Velvet (26 page)

“Miss Holte?”

I jerked and looked at Mr. Warren. “Uh—transcendentalism?”

He smiled dryly. “Try ‘manifest destiny.’”

I nodded, embarrassed, and promised to pay attention the rest of class.

*   *   *

After that one night at Adrian’s house, I never dreamed of my dad again, although my mother was a frequent visitor in her various forms of decay. Adrian told me neither Mariana nor Dominic had ever heard of something like this, but if it was connected to their father, it must mean two things: He had, at some point, touched me, and he was currently nearby. The only thing I could think of that made sense was that the shopper dude at the mall that I’d bumped into had been him—which scared the shit out of me, because he’d seemed so normal. With the nightmares coming night after night, and with me unable to fall asleep again afterward, the lack of sleep became a consistent exhaustion that rode around with me like a second skin. Adrian couldn’t stop them, I couldn’t stop them, and there was no way to avoid them besides not sleeping in the first place, which, well, really wasn’t an option.

It was the last day of school before Christmas vacation. I jerked awake when my boots slipped off the bookshelf in the school library and I just about fell off my chair. Adrian automatically reached out a hand to catch me, and I grabbed it, heart racing, startled from the abrupt end to my nap.

He cleared his throat and released my hand. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I felt the fatigue wash over me all over again as I laid my head on the table to stare blankly at the wall. “Just tired.”

On the opposite side of our ridiculously tiny table, Adrian lay down so he could be eye level with me. We lay in silence for almost a full minute before he finally said, “Hey.”

I responded with a monotone “yo.”

We both smiled.

He traced a scar in the table for a moment before letting his hand drop to his side. “I guess now would be a good time to tell you we’ve come up with a temporary solution, to help with the nightmares.”

I blinked at him, unable to dredge up the energy to show more enthusiasm than a sleepy “yay.” At least I smiled while I said it.

He was beginning to blush a little, so I perked up. It was always adorable when Adrian got flustered. It also usually meant something really awkward was about to happen.

“So—when you stayed at our place, I couldn’t stop the nightmare,” he began. “But you slept fine the rest of the night?”

I nodded horizontally at him, since my cheek was still glued to the table.

“We think that physical proximity to us helps sever, or at least interrupt, the connection between you and the source of the nightmares. The Council has decreed that one of us should, uh … stay with you, at night. In your room.”

I couldn’t help but let a short burst of laughter escape. Then I realized he was serious. “Wait—really?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking amazingly uncomfortable. “As far as the Council is concerned, it could be any one of my family. I convinced them I was the best choice.” He looked at me quickly. “I mean, I thought Mariana or Dominic wouldn’t exactly promote peaceful sleeping. But if you want one of them instead, or Julian, that can be arranged.”

“No,” I shook my head vigorously at him. “But how will you get in?”

He waved a dismissive hand. “Getting in isn’t a problem. Although theoretically I could be outside the house and still be effective.”

“That’s dumb—you’re not sitting outside the house.”

Adrian smiled at me softly, and it lit up his face in a way that was entirely too endearing.

“Well,” I continued, “this sounds like a recipe for amazing levels of awkwardness, but a full night’s sleep sounds fantastic.”

“Should we try tonight?”

I nodded, heart suddenly jumping into overdrive. Adrian sat up, as though he could hear it—which, I remembered, he could. I buried my face in my arm, embarrassed, but within moments I fell back asleep.

*   *   *

That night, the whole family watched a movie together to celebrate the start of Christmas vacation. We had hot spiced cider and gingerbread cookies and watched
It’s a Wonderful Life
, which I’d somehow never seen before. I fell asleep twenty minutes before the end and only woke up when Norah threw a gingerbread man’s foot at me. I ate it and announced I was going to bed.

Once I was upstairs, however, I realized that Adrian was going to appear at some point during the night. He’d said he’d come over after everyone was asleep and that I shouldn’t wait up for him, although
how
he’d know when everyone was asleep I wasn’t sure—another freaky vampire mind thing probably. My room wasn’t a total disaster, but I spent a good twenty minutes picking things up and spraying Febreze around the room. It didn’t smell bad in the first place, but I was paranoid. I also usually took a shower in the mornings, but I hopped in and washed my hair and double-brushed my teeth to be on the safe side. He probably wouldn’t be anywhere near me, but I had no desire to smell like anything but mint and sunshine, just in case.

I sent a text off to Adrian saying that I was going to bed, then crawled under my covers and immediately fell asleep.

And entered into one of the more horrendous dreams I’d had yet.

I was in the woods at dusk. I couldn’t see myself, but I knew I was naked and barefoot, since rocks and thorns were digging sharply into my feet. Someone was chasing me, but I didn’t know who. I didn’t know where I was going, or where I had come from, only that I had to get away, and I had to get away
now.

There was a presence behind me, I could feel it, though I somehow knew—in that way you know certain things in dreams—that even if I turned around, I wouldn’t see anyone. The world strobed, like a glitching movie, information lagging. By the time my eyes caught up to my momentum, it was too late to avoid the gully that seemed to stutter into place out of nowhere. I flew out over the ledge, tumbling down the ravine. When I came to a stop at the bottom, I sat up slowly, even though my brain was urging me to
run, run, for God’s sake, run!
and pushed the hair out of my eyes with my hand—then screamed.

Half the flesh on my palm was gone.

I glanced down and discovered that huge rolls of skin were simply missing from various parts of my body. I looked back up the hill and saw little globs of flesh sticking to the rocks that I’d hit on my way down. As revolting as it was, I didn’t actually feel any pain, and I had to move. I scrambled up the opposite bank, the soles of my feet growing bloodier with each step, losing skin, as I fought a rising tide of panic. The light was fading. But if I could reach the top before the sun was gone, I’d somehow be okay.

Of course, I didn’t.

With mere feet to go, the light abruptly shrunk back into total darkness, and the monster was upon me.

I woke up to find a hand covering my mouth, so I reacted pretty naturally—I punched the owner of the hand in the face.

There was a soft “ow,” and then, “Caitlin, it’s me.”

I stopped struggling and sat up. Adrian let go of me, perched on the edge of my bed.

“Sorry about the face thing,” he whispered. “You were starting to scream, and I didn’t want you to wake up your family.”

My racing heart didn’t seem like it was going to calm down anytime soon, so I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes, trying to breathe.

“Was it bad?”

I nodded.

It was too dark in the room for me to make out anything more than his vague silhouette, but I knew it was him—it sounded like him, like what he would say. Part of me remembered the Green Thing nightmare and urged me to verify his identity, but the rest of me was too tired. Adrian settled onto a pile of throw pillows on the floor by my fireplace and waited. Knowing he was right there, I immediately dozed off.

And woke a half hour later from a second nightmare, shaking uncontrollably.

“Sh-shit,” I gasped, looking wildly around the room. “
Shit.
”

Adrian was instantly at my side. “What happened?”

“Another n-nightmare,” I said, teeth chattering. “What do you t-think happened?”

I was being short with him, but I was scared out of my mind. Adrian was there—I wasn’t supposed to have another nightmare if he was there. Right?

“Why didn’t it work?” I asked, clutching my arms to my chest. It was so cold. I couldn’t remember the dream at all, but I think it had something to do with hypothermia.

Adrian’s eyes bloomed light in the darkness. “Hey,” he said, cupping his hand to my cheek. I looked at him, and his eyes pulsed, swirling. Tears leaked down my cheeks as he did his vampire thing, and suddenly, I wasn’t afraid anymore. Cold, still, and shaking, but no longer afraid.

“How do you feel?” he asked, searching my eyes. His were still silver, but they were motionless.

“Tired,” I said, taking stock. “But fine.”

We were whispering pretty quietly, but I thought I heard a creak from somewhere in the house. Adrian instantly tensed, turning to listen. We stayed frozen like that for a few moments, before he relaxed.

“House settling,” he concluded. His hearing was better than mine by a ridiculous margin, so I trusted his conclusion.

“What did we do differently?” I asked. “Why didn’t it work?”

Adrian opened his mouth, then closed it. “I don’t know. Unless—” He paused, thinking. “The nightmares started right after you went to the mall, right?”

I nodded.

“And that man—did he touch you?”

I nodded again. “Briefly, just my wrist.”

“When you were at my house sleeping, after the nightmare, I was next to you. Maybe to interrupt the connection, which was established by physical touch, that’s exactly what’s required to block it.”

I stared at him. “What does that mean?”

He shifted slightly on the bed. “I mean I think I can’t just be sitting on the floor.” He looked down, and though it was too dark to see if he was blushing or not, his voice definitely made it sound like he was. “I think I have to be touching you to make this work.”

I laughed, suddenly. “I’m
really
glad Mariana or Dominic or Julian didn’t volunteer for this.”

He smiled, but I could tell he was embarrassed. “I guess I could just hold your hand?”

I yawned mid-scoff. “You need to sleep, too. I’m not going to make you kneel by my bed all night holding my hand.” I looked at him and pushed back my covers. “Just get in already.”

My bed was a twin, barely long enough to fit Adrian. It wasn’t even pushed against a wall, so there was a good chance that one of us was going to fall out. He crawled in beside me and sat. Side by side, we both hung out over the edge slightly.

“You have the tiniest bed I have ever seen,” Adrian said after we’d both sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do next.

“Yeah. Came with the room.”

Still mostly blind in the dark, I poked his knee, then felt along his calf, trying to figure out what he was wearing, since I couldn’t see him. I patted his six-pack, too.

“Sweatpants and a T-shirt. You came well prepared.”

“Figured I might as well be comfortable.”

“Well, get ready for some ultimate snuggling. You’re gonna be the little spoon.”

“I am not going to be the little spoon.”

I stared somewhere in the vicinity of his face sternly. “My bed, my spoon rules.”

He sighed, which I interpreted as a sigh of resignation, and I pushed him down—which I was only able to do because he let me—and snuggled up behind him. I could feel him pull the blankets over both of us, tucking it in around my shoulders, before settling onto his side. Mostly because there was so little room—but also because I wanted to—I pressed my forehead into the middle of his back and closed my eyes. And then I realized something.

“Wait, do you think there has to be actual skin-on-skin contact?”

After a moment he replied, “That would actually make sense.”

I nodded, and slid my arm over his waist, heart racing mutinously. I knew he could feel it, because my chest was pressed to his spine. After a moment, though, he put his arm over mine, moving my hand until it lay flat against his heart. He covered it with his own, and we lay like that for a long moment, our breathing too loud for the deep silence of the house.

“Caitlin,” he murmured. “If you tell anyone I was the little spoon, there will be consequences.”

I laughed into his shirt. “Admit it—you like being the little spoon. I’m a fantastic big spoon.”

He just snorted and threaded his fingers through mine. Finally, I gave him a little squeeze, burrowed closer into the space between his shoulder blade and the pillow, and fell fast asleep.

When I woke up, Adrian was gone—which was disorienting, even though I’d known he would have to leave before my aunt and uncle were up. When I went downstairs for breakfast, I was extra careful to check if Joe and Rachel had any inclination that someone had been in my room last night, but they appeared to be completely oblivious. Maybe Adrian and I could pull this off, after all.

As restful as my night had been, I’d still gone through two nightmares before we’d figured out how to effectively block the dreams. Backlogged with sleep deprivation, it was only eight p.m. when I said good night to everyone and headed back up to my room. I fell asleep immediately—but everyone else stayed up much later than normal (since it was the holidays now), which meant Adrian was delayed in coming over, which meant I had another nightmare.

When I woke up gasping, Adrian was sitting beside me, eyes already glowing.

“Hey,” he murmured. “You all right?”

I sat up, took in a long, shuddering breath, and leaned my forehead against his shoulder.

“Every time,” I mumbled. “Every time, nothing I do can change what happens. I always lose.”

“What do you mean?”

I rubbed my eyes into his collarbone, frustrated. “In the dreams. It doesn’t matter how much I fight or struggle or run or scream, something bad happens, and I can’t stop it. It’s pissing me off.”

He wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and I let him. After a moment he pulled back, eyes flickering to silver. “You ready?”