“Come sit down,” Laurel encouraged, patting the sofa near her.
I came to a stop at the end of the hallway. “I think I better go home. Maybe it’s the medicine. I’m having difficulty keeping food down and” —I turned to Mason, fighting the tears— “I’m not ready for anger. It was a dream. I know you hate the subject of Missy. I wouldn’t have said anything if I knew you were here.”
“So you’d lie to me? We don’t lie.”
My lips came together. “Like that’s fair? It was a dream.” I felt like I’d repeated that phrase more times than necessary.
“You didn’t tell me.”
“Do you tell me every dream you have, Mace?”
My brother looked at Laurel and me. “I guess...” He seemed to not only be searching for words but also doing his best to moderate his voice, toning down the anger and soothing a volatile situation as he had over the course of our lives. “You mentioned Missy. Tell me, what did she say she did?”
“Who? I didn’t see Missy in my dream, and you know as well as I do that Nancy Pierce has probably been dead for years—she deserves to be. Missy is gone. People don’t turn up twenty-five years after they disappear.”
My hands went to my stomach. The soreness of my ribs along with the nausea made for a sickening combination. “Laurel, I know I said I don’t want to sleep, but I haven’t.” I shook my head. “Not really. I think it would be best if I could take a break from the memories and uncertainty. Is there anything you can prescribe?”
Laurel stood. “I can’t do that. I can call Dr. Dixon if you’d like. She can coordinate with the other medical professionals on your team to determine what would be best.”
“Best,” I scoffed. “I don’t know. How about you give me some of your formula to make it all go away?”
“That’s not my goal and we’re still in trials.”
“Then let me be in a trial.”
“Fuck, Lorna,” Mason said, “what the hell happened? You seem...on the edge. What did she say?”
The emotions were there, bubbling out of the black hole. I didn’t want them or the memories that lurked in its depths. “It’s all catching up and I don’t think I’m ready.” I tried to give Laurel a smile. “Maybe talking wasn’t a good idea.”
She knowingly nodded. “We can do it again when we’re alone.”
“What?” Mason asked. “Now, I’m an intruder with my wife and sister?”
“Mason.” It was again her one-word warning. “I would agree that the two of you should talk.”
He looked at his watch. “I’m late.”
“Then leave,” I said.
“Tonight,” he replied. “I’ll talk to Reid.”
“Reid?” It was my turn to question. “What does he have to do with it?”
Mason’s jaw clenched. “We’re fucking drowning in shit.” He disappeared down the hallway and came back with a black box. “This is why I came back. Fuck, carry on. Don’t let me intrude in my own damn home.” His gaze came at me. “You and me are going to talk. I want answers.”
A million thoughts were loose in my mind. Untamed and wild, they stampeded toward an unknown destination, chased by a hidden predator. “I don’t have answers, Mace. That’s the problem. Hell, I don’t even have questions.” I remembered something Ruby said. “I’m swimming and there’s no shore.” When neither of them replied, I went on, “It’s like I don’t remember if I can swim or if I’m afraid of sharks and why. Maybe I’m a talented swimmer. I just don’t know.” Tears prickled the backs of my eyes. “I am the one who needs answers. I don’t care if they’re from one of you or Reid. I need something.”
Mason ran his hand over his tethered-back hair. “Tonight, after I’m back from some meetings I can’t ignore, we’ll talk.”
Laurel exhaled.
“I’m not a child, Mason,” I said. “I’m an adult and you keep forgetting that.”
“You can be one hundred and ten fucking years old, and I’ll still be me and you’ll still be you.”
“You can stop protecting me.”
He took a step closer. “That’s not in me.”
“Your meetings,” Laurel reminded Mason as she stood and offered him a kiss. “Stay safe. I love you.”
Their eyes met. “I love you, Doc. Don’t...”
She shook her head.
“Just don’t,” he said.
Once he was gone, I turned to her. “Don’t what?”
She feigned a smile. “Leave the building. Go to the institute...try to learn baking, set the apartment building on fire. I could probably go on forever.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “He’s lying and so are you.”
“We haven’t lied.”
“So it’s almost the truth? Isn’t that the same as a lie?”
“Lorna, when you’re ready, you can tell Mason more about your dream, and he can fill you in on a few things they decided could wait.”
“They?” I said too loud.
Laurel didn’t respond.
“The men. That’s who you’re referring to as they: Reid and Mason. Are they alone or are Sparrow and Patrick in on it too?”
Her lips flattened.
“Of course they are. The four of them share a damn brain. They all know something, and for the last four days they’ve kept it from me” —my head tilted— “and from Araneae?”
“It doesn’t apply equally to her.”
“They know who hurt me?”
She shook her head. “They haven’t said.”
The black hole returned. No longer satisfied with a low bubble, the emotions within grew in intensity, the bottomless pit of dark beginning to boil. As I blinked my eyes, there were images.
Was this what she meant when she asked about flashes?
There was the old woman. There were stars. I saw a man with black hair. His complexion was light yet his expression was...I was afraid.
My fingertips went to my cheek. Placing gentle pressure, I felt the soreness. I fell back to the sofa. I blinked again. The walls were covered in paneling and the stench of cigarette smoke hung thick in the air.
The flashes seemed unrelated, and yet I didn’t want any of them. “You mentioned blacking out with alcohol. I never did, but there are blanks from before—long ago—things I can’t remember.”
“No one remembers everything,” Laurel said. “That’s normal.”
Again, I stood. The small hairs on my arms stood to attention and my skin bristled.
“Lorna, are you all right?”
I brushed invisible predators from my arms.
“There’s nothing on you.”
The offensive smoke scent faded. I looked down at my arms and pulled the sleeves of my sweater up. The bites were healing, yet they weren’t gone. However, there was nothing else on me.
I turned to my friend. “Laurel, what happened to me?”
Suddenly, a thought that had not occurred to me before this second seemed obvious—as obvious as the insect bites on my skin.