Reid woke, dripping in sweat, breathing like he’d just sprinted a mile. His hair was plastered to his forehead and his shirt stuck to him from the driving rain in Cordy’s dream. Gasping for air, he tried to calm his racing thoughts. What just happened? I’ve never seen anything like that before. He needed to talk to Michael. Michael would understand what had just happened. Reid fumbled for his cell phone, knocking it off the bedside table with his trembling hand.
Finally grabbing it, he hit the speed dial and waited anxiously as it rang. He was about to hang up when a voice answered on the 15th ring.
“Hello?” Michael sounded distracted. Reid must have interrupted something.
“Michael, it’s Reid. I found her.” That got his full attention.
“Excellent!” His voice boomed so loudly Reid had to pull the phone from his ear. “You need to begin prepping her for training. Don’t take it too fast, we don’t want to overload—“
“I think it might be too late for that,” Reid interrupted. Way too late.
“What do you mean?” Anxiety was creeping into Michael’s voice.
“Well…” How do I start this, Reid wondered. “We just barely escaped…honestly I don’t know what. It wasn’t like any obscure I’d ever seen before. It was more substantial and far more powerful than an obscure would be. It almost felt like it was controlling elements in the dream, which is impossible, right?” Reid shuddered at the memory of the dark man.
There was nothing but silence on the other end as Reid finished. “Michael? Are you still there?”
Michael cleared his throat. “This may have just gotten a lot more complicated.” Reid could hear him tapping his fingers across his desk as he paused. “We’ll have to bring her in immediately. We can’t guarantee her safety out there, especially if he’s looking for her.”
“You can’t just yank her out of her family! She has a life here! Friends, family…what about her father? She can’t just leave. What will he say? She can hardly explain where she’d be going and he would most certainly call the police if she just disappeared.” Reid was in shock. New members weren’t taken to headquarters this soon, not until they had passed several months of training. Well, unless one of their parents was an active member as well. Reid had practically grown up in headquarters, but Cordy was an entirely different story. This was going to be hard enough for her to accept and understand without being told she had to leave her friends and family immediately. Reid paused as he realized what else Michael had said. “Wait, who’s he?”
Michael ignored his last question and said, “I suppose you’re right. We don’t have time to get a cover story for her disappearance immediately. You’ll have to do the best you can for now. We’ll get something together and pull her out as soon as possible, perhaps an extended school trip or something of the like.”
Reid stomach rolled. He’d had so little time with her and was surprised by how loathe he was to share her with the rest of the members.
Michael continued, unaware of Reid’s inner turmoil. “You’ll need to be extra cautious, particularly as you begin her training. Just get in the basics for now…maybe a little self-defense would be a good idea at this point as well. Keep to the protocol.”
“Yes sir,” Reid said, guilt washing over him. His mind immediately jumped to the kiss he’d shared with Cordy, though technically that was before he’d really met her so it didn’t count, right? He knew Michael would not be happy by how thrilled he was at the prospect of keeping very close tabs on her. He hit the end button and stared at the blank screen. Maybe it’s time for me to develop an interest in art.
The next morning he took extra care in getting ready for the day, chiding himself the entire time. When he reached school he looked around anxiously for the blue Mini Cooper he knew was Cordy’s. Seeing it parked near the front of the lot, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least she’d made it to school all right. It crossed his mind to do something to her car to keep it from starting, giving him a reason to take her home from school and possibly pick her up in the morning. Though from what he’d gathered, despite her father’s lack of home time, he provided everything his daughter needed, and more, so her car would probably be fixed pronto. Even if he did something permanent to it, she’d just end up with a new one.
The first half of the day was painful as he waited for lunchtime. He rushed through the line, not even paying attention to what he grabbed. Cordy was sitting at the usual table, looking pale but unharmed. Seeing her there eased some of his uneasiness, though seeing Noelle sitting next to her caused a whole new wave to hit him. How could I forget Noelle? He paused, wondering how he would keep an eye on Cordy when there was bound to be friction between him and Noelle. Resignedly, he shuffled towards the two girls, who were laughing.
“Hey, mind if I join you?” He tried to sound carefree as if nothing had happened between him and either of the girls. To his surprise, they both nodded.
“So, then what happened?” Cordy was apparently picking up where he’d interrupted them.
“He actually asked me out! Can you believe it? He said he’s wanted to since day one, he just didn’t want to come off as pushy.” Noelle was practically glowing as she shared her news. Well, I guess there aren’t any hard feelings with her. At least these girls, it seemed, weren’t as vindictive as Bridget who, he’d learned early on, did not forgive perceived wrongs easily and never let you forget them.
The discussion continued, leaving Reid very little chance to join in, which was fine by him.
“So Reid,” Reid winced when Noelle said his name, waiting for the bomb to finally drop. “Did you hear about Cordy’s adventure yesterday?” The tension relaxed from his shoulders momentarily before it dawned on him what she’d actually said. Would Cordy really tell Noelle about the obscure and all the dreams? He really had no idea how much girls shared with each other. This is why they induct dream walkers when they’re children…everyone just assumes the kid has an overactive imagination when they start telling about strange dreams. His head whipped towards Cordy who was giving Noelle a poisonous look. Noelle shrugged as if to say, What?
When no one elaborated he nearly shouted, “What?”
Cordy flinched away from him and he made a conscious effort to calm himself down. Noelle, however, seemed oblivious to them. Surely she wouldn’t be so calm if Cordy told her what had happened…
“She passed out in art yesterday. She actually got to ride in an ambulance,” her voice had a jealous tone to it. “Not that she got to enjoy said ride, with the cute EMT’s, being completely unconscious for the whole thing.”
Reid stared, flabbergasted, at Cordy, who had a distinctly guilty aura. He’d wondered why she had been sleeping so early in the afternoon yesterday but had pushed his suspicions aside, assuming she’d been napping as he had. It had never entered his mind that she might nearly be in a coma…at least she hadn’t blabbed everything to Noelle.
“What happened?” It was all he could do not to rush to her side and begin checking her for injuries, despite the fact that she’d obviously been cleared by a doctor.
“My blood sugar bottomed out, that’s all. Nothing as dramatic as Noelle seems to think.” She spoke to the soggy fries she was pushing around her plate, refusing to meet Reid’s gaze. Does she think ignoring me will make her problems go away? If it were only that easy, he’d be gone in a flash, without a second thought, even though he would think of her for the rest of his life. His steady gaze didn’t waver, waiting for her to acknowledge him. After several seconds she peeked up, her blue eyes visible through the hair that hung over her face.
Reid reached out tentatively, pausing an inch from her. When she didn’t move away he gently pushed the hair behind her ear, his fingertips warming at the touch of her skin.
“You should be more careful. Some things are more dangerous than you realize.” He held her gaze just long enough for her to understand the double meaning in his words. Satisfied for the moment, he let his hand drop and began to shovel his food in. Noelle eyed him warily, her eyes narrowed. Oops, maybe I’m not completely off the hook after all. He gave her a tight smile and shoved another spoonful of heaven-knew-what into his mouth.
YOU ARE READING
Let Her Sleep (Dream Walker Chronicles #1)
Teen Fiction(Formerly known as Dream Walkers!) Coming out November, 2014! Cordelia Jameson has met the boy of her dreams...too bad he's only in her dreams! In modern New York, seventeen year old Cordy learns she can enter and manipulate dreams, triggering two...
