Find Me If You Dare (Dreamcatcher Book 2) (31 page)

My shoulders drooped as a heaviness filled my limbs. I translated for the others and rubbed my eyebrows. This wouldn’t be the first time today I pulled a child away from a dead parent.

“Stay there,” I replied in the girl’s language. “We’re coming in.” I turned to Seth and Kayla, changing to English. “Seth, when we go in, I want you to grab the girl and get her to a hospital. I think Burgdorf’s is still standing. Kayla and I will check on the mother and do what we can.”

“What if it’s overloaded? Last one said they have no more room,” Seth replied.

“Take her somewhere else. Just stay out of the US.”

When he nodded, the three of us trekked inside the building, slowly. Sweat rolled down my neck. Glass crunched beneath my feet. The truck filled most of the space. Salon chairs, mirrors, ceiling tiles, and floor tiles were in pieces on the ground. Dust coated the air, and I waved my hand in front of my face.

“What’s your name?” I called out to the little girl in German, trying to gauge where she was in the wreckage.

“Lena.” The voice came from the back corner of the barbershop, opposite the truck. At least she wasn’t crushed beneath the vehicle. The building creaked, and I shot up a prayer that we’d get out before the rest of the ceiling crashed.

Kayla, be ready to stop a cave-in.
She’d done it once already. Her ability had surprised both of us, but Alex had been telekinetic, too. He’d flung objects around Bartholomew’s office the night we stopped him from killing the Keeper.

“Lena, I’m Daniel. My friends and I are going to get you out of here. Does anywhere hurt?”

“My arm… and… and my head.”

“All right. We’re almost there. Tell me about school. What year are you?”

“Second grade.”

Light blonde pigtails splayed out beneath a broken counter. Was that her? A cash register lay in pieces on the floor next to the table.

“Lena, can you reach your arm above your head and wave?”

She whimpered, then a hand peeked out beside the pigtails.

I found her,
I told the others, pointing to the girl. Seth and Kayla’s gazes followed my line of sight. “Good,” I said to Lena. “I see you. Only a few more moments.”

The three of us moved quicker, still careful not to bump anything that might set off an avalanche. A few seconds later, we reached the young survivor. As soon as I locked gazes with the blue-eyed child, she cried and reached her arms out to me.

I crouched next to her and made sure we were secure to lift the counter. Her small hand wrapped around my wrist, and I put my other hand over hers. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

Lena wasn’t pinned. I nodded to Kayla, and she and Seth slowly moved the wood from the girl’s body. I pulled Lena out from the wreckage and lifted her in my arms. “See, nothing to be afraid of.”

She held tight to me, pressing her face into my neck. “My mommy!” Lena said with a whimper.

“I know,” I replied. “I’ll find her.”

I tried passing her to Seth so he could take her to a hospital, but Lena clung to me harder. “No, don’t leave me!”

“Go, man. I got this,” Seth said, dropping to his knees next to a blonde woman almost identical to the child in my arms.

Kayla’s arms shook, keeping the counter from falling on our friend, but she nodded.
I’m all right. Go.

With a sigh, I clutched Lena to me. “Close your eyes,” I told her. “Don’t open them till I tell you.”

When she nodded, still crying into my neck, I evaporated to the hospital in Burgdorf, staying invisible until I was sure no one would spot us. When the parking lot emptied, I went corporeal and carried Lena inside.

“Help!” I called out in German. “Please, she’s hurt.”

Nurses rushed us. I tried to pass Lena off to them, but she squeezed my neck again and screamed at the top of her lungs.

I gagged, her grip nearly cutting off my airway.

“Sir, we’re going to need you to come back with us until we can get her calmed down,” a dark-haired nurse said.

I nodded and shot a message to Kayla.
I’ll be there as fast as I can. Lena won’t let go. Let me know you’re okay.

We’re safe
, she sent back within seconds.
See you soon.

With the girl clinging to me like a baby monkey, I followed the nurses into a room and sat her on the bed. Her arms still circled my neck as she whimpered.

“Lena, these people are going to help you,” I said. “But I need you to let go of me.”

“Don’t leave me,” she replied.

I shook my head. “I won’t.”

When her thin arms loosened around my neck, I lowered her to a lying position, brushing light blonde strands from her face. Lena looked up at me, her blue eyes wide, bright, and glossy. I took her little hand in mine when she reached out for me as the nurses prepped her for blood work and scans.

“What’s your name?” one of the nurses asked her.

“Lena,” she replied.

“And who is he?”

She studied me, hard. I gave her small hand a little squeeze, and she nodded, smiling. “My angel.”

“Yo, Daniel.”

Seth’s voice jarred me awake. On the hospital bed, Lena slept beneath two blankets, an IV in one arm and a cast over the other. Last I remembered, the nurses had brought her back from a scan, saying there was a small amount of internal bleeding but nothing they couldn’t fix. Otherwise, she’d had a broken arm and leg, and a concussion. She’d survive. But when I’d tried to leave again, Lena had cried, telling me she was scared and that she wanted me to wait with her until her mum came for her. I’d checked with Seth to learn that I’d been right: her mother was dead. I hadn’t the heart to tell her—or leave her. Sometime between when I’d lifted her in my arms to that moment, the eight-year-old girl had wormed her way into my heart.

I’d turned the TV on low, listening to the news reports tell me the entire world had been the victim of simultaneous terror attacks and waiting for Lena to fall asleep. My plan had been to leave when she was out, so I’d have a chance of getting away without my chest tightening at the sight of her tearful eyes, but I’d fallen asleep myself.

Now, I sat up straighter in my chair, my entire body stiff. The television was off. I winced when my muscles refused to move. With all the exercising and saving Bern’s citizens, I’d overworked my body.

I blinked a few times, trying to clear the tiredness from my eyes. “What time is it?”

“One a.m. Kayla’s freakin’ out. She’s been trying to reach you for an hour. Took everything I had to convince her to stay put in case you were in trouble.”

The last I’d said to her was: “Don’t wait for me to rest. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” That was before I’d fallen asleep.

I gripped the back of my neck and stretched, my head throbbing. “Sorry. I got sidetracked.”

“I can see that. What are you still doin’ here?”

“Lena didn’t want me to leave.”

“And so you let yourself get sucked in by a little girl?”

I turned my head as far as it would go and glared at him. “She was scared. I couldn’t leave her alone.”

Seth nodded, his eyes narrowing. As my best friend, he knew more about me than Kayla or Samantha, which meant he also knew how to read me better than anyone else. So, when he sat next to me with an, “Uh-huh,” I knew he was going to drop some profound statement. I rolled my eyes and suppressed a groan.

“First Kayla, now Lena,” he said. “Since when did you become attached so easily? You’re supposed to be able to separate work from afterlife, man.”

“This wasn’t work, Seth. We saved people’s lives today from a warlock we can’t stop. This goes deeper than protecting a charge.”

“And you’re positive this has nothing to do with Tabbi?”

My nostrils flared, and again I glowered at him. “What?” My heart ricocheted in my chest. I didn’t want to think about Tabbi; I didn’t want to feel the pain. Damn him for bringing her up.

“Dude, she was like your sister. This Lena kid might be a few years younger, but you sure you’re not seein’ Tabbi in her? The scared little girl you took under your wing your first week of Protector training?”

“Seth, seriously, shove off. I’m not in the mood.”

He raised his hands. “Fine. Whatever. You ready to go, at least?”

I glanced at Lena. She was still sound asleep; the heart monitor beeped slow and steady. If I was going to get out of here, now was the time.

“Yeah,” I replied, my body creaking when I stood. My heart twisted as my head drummed up an image of the cabin. Why was it so hard to leave Lena behind? Seth was right. I’d allowed myself to get too attached. Again.

I missed Tabbi more than I thought.

Closing my eyes to hide the tears that pooled, I evaporated.

“Oh, thank God,” Kayla said before I even finished blinking. In a second, her arms wrapped around me. Her touch was intoxicating.

Closing my eyes, I leaned into her, embracing her tight. Her body fit mine perfectly. Her dark hair smelled like dirt and soot, but I didn’t care. Things were rotten, and repressed emotions were resurfacing, but at least she was my constant, the sun around which I rotated, the reason I breathed. No matter how shitty things got, I would not stop fighting for one more day to hold her in my arms.

I checked my breath and relaxed my hold, keeping eye contact with the wall above her head.

Kayla gripped my arm with one hand and placed the other on my chest. “Are you okay?”

Nodding once, I dropped my gaze to her face. Worry lines covered her forehead, and her brows were drawn together over an intense, watery gaze. I grazed my thumb along her jaw, but a reassuring smile wouldn’t come. Gently, I kissed her forehead, then pushed her away without answering. We’d worry about me later.

“Have you all heard the news?” I asked those who were still awake.

They nodded.

“I guess what happened to Bern and Yangzhou happened everywhere. They say the US was hit the hardest,” Lian replied. “Planes falling from the sky, cities turning to rubble…”

“That’s what I’ve heard, too,” I agreed. “Ships sailed into harbors, bridges collapsed, people killed their neighbors to save—or steal—whatever they could carry… Governments are heeding ‘Giovanni’s’ warning. There’s footage of soldiers from various countries coming together, prepared to strike the moment word leaks who’s officially behind the poison and the damage.”

“That’s another thing,” Ivan said. “Giovanni’s dead, right?”

I nodded. “I watched him die. These ‘videos’ aren’t him.”

“A cloaking spell—that’s all it would take,” Nolan joined in. “All Richard would need is some of Giovanni’s blood, and then whoever wore it”—he touched his forehead—“would turn into him with a few simple words. The spell wouldn’t wear off until the blood was washed off.”

“He still has Alex and Adelynn. It could be one of them,” Samantha said.

“It could be anyone. Even Richard himself,” Vinny added.

“Okay, so we know the videos aren’t really Giovanni,” Kayla said, “but shouldn’t we be worrying about this ‘War’ thing—the other ‘horseman?’ It has to be either Alex or Adelynn who gave the supernaturals control of the Nightmares, right? Do they even have that kind of power?”

“Nah, I’d bet one of them’s being syphoned to increase Richard’s power,” Nolan replied. “Even His Evilness couldn’t control all the Nightmares by himself, just small groups of them at one time—hence why he recruited supernaturals. But he’d need more magic to bind Nightmares to his ‘lieutenants’ and keep those binds in place. Which means…”

Nolan’s eyes brightened, then darkened. He sighed. “Which means if we don’t find Richard soon, he’s just going to keep binding Nightmares to supernaturals until there’s no human left on the planet.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So, we’re back to plan A. Kayla needs to do the locator spell and find Richard. Now.”