The Dream Crashers ✓

20 - Back to the Ruins

Everyone could sense there was something different between Seth and me by the way we would share secret smiles every time our eyes met and how sometimes our hands would linger a few seconds longer than necessary.

When we first came out of his room, trying but failing to keep our faces neutral, Luke rolled his eyes and said, "So I'm assuming she said yes?"

"To what?" everyone else asked.

"It's nothing," Seth said. "We have other stuff to go over."

I watched Elijah's attentive eyes dart from Seth's hand on the small of my back to my pink in my cheeks. The corners of his lips turned upward in a smirk. "Do I smell flowers and candles?" he asked suggestively.

"Shut up, Elijah."

Mara scoffed. "Can we move on to the actually important stuff? Like, I don't know, her missing family?"

"You're worried about her family?" Elijah asked, eyebrows raising. "I have to say, I like this new side of you, Mara. Sweet and sensitive is nice on you."

"Didn't someone ask you to shut up?" she snapped at him.

Remembering what Seth said earlier about her feelings for Elijah, I tried paying extra attention as the two of them interacted. But I still couldn't see it. She was just as unpleasant with him as everyone else, if not more. Maybe that was how she showed her affection.

Then Mara added, "And I'm not worried about her family. I'm worried that as long as Pennington has them, she'll open up a demon gate. And that's the last thing we need."

"Thanks for the faith," I muttered.

Luke had been quietly staring up at the ceiling for the most part, not having much to offer. AJ was asleep on the couch with his head leaning on Elijah's small shoulder. He looked a lot better now that all the blood was cleaned off, but I could tell he wasn't ready to fight again anytime soon.

"I say we just kidnap the little blonde bitch and make an exchange," Mara said.

"And how do we do that?"

She nodded at Luke. "Use that one for bait."

Looking flustered, he said, "Are you seriou—"

"We are not using Luke for bait. We've already discussed this before, Mara," I said.

"It was just a suggestion," she said, shrugging.

We sat for a whlie longer, bouncing ideas off of each other, but we ended up rejecting them all.  Suddenly, I snapped my fingers and said, "I think we should go back to Lucy's dream."

They all looked at me like I was insane.

"Rory, we barely made it out of there alive," Seth said. "I mean, unless you somehow figured out a way to control your abilities and can take her one-on-one, we don't stand a chance."

"We have to look for my Dad," I said, trying to formulate a plan. "We need his help, and Lucy's dream was the only place he's ever shown himself. I mean, if he's like us, then that means he should be able to visit our dreams too, right? But how come he never did?"

"I don't know."

"Did you ever consider that it was a trick?" Elijah asked. "Maybe Lucy figured you were going to escape, and it was a desperate ploy to get you to stay, making you think your father was there."

I never considered the possibility, and thinking about it made my stomach churn. It was comforting, in a way, knowing that my Dad had been watching over me and had the same abilities as me.