The Gathering Darkness (16 page)

“I got your message,” he said grinning.

Despite everything, I blushed, remembering the XO I’d left him, but I had no smiles.

His grin quickly dwindled. “What’s wrong?”

With the pendant still in my grasp, I cleared my throat and asked, “Did you dream about me last night?” I gnawed on my bottom lip, waiting for his reply.

His look darkened considerably. “I did, but it was different this time. I heard you, but your voice sounded far away, and I couldn’t find you.”

I listened to his recount of the dream, one knee bouncing frantically up and down.

“I tried following your voice. I yelled to you over and over, but you didn’t answer. Just before I woke up, you yelled out the name, ‘Christian.’”

Suddenly overwhelmed, I thought I might cry. It took all my efforts to keep composed. I swallowed and cleared my throat again. “I wandered for hours in the dark, but you never came.” I bit down on my bottom lip to keep it from trembling.

Although there was no way he could know the extent of my nightmare, the pained look in his eyes revealed the helplessness he felt for failing me. He took the steps two at a time until he was on my level and sat down beside me.

“Brooke, I’m so sorry. I tried, but I just couldn’t find you.” He shook his head, as if not knowing what else to say.

“
They
found me,” I whispered, still terrified as I spoke about them out loud.

“Who?”

I glanced over at Sammy and her friends briefly then back to Marcus. “The ones who’d been looking for me—the black-robed ones.” I didn’t want to tell him who
they
were, because however real the dream was, the faces under the hoods were just figments of my imagination. I let go of the pendant, which was now imprinted into my palm, and let it lay outside my clothing.

Marcus’ eyes dropped to it. I gazed across the field. Sometime during the last ten minutes, the two sophomores had left. I let out a deep breath and began.

“They chased me through the dark until I fell over a gravestone. They surrounded me, and then they vanished, leaving behind a circle of fire. I was in the middle. I couldn’t escape. I felt the heat. I could smell my skin burning. I … .”

When I felt Marcus’ hand squeeze my shoulder, whatever else I was about to say was lost. I turned my head to look at him. His already dark eyes had deepened to bitter chocolate. His brows pulled together deepening the line between them.

“I saw the engraving on the gravestone, Claire Elizabeth Day, 1896 – 1912. Exactly one hundred years ago, Claire died when she was sixteen.” It was an effort to swallow past the lump in my throat.

“It was just a dream, Brooke.”

“Was it? And all our lives; were they just dreams too? Meaningless dreams?”

He sighed. “They have to be, don’t they?”

“What about Claire? Your Claire and my Claire. They have to be the same person. It’s too much of a coincidence to be otherwise.”

He shifted closer to me and gathered me into his arms. I leaned into him easily and found the nerve to lay my head against his chest. I felt his breath move my hair as the side of his face pressed gently to the back of my head. His embrace felt so natural, so comforting and protective.

With the rise of his chest, I breathed him in. Today he smelled of fresh linens and cinnamon gum. His hand drifted from my shoulder to my back, awakening the sting of my wounds. I lifted my head away from his heartbeat and told him what else I’d seen.

“There’s something else. On the gravestone, above Claire’s name, the word ‘Witch’ was written in blood.” I took a deep, shuddering breath. “Why didn’t you come?”

His shoulders rose then fell. “I don’t know why I couldn’t find you this time. I never stopped searching until I woke up. And then, I had the most horrible feeling. And I couldn’t wait to see you today.”

For me, it was all worth it to hear him say those last words. I angled my face more toward his. For the first time, his eyes rested on the inch long cut above my right eye.

“What happened?” he asked.

I turned my head the rest of the way to face him, watching his gaze slide from the cut above my eyebrow to the gravel burn on my cheek, to the cut on my chin. Wordless, I bent forward and pulled one pant leg up, exposing a leg covered in numerous cuts and bruises. His gasp confirmed his shock. I pulled the other pant leg up. That leg looked the same. Under the jagged crimson lines, swollen bumps had formed. Some cuts slashed through bruises, some crisscrossed each other. They all looked angry.

Marcus stiffened against me, cursing under his breath. “How did you do that?”

I looked at him helpless. “They were there when I woke up. It happened in my nightmare while I was running through the trees. I’d swear the branches were reaching out for me.” I shuddered and pushed the pant legs back down to my ankles. “They’re all over me.” I unzipped my hoodie and pushed one shoulder down, exposing two plump scratches, one slashed through the other. I turned my head, suppressing tears until my throat hurt again.

“I feel like I need an exorcism.” I let out a sharp breath, almost a laugh. “The whole thing is my fault anyway.” Through my bangs, I glanced at the students in the school yard, laughing, oblivious to my torment, then lowered my head and stared at my sneakers. “I took the pendant off before going to bed.”

Marcus shifted beside me, angling himself toward me. “Why would you take the pendant off?”

Because I wanted you to come to me in my dream
—yeah, as if I would admit that out loud. I lifted my head and looked at him apologetically, not offering an explanation.

“Wahoo, check those two out,” Robyn yelled out from halfway across the field.

She and Sammy were coming this way—an unwelcome distraction. Marcus pulled his arm from around me and sat forward, leaning on his thighs.

“Damn. I don’t need this right now,” I said.

“Do you want to go somewhere? We can take the car.”

Before I could answer, Sammy interrupted.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Sammy stood at the bottom of the bleachers with one hand on her hip and one eyebrow raised. “Did I interrupt your studying, Brooke?”

I rolled my eyes at her.

“So what’s up? Are you guys studying?” Robyn asked, innocent enough. At least she seemed friendly.

Sammy was acting like Megan. I was confused by her sudden sarcasm and just wanted them to leave.

“The whole school’s talking about you two right now. I just thought I’d come and share that with you,” Sammy said. I felt heat rise to the surface of my cheeks.

“What’s your problem, Sammy?”

“Why would you think I had a problem, Brooke?” I had to pull my eyes from her piercing glare. She suddenly reminded me of the Sammy in my nightmare.

The bell rang, saving me. Sammy and Robyn skipped off toward the school hand-in-hand.

“Are you two having a fight or something?” Marcus asked.

I regretted not telling him everything about my nightmare; at least then he would have understood.

“No, not really.” I sighed. “Let’s just go to class.”

By the time I stood up, my muscles were stiff and sore again. My lacerations didn’t feel that great either.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

I nodded.

“There must be something we can do to stop these nightmares. You can’t wear that thing around your neck for the rest of your life.”

The word “we” was all that registered. He was making my problem
our
problem, and I didn’t feel alone anymore.

Once inside the school, Marcus walked me to class. I stopped in front of my locker and turned to look at him. “I guess I’ll see you later,” I said trying to smile without hurting my scraped cheek.

“I’m really sorry about last night.”

I shrugged. “It was just a dream, right?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t look convinced. “Hey, are you sure you don’t want to skip school and go somewhere else?”

We’d been late getting in. The hallway was empty. I considered his offer and was on the verge of taking it, when Ms. Myra came to close the classroom door and saw me lingering back. She looked at me over her glasses, where they sat on the end of her nose, and waited silently with one hand on the door knob. I looked at Marcus and shrugged. It was too late now. I had no choice but to go to class.

As the morning wore on, I became detached from Sammy and Robyn, so I didn’t go to the cafeteria during lunch. Instead, I went outside to the bleachers. I thought Marcus might come and look for me there. The field was empty at first.

The clouds threatened rain, but it was warm. I didn’t feel like eating, so I sipped an energy drink instead. Finally Marcus came out, but not as I’d expected. The school soccer team came out to practice, and of course Marcus was with them.

Great
. Now the whole soccer team would think I came here to watch Marcus. After a half-hour, I got tired of sitting there. It was obvious Marcus couldn’t leave the group, or maybe he didn’t want to. I went back into the school, avoiding the cafeteria, and went straight upstairs to his homeroom. His leather jacket hung on the back of his desk. With an idea in mind, I sat at his desk and took out a pen and a pad of sticky notes from my bag. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I held the pen over the notepad. There were several things I wanted to write down, but this wasn’t the time to pour my heart out. Finally I wrote:

Thanks for this morning.

Too bad about lunch.

See you at work tonight.

B. D.

I almost added a heart at the bottom but thought better of it. I smiled at my subtle love note and then quickly folded the lime-green square into four and stuck it in his jacket pocket, letting my hand linger there a moment.

It was hard to concentrate on school work that afternoon. I had mini anxiety attacks every time I thought about the note. Had he found it yet? Would he know who it was from? Would he think it was childish?

By the end of the school day, Sammy and I had become totally detached from one another. It seemed less odd as the day grew longer. When the bell rang, I rushed outside. I lingered around the front doors of the school, hoping to see Marcus. I waited till the last possible moment and then reluctantly got into the bus line-up.

I walked up the aisle to the very back seat, where Marcus usually sat. It was empty. I curled up in the corner and twisted my head toward the window, scanning the students outside. My thorough scan of the school grounds led me to the field, where the blue and white uniformed soccer team was doing drills. My shoulders fell. I slumped down into the seat, but kept my eyes on the team, hoping for one last glimpse of him before the bus took off.

I felt my seat judder.
Crap
, who sat next to me?

I
got your note.”

The sound of Marcus’ voice stopped my heart. When it beat again, a warm, fuzzy feeling radiated from it. He’d found the note. And he skipped soccer practice to take the bus home.

As I turned to look at him, my heart was overwhelmed by his brilliant smile. I eased myself up from slouching and flashed him one in return. It was the first time I’d smiled since that morning, and my gravel-burned cheek hurt from the movement.

Then I began explaining about the note, stumbling over my words. “Oh yeah, well, I went for a walk and ended up on the second floor.” I laughed nervously. “I saw your jacket and—”

“How do you feel?” he asked, rescuing me from myself.

“Fine.” I stared at him, mesmerized by his adorableness. Then I noticed his eyes resting on the scratch on my forehead. “Oh, that. I’m getting used to the cat-scratch feeling.” Neither of us laughed.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at soccer practice?”

He shrugged. “They’ll manage without me. Besides, I wanted to take the bus home today.” He grinned, and my insides melted.

“How are you and Evan getting along?”

“About the same as you and Sammy are.”

I nodded. “I just don’t know what’s with her today. But after my nightmare, I can barely look at her—” I stopped abruptly, remembering I hadn’t told Marcus about Sammy and the others.

“What’s she got to do with your nightmare?”