Pictured:
1) Jade
2) Rory
"Jade?" I call through the club, stumbling past people. I finally spot her dancing over in the middle of the club with a couple of girls that I recognize from the cafe that Jade works at. "Jade!" I exclaim again, nearing her. She turns to me when I shout the second time, and she waves big, grinning.
I make my way to her, and then I shout over the music, "Jade, I need to go home! I think I'm getting sick."
She pouts and points to the girls behind her. "I still have to drive Jessica and Amber home."
I see Rory step up from behind her. "Do you need me to drive her home, Babe? I could just wait for you at the apartment."
Jade smiles up to him. "Would you? That would be so sweet," she says, hugging him.
I stare at the two, conflicted. Normally, I would say hell no to being alone with Rory. In this case though, I need to get home. This is too crazy, and I have to find out what is happening.
"C'mon," Rory shouts, smiling at me. "Let's go." I follow him out of the club, and we get into his truck. I struggle to climb up in the lifted seats, really feeling that vodka right now. It wasn't a lot, but I'm a lightweight.
"Seat belts," Rory exclaims as he begins to back out.
"Oh," I say, pulling the seat belt over my chest. "Right. Sorry."
"You're OK," he replies. "So, you feel sick?"
I nod. "Yea, stomach stuff."
He glances over to me for a second. "Really?"
"Yes," I say again. "A bug or something. Maybe too much vodka."
His eyes flicker back to the road, and he grins. "I call bullshit."
I clench my jaw. "How do you know?"
"Colvin told me to take you home," Rory says, his eyes never leaving the road.
My heart drops. "What?" I practically shout. "How do you know Colvin?"
I hear Rory clear his throat, and then he clutches the steering wheel. "It'd be better if he told you."
"I don't care about better!" I exclaim, completely lost. "I care about answers!"
"Salem, you're going to find out soon. It's not my place to explain everything to you."
I let out a long, over-exaggerated sigh. "Why not?"
"Because you belong to Colvin now," he states, speaking so casually.
"Now I know why you always creeped me out," I mumble, crossing my arms over my chest. "How did he get into my dreams?"
I see him laugh. "Man, you have no filter."
"Nope, not for people that aren't honest with me," I reply, bluntly.
"Salem," he groans. "I'm not trying to be dishonest. I'm just really not suppose to be telling you all of this. I can tell you how he gets into your dreams, though."
I glance over to him, arms still crossed over my chest. "Continue," I say.
"OK, keep an open mind. When you dream, your body is at rest. When most people dream, they believe that it is a string of events that your mind pieces together. Some believe that it is memories from throughout the day or situations that you just imagine yourself into. That's wrong."
I nod. "OK, so what happens then?"
He smiles. "Like I said a second ago, keep an open mind, OK?" He pauses to look at me, and I nod, again. " When your body is at rest, your soul wanders."
I scoff. "Wanders? To where?"
He shrugs. "Anywhere, depending on the person. Parallel universes, different parts of the world, or in your case, other realms in this universe. Some humans can go farther than others."
"Alright," I reply. "So, what I'm hearing is that you're insane, I've gone insane, and I've been visiting a different realm in my sleep since I was 16. Is that right?"
I hear Rory laugh, and then he shakes his head. "Neither of us have lost it. You are about to enter a whole new part of your world that most humans never knew existed."
"Wow," I exclaim, sarcastically. "I feel special."
He glances over to me. "I'm not saying that what's ahead of you is going to be easy to accept or get through, Salem, but I do know that you are very, very, special. You'll see soon enough."
The rest of the ride home is quiet. I don't really know how to take what he says. If I hadn't been experiencing this for years now, I'd think that he is crazy. Everything that he has told me kind of makes sense, though. In the dream world that I would always visit, it didn't feel like anywhere on earth that I had ever visited, but it was so real. The sky would be a dark green color with thick, black, clouds, and the air just felt different. There's no other way to describe it. I know it sounds silly, but I don't have too hard of a time believing that my reoccurring night terror took place in a different realm.
We pull into the drive way, and as Rory kills the engine, he gazes over to me. "Alright, are you ready?"
I grit my teeth, nervously. "I-I guess so. No other choice, right?"
He gives me a sympathetic smile and shakes his head. "I don't think so, Hon."
I let out a deep breath, and then get out and make my way to my room. I change into my pajamas, and then go to find Rory to ask him something. I see him sitting at the kitchen table, texting someone- probably Jade.
"Rory?" I ask, awkwardly.
He glances up. "Yes?"
I shift my weight over to my other foot, uncomfortably. "Whenever I scream in my sleep, Jade comes and wakes me up." I glare down at the floor, embarrassed. "If I start screaming, will you come wake me up?"
"Actually," he says as I look back to him. "I need to sleep, too. I'm going where you're going. We just won't be in the same area."
My forehead creases. "What? Why will you be there?"
He attempts to smile, casually, but I can tell that he is nervous. "I work for Colvin."
"What?" I exclaim, my eyes widening.
He stands and pushes his chair in. "I work for Colvin. That's why I'm here."
"Why you're here?" I shout. "You mean why you're here tonight or why you're with Jade?"
He steps closer to me. "Stop freaking out, OK? Calm down. I was sent to Jade to watch over you when you turned eighteen, because Colvin couldn't come for you until you were twenty."
I feel myself growing angry. "Jade loves you, Rory. How could you do something like that? It's like you're using her!"
He glances down with a guilty expression on his face. Before he speaks, he lets out a shaky breath. "I know. That wasn't suppose to happen. I love her, too, though. I tried not to. I wasn't suppose to."
"Why not?" I snap. "Was she not good enough for you?"
He looks up at me, and I see his face begin to redden. "She is!" He exclaims. I can tell that he is getting upset. "I was just never suppose to fall in love with a human girl. It's so damn hard though with Jade."
I am about to retaliate, but I stop for a second, thinking of the way that he worded that. "Wait," I say. "Go back. Human girl? Why did you say human?"
The frustrated expression falls from his face, and I watch as his eyes grow wide. "You need to go to sleep. Now. I've said to much already."
"But-" I begin to argue.
"No, go!" He snaps, seeming upset again.
I glare at him for another moment, and then I turn and walk to my room. I don't have time to argue. I need answers, and I need them now.