I expect Daciana to scream again when he comes closer, but instead, she grabs his arm. And then she begins to laugh, shrill and hysterical.
“It’s the black girl’s turn to go first.” It’s her voice, but it sounds more like him. “Maybe the grill lighter this time. That would be interesting.”
Suddenly she grows sober, frightened, and backs away, cowering behind me. “What did you say?” He shines the lantern toward the bed and it’s bright, wicked bright. It burns my eyes, and I duck my head into my arms.
His hand is in my hair, yanking me to my feet, then he’s shaking me and saying—
“Anna! Anna, wake up!” Someone’s hand pushes my hair aside and I tense up, holding back a scream.
I’m scared to open my eyes. “The light . . .”
A click, and he says, “There, it’s off.”
It takes me a moment to place his voice. “Aaron?”
“Yes. It’s me. You’re okay. You’re okay now.”
I slowly open my eyes, and the faint light coming in from the street doesn’t burn like the light in my dream. The room isn’t cold. It’s Kelsey’s beach house. I glance down at my hands and see that my fingers—not nine, but all ten—are knotted tightly in Aaron’s T-shirt.
He wraps his hands over mine. “Breathe, Anna. You’re safe. It was a dream. Just a dream.”
There’s a book in his lap. The one I was reading earlier. The one that apparently wasn’t interesting enough to keep me awake.
A light flicks on in the hallway and I bury my face in his shoulder.
“Turn it off!” he says.
When I open my eyes again, Taylor’s frame is silhouetted in the doorway. “What happened?”
“She had a nightmare. Go back to sleep, okay?”
Taylor doesn’t move. “That sounded like . . . like Molly screaming.”
“Yeah,” he says. “I think it kind of was.”
“Does she need some water or anything?”
I nod into Aaron’s chest and he says, “Sure. Thanks, Tay. Just . . . don’t turn on the light in the hallway, okay?”
“Sorry,” I say, once my breathing returns to normal. “I’m sorry I woke you.” I realize that my hands are still wrapped in his T-shirt. I relax them and scoot backward a bit so that my shoulders are against the headboard, but Aaron doesn’t let go of my hands.
“You’ve got a pretty powerful set of lungs there. Waking Taylor after a reading is quite an accomplishment. Mom had to throw ice water in her face one morning.”
Taylor hands me one of the bottles of water from the fridge and I take a few sips. She sits on the edge of the bed, tugging her threadbare nightshirt—Team Volturi—over bare knees. “Molly’s gone, isn’t she? That’s why you’re having those dreams.”
“She left before we reached the house in Havre de Grace.” I pause for a moment, trying to calm my breathing. “She was nearly gone anyway, and . . . she didn’t want to relive everything. I don’t blame her.”
“So, is that the end of it?” she asks. “I mean, you just dream about it the one time and then . . .”
“Maybe.” But it sounds like no, even to my own ears. I know better. And if they are in the same house with me the next time I happen to fall asleep, they’ll know better, too.
She glances at Aaron’s hand, still on mine. Then she leans over and gives him a hug. “Night, bro. I think you got this and I’m wiped out. Call me if you need me.”
He pulls his hand back, looking self-conscious. “That’s . . . ,” he begins, but then shakes his head and waves her on. “Get some sleep, then.”
“G’night, Anna.”
When she leaves, Aaron picks up the book. “What’s it about?”
I give a weak chuckle. “A ghost, as it turns out. Thought I’d made a safe pick, but . . .”
“The lamp was on when I came in. You were reading to stay awake, weren’t you?” He looks at the bottle of pills on the nightstand. “Are those your pills? Can you take another one or—” A look of comprehension comes into his eyes. “Oh. You didn’t take them. You’re worried you won’t hear the phone.”
“Won’t hear it. Won’t be coherent enough to respond to it. Or I’ll be so groggy I make a stupid mistake.”
“Things are going to be as bad, if not worse, if you don’t get some sleep.”
“But if they call—”
“I’ll wake you. It can’t be any harder than waking Taylor.” He picks up the bottle and removes the cap. “Two?”
I nearly tell him to just give me one, but I nod.
Once I swallow the pills, he takes my phone from the nightstand and sticks it in his back pocket. “Should I go?”
“Probably. The dream was so vivid. I’m not even sure that two pills will ward it off.”
“That’s not a reason for me to go. It sounds more like a reason I should stay. Unless you feel safer . . .”
I don’t even have to think about it. I feel safer with him here. I want him here. And I’m too tired and too frightened to worry about how much of that is me and how much is coming from Molly.
“Stay.”