here it goes!
Chapter 9.
“Dare, I guess.”
“Really? I would’ve went with truth, if I were you.”
“Just tell me the dare already.” I said, though my heart was beating faster than ever before.
“Okay,” he smiled. “I dare you to tell Sapphire and Scarlet what happened earlier,” he said and winked. I leaned closer to him. “All of it?” I whispered so low that only Shadow could hear me.
“Whatever you want to tell them. You know that they are dying to know, this way is just easier to tell them,” he whispered back. I nodded slowly. I had to tell them sometime, or they would’ve murdered me. They waited with expecting eyes.
“Well, technically,” I began, but stopped and tried again. “it’s really hard to explain, but I guess you can say that Shadow and I are… dating?” I said the last word like a question, not sure who it was directed to. Me or shadow. I looked at Shadow through the corner of my eyes and he was nodding. A sense of relief washed over me.
Sapphire seemed to be choking on words. “you…but…why?” was all that she said.
“Well, I feel like I should be getting to asleep,” I said, trying to distract the girls.
“Yeah, and we’re coming with you.,” Sapphire said, staring at Scarlet. I mentally cringed. I walked towards the tent, and stopped in front of Shadow. “Thanks,” I whispered, sarcastically and honestly, all at the same time. I wasn’t exactly ready for their questioning, but I felt better that I had told them.
Once we were in the tent, Sapphire gave me a questioning glare. “What?,” I asked, although I already knew.
She just continued glaring, and pressed her hands on her hips. Scarlet was in the corner of the tent, not really knowing what this was about.
“You know what this is about,” she said.
“No, actually I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of it.”
“What do you mean? At first, he’s all rude to you, and now you’re dating.” She plopped down onto a blanket.
“He wasn’t being rude, he was trying to warn me. And I don’t even know if we are actually dating.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said, but I just couldn’t think of the right word. This had been a really confusing night and I’m tired, so can we get some sleep and talk about this another time?”
She seemed at a loss of words, again. She stumbled out a “sure” and went to her side of the tent.
“Hey Sapphire,” I waited until she looked back over to speak again. “I’m sorry for not telling you before. I didn’t really have time to, but I should’ve found some way.” I looked over at Scarlet. “I’m really sorry for ruining your party. You must be totally confused.”
“It’s okay. Let’s talk in the morning, okay?” Sapphire said, yawning.
“Yeah, and you didn’t ruin my party. It was awesome and I had a great time,” Scarlet said.
I smiled. “Goodnight Sapphire. Scarlet.”
“Goodnight.” They said in unison. This brought up a light round of laughter, but everyone was so tired, it only lasted a few seconds.
Before long, I heard a soft snore coming from one from the girls. I tried to sleep, but I kept tossing an turning. My thoughts were too focused on what all had happened and what would happen the next day.
I was most definitely nervous about what I would dream about, which was probably a main factor of why I couldn’t go to sleep. Eventually, I gave up. There would be no succeeding. I got up with a sigh and decided to take a walk.
The door of the tent opened quietly, only a quick zip could be heard. I glanced at Sapphire and Scarlet to see if I had woken them. They didn’t stir.
The fresh air was nice; I’d only been in the tent for about half an hour, and it was already stuffy. All around me was dark. I could still see the fait glowing of the fire, but that was it. I walked over to the fire pit carefully, desperate to see my surroundings.
“Moon?” I jumped with surprise at the sound of my name. I recognized the voice, of course, but it still surprised me.
“Shadow?” When I said his name, he came into view. He was poking the fire with a stick, smiling.
“Not surprised to see you here,” he murmured.
“I couldn’t sleep.” I ignored his comment. “What are you doing here?”
A faint smile played on his lips. “ This seems familiar. I think, I’m supposed to say ‘I’m waiting for someone’.”
“Oh. The day that I met Bailey and actually got to know you.” I smiled, my heart beating wildly. It was hard to believe that t was only a few days ago.
“Yeah.”
“So, what are you actually doing out here? I thought you went to bed when we did.”
“I actually am waiting for someone. I never left.”
“Wait. Waiting for who? Bailey?”
“Yeah.”
“Why is he coming here?” I asked, a small amount of fear filling my voice.
“I told him we were having a party..”
“Well, the party is over.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” He said, smiling again.
“Ha ha.” A sudden shudder ran through me, along with a realization. Bailey was the reason I couldn’t sleep. He had to be doing something that was keeping me awake. It made sense. If he was here with Shadow, he couldn’t stalk me in my dreams. Shadow would notice. So, he had kept me awake so that I wouldn’t dream without him there.
I still had no clue about the whole dream walking thing, so I could’ve been wrong. But the moment I finished thinking the whole thing through, I knew I was right. Some unknown instinct told me.
Something was wrong with Bailey. Something twisted and evil. Something Shadow didn’t know about. He had to know though, he deserved to. The only problem was, would he believe me over Bailey. Someone eh has known for 3 days over someone who he became best friends with?
I didn’t want to ruin what we had, no matter how little we had, over something I was unsure about. I couldn’t handle anything else bad happening, so I figured I would ask him.
“Shadow, ” I began. He looked up at me, waiting for me to continue, “Who are you more likely to trust? A person you’ve only known for say, 3 days, but you kind of like, or someone you call your friend?”
“That depends. Would that person be you and the other Bailey?”
“Maybe.” My lower lip trembled. I had to tell him now; there was no backing out.
“What’s wrong, Moon?” Concern swirled in his green eyes.
“Just answer the question please.”
“What question?” He took a second to think. “Oh. You, Moon. Of course, I’d trust you.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“I’m positive, Moon. Now tell me.”
I took a deep breath.
“Tell you what?” A deep voice called from behind me. I spun around and saw Bailey standing there. My stomach lurched.
“ I was just about to, uh, tell him that he… has a booger up his nose.” I pointed to my nose. “Right here.”
His hand flew to his nose. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” I looked nervously at Shadow, hoping he wouldn’t bring the conversation back up until Bailey left. My eyes flicked to Bailey. Thorn and River stood behind him.
“So, what are you guys doing here?” I asked politely.
“We thought you guys might want to hang out for a while. Everyone else is at some club.” Thorn answered.
“Well, we can’t risk waking anyone up, so maybe we could hang out in the woods.” I said in a small voice.
“Right. I really don’t feel like explaining all of this.” Shadow added.
They nodded variously. We walked off into the dark woods. No one had a flashlight, and vampire senses didn’t enhance vision, at least not mine, so we walked behind the werewolves. Apparently, they had better night vision. Either that, or they just knew there way around the woods.
Eventually, we stopped at a small clearing lit by a small fire. A couple of chairs circled it, showing that they were obviously expecting us. There was something odd going on, I could feel it.
Bailey sat next to me, and I knew it was on purpose. River sat on the other side.
Shadow glanced at me from across the circle. I longed to talk to him, but I knew it was impossible with Bailey sitting so close. There was an extremely awkward silence until, thankfully, someone blared some really loud rock music. It startled me, and I squealed. Embarrassed, I looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Instead, I saw a figure hiding in the woods. A shadow peered around a tree, trying not to be seen. A lock of blonde hair fell onto the trunk for a quick second, letting me know who it was.
I walked over to her. “Scarlet, what are you doing here?”
She blinked a few times, surprised to have been caught.
“I heard you leave, and I followed you. I couldn’t really sleep.”
“Well, come on. There’s no point of hiding.”
We walked over to the fire, but no one hear or saw us. Everyone was either dancing or talking.
“HEY!” I screamed over the music. They all turned their heads, and the music was turned down.
“Hey, Scarlet’s here.” Thorn said, smiling.
“Hello, Scarlet,” Bailey said in a fake sweet voice as he walked towards us. For some reason, everything he did was suspicious. He disgusted me. But then again, there was a good reason. He had invaded my dreams and I could practically smell the evil on him. Like jalapeño peppers and bleach. AS soon as I thought it, his head snapped towards me. He looked me in the eyes for a split second, and then turned his attention back to Scarlet.
“So Scarlet, have you come to party?” He asked.
“Oh yeah,” A wild smile crept onto her face.
“Turn the music back up,” Bailey shouted. There were murmurs about dancing and I tried to cast a warning look as Scarlet, but she was too distracted. The walked off to a small area, and without stopping walking, Bailey turned around and gave that same menacing look. Before I could blink, he was facing forward again.
“Crazy as heck stalker.” I muttered under my breath.
“I don’t think I’m that bad,” Shadow said laughing.
“I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking about— never mind.”
“Moon, you’re killing me. We really need to talk.”
I sighed. ”Alright. But can we make it seem like we’re doing something else? You’ll understand later.”
“Okay. Let’s dance, then.” He took my hand and led me to a dark space where we could be seen, but still have our privacy.
“You know, this isn’t a song you can dance to, and besides, I don’t dance.” I said.
“You can try,” He pulled my hands and raised them to his neck. His hands were placed on my waist. I rested my head on his chest and we swayed side to side. We probably looked ridiculous, considering the song was screamo, and that Scarlet was the only one who knew about us.
“We can talk now,” Shadow said, his breath blowing against my hair.
“It feels so weird, Shay. Talking about something so serious, while slow dancing to hardcore rock,” I said.
“What did you call me?” He asked, faintly smiling. I had to think back. I had called him Shay. Well, where did that come from?
“I think I called you Shay,” I said nervously.
“I like it.” He smiled fully, showing off his sharp, gleaming teeth.
“Really? Would you mind if I called you it?” It was my turn to smile.
“No, I wouldn’t mind at all. Actually, I would like it very much.”
“Okay, Shay,” I said, still smiling. The song changed to a slower tune, much better than before.
“Hey, Shay. What gift does Bailey have?”
He seemed surprised. ”He can read minds. Why?
“You’re sure?”
“I’m positive. Now tell me what is going on.” He seemed frantic. I took a deep breath, ready to tell him everything.
“Shay, Bailey can dream walk. He didn’t want you to know. There’s something else I didn’t want tell you. In my first dream, when I was human, he kissed me. He tricked me, saying I was supposed to remember who he was, but thing is, I felt like I did. I felt like I’d known him forever.” I took another deep breath. “He is the one who was helping me understand my visions, and now, he’s a mind reader. Do you know what this means? It means he knows that I think he’s a stalker, that I’m telling you right now. Every time I go near him, I sense evil. I smell evil. Something isn’t right there.”
Shadow seemed to be trying to understand all of this. He didn’t let me go, or push me away calling me stupid like I was expecting. Instead, he kissed my forehead and rubed my back soothingly.
“Why is this life so confusing?” I asked, on the verge of tears.
“I don’t know, but I do know that you’re tired. We should get you back to your tent so you can get some sleep.”
“No! Bailey won’t let me. Why do you think I’m awake now? He is controlling me somehow.”
“Then I don’t know what to do.” He sighed.
“Shay, I’m sorry. Ever since I’ve been here, thins have been a mess. Let’s just go over there and act like nothing happened. Try to be normal.”
“Alright.”
I pulled away from him, regrettably, and we walked over to the fire. I searched frantically for Bailey and Scarlet, worried, but instead I found Thorn and Scarlet dancing with each other a few feet away. The seemed like they were having fun. A much better, safer couple. Bailey was nowhere to be seen, causing me a whole other feeling of worry and panic.
“Hey, River.” Shadow said. I looked up to see River poking the fire with a stick, mixing the ashes around.
“Hey. How are you guys?” She seemed depressed, or angry, with a scowl on her face.
“We’re good. How about you?” Shadow replied. I just stood there, allowing them to talk. I barely knew her.
“Not so good. That new girl is dancing with Thorn. My Thorn.” Her voice dripped venom.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I grimaced. That was probably the last thing she wanted to hear. I couldn’t really blame him though. He was a guy, after all. I decided to try and make her feel better, or at least get the story straight.
“Were you going out with him?” I asked sincerely. She shook her head slowly, and glanced over at them.
“I just really—” Her words were cut off by a trembling that shook her whole body. Hair sprouted from her arms and face and she shook even faster. She bent over, her spine bending in a sick way. I just stood there in complete shock. She was transforming right in front of me.
Then, she ran off faster than lighting to where Thorn and Scarlet were kissing. That must’ve been what set her off.
The rest was a blur of colors and snarls. Scarlet and Thorn had transformed and were literally running away from River. As fast as they could. I heard howling and snapping until they were out of hearing range.
“That was…crazy!” I said, startled.
“Not really. It happens all the time. Werewolves can’t control their emotions.”
“That is normal for them?” My eyes were wide.
“Yeah. I’m assuming the party is over, though. I guess we can leave.”
“Okay.”
He threw dirt on the fire and we walked hand in hand to the house.
“Shay, did you notice that Bailey was missing?”
“Yes.” His face became hard, his nostrils flaring.
“What does that mean for us?”
“I don’t know, but you’re not leaving my sight until I do know.”
“And how will you manage that?” I said, a smile hinting at my lips.
“You can sleep in my tent.”
What? “What?!!”
“You heard me.” He smiled.
“I heard you, but I don’t know…”
“You can sleep on the other side of the tent if you want. I just want to keep a eye on you.”
“Fine. Do you have any extra blankets, or should I get some?”
“I have some.”
I nodded, walking beside him all the way to his secluded tent. It was the twice of the size of mine, which I was sharing with 2 other girls.
“Hey Shay,” I hesitated. “I don’t want to kiss Bailey, and I’ll try my hardest not to, but if I do, it’s not my fault. Please, just promise you won’t hate me.”
“Of course I promise. I would never hate you, and if Bailey tries to do anything you, he’ll definitely hear from me.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I hugged him tightly. I didn’t want to let go, but I nearly fell asleep on his chest. He gently lay me down on an already made bed of blankets. My eyelids fluttered and I yawned.
Shadow lay down beside me and didn’t complain. I would’ve welcomed it, but I was too tired. A second ago I wasn’t this tired.
Then it hit me, Bailey was making me tired. I mean sure, I should be tired, it was like one o’clock but why would it me so suddenly?
“Shay!” I croaked quietly. “Bailey is making me tired.”
“What?” He was truly concerned.
“Just let me go to sleep and see what he wants.”
“But—” I cut him off.
“Look, if you see anything out of the ordinary, just wake me up, okay?”
“Fine. Moon, I love you.” He held me close.
I couldn’t fight it any longer. I fell asleep in Shadows strong, yet comfortable arms. The best moment of my life was ruined. Boy was I ticked off.
At first, I was in darkness. Complete silence and blankness. Then, I heard a faint yelling. It was my name, in Bailey’s voice.
“Bailey, I am not playing. Show yourself.” I yelled, fuming.
He came from the woods, like he always did in my dreams. Smiling.
“You never stop amusing me, Moon.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“I think that I am Bailey. Always am, always will be.”
“No, you must think you’re a god, busting into my dreams all the time, manipulating me. What did I do to you.”
“Oh, you never did anything. But I saw you with Shadow, when you are mine! I chose you while you were human, Do you know how many other women I could have picked? Tons. But no, I picked the different, shy one, and what does she do? Fall for my best friend.”
“What are you talking about, picking me?”
“I picked you, I payed those vampires to trick you, than attack you and, I gave Forest the hint to go find you, of course he didn‘t realize it. I was sneaky.”
“You. Did. What?” I started shoving him. “You disgusting creep! What am I to you? A play toy! I have feelings, you know. What makes you think you can do that to someone? Were you lonely or something? Wanted me to come cheer you up?” I was fuming.
He shook his annoying head. “you don’t understand, Moon. I have so much power. I just wanted to share it with you. You’re so beautiful.” He took my chin in his hand. I shoved him away.
“I do not want that power, Bailey. You have to realize that people have options. You can’t make them do what they don’t want to do. It’s just wrong.”
“Oh, but I can. I can make anyone do anything. I have nearly every power there is to have. How do you think I get away with everything I do?”
“Why do you have all that power?”
“You’ll never know. Not anymore.” He smirked, and my hand itched to slap him.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I would’ve told you if you hadn’t fallen for Shadow. If you had went with me like you were supposed to. No, I won’t.”
“You need to go. Now. I would like to see my vision. We can talk about this later.” I tried to calm myself down.
“Oh no, right now, you’re going to kiss me.” He looked me in the eyes and a warm filling filled me. A desire to kiss him, to hold him, boiled in my blood. I tried to fight against it, but there was too much power building up. Plus, I didn’t want to stop it. Or did I? His arms wrapped around me as he waited.
I was trying to pull away, but it was like a rubber band stretching. Eventually, I snapped. I kissed him briefly, and he kissed me back. It was an angry kiss. He was too focused on kissing me, to will me to kiss him. With a start, I realized what I was doing. Then, with a sick smile, I slapped him across the face and kicked him in a place no guy should be kicked. He deserved it.
As he rolled on the floor, I yelled at him. “Don’t you ever do that again!” Somehow, I managed to wake myself. I looked around, and saw Shadow sleeping.
“Shay! Wake up!” I shook him lightly.
He woke up, surprised. “What’s wrong?”
“Bailey! He’s gone crazy!” I told him everything. I wiped my mouth, disgusted when I told him about the kiss.
“It’s okay, Moon. It’ll be alright.”
“No it won’t. He can do anything, and he’ll be very angry when he sees me next.” I suppressed a sob.
“Just forget about it for now. You need to sleep. He won’t come back for a while, and just in case he does, I’ll be there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most dream walkers can make others dream about things. I’m sure they can make themselves dream of something, too. Just focus on me really hard. Picture me in your head.”
“What if I can’t?”
“You can. I have faith in you.”
“Thanks, Shay.” I tried to smile, and failed. “Remember how you said you loved me? I just want to say that I love you, too.”
He smiled. “You don’t have to tell me. I already know.” Then he kissed me. My head was spinning, my heart racing. I wrapped my hand around his neck, but he pulled away.
I was confused.
“You need to focus. We can do that whenever. Right now, you can sleep. Concentrate on me. Try and sleep, but think of me.”
“It’s hard not to,” I mumbled, knowing he heard. I lay down and focused real hard anyway. I felt him lay next to me and try to sleep. I listened to his breathing, and tried to make mine in the same pattern. Before I knew it, I was drifting off to sleep, concentrating on my love. My Shay.
This time, I was surrounded by a familiar picture. The small pathway by the house. My tree stump. Mine and Shay’s tree stump.
Shadow was sitting there, smiling. “You did it, Moon!” He walked over and hugged me.
“ I know. And Bailey’s not here.”
His face turned sour. “You don’t need to worry about him”
“I know, I know. Let’s go see what glimpse of the future is in store for me tonight.”
“Okay.”
I sat down on my stump, holding Shay’s hand. I concentrated again, this time on blankness. On nothing.
“Concentrate on nothing,” I told Shay.
“Okay.”
Then, we were both taken to a white room. Scarlet was sitting on a stool, and Sapphire was sitting next to her. They were both handcuffed to the stools, their mouths duct taped. Tears streamed from their eyes, and a green mist hung low in the air around them.
Of course, they couldn’t see us, but I wished they could, so they could tell us what happened to get them this way. So I could stop it from happening.
I looked over at Shadow. He seemed utterly shocked. Whether it was because of the vision, or what was occurring during the vision, I didn’t know.
Our friends, tied up, in a shockingly white room. I was dying to know who did this, yet another part of me already knew. The on who thought he was so powerful. Bailey. The day couldn’t get any worse. I closed my eyes to break away from the vision. There would be more information.
Shadow and I were back at our place. I don’t know if it’s possible to e tired in a dream, but I was. It was a weird feeling, like I was in a daze or even sleepwalking. It was more like a place between sleeping and being awake.
We walked around, creating the setting as we wanted it to be. We made it a bright, sunny day, created a big wooden house that sat upon a hill and, and smiled forever.
The inside of the house was warm and welcoming. A grand staircase met us at the front door and we walked up it slowly, looking at all of the pictures lining the wall next to us. They were all of us, holding each other, laughing, smiling.
The first room had a big white, open door, awaiting our entrance. We had created our dream room. A perfect blend of Shadow and I. A big, plush bed centered the room. It had a cream comforter and thousands of pillows.
As soon as my eyes met it, I weakly ran and threw myself into its warmth. The blankets tangled around my legs, soft and crisp. I breathed in the scent of soft lavender, and closed my eyes. Shadow took the spot next to me, and snuggled close. His warm breath tickled the back of my neck.
“I love you,” he whispered, kissing my hair.
“I love you, too,” I said, smiling. I turned around slightly and kissed him on the lips. Then I turned back around and settled further into the comfort of the bed. As odd as it may seem, I feel asleep in a dream.
