“Honey, relax. I never said it was a for sure thing.” Porter’s voice is calm and steady but the link is rickety at best. “Just that it might have to happen if we can’t figure out another way. But we’ll worry about that after we get you out of here. And I’m sure when I inform my brothers of my idea, they’re going to do everything in their power to find another way.”
I study him. He looks so calm yet worry is flowing through me. Worry that doesn’t belong to me. So what isn’t he telling me?
“I feel like you’re not telling me everything,” I say, watching his reaction closely.
He lifts a shoulder, giving a nonchalant shrug. “I’m not, but only because now isn’t the time to get into all of the details.”
I press my free hand to my chest as his words sink in and my heart begins to ache. This can’t be real. This place, what’s happening… “This is a dream—it has to be. You’re not really here and neither am I.” I pinch my arm and wince. “Ow.”
The edges of his lips tug upward as he brushes his fingers across the spot on my arm I just pinched. “There’s no need to hurt yourself. You and I are in a dream, but your dream seer ability makes it so you and I are pretty much real. And so is this conversation.”
Lovely. That means everything he said is true.
“How did you guys find out for sure I have a dream seer ability?” I wonder, lowering my hand from my chest.
“We didn’t. We just assumed. And now that I’m in here, we know for sure you do, so at least that’s one less thing we have to solve about you, you mysterious, albeit gorgeous creature.” The corners of his lips tease upward in amusement.
His words and attention is making me feel all squirrely inside. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in a very confusing way.
“How are you in here, anyway?” I ask. “I mean, how did you get into my dreams?”
He shrugs. “The same way you get into your own dreams.”
“You fall asleep?” I ask and he nods. “Okay, but that doesn’t explain how you actually got into my dream.”
“I got here the same way darkness did,” he explains. When I stare at him in puzzlement, a crease forms between his brows. “Has Foster not explained this to you?” When I shake my head, he sighs then sits up straighter. “Back before the gods and goddesses died, they used to be able to peer into our dreams whenever they wanted. That’s because when we close our eyes to go to sleep, the magic in our blood connects our minds to Dreamland, a world created by the gods and goddesses.”
“But if all of our minds are going to one place then why isn’t everyone running into each other when they go to sleep?” I ask, totally confused. But that’s becoming the story of my life anymore.
“Because the magic in the land creates a realm between everyone’s dreams. You however, have the gift of letting creatures through your realm and into your dreams, and since you haven’t learned how to control your ability yet, it means any creature that can find their way to your realm can get into your dreams. Now, most probably won’t be able to touch you.” He strokes his finger along my forearm, causing a shiver to roll through me, which elicits a pleased smile from him. “But because I’m pretty much undead, your ability doesn’t register with me as a real living, breathing, heart beating creature. It doesn’t see me as real so it doesn’t protect you from me.” As hunger consumes his eyes, my heart slams against my chest. “Which also means that until you can learn to get better control over your ability, all the big, bad monsters can sneak inside your head.”
When he puts it that way… “Are you a monster?”
He smiles amusedly. “Close, but not quite.”
“Okay, well you kind of made it sound like you were one. Well, that or a ghost.” I assess him closely. “Is that what you are?” I ask, but then shake my head. “That wouldn’t make sense, since you can touch me. Well, unless what I learned about ghosts isn’t accurate.”
An amused smile takes over his face. “I’m not a ghost, honey, so guess again.”
Awesome. Why do I get the feeling he’s toying
with me? And enjoying it?
I rack my brain for my knowledge on undead creatures. A lot of the information that I learned has come from reading books written by humans so I’m unsure how accurate my knowledge is.
“Are you a zombie?” I try again.
He chuckles, his eyes crinkling around the corners. “That seriously your second guess?”
My skin warms in embarrassment. Luckily, it’s too dark for him to be able to see. But then I feel hunger and desire swimming through the link, and I question if maybe he has night vision and can see my flushing cheeks. Well, either that or he can sense my embarrassment through the link.
But that doesn’t explain why he feels hungry about me being embarrassed.
“I’m not a zombie.” He presses back a grin. “And, as much as I’d love to sit here and feel you blush while you thought about Gods knows what, we need to get you out of here.”
“Yeah, I’m more than ready to get out of here.” I wait for him to divulge what he is, but all he does is take my hand, get to his feet, and pull me up with him.
Then he threads his fingers through mine. “In order to get you out of here without you having to return to your current darkness possessed body, I’m going to have to tether your soul to mine.”