The Dream Crashers ✓

19 - Candlelight

It wasn't until I opened my eyes to see four faces staring down at me that I realized I'd fainted. My arms shook as I tried to push myself up, and Luke reached forward to help me.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked, handing me a glass of water.

"No," I answered honestly, taking a gulp and setting it down with trembling hands. "What are we going to do? He has my whole family."

I couldn't help but think about how terrified Mom and Connor must be. I wonder if they were put with Dad. I wonder if Pennington was using them to threaten Dad into doing what he wanted. I shivered, trying not to imagine scenarios that were much worse.

"You can't help him open a portal," Mara said sharply. "No matter what, you do that. There's nothing stopping him from killing your family after you give him what he wants."

"And it'll probably be easier with a flock of demons at his beck and call," Elijah added solemnly.

"But it's her family at stake," Luke said.

"Versus the rest of mankind?" Mara countered.

I tried to swallow, but my throat felt like sandpaper. "They're right. It's too risky, even if it means that I'll never see..."

I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence.

"We'll get them back, Rory. I promise you that we won't stop looking until we find them," Seth said, kneeling next to me and taking my hand in his. "He's not going to get away with this, okay?"

Slowly nodding, I looked at everyone else. "Wait, where's AJ? How long was I out?"

"He's on his way. And just a couple minutes. I turned around for one second, and the next thing I know, you're dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes," Elijah said. "Luckily Luke caught you before you cracked your skull open on the ground."

Surprised, I turned to Luke. "You caught me?"

He glanced around awkwardly. "Well—"

"It was a valiant attempt," Mara said, snorting, "even though he went down too, crushed under your almighty weight." There was no malice behind her words, just good-humored teasing. But behind her jokes, there was a trace of distress, just like with everyone else, especially me.

"It's the thought that counts?" Luke said.

A knock on the front door caught everyone's attention.

"It's probably AJ," Seth said, going to answer it. He then stepped aside to let him in. "Were you followed?"

"I don't think so."

I gasped when I saw him.

AJ's face was covered in dried blood, and there was still a huge gash above his eyebrow that was glistening and oozing blood. His clothes were tattered and streaked with red and one of his eyes was swollen shut.

"I'll get the first aid," Mara said, running towards Seth's bedroom.

"Sit down," Seth commanded, leading AJ to the couch I was sitting on. "Elijah, grab another cup of water from the kitchen. What happened?"

And as Mara and Seth cleaned him up, the rest of us listened anxiously. I sat on the couch next to him, and Luke was seated on the arm rest next to me. Elijah was slumped against the wall on the other side of the room.

AJ had been in Mom's car with her, and they were waiting for Connor to get out of school. On their way over to Seth's apartment, they were attacked by another van full of Pennington's men. AJ had done his best to fight them off, but he was outnumbered, and eventually they had taken off with my mom and Connor.