Fighting to keep his breathing even, Zane wasn’t sure why it was so difficult to accomplish. There was something very wrong about the whole scenario. He’d witnessed terrors and things that people dreamt about but what he was now experiencing was entirely different. This had a strange foreign feel to it. It lacked something, but he couldn’t place it. Something about this darkness reeked of malice, fear, and was completely devoid of hope.
Zane waved his hand in the pitch black space before him. Nothing. He couldn’t even see two inches in front of him. Where the heck was he? He moved his feet cautiously, hoping that he wouldn’t stumble over something in the darkness. He braced his arms and blindly searched for something to give him a hint what was going on but it was like being blind folded while trying to find the way out of a maze. “That”, Zane thought, “would be easier than this.”
His senses were on alert ready for something to jump out and take him by surprise, but for the moment he was grateful that he was just fumbling about in the darkness. His stomach lurched as he felt something move in the shadows. He was no longer alone. The hairs on his arms, along with the hair on the back of his neck, were standing straight up. Then he felt the whoosh of air as if something were circling around him as a shark would while sizing up its prey. He swallowed hard and silently told himself that he would find a way to get out of this.
Pushing forward slowly in the dark it occurred to Zane that he hadn’t sought this out. This wasn’t something that he had jumped into willingly. No, he had been pulled into this nightmare. He had never, in all the years he been able to slip in and out of people’s dreams and nightmares, been sucked into one before. He’d always been in control, choosing the ones into which he leapt.
Zane stopped. He didn’t want to go any deeper into the darkness. Then, just as his feet stopped, he felt a pulling, like invisible hands had grabbed him and jerked him forward. There was some unseen force taking him further into a dark pit.
He was used to being the inconspicuous observer, not an active participant, as he was now. His mind raced trying to remember anything from his training that would work to yank him out of this situation but they’d never covered anything remotely resembling this scenario. Just as he was about to do something stupid by opening his mouth to speak, a voice called out to him in the darkness.
“Zane.” A female called out in a melodic voice that Zane found soothing in a strange way he couldn’t describe. The force that pulled him farther into the darkness tightened its grip and quickened the pace. The soothing feeling he’d felt from the voice vanished in a flash and fear took its place.
Zane tried to dig his feet into the unseen ground desperate to try and stop the forward motion, but it was no use. Whatever was pulling him was far stronger and more determined than it appeared Zane was. His mind raced in a panic. What if he wasn’t able to get out of this? What if he was somehow trapped in this bleak desolate oblivion?
As each second passed, his despair over the situation grew. Hope slowly slipped from his grasp as anxiety and apprehension took over. Then, as if it were a sign to give him the hope he longed for, something to prove he had a chance to fight against this consuming fear, a light appeared in the distance. It was extremely faint, but still there was something calming about the faint low orange glow. Suddenly, just as quickly as the light appeared, he found that whatever had been dragging him was now pulling him away from the comforting light. Zane watched as the light faded away taking with it the sliver of hope he had latched onto.
His body grew cold, not like the temperature suddenly dropping, no this was more extreme. It was a cold that Zane could feel all the way into his bones. The penetrating bitter cold slowly crept in. Just as the fear had previously taken hold of him, now the unrelenting cold surged through him pushing out any hope or warmth that he was fighting to retain.
Zane wanted to wrap his arms around himself to provide some warmth or relief from this piercing wintery cold but he found he was no longer in control of his body in any way. He was finding it increasingly difficult to remember anything other than the despair and freezing that were swirling through and claiming him.
“Zane, help me. Please!” The melodic, warm tone in the mysterious female’s voice was gone, replaced by an urgency that rattled him.
Fighting to remain in the present Zane struggled to answer, only to be frustrated that he could do nothing not even register so much as a whisper in response. He now just wanted to crawl onto the ground, curl into a ball and succumb to the darkness and the cold and just fade away. However, just as he had resolved to surrender, the strange voice wouldn’t allow him to give in. It was like an invisible beacon of light that Zane suddenly craved, the way his body craved air to survive.
“Don’t give in, don’t give up! Fight, Zane. You have to fight.” The girl’s voice was weaker than it had been just a few moments ago but she was still forceful in her plea to Zane.
It was almost as though she were lending him her own will and determination to keep fighting. Something deep inside him didn’t want to allow her struggle to be in vain. He had to find some way to overcome the urge to give up if not for himself but for her. But frustration seeped back into his mind. He couldn’t do anything of his own will. He was desperate to help, but how was he supposed to accomplish that when he couldn’t even help himself?
“Just fight Zane, don’t give in. Please.” The mysterious voice softly faded into a mere whisper.
A loud cackling laugh suddenly boomed in place of the frightened, pleading voice. And then, as if something or someone had snapped their fingers, the darkness was gone and Zane was lying breathless on his bed, in his own room.
Sweat dripped from his forehead as though he’d just finished a marathon. His heart raced so fast it felt like it would leap from his chest. Zane took a few moments to try and calm down and regulate his breathing. Relief flowed through his veins as he fought to remember the last time he’d ever felt so glad to be alive.
Sitting up, he glanced around his room to see if it held some answers as to where he’d been or how exactly he’d gotten there. The familiar sound of loud vocals, guitar riffs and drum beats coming from his stereo filled the room. The light over his desk still illuminated his halfhearted attempt at the English essay that was due next week. Nothing appeared to be out of place or different in any way. It was all there just as he’d remembered it before the strange trip he’d just experienced.
Zane rubbed his hands over his face and let out a sigh. What the heck was going on? He felt extremely drained and run down. Usually after dream walking he experienced some fatigue. Xavier his mentor had warned him about that years ago, but this was more like being awake for a week straight instead of just several hours.
He reached down for his backpack to grab his cell phone but stopped short when a metallic surge shot through in the space around him and was followed by a rush of air. The chair in front of his desk that had been empty only moments before now housed a familiar presence. A not so petite cooper haired figure with intensely green eyes glared at him. This was not the reception he was looking for after what he’d just been through but he couldn’t in all honestly say he was very surprised.
“Care to explain the call for help you threw for God and everyone to feel?” She sounded annoyed as if she’d been in the middle of something important; well, important to her anyway.
His eyes narrowed and then he shrugged. Natasha was someone he mildly respected but at the same time he wouldn’t exactly place her in the friend category either. She was more of an annoyance on his radar, but an attractive annoyance all the same.
Dropping the attitude she leaned forward in his direction and gave him one of her condescending smiles. “Wanna talk about what happened, Cowboy?”
He rolled his eyes. They were back to that stupid nickname business again, were they? “First, I have a name that isn’t “Cowboy” and second, I need a few minutes to process it myself.”
Zane’s curiosity was piqued though. How had she known he’d been in trouble? And what call for help was she accusing him of sending out?
She watched him carefully. Natasha was an intensely serious, yet snarky being. On a good day Zane found it hard to find any shred of resemblance between Natasha and her twin.
“Sorry.” Natasha finally said, as she crossed her arms over her chest and nestled back into the chair in a more relaxed pose.
He shook off the whole nickname crap. “Don’t worry about it.” He hesitated, then asked, “So what did you mean by the call for help?”
She looked at him as if he had three heads. “You’re kidding me, right?” she asked clearly, taken aback by his question.
Zane shook his head as his brow furrowed in confusion. Should he know? How exactly did she know? She had only recently joined the council as a member and her abilities were different from his. He just walked through people’s dreams. She, on the other hand, could teleport herself wherever she wanted. Which could be very unwelcoming as it was in this instance. How he longed for someone to come up with a way to keep her out, but that was a wish for another day it seemed.
“Wow, you aren’t kidding are you?” Natasha said.
“No. I wasn’t aware there was a way to call for help while in a dream.” Zane answer clearly frustrated.
She shrugged. “William taught me a lot of things it seems the council didn’t bother to teach you guys,” she half-heartedly explained.
Ah, she meant William, her father. He had never been a part of the council but his father and brother had been respected members. William had done everything he could to keep his children away from the supernatural council. He’d been afraid that Natasha and her sister would be called into service and eventually be forced to participate in whatever manner the council saw fit. According to William, that meant that they would live a life in servitude to the council.
“What exactly happened, Zane?” she asked. She was using that sweet, caring voice that grated on his last nerve. He much preferred her “attitude”; at least he knew that was sincere.
He gave up. His energy was spent and the faster he hashed this out with her, the faster she would vacate his room. At least he hoped it would speed up her departure. “Truthfully I don’t know. It was so…I’m not sure how to describe it.”
“It’s never happened before?” she asked.
He shook his head. “That’s the thing. I wasn’t there to watch. This wasn’t some assignment the council gave me to look into. I was sucked into this darkness. I’m not sure if it was a nightmare or a dream. It was just this dark void that left me feeling alone and completely hopeless.” Zane shuddered as he explained.
“Wait, you weren’t there willingly?” Her face clearly displayed her anticipation of his answer.
Had he been speaking Greek instead of English? “No. And other than the feelings associated with being wherever I was, the fact that I wasn’t there willingly, scared me. That’s never happened before Natasha. Never.”
Zane watched as she chewed on her bottom lip. It was something she did only when she was nervous. Her mind seemed to be processing it all. He liked to imagine that she was more machine than semi human. When she got like this he could almost see the gears turning in her brain.
“Stop looking at me like that. You know I hate it when you do.” She paused as confusion washed over her. “I need to talk to Michael. He might be able to look through his mom’s journals and see if she ever documented something like this.” she offered.
Michael. Zane wasn’t sure which of the two he liked less, Michael or Natasha. Michael wasn’t a total jerk but he was wrapped around Natasha’s little finger and the two thought so much alike it was creepy. But Michael’s mother had been a supernatural researcher for years. She had scoured the globe following leads on undocumented supernatural cases and that had ultimately taken her life. Perhaps she’d run across something like this before. It would be nice to get to the bottom of this and soon.
Oh how he missed his best friends right now, but they were on assignment half way around the world. The council had decided to split their foursome up after an incident last year. Consequently, he got stuck being a “mentor” to Michael and Natasha as Richelle had directed. When it came to all things council related, Richelle’s word was final. She oversaw the Eastern portion of the council and whether or not Zane liked it, she was his boss.
“Consult him then,” Zane wearily advised. The faster she left, the faster he could try to get some sleep, which he desperate for now.
She eyed him. “I don’t know what Genesis sees in you. I thought she had better taste than that. Oh well, I’ll have to work on her. Later Cowboy.” She flashed Zane a fake smile then, as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.
Ugh. He hated when she brought his best friend into things. He grunted as he fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes. At least she was gone, he silently observed, then succumbed to sleep.
Zane awoke to the blaring of his alarm or at least that what he thought sounded like it. However as he fumbled in the darkness to stop the incessant sound he smacked the snooze button but the sound still echoed through him room. What the heck? Not this stupid dream again. He’d had this same dream occasionally where he heard a sound he thought was his alarm, but the annoying noise would go on forever until he actually woke up to stop the real culprit. Zane didn’t want to wake up until he felt good and rested, and not one moment before.
But sleep didn’t seem to be in the plans for Zane, at least not today. His entire body still felt exhausted as he managed to sit up. He found that his room was not as dark in reality as it had seemed in his dream. That was a shame. His eyes slammed shut after opening slightly to test how bright it was. Perfect.
Pushing through the extreme glare from the sun, Zane noticed that the sound that had brought him to this uncomfortable conscious state was still echoing through his room. What was that? The clock on his bedside table wasn’t the cause of the noise. Still half asleep he finally decided to dig through his backpack and found his phone the source of his untimely awakening.
Without looking to see who it was Zane answered in a not so kind voice, hoping to convey his annoyance with whoever disturbed his sleep. “What?” He grumbled.
“Morning to you too.” A familiar voice echoed in his ear.
Zane relaxed and forced a more chipper tone as he continued along the daunting path of waking up. “Sorry.”
“Had a long night with the ladies did you?” His friend laughed, hoping to brighten Zane’s mood.
Zane couldn’t help but allow a small smile to form. Daniel’s naturally jovial self could push past Zane’s crankiness in most cases. “Yeah that’s it. Me and half the women of Saisbury. It was wild. You should’ve seen the aftermath.”
“That’s the Zane I know. So buddy we’re headed back early. Richelle said there’s some trouble you might need help with. She didn’t really go into details but said that everything would be explained at the emergency council meeting tomorrow night.” Daniel explained.
Zane was now not only tired but confused as well. Had he missed something? He switched over to speakerphone so he could check the date on his phone to make sure he hadn’t slept days instead of hours. “What trouble?”
“Dunno buddy. She called yesterday and said that we needed to get back ASAP. We’re in Denver waiting for our connecting flight back to Hartford. We should be back late tonight. Everything ok?”
How was he supposed to answer that? Should he even mention the thing from last night?
“Yo Zane? Something’s going on, so what gives?” Daniel practically demanded. Any and all joking had disappeared from his voice.
Zane sighed. “I have no idea,” he admitted. “I’ll try and explain it when you guys get back. I’m waiting on Natasha to get back to me. She was going to check with Michael for some research.”
“Whoa you’re actually working with Natasha on this? Things must really be bad.” Daniel added half joking.
“Funny man, real funny. And just for the record I’m not actually working with Natasha. As always her services were unsolicited.” Zane said.
Daniel laughed again. “She loves pushing your buttons doesn’t she?”
“You could say that.” Zane muttered.
He stopped and marveled at how different Natasha was from her sibling. How they ever shared the same DNA was beyond him.
“Hey, someone wants to say hi. Take it easy Zane. We’ll talk tonight when we get back.” Daniel didn’t give him the option to reply.
The next voice that carried through the speakerphone was like warm rays from the sun. “Hey bestest friend in the whole world.”
Zane could imagine her smile. From the tone of her cheerful voice it would be the smile that crinkled the edge of her eyes as she beamed. She was like the bright sun on a completely gray and cloudy day. She had this way of brightening his mood even from a couple thousand miles away. “Hey Gen.”
“So, looks like Richelle’s decided we can work together again.” He could hear she was truly as thrilled about working as a team again as he was.
Things were still weird between them and, man, he hated that. But it wasn’t her fault. The blame lay solely on his shoulders. He’d been the one to fall in love with her and kept quiet about it. Then he’d had the nerve to lash out at her when she’d fallen head over heels for his best friend Daniel like it had somehow been her fault. Sometimes life kicked you that way. But no matter how much it hurt he couldn’t keep her or Daniel from his life. This was his burden to bear not theirs.
“Zane?” Concern crept into her voice and shook him back to the present.
“I’m here. Sorry, it was a late one last night.” Zane mindlessly spit out.
Genesis didn’t answer right away. “So the minute we get back into town you’re gonna share whatever’s bothering you right?” she asked.
He couldn’t have put on his fake everything’s fine voice? No, he had to take the brooding something’s up with Zane tone with her. Great. Now she would be worried the whole trip back. Way to go Zane.
“Yeah. It’s not that big a deal Gen really. No need to worry.” He did his best to set her mind at ease but was sure he’d failed miserably.
She allowed a short, hard laugh to escape. “Not that big a deal? That’s why Tasha and Michael are involved.” she retorted, clearly not in her happy go lucky mood any longer.
Great. So she knew more than Daniel did. He was going to have a few words with Natasha when he saw her next. “You know she likes to exaggerate things. Don’t worry about it. Seriously Gen, it’s nothing.” Zane was hoping it was the end of it but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Zane,” she said. He knew exactly what she was doing. Gen was mentally counting to ten so she didn’t lose her cool. She was trying not to bust a gasket in a public setting.
“Getting pulled into a nightmare or whatever is serious Zane. You know that. Natasha knows that. I know that. So stop with the macho tough guy crap,” she forcefully stated and Zane couldn’t help but crack a smile.
In some sick and twisted way he liked that she got all big bad protector over him. But he was really going to have to fight the urge to murder Natasha the next time he saw her. This was low, ever for her. He didn’t know anything and neither did Natasha or she would’ve graced him with her unwanted presences as soon as she hit pay dirt.
“It’s not being macho Genesis. I refuse to get everyone all worked up over something that happened once. There are more pressing things for us to put our care and concern into, for example, whatever Richelle has called this emergency meeting about. You just worry about getting back to Connecticut in one piece.” Zane was going to need a nap after this conversation. He loved that she worried about him but what was there to worry about? So he got sucked into something for some unknown reason. Once. One freaking time and she flips out. Girls.
“You are such a guy Zane Archer!” she huffed and he had to stifle a laugh so she wouldn’t fly into one of her infamous rants.
“Thanks.” He was smiling and his heart started to ache for just a glimpse of her but it wasn’t right. He needed to stop those kinds of thoughts.
“If I was there I’d so hit you, you know.” She stated.
He knew she couldn’t stay mad at him for long. But he also knew that she would have at least lightly punched him in the arm playfully and he would have pretended that he actually felt it. “I know you would.” Zane paused for a second then added, “Seriously Gen try not to drive Daniel crazy the rest of the way home about this.”
“Fine, but so help me Zane, if you clam up when we get there I will plant Natasha in your room for a week to watch over you as you sleep.” she threatened. The worst part of it all was that Zane knew all too well that she would actually do it.
He cringed at the thought of having Natasha in his room for a few hours let alone a week. “You win. I’ll tell you everything that happened, just please stop with the Natasha threats, ok? I don’t need nightmares.” He tried to tease but a part of him hoped she knew he was serious about Natasha.
“Here’s Daniel. Try and get some rest Zane. You sound exhausted.” There was a sort of muffled sound and then she was gone.
“Sorry about that. You know how hard it is to tell her no. We gotta go Zane. It’s time to board. Try not to do something that will piss off Richelle until we get back, ok? Hang in there. See you in a few hours.”
Zane hung up the phone and fought the urge to convey his frustrations to the entire neighborhood. Instead he tossed his phone back into his backpack and headed for a hot shower. Steam seemed to clear your mind. It was amazing how that worked. In the meantime he would do his best to sort through the weirdness of last night by himself. He prayed that Natasha would get so wrapped up in hanging out with Michael that she wouldn’t have time to teleport anywhere near him.
Several hours after emerging from the comforts of the shower he sat at his desk and it was clear to Zane that there was a lot more involved than just getting pulled in to whatever it had been. There was this nagging pull in his mind as he tried to remember the female’s voice. But for the life of him he couldn’t form a clear memory of her voice. As he kept going back over the events and how they had all happened, there was a feeling that washed over Zane. This wasn’t just some isolated incident. He felt pretty confident in that conclusion.
There was a soft knock at his door and without looking up from the list he’d made of the events and their order he called out, “come in.”
“Zane.” A voice greeted him.
Zane wheeled around and looked curiously at his guest. What was he doing here? A part of him had hoped that it would be Genesis and Daniel but they wouldn’t have knocked or at least not that politely anyways. What was Morgan doing here?
“Surprise.” The tall figure waved his hands in the air in a gesture of mock surprise.
Zane didn’t say anything. He just watched as Morgan made his way into his room.
Morgan Carter was someone you wanted to have on your side if you were headed into battle, not necessarily someone you wanted to hang around in your room. You could trust Morgan to have your back in a fight but he wasn’t someone Zane trusted to be “just pals”.
Perhaps part of that distrust stemmed from the fact that Morgan was half human, and half demon. There was always a fine line that Morgan walked between his benevolent human side and his treacherous demon side. Zane respected the hell out of Morgan for the part he played last year in helping him and his friends but coming to his house was crossing a line that didn’t earn Morgan any brownie points in Zane’s eyes.
“Usually a person greets his guests with at least an attempt of a smile or the hint of fake joy at his presence.” Morgan quipped as he leaned against the wall closest to Zane’s door.
“That would imply that I’m mildly thrilled that you’re here, which I’m not. What do you want Morgan?” Zane asked.
Morgan crossed his arms and quickly got rid of the joking attitude becoming very businesslike. “There’s a problem.”
Zane shrugged. “So I heard. Some meeting with Richelle tomorrow night to explain it. Yeah, got the memo. Thanks.”
“Normally I enjoy our witty banter but this is serious Zane. The meeting has been moved up. Daniel and the others are in route now. I’m here to be your chauffer.” Morgan said.
Zane shot a glaring look at Morgan. “Why was it moved up?”
Morgan sighed and then shook his head. “I told her you had a right to know before this little powwow. But you know Richelle, decorum to the end. I wouldn’t want to be blindsided if I were in your position. Maybe that’s why she sent me to get you. She knows I would tell you even if she told me not to.”
Zane hated when he got like this. “Just tell me Morgan.”
Morgan raised his eyebrow and carefully watched Zane. After a few seconds he shrugged and then stated, “There’s been a report of deaths. It seems that someone’s picking off dream walkers one by one. Since there aren’t a million of you dream walkers around, naturally we’re concerned for your safety Zane.”
Zane couldn’t find his voice. He now knew that feeling that had overcome him earlier. It had been death and for God knows what reason, that mysterious girl’s voice had saved him. Last night he’d been in the actual grip of death and some unknown angel brought him back. He wasn’t exactly sure how but he was going to do his best to find out and fast.
“Trouble seems to follow you and that gang of yours, doesn’t it?” Morgan said with a smile.
“I guess it does. We should go.” Zane silently sent a thank you to his mysterious protector and followed Morgan to his car. He bet this would be one of the most interesting fights of his life so far. He just hoped that he would actually be able to live through it.
Zane waved his hand in the pitch black space before him. Nothing. He couldn’t even see two inches in front of him. Where the heck was he? He moved his feet cautiously, hoping that he wouldn’t stumble over something in the darkness. He braced his arms and blindly searched for something to give him a hint what was going on but it was like being blind folded while trying to find the way out of a maze. “That”, Zane thought, “would be easier than this.”
His senses were on alert ready for something to jump out and take him by surprise, but for the moment he was grateful that he was just fumbling about in the darkness. His stomach lurched as he felt something move in the shadows. He was no longer alone. The hairs on his arms, along with the hair on the back of his neck, were standing straight up. Then he felt the whoosh of air as if something were circling around him as a shark would while sizing up its prey. He swallowed hard and silently told himself that he would find a way to get out of this.
Pushing forward slowly in the dark it occurred to Zane that he hadn’t sought this out. This wasn’t something that he had jumped into willingly. No, he had been pulled into this nightmare. He had never, in all the years he been able to slip in and out of people’s dreams and nightmares, been sucked into one before. He’d always been in control, choosing the ones into which he leapt.
Zane stopped. He didn’t want to go any deeper into the darkness. Then, just as his feet stopped, he felt a pulling, like invisible hands had grabbed him and jerked him forward. There was some unseen force taking him further into a dark pit.
He was used to being the inconspicuous observer, not an active participant, as he was now. His mind raced trying to remember anything from his training that would work to yank him out of this situation but they’d never covered anything remotely resembling this scenario. Just as he was about to do something stupid by opening his mouth to speak, a voice called out to him in the darkness.
“Zane.” A female called out in a melodic voice that Zane found soothing in a strange way he couldn’t describe. The force that pulled him farther into the darkness tightened its grip and quickened the pace. The soothing feeling he’d felt from the voice vanished in a flash and fear took its place.
Zane tried to dig his feet into the unseen ground desperate to try and stop the forward motion, but it was no use. Whatever was pulling him was far stronger and more determined than it appeared Zane was. His mind raced in a panic. What if he wasn’t able to get out of this? What if he was somehow trapped in this bleak desolate oblivion?
As each second passed, his despair over the situation grew. Hope slowly slipped from his grasp as anxiety and apprehension took over. Then, as if it were a sign to give him the hope he longed for, something to prove he had a chance to fight against this consuming fear, a light appeared in the distance. It was extremely faint, but still there was something calming about the faint low orange glow. Suddenly, just as quickly as the light appeared, he found that whatever had been dragging him was now pulling him away from the comforting light. Zane watched as the light faded away taking with it the sliver of hope he had latched onto.
His body grew cold, not like the temperature suddenly dropping, no this was more extreme. It was a cold that Zane could feel all the way into his bones. The penetrating bitter cold slowly crept in. Just as the fear had previously taken hold of him, now the unrelenting cold surged through him pushing out any hope or warmth that he was fighting to retain.
Zane wanted to wrap his arms around himself to provide some warmth or relief from this piercing wintery cold but he found he was no longer in control of his body in any way. He was finding it increasingly difficult to remember anything other than the despair and freezing that were swirling through and claiming him.
“Zane, help me. Please!” The melodic, warm tone in the mysterious female’s voice was gone, replaced by an urgency that rattled him.
Fighting to remain in the present Zane struggled to answer, only to be frustrated that he could do nothing not even register so much as a whisper in response. He now just wanted to crawl onto the ground, curl into a ball and succumb to the darkness and the cold and just fade away. However, just as he had resolved to surrender, the strange voice wouldn’t allow him to give in. It was like an invisible beacon of light that Zane suddenly craved, the way his body craved air to survive.
“Don’t give in, don’t give up! Fight, Zane. You have to fight.” The girl’s voice was weaker than it had been just a few moments ago but she was still forceful in her plea to Zane.
It was almost as though she were lending him her own will and determination to keep fighting. Something deep inside him didn’t want to allow her struggle to be in vain. He had to find some way to overcome the urge to give up if not for himself but for her. But frustration seeped back into his mind. He couldn’t do anything of his own will. He was desperate to help, but how was he supposed to accomplish that when he couldn’t even help himself?
“Just fight Zane, don’t give in. Please.” The mysterious voice softly faded into a mere whisper.
A loud cackling laugh suddenly boomed in place of the frightened, pleading voice. And then, as if something or someone had snapped their fingers, the darkness was gone and Zane was lying breathless on his bed, in his own room.
Sweat dripped from his forehead as though he’d just finished a marathon. His heart raced so fast it felt like it would leap from his chest. Zane took a few moments to try and calm down and regulate his breathing. Relief flowed through his veins as he fought to remember the last time he’d ever felt so glad to be alive.
Sitting up, he glanced around his room to see if it held some answers as to where he’d been or how exactly he’d gotten there. The familiar sound of loud vocals, guitar riffs and drum beats coming from his stereo filled the room. The light over his desk still illuminated his halfhearted attempt at the English essay that was due next week. Nothing appeared to be out of place or different in any way. It was all there just as he’d remembered it before the strange trip he’d just experienced.
Zane rubbed his hands over his face and let out a sigh. What the heck was going on? He felt extremely drained and run down. Usually after dream walking he experienced some fatigue. Xavier his mentor had warned him about that years ago, but this was more like being awake for a week straight instead of just several hours.
He reached down for his backpack to grab his cell phone but stopped short when a metallic surge shot through in the space around him and was followed by a rush of air. The chair in front of his desk that had been empty only moments before now housed a familiar presence. A not so petite cooper haired figure with intensely green eyes glared at him. This was not the reception he was looking for after what he’d just been through but he couldn’t in all honestly say he was very surprised.
“Care to explain the call for help you threw for God and everyone to feel?” She sounded annoyed as if she’d been in the middle of something important; well, important to her anyway.
His eyes narrowed and then he shrugged. Natasha was someone he mildly respected but at the same time he wouldn’t exactly place her in the friend category either. She was more of an annoyance on his radar, but an attractive annoyance all the same.
Dropping the attitude she leaned forward in his direction and gave him one of her condescending smiles. “Wanna talk about what happened, Cowboy?”
He rolled his eyes. They were back to that stupid nickname business again, were they? “First, I have a name that isn’t “Cowboy” and second, I need a few minutes to process it myself.”
Zane’s curiosity was piqued though. How had she known he’d been in trouble? And what call for help was she accusing him of sending out?
She watched him carefully. Natasha was an intensely serious, yet snarky being. On a good day Zane found it hard to find any shred of resemblance between Natasha and her twin.
“Sorry.” Natasha finally said, as she crossed her arms over her chest and nestled back into the chair in a more relaxed pose.
He shook off the whole nickname crap. “Don’t worry about it.” He hesitated, then asked, “So what did you mean by the call for help?”
She looked at him as if he had three heads. “You’re kidding me, right?” she asked clearly, taken aback by his question.
Zane shook his head as his brow furrowed in confusion. Should he know? How exactly did she know? She had only recently joined the council as a member and her abilities were different from his. He just walked through people’s dreams. She, on the other hand, could teleport herself wherever she wanted. Which could be very unwelcoming as it was in this instance. How he longed for someone to come up with a way to keep her out, but that was a wish for another day it seemed.
“Wow, you aren’t kidding are you?” Natasha said.
“No. I wasn’t aware there was a way to call for help while in a dream.” Zane answer clearly frustrated.
She shrugged. “William taught me a lot of things it seems the council didn’t bother to teach you guys,” she half-heartedly explained.
Ah, she meant William, her father. He had never been a part of the council but his father and brother had been respected members. William had done everything he could to keep his children away from the supernatural council. He’d been afraid that Natasha and her sister would be called into service and eventually be forced to participate in whatever manner the council saw fit. According to William, that meant that they would live a life in servitude to the council.
“What exactly happened, Zane?” she asked. She was using that sweet, caring voice that grated on his last nerve. He much preferred her “attitude”; at least he knew that was sincere.
He gave up. His energy was spent and the faster he hashed this out with her, the faster she would vacate his room. At least he hoped it would speed up her departure. “Truthfully I don’t know. It was so…I’m not sure how to describe it.”
“It’s never happened before?” she asked.
He shook his head. “That’s the thing. I wasn’t there to watch. This wasn’t some assignment the council gave me to look into. I was sucked into this darkness. I’m not sure if it was a nightmare or a dream. It was just this dark void that left me feeling alone and completely hopeless.” Zane shuddered as he explained.
“Wait, you weren’t there willingly?” Her face clearly displayed her anticipation of his answer.
Had he been speaking Greek instead of English? “No. And other than the feelings associated with being wherever I was, the fact that I wasn’t there willingly, scared me. That’s never happened before Natasha. Never.”
Zane watched as she chewed on her bottom lip. It was something she did only when she was nervous. Her mind seemed to be processing it all. He liked to imagine that she was more machine than semi human. When she got like this he could almost see the gears turning in her brain.
“Stop looking at me like that. You know I hate it when you do.” She paused as confusion washed over her. “I need to talk to Michael. He might be able to look through his mom’s journals and see if she ever documented something like this.” she offered.
Michael. Zane wasn’t sure which of the two he liked less, Michael or Natasha. Michael wasn’t a total jerk but he was wrapped around Natasha’s little finger and the two thought so much alike it was creepy. But Michael’s mother had been a supernatural researcher for years. She had scoured the globe following leads on undocumented supernatural cases and that had ultimately taken her life. Perhaps she’d run across something like this before. It would be nice to get to the bottom of this and soon.
Oh how he missed his best friends right now, but they were on assignment half way around the world. The council had decided to split their foursome up after an incident last year. Consequently, he got stuck being a “mentor” to Michael and Natasha as Richelle had directed. When it came to all things council related, Richelle’s word was final. She oversaw the Eastern portion of the council and whether or not Zane liked it, she was his boss.
“Consult him then,” Zane wearily advised. The faster she left, the faster he could try to get some sleep, which he desperate for now.
She eyed him. “I don’t know what Genesis sees in you. I thought she had better taste than that. Oh well, I’ll have to work on her. Later Cowboy.” She flashed Zane a fake smile then, as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.
Ugh. He hated when she brought his best friend into things. He grunted as he fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes. At least she was gone, he silently observed, then succumbed to sleep.
Zane awoke to the blaring of his alarm or at least that what he thought sounded like it. However as he fumbled in the darkness to stop the incessant sound he smacked the snooze button but the sound still echoed through him room. What the heck? Not this stupid dream again. He’d had this same dream occasionally where he heard a sound he thought was his alarm, but the annoying noise would go on forever until he actually woke up to stop the real culprit. Zane didn’t want to wake up until he felt good and rested, and not one moment before.
But sleep didn’t seem to be in the plans for Zane, at least not today. His entire body still felt exhausted as he managed to sit up. He found that his room was not as dark in reality as it had seemed in his dream. That was a shame. His eyes slammed shut after opening slightly to test how bright it was. Perfect.
Pushing through the extreme glare from the sun, Zane noticed that the sound that had brought him to this uncomfortable conscious state was still echoing through his room. What was that? The clock on his bedside table wasn’t the cause of the noise. Still half asleep he finally decided to dig through his backpack and found his phone the source of his untimely awakening.
Without looking to see who it was Zane answered in a not so kind voice, hoping to convey his annoyance with whoever disturbed his sleep. “What?” He grumbled.
“Morning to you too.” A familiar voice echoed in his ear.
Zane relaxed and forced a more chipper tone as he continued along the daunting path of waking up. “Sorry.”
“Had a long night with the ladies did you?” His friend laughed, hoping to brighten Zane’s mood.
Zane couldn’t help but allow a small smile to form. Daniel’s naturally jovial self could push past Zane’s crankiness in most cases. “Yeah that’s it. Me and half the women of Saisbury. It was wild. You should’ve seen the aftermath.”
“That’s the Zane I know. So buddy we’re headed back early. Richelle said there’s some trouble you might need help with. She didn’t really go into details but said that everything would be explained at the emergency council meeting tomorrow night.” Daniel explained.
Zane was now not only tired but confused as well. Had he missed something? He switched over to speakerphone so he could check the date on his phone to make sure he hadn’t slept days instead of hours. “What trouble?”
“Dunno buddy. She called yesterday and said that we needed to get back ASAP. We’re in Denver waiting for our connecting flight back to Hartford. We should be back late tonight. Everything ok?”
How was he supposed to answer that? Should he even mention the thing from last night?
“Yo Zane? Something’s going on, so what gives?” Daniel practically demanded. Any and all joking had disappeared from his voice.
Zane sighed. “I have no idea,” he admitted. “I’ll try and explain it when you guys get back. I’m waiting on Natasha to get back to me. She was going to check with Michael for some research.”
“Whoa you’re actually working with Natasha on this? Things must really be bad.” Daniel added half joking.
“Funny man, real funny. And just for the record I’m not actually working with Natasha. As always her services were unsolicited.” Zane said.
Daniel laughed again. “She loves pushing your buttons doesn’t she?”
“You could say that.” Zane muttered.
He stopped and marveled at how different Natasha was from her sibling. How they ever shared the same DNA was beyond him.
“Hey, someone wants to say hi. Take it easy Zane. We’ll talk tonight when we get back.” Daniel didn’t give him the option to reply.
The next voice that carried through the speakerphone was like warm rays from the sun. “Hey bestest friend in the whole world.”
Zane could imagine her smile. From the tone of her cheerful voice it would be the smile that crinkled the edge of her eyes as she beamed. She was like the bright sun on a completely gray and cloudy day. She had this way of brightening his mood even from a couple thousand miles away. “Hey Gen.”
“So, looks like Richelle’s decided we can work together again.” He could hear she was truly as thrilled about working as a team again as he was.
Things were still weird between them and, man, he hated that. But it wasn’t her fault. The blame lay solely on his shoulders. He’d been the one to fall in love with her and kept quiet about it. Then he’d had the nerve to lash out at her when she’d fallen head over heels for his best friend Daniel like it had somehow been her fault. Sometimes life kicked you that way. But no matter how much it hurt he couldn’t keep her or Daniel from his life. This was his burden to bear not theirs.
“Zane?” Concern crept into her voice and shook him back to the present.
“I’m here. Sorry, it was a late one last night.” Zane mindlessly spit out.
Genesis didn’t answer right away. “So the minute we get back into town you’re gonna share whatever’s bothering you right?” she asked.
He couldn’t have put on his fake everything’s fine voice? No, he had to take the brooding something’s up with Zane tone with her. Great. Now she would be worried the whole trip back. Way to go Zane.
“Yeah. It’s not that big a deal Gen really. No need to worry.” He did his best to set her mind at ease but was sure he’d failed miserably.
She allowed a short, hard laugh to escape. “Not that big a deal? That’s why Tasha and Michael are involved.” she retorted, clearly not in her happy go lucky mood any longer.
Great. So she knew more than Daniel did. He was going to have a few words with Natasha when he saw her next. “You know she likes to exaggerate things. Don’t worry about it. Seriously Gen, it’s nothing.” Zane was hoping it was the end of it but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Zane,” she said. He knew exactly what she was doing. Gen was mentally counting to ten so she didn’t lose her cool. She was trying not to bust a gasket in a public setting.
“Getting pulled into a nightmare or whatever is serious Zane. You know that. Natasha knows that. I know that. So stop with the macho tough guy crap,” she forcefully stated and Zane couldn’t help but crack a smile.
In some sick and twisted way he liked that she got all big bad protector over him. But he was really going to have to fight the urge to murder Natasha the next time he saw her. This was low, ever for her. He didn’t know anything and neither did Natasha or she would’ve graced him with her unwanted presences as soon as she hit pay dirt.
“It’s not being macho Genesis. I refuse to get everyone all worked up over something that happened once. There are more pressing things for us to put our care and concern into, for example, whatever Richelle has called this emergency meeting about. You just worry about getting back to Connecticut in one piece.” Zane was going to need a nap after this conversation. He loved that she worried about him but what was there to worry about? So he got sucked into something for some unknown reason. Once. One freaking time and she flips out. Girls.
“You are such a guy Zane Archer!” she huffed and he had to stifle a laugh so she wouldn’t fly into one of her infamous rants.
“Thanks.” He was smiling and his heart started to ache for just a glimpse of her but it wasn’t right. He needed to stop those kinds of thoughts.
“If I was there I’d so hit you, you know.” She stated.
He knew she couldn’t stay mad at him for long. But he also knew that she would have at least lightly punched him in the arm playfully and he would have pretended that he actually felt it. “I know you would.” Zane paused for a second then added, “Seriously Gen try not to drive Daniel crazy the rest of the way home about this.”
“Fine, but so help me Zane, if you clam up when we get there I will plant Natasha in your room for a week to watch over you as you sleep.” she threatened. The worst part of it all was that Zane knew all too well that she would actually do it.
He cringed at the thought of having Natasha in his room for a few hours let alone a week. “You win. I’ll tell you everything that happened, just please stop with the Natasha threats, ok? I don’t need nightmares.” He tried to tease but a part of him hoped she knew he was serious about Natasha.
“Here’s Daniel. Try and get some rest Zane. You sound exhausted.” There was a sort of muffled sound and then she was gone.
“Sorry about that. You know how hard it is to tell her no. We gotta go Zane. It’s time to board. Try not to do something that will piss off Richelle until we get back, ok? Hang in there. See you in a few hours.”
Zane hung up the phone and fought the urge to convey his frustrations to the entire neighborhood. Instead he tossed his phone back into his backpack and headed for a hot shower. Steam seemed to clear your mind. It was amazing how that worked. In the meantime he would do his best to sort through the weirdness of last night by himself. He prayed that Natasha would get so wrapped up in hanging out with Michael that she wouldn’t have time to teleport anywhere near him.
Several hours after emerging from the comforts of the shower he sat at his desk and it was clear to Zane that there was a lot more involved than just getting pulled in to whatever it had been. There was this nagging pull in his mind as he tried to remember the female’s voice. But for the life of him he couldn’t form a clear memory of her voice. As he kept going back over the events and how they had all happened, there was a feeling that washed over Zane. This wasn’t just some isolated incident. He felt pretty confident in that conclusion.
There was a soft knock at his door and without looking up from the list he’d made of the events and their order he called out, “come in.”
“Zane.” A voice greeted him.
Zane wheeled around and looked curiously at his guest. What was he doing here? A part of him had hoped that it would be Genesis and Daniel but they wouldn’t have knocked or at least not that politely anyways. What was Morgan doing here?
“Surprise.” The tall figure waved his hands in the air in a gesture of mock surprise.
Zane didn’t say anything. He just watched as Morgan made his way into his room.
Morgan Carter was someone you wanted to have on your side if you were headed into battle, not necessarily someone you wanted to hang around in your room. You could trust Morgan to have your back in a fight but he wasn’t someone Zane trusted to be “just pals”.
Perhaps part of that distrust stemmed from the fact that Morgan was half human, and half demon. There was always a fine line that Morgan walked between his benevolent human side and his treacherous demon side. Zane respected the hell out of Morgan for the part he played last year in helping him and his friends but coming to his house was crossing a line that didn’t earn Morgan any brownie points in Zane’s eyes.
“Usually a person greets his guests with at least an attempt of a smile or the hint of fake joy at his presence.” Morgan quipped as he leaned against the wall closest to Zane’s door.
“That would imply that I’m mildly thrilled that you’re here, which I’m not. What do you want Morgan?” Zane asked.
Morgan crossed his arms and quickly got rid of the joking attitude becoming very businesslike. “There’s a problem.”
Zane shrugged. “So I heard. Some meeting with Richelle tomorrow night to explain it. Yeah, got the memo. Thanks.”
“Normally I enjoy our witty banter but this is serious Zane. The meeting has been moved up. Daniel and the others are in route now. I’m here to be your chauffer.” Morgan said.
Zane shot a glaring look at Morgan. “Why was it moved up?”
Morgan sighed and then shook his head. “I told her you had a right to know before this little powwow. But you know Richelle, decorum to the end. I wouldn’t want to be blindsided if I were in your position. Maybe that’s why she sent me to get you. She knows I would tell you even if she told me not to.”
Zane hated when he got like this. “Just tell me Morgan.”
Morgan raised his eyebrow and carefully watched Zane. After a few seconds he shrugged and then stated, “There’s been a report of deaths. It seems that someone’s picking off dream walkers one by one. Since there aren’t a million of you dream walkers around, naturally we’re concerned for your safety Zane.”
Zane couldn’t find his voice. He now knew that feeling that had overcome him earlier. It had been death and for God knows what reason, that mysterious girl’s voice had saved him. Last night he’d been in the actual grip of death and some unknown angel brought him back. He wasn’t exactly sure how but he was going to do his best to find out and fast.
“Trouble seems to follow you and that gang of yours, doesn’t it?” Morgan said with a smile.
“I guess it does. We should go.” Zane silently sent a thank you to his mysterious protector and followed Morgan to his car. He bet this would be one of the most interesting fights of his life so far. He just hoped that he would actually be able to live through it.
