsh, but he used words with care. I wanted to throw myself around his neck, but if I had done that he would have had to pry me off. I let it be.

I hadn’t expected them to come for me. Yeah, I was in their territory, but so what? Natalie had lived in their territory for years and they had never come for her. Of course, my aunt had probably made a deal with the Deker unicorn tribe that
said that
they would leave Natalie alone.

Apparently no such deal had been made for me.

I was pulled roughly out of my bed. One of my t-shirts
was
thrown at me as I was forced to yank on a pair of jeans. I had been napping and was still groggy from sleep. I was sure I could have fought them off, but I didn’t try. They had brought five guys to
take
me in.

I wondered vaguely where Eric was as they hustled me out to a waiting van.

As a Watchful
, Eric
needed work.

“Is this really necessary?” I murmured, knowing that my calm exterior would only piss them off more. I didn’t care that I
would be
wasting the afternoon talking to another unicorn tribe, but I was worried about Natalie. A tightness filled my chest when I thought
of
her being attacked. I needed to check on her today
,
and I couldn’t do that if I was playing politics with my fellow unicorns.