I See You (25 page)

“Oh, fuck!”

It’s nice lying in her bed and settling down for the night. This is the closest I’ve ever felt to normal. Her supple little body pushes into mine and I sigh in contentment.

My phone pings with a new email. It’s just a generic junk email that’s been flagged by the protocols I have set up for my emails, but I notice one unopened from an unknown address.

So it would appear cats really do have 9 lives

Shame Lady of the Lake doesn’t have.

Blood is so beautiful against snow white flesh

If you go down to the woods today you’re sure to have a surprise.

I know it’s from Noah but the email address is new and something I need to investigate but I can’t from my cell. I need my laptop. What does he even mean with his riddles? I’m getting sick of his games. I’m not one of his marks, a plan for him to play. This had to end. Tomorrow I’ll trace this IP address and go confront him once and for all.

Nina has fallen asleep, and before I know it my eyes are drooping too.

I
’M FREEZING. THE COLD AIR
on my feet makes my bladder twinge with need to empty. I hate when that happens and you can’t sleep through the need. I groan and sit up, noticing the reason I’m cold is because my bed covers are in the middle of the room.
What the hell?
I reach behind me to shake Devon but my touch is met with a cold mattress. I stand and survey the room but he’s not here. Maybe he went home . . . ?

The window is open and a steady breeze blows the curtains up into the air. No wonder I’m chilly. I cross the room, reach up to close the window, and startle when I see a silhouette of a man standing in the middle of the road, staring up at me. My heart stampedes in my chest and tears brim my eyes before I can think rationally. It’s only when a car passes and blares its horn that he looks away. The headlights light up his body, identifying him to my eyes. Devon?

I rush from the room and down the stairs, bursting out the front door. The gravel cuts into the bottom of my bare feet and the chill in the air whips at my exposed arms.

“Devon?” I shake his arm and cup his cheek with my other hand, bringing his eyes down to mine. “Devon.”

His pupils are huge and a grimace twists his beautiful features. My hand reacts on instinct and I slap him. I’ve been told never to wake a sleepwalker but damn that, he’s shitting the life out of me and he might die if I leave him on the road until he wakes up from wherever he is.

His eyes blink open and closed, and his pupils dilate. “Nina?”

I let out a breath and grab his wrist to drag him inside.

“What’s going on?” he asks, once inside.

“You were sleepwalking or something. What do you remember?” He looks down to the floor and then back up at me, pain slicing across his brow and causing his eyes to droop. His head shakes. “Fire and Noah.”

He drops, defeated, into a chair, accidentally knocking my work bag to the floor. He jumps from the noise it makes.

He carries a burden, his dreams so intense that they cause a physical reaction. Mine are bad and I know what stalks me in my dreams. I wonder if Heather can help him or give me some advice on getting him to open up about what troubles his sleeping hours.

“What’s this?” he asks, leaning down and picking up the picture of the two missing people. I don’t answer straight away. I’m too confused about the way he’s looking so intently at the images with his brow furrowed.

“They’re missing.”

He looks up briefly and then back down, stroking his finger over the image of the girl.

“Devon, do you know her?”

He drops the picture like it’s lit on fire. “What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

“Just your reaction to her, is all. Are you okay? Do you always sleep walk?”

He screws his face up in distaste. “I don’t sleepwalk! What’s with all the questions?”

I hold up my hands. “Devon, what the hell? Calm down.”

“I am calm, Nina. I need to go.” He storms out, leaving the door open. Am I dreaming or is this really happening? And if so, what the actual hell?

I chase after him, not satisfied with how things played out. He’s acting weird and I want to know why. I want to help ease any burden or nightmares he’s clinging on to.

I find the downstairs empty so I go up into his bedroom. The bed is stripped bare and there’s a huge blood stain in the middle.

“Why are you here?”

I jump out of my skin when he appears behind me. “Why are you acting this way? What have I done to warrant you having an attitude with me?” His eyes bore into me and I squirm under their scrutiny. “Devon, why is there blood on the mattress?” I ask timidly.

He looks over at the mattress and laughs without humor. He holds his palm up to my face. “My injury, Nina. Now, get out. I’ve had enough of your questions for one night.”

I leave, completely devastated by the way he just behaved. Was I wrong to ask questions? I need to speak to someone. I’ve spent too long out of the dating game. I need to open up to Tricia and ask her advice on his behavior.

I
LOST CONTROL OF EVERYTHING
last night. And I’m angry, at him, at myself.

Noah is inside my head, playing games and drawing out the other Devon, the one who gave up the life he desperately wants me to come back to. The Devon that he used, and in some ways, abused. This is what all his little games are about, to teach me a lesson. What it’s like being on the outside of things.

I hadn’t understood his ‘lady of the lake’ or ‘go down to the woods’ reference until I saw the missing person’s poster from Nina’s purse.

I rushed home to open the Snow White file I’d created on my computer from the images I captured the day of the lake, and sure enough it’s her. The file had been corrupted and copied.
Fuck you, Noah!

Then I caught Nina in my room and she questioned the blood. My head was buzzing and I treated her like shit. I fucking hate myself right now for that; the image of her hurt is on replay in my mind, but I need her angry at me for a little while to keep her out of the way while I try to find Noah.

However, first, I need to go back to the lake where I know he’s left me a gift.

I
SHARPEN ANOTHER PENCIL AND
pop it in the cup holder. The day has been too quiet at work and it’s not what I need. I need a busy day to keep me occupied. I think back over my call with Tricia last night. I’d woken her and she was grouchy. When I told her about mine and Devon’s relationship she was surprised, despite admitting she thought he liked me when she stayed, but the more I went into detail about how amazing things had been, the more dismissive she became, and if I’m being honest with myself, she sounded jealous. Really horribly jealous. It wasn’t like her. She’s known for her bitchy comments but not bitterness. It hurt to hear it in her tone.

“Stop complaining that he asked you to leave when you probed him with questions. You’re so pathetic when it comes to men, Nina. Yet they all trip over themselves to try and be with you.”

At that point I told her to go back to sleep because she was being a bitch and hung up. I was feeling out of sorts. Had I woken up in an alternative reality where everyone I loved had turned into an asshole?

“I think we have enough pencils.” I look up at Luke who’s holding my hand still over the sharpener. He cocks a brow at the cup containing way too many sharp, pointy pencils. “What’s eating you?”