Into the Darkness

Chapter Four

I huddled on my bed later that night with my knees pulled up to my chest. Thinking. Focusing on what it was I couldn’t remember. It was there, hovering around my conscious mind. Nudging me. Waiting for me to pay attention. To remember. It was the key to that insane situation in the park.

I flung my wet hair out of my face, pulled the sleeves of my pajamas over my hands, and glanced out the window.

The stranger waited. Outside, he watched, staring up at my shaded windows, just wanting me to know he was there. He was waiting for me to come down to him. He had the same questions I did—I was certain he felt the same things.

How did I know this? I just did. And that scared the crap out of me!

“Get a grip, Sasha!” I exhaled nosily, lightly rocking back and forth. There was no way in hell I was going outside. Not with Jared’s strange desires, our inability to remember the night before, a stranger stalking me, and shadows magically coming to life—

I mentally tried to trap the memory. Shadows, arousal, Jared’s car—why wouldn’t it come clear? It was like a mental block shielding the memories from my awareness. They were there, behind a thick veil, I just had to find a way to them.

I shook my head, shoving aside the presence I felt loitering outside my apartment like a creep and settled into my bed. I doubted sleep would come, but I might as well try. It was midnight and I had to get up early for a test.

My eyes snapped open. I looked around wildly, my room was still and quiet. The red letters on the clock read 4:09. I’d been asleep for four hours.

Drenched in sweat, I bolted up into a sitting position and focused on my tweed window shade. Something had unlocked that mental vault in my sleep, and I remembered everything.

Everything.

“Oh my God.” My words sounded like gunshots in my quiet room.

I replayed every scene, from walking out of the restaurant, to Charles approaching me with a hungry smile after the stranger—the Boss—had left. Charles had stopped right in front of me, his eyes raking down my body. Faster than lightening, he grabbed my head and stared into my eyes. I watched in petrified confusion as his smile slipped. His fluffy eyebrows settled over his eyes like low-lying clouds.

“I can’t penetrate,” he’d admonished, speaking to the shadow man behind him.

They were real!

“You aren’t supposed to touch her,” the other had said, releasing Jared. “The Boss will rip you apart if you defy a direct order.”

Jared stared straight ahead, his eyes glazed and unseeing. He looked like a robot powering down.

“I can’t wipe her memory.” Charles had leaned closer to me, searching my eyes for a clue to solve his puzzle.

“Some humans are extraordinarily dimwitted. Here, I’ll help.”

I’d had time to feel indignation before my mind went blank.

What had we stumbled upon? They’d called us humans. Somehow, they’d used their minds to assert their will.

It sounded like a fable.

That same damned trickle of adrenaline I always got when riding in a really fast car had my heart hammering and my energy zinging. My whole world was topsy-turvy, but one thing was clear.

I had to see him again. I had to see the Boss.

I needed to know what was going on. Was I losing my mind? Were the mushrooms on my steak the funny kind that made me see things? Did I ingest some Ecstasy without knowing it? Because Jared had been right: only drugs could explain last night. It was the only plausible reason for what I was sure transpired.