Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) (15 page)

Dream Petra looked up from her book and clapped. Then she reopened the door I had just closed.

"You bitch!" I told her.

That was a mistake. She narrowed her eyes at me. She'd heard me
through the earplugs
. Her hand glowed and she reached out and laid her glowing hand against my throat and mouth.

I tried to speak but couldn't.

I tried to tell her I was sorry but couldn't.

She went back to reading her book.

It took me a few minutes, but I managed to close the door. She didn't even look at me; she instantly reopened the door.

It took another half hour of her opening the door and me slowly closing it before I got halfway fast at it. She could still open it a lot faster than I could close it, but finally she nodded and let it stay closed. Then she narrowed her eyes at me before reaching out with a glowing hand and setting it over my mouth and throat again.

"I'm sorry," I told her immediately.

She smiled and released the rest of my muscles. I immediately began shivering. She pulled me into her arms and let me clasp her.

She kissed me very gently just once before I woke up.

* * *

The cats had stolen all the covers, and I was freezing. "Okay that's just mean, you two," I told them. "You could find yourselves sleeping in the bathroom if you keep this behavior up."

They blinked at me.

I ran to the bathroom and didn't step out of the shower until I was warm again.

Karen and Petra both arrived at my door at eight. I'd propped the door open, and Petra came in carrying Dervish.

"Oh hell," I said. "They're normally afraid to leave the apartment. Was Chelsea out there, too?"

"I just saw this one," Petra said.

"There a paw sticking out from under the sofa," Karen said, grinning.

I picked a quaint little town where I knew there were lots of little shops and several nice restaurants. Karen and Petra both said that sounded like fun. "I'm driving though," said Petra.

We spent the day shopping. I got a start on Christmas. I asked Petra for help on a present for Andrea.

"Presents for your boss should be exceedingly expensive and in the utmost taste," she said. Karen was in earshot range, and Petra grinned at me. "Jewelry is okay. Antiques are even better. At the very least, a silk shawl is lovely."

"You're getting a cup of coffee and a smile," Karen said. "And you'll say thank you and love it."

Petra laughed.

"Actually," I said. "There is a shop across the street that sells cashmere."

Over lunch, I got a text from Beth. "Last minute date tonight! Can I join you and Erika tomorrow?"

"Yes," I wrote back. "The movie is 'Ghost'."

"Sorry," I said. "Beth just cancelled on me for tonight, but she's joining us for the movie tomorrow."

"Then you're free for dinner tonight," Petra said. "Karen, how about you?"

"I have a date," she said.

"Do tell," Petra told her.

"It's a first date," she said. "I'm only going because my cousin begged me to. Everyone in my family has been trying to set me up. As if I need help." She paused. "They're all so conservative. They're afraid if I'm turning gay. Once, just once, I told my sister I was having these dreams, and ever since then, they've been throwing guys after me."

I looked at her sharply. "Dreams?"

"Yeah," she said. "Please don't ask. It's very embarrassing. It was a while ago, about when I first starting working for Petra. They lasted for a couple of weeks then stopped. It's b
een all boys,
all-the-time
ever
since. I wish my family would just let me pick my own dates."

"You could say 'no'," Petra suggested.

"That's more trouble than it's worth," Karen said. She paused. "Some of the guys are pretty decent. Some have been slime balls." She smiled. "One got a little too grabby. I had him on the ground with one of the moves you taught us. I made him kiss my boots, then took his keys from his pocket and drove myself home, leaving him there. I told him his keys would be on the dashboard and he better collect his car before someone stole it.
I also told him if he ever touched me again, I'd break his hands.
"

"You could have gotten in trouble for
stealing the car
,"
Petra
said.

"It was back home, and my daddy is the police chief."

Petra and I laughed.

"I walked into the house and told Dad exactly what happened. I then told him I had handled it, and he was to leave it alone." She paused. "That was the last time any guys got grabby with me."

Petra turned to me. "So, Karen has a night of dating joy ahead of her. Will you join me for dinner?"

"I'd love to," I told her.

We finished lunch, did more shopping, and spent a lot of time teasing each other. Karen and I tried to pry embarrassing stories from Petra, but she was pretty good at heading us off.

"I bet Andrea knows some," I said.

"Andrea knows how to keep her mouth shut," Petra said, laughing.

We headed home. I dropped my packages off, changed into different clothes,
then
ran down to the florist for flowers. When I arrived at Petra's, the door was propped open for me. I stepped in and closed it.

She loved the flowers.

She let me help cook and wheedled embarrassing stories out of me. She'd gotten three before I realized she wasn't sharing any back.

"Hey!"

She laughed.

"Share," I ordered.

"Oh honey," she said. "I would, but I never in my life have done anything embarrassing."

"You are so full of shit," I told her.

"Well, there was that whole marriage thing. That was kind of embarrassing."

"You were married?"

"You don't have to say that like it's so hard to imagine," she said. "I used to be pretty attractive."

I scoffed. "Used to be? More than you are now?"

She smiled and said quietly, "That's very sweet. But I'm forty-years-old and no one your age is going to find me attractive.'

"You're full of shit again," I told her.
"And we both know it." I paused. "And no, I wasn't doubting your ability to land anyone you wanted. I was just surprised anyone would give you up afterwards."

"I can be high maintenance," she told me. "I thought I was smarter than he was and made better choices. He didn't like my attitude."

"Were you? Smarter?"

"In my opinion, yes," she said. "In his, no. There are two sides to every story."

"What was his name?"

"David," she said. "I was living in Chicago at the time. Last I heard
,
he was still there. We married when I was twenty-five and divorced three years later. I moved here from Chicago when I got a job with
Renea
as an account representative."

She told me the entire story. I didn't understand why she felt it was embarrassing.
When she finished, she said, "Andrea knows all about it. Karen does not. I would rather it never come up again, either with me or anyone else."

"You don't like to think about past relationships?" I asked.

"I don't like to think about the ones in which I was insanely stupid," she replied. "With David, I was insanely stupid."

"So, how about now?" I asked. "Seeing anyone special?"

She smiled. "Right now? Just you."

I laughed.

* * *

Saturday night, Dream Petra was waiting for me. She wrapped a blanket around me and took me to her tower.

"Why do you never talk to me?" I asked her. "Maybe a few words, but the only time it's been more than two or three,
was
that one night."

She looked at me, humming and singing. She seemed to come to a decision. She pulled me to the center of the room and stepped back with a "stay here" gesture. She stopped humming and said, "You're not going to like this."

"You can talk!"

"Of course I can, but you're not going to like it." She paused. "Before you notice, I'm going to tell you, I'm not doing it to you. My humming and singing is what keeps it from happening."

"Keeps what from happening?"

"Notice you're getting shorter?"

I hadn't, but as soon as she said it, I realized I
was having
to look up further to see her.

"Don't panic," she said. "You're going to be fine. I won't let anything bad happen to you, but you're going to be scared." She paused. "I received this same demonstration once. I freaked out. I hope you respond better than I did."

"Why am I shrinking?" I tried to say, except no sound came out.

"I'll explain what I can," she said. "We have a few minutes. First, look down."

I did, and I saw that my feet had disappeared into the floor. She stepped up to me and I clasped at her, but my hands went right through hers.

"Make it stop!" I yelled. But no sound came out.

"You're not a ghost," she said. "My singing is what anchors you here. Without my singing, you're only half here and can't really interact with anything. Gravity still effects you, but very weakly. Which is why you're floating slowly downward. And why I can't lift you up now. It's also why no sound is coming out of your mouth, even when you try to yell. You can't push the air."

"P
lease start singing!" I tried to tell her
. "Please sing."

"If I start singing again," she said, "You'll come back fully into
Siriena
. But the problem is that there isn't a hole where you're sinking, and the structure of the tower won't support it if I make one there. If I start to sing, the
parts of you that are in the floor will be chopped off by
the floor. That would be bad."

I looked wildly at her, scared out of my mind.

"You won't get hurt," she said. "It's scary, but you'll be fine. There is an empty room underneath this one. When you've floated most of the way through the floor, I'll head down. As soon as you're completely clear, I'll start to sing again. You'll solidify over the course of just a few seconds and come crashing to the floor. Try not to break an ankle."

I looked at her and nodded.

By now I was halfway through the floor. It was disconcerting to look down and see my body cut off at my waist.

"I have about another minute or so," she said. "Then I need to run down so I'm ready for you. If you start sinking into the earth, it would be bad. I won't let that happen. But the risk of that is part of the reason we start up in the tower. Just in case."

She paused.

"I love you," she said. "With every fiber of my being."

I looked at her. "I love you, too," I tried to tell her.

"Will you allow me to continue bringing you here?" she asked.

I nodded.

"I know you don't like the way I teach you sometimes. I'm sorry."

"I love you," I mouthed at her again.

She smiled.

"You are mine," she said. "I'm very possessive. You understand?"

I nodded.

By now I was up to my chest and starting to panic.

"Love," she said. "I'm going to run downstairs now. When you slide through the floor, it's very scary. But you won't get hurt and you can continue to breath normally. I won't let anything happen to you."

I nodded. "Hurry," I mouthed.

She blew me a kiss and ran past me out of the room.

I sa
nk lower and lower. I tried pushing against the floor to crawl back up, but my hands just pushed right through it. I reached all around me, grasping for anything I could touch, but I felt nothing. After a few more seconds, I had sunk to my chin, then my mouth, and then I couldn't see as I disappeared into the floor.

I tried to scream. No sounds came out.

I was still trying to scream when I popped out of the ceiling of the floor below me. I looked down and Petra was there, waiting for me. It looked like a long way down.

"I'm going to let you float slowly down for a while," she said. "So it's not such a fall. But I'm going to sing early and you'll fall several feet. Better safe than sorry."

I nodded at her. My panic was receding. I trusted her.

"You're going to wake soon," she said. "We'll have time for a quick hug, but that's about it."

She waited a few more seconds then started to hum and sing. It took a few se
conds and suddenly I was plumme
ting to the floor.

She let me fall rather than trying to catch me, and the month of training in the dojo kicked in. I took the fall in a tumble. Even landing against the hard stone floor, I didn't get hurt.

As soon as I came to a stop, I climbed to my feet and flew into her arms, clutching her. "Don't stop singing!" I told her. "Please don't stop."