Open World (14 page)

Fingering
the ski mask and looking at the brown extended wear cosmetic contact lenses
that covered his deep green eyes, he mentally vented on how he hated wearing
the blasted things. He also disliked dying his light golden brown hair to a
dark chocolate brown, but all the changes were necessary for the time being.

So maybe the scales are a
blessing. Makes me have to cover them and disguise myself more to keep off of
the prince’s radar. I just wish I could tell Faith who I was
.

Sure,
Alden could have been the one to wear the makeup and change up his appearance
because they needed an upper hand in their investigation. One of them had to be
undercover so if the other was discovered they could still continue tracking Buzz.
But, alas, Alden hadn’t drawn the short straw. He had and thus transformed with
the disguise and name change. If they were lucky, no Caesachapel members would
recognize him, and he and his buddy could keep their advantage for as long as
possible.
The downfall to this?
The family believed
him to be someone else. Coming clean and disclosing who he really was, was an
option, but at this point in time there was no sense throwing the family off
guard even more than they already were.

With
a resigned sigh over his temporary but feels-like-eternity fate, he slipped on the
ski mask, gathered his things and opened the door.

On
his way out of the bathroom, he encountered Cassandra leaning against the wall
with a sly smile on her face. “My, my, my, you’re as bad as a female with how
long you’ve been in there,” she joked. “You must have had a lot of
thinking
to do.”

When
she winked, his breath hitched. Had she enlightened already? Pondering the
woman, he scratched the ski mask on his head. Did she know he had been
meditating? He wished he could ask her, but that would blow his cover. Besides,
it wasn’t his place to inquire about her progress, that task was for her
lifemate. But he did have a question for her, and he was pretty sure she could
answer it. Neither the Q or A would give either of them away. “Do you have any
books about astral projection in your Wiccan arsenal?”

“How
did you know I’m a Wiccan?” she asked in surprise.

Because
it’s the closest thing to Harlestchapel Clan’s religion and how their abilities
in this world come about
.
“A couple of times at the
theater I overheard your cousins discussing your, umm, hobby I believe they
called it. Makes sense as to why you put your character in the Harlestchapel
Clan.”

“Well,
great.
Isn’t that just lovely.
If you’ve heard and
figured it out, then there’s no telling who else has, which means my aunt and
uncle might know,” she fumed and turned with a wave of her arm for him to
follow. As they walked
into
her room, she continued, “Yes, I have two books. I’ll let you borrow them. Just
don’t tell Grace or James anything about my real world interest, okay?”

“You
have my word.” Tavis fingered an X in the air over his heart. Cassandra dropped
to her knees next to the bed. “Is Faith still napping?”

“No.”
She pulled a slim footlocker from beneath her bed, produced its key from a
chain around her neck, unlocked the container and searched the box’s contents.
“She’s watching television now.”

“Has
she had any weird dreams lately?”

“Here
they are.” Cassandra rose to her feet and handed him a couple of books. “Yeah,
she’s had a strange recurring dream. Faith’s had some kind of bizarre daydream
as well.”

“Daydream?”
He flipped through one of the
paperbacks.

“She
told me she saw an ocean out back.
That she could smell and
feel the salt in the air.
She said she felt homesick. Now, that’s weird,
dontcha think? Don’t mind the notes in the margins,” she added, pointing to the
books in his hands.

“The
notes may be good. They’ll probably help. Thanks for letting me borrow these.” He
tipped the books to his head, then toward her.

In
the relative safety of the guest room, he locked the door, took off the ski
mask and rubbed his cheeks. He couldn’t wait until Faith enlightened and
realized who she was. Then he could reveal himself to her, and they could be
together once more. And from what Cassandra had just said, it seemed the
process had started.

He
lay on the bed, opened one of the books and eagerly began to read,
understanding he had to learn everything he could as quickly as possible. He needed
to help Faith fight off Buzz’s advances.

He
hoped he wasn’t too late.

Chapter Twelve

Three
nights.
Three whole
bloody nights
.
Tavis pitched the book about
lucid dreaming to the end of the bed. All that time and he had no idea if the
techniques he practiced from the manuals Cassandra loaned him worked or not. He
had dreams, which involved his test subject, Alden, but he wasn’t about to ask
him about his dreams. He could imagine the conversation, “Hey, Alden. Have any
interesting dreams lately?
Ones that I showed up in?”
That’d go over well…not
.

Until
Alden approached him and brought up the subject of his dreams, he would keep
his mouth shut about what he’d attempted. Better to ask forgiveness than
permission, especially with a bear of a hard head like his friend.

So
far all the two of them had to go on was that a man named Buzz kidnapped Hope.
That Faith was having strange dreams. She didn’t care to discuss them but did
say she’d never seen the man’s face due to a hawk mask. He didn’t offer his
theory to her or Alden that she’d been the victim of someone who could astrally
project and dream walk. The hawk mask happened to be a huge clue though. The
Caesachapel Clan, comprised of the prince and his followers, was Bird of Prey
class. Buzz had to be the prince. The man they needed to capture and defeat.

Voices
broke him out of his thoughts. He rose and went downstairs.

His
perception went on alert for any little change concerning Cassandra and Faith.
Nothing seemed amiss. Alden confirmed his assumption with hand signals to state
all was well. He nodded to his friend, indicating he understood and looked to
Faith who appeared asleep on her feet.

“Faith,
are you all right?”

Faith
groggily looked at him, then Alden, then back to him. She swayed a bit.

With
a quick motion, he reached out, clasped her arm and steadied her.
“Faith?”

“I’m
okay. Just tired is all.” She patted his hand. “I’d love to stay and chat with
you fellows, but I’m going to go hit the hay.” Faith released herself from his
grip and shuffled in the direction of the stairs.

He
watched her slow progress, concerned about her pale skin, sunken eyes and
listless brown hair.
The poor thing looks
whipped
.

“Any
more luck on figuring out what Buzz is up to?” Alden asked when Faith had made
it all the way up the stairs.

“I
have some ideas,” he offered cautiously.

“Care
to share?”

“Umm…”
Tavis stalled for time, unsure if he should tell Alden yet or not about the
astral projection and dream interference.

“Fine.
Okay. Don’t tell me. But let me
tell you something. I had the weirdest dreams the past couple of nights.”

“Really?”
Tavis tried his best to hide his
excitement. This could be what he had been waiting to hear about. If Alden
mentioned him and making him dance, he had found his way to help Faith.

“Yeah,
you were in them. You were trying to teach me how to do… What was it? Oh, the
hokey pokey and the chicken dance. You said I’ll need to know them for my
wedding.”

“Wow,
that is weird,” he replied, stifling the cheer welling up in him. Tavis held
the inside of his cheeks between his teeth to keep from grinning like a mad
man. He had done it. He had successfully entered another person’s dream state,
which meant he’d be able to enter Faith’s and assist her with fighting off Buzz’s
advances. Thank the Goddess.

“So
are you going to tell me what’s up?”

“Tomorrow.
I’ll let you know what my next
Hyzendro
session discloses and if what
I’m hoping will work to correct the matter works. Trust me on this.”

“Hyzendro?”
Cassandra queried as she walked
into
the living room, banana in hand.

The
men only stared at her stoically, not replying.

“Sounds interesting.”
She snapped off a bite of the
fruit, then around the mass in her mouth said, “So any word on my cousin yet?”

“No,”
Tavis and Alden replied in unison.

“Well,
okay then.” She took another bite of the banana. As she chewed, she appeared to
study each of them. “Hmm, I must say you’ve not lived up to your warrior-like
status, Alden.
Figured a dude like you would have had her
back to her family in no time.”

“Warrior-like?”
Alden sat on the floral print
couch.

“Yeah,
Hope once told me and Faith that you reminded her of a brave fighter, a
crusader of causes. Buzz must have hidden her pretty good, eh?” She waved the
last quarter of the banana in the air.
“No matter.
I’m
sure she’ll turn up soon. I’ll leave you two to your kibitzing and meditating.
I have books and a bed calling my name.” She winked and went upstairs.

Alden
leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes. After several
long moments of staring at the floor, he looked up at Tavis with a troubled
expression marring his features. “Do you think Cassandra’s enlightened
already?”

“She
is very intelligent. She had picked up on Buzz’s persona pretty quick. I’d say
yes because even I’ve had my suspicions, but I’m not sure. Even if she has,
she’ll know to keep it to herself till the time is right.”

“True.
I hope she
has
gone through the
transformation. The last thing we would need is Buzz coming after her. We
already have our hands full. Her protector isn’t even here to help the lass
with our adversary.”

****

Staying
awake while they were out gathering supplies had been such a chore. Faith
realized she absolutely, positively needed a good night’s rest. The lack of
sleep caused by the overly realistic dreams had caught up to her, and the
nightmare of the Hawk-man and his sexual domination had to end before she
completely lost her mind and had no more energy left.

In
her room she barely had changed and said a quick silent prayer for a dreamless
slumber before she crashed on her bed and promptly fell asleep.

****

Outside
the window the grand rust, ochre and amber colored mountain loomed in the
distance overlooking the similarly colored, dusty basin, full of ramshackle
buildings. The hues of everything were dulled by the gray sky. Slowly, she
turned and glanced over her shoulder. Dark paneled walls and a four-poster bed
filled her vision.

Faith’s
heart sank. She was in the dream again. Soon Hawk-man would come in and have
her pleasure him.

Her
attention returned to the scene on the other side of the picture window. Down
below, the beings of the other clan’s world she kept finding herself in went
about their routines. Vendors appeared to peddle their wares while customers
haggled, both sides waving their arms in the air and pointing. Others sauntered
by, ignoring the activity around them. A dusty gust of wind sent the flags atop
the vendors’ carts flapping wildly and, in one seemingly choreographed moment,
everyone stopped and put a piece of cloth to their faces. When the cloud
settled and the flags stilled, movement resumed once more amongst the crowd.

Taking
a closer look, she picked out key components relating to what once was a grand
casino on the strip—busted white columns and statues, a small dry pond with
three broken fountain mechanisms, and marble gazebos. She wished she could
remember what Tavis had told her about the different areas in Vegas and the
clans associated with them. Maybe then she’d have an idea of where she was and
with
who
.

Studying
the bustling gathering, she observed their clothing. They dressed as the
Hawk-man dressed—minimally.
 
She took
note of her own outfit then, a strapless aquamarine bandeau top and a flowing,
silk-like ankle length sarong of the same color with crossing lines in varied
shapes, sizes and pastel colors. Summer clothing, the type one would wear to the
shore on a beautiful day.

What I wouldn’t give to be at the
beach.
Swimming in warm waters.
Frolicking in the
waves with Big T.
Sunning
ourselves on a big rock
.

The
encroaching twilight once more drew her focus to the landscape. Above the
mountain faint stars appeared in the dusky sky. Gazing upon the few pinpricks
of lights, a warm sensation spread through Faith. A voice within her stated
everything would be all right.