| |
“She’s burning out,” Jacob finished as he sat down next to me. “EMT says I’m good to go. You?”
“She hasn’t been seen yet.” Aaron ratted me out.
I pouted and crossed my arms. “I’m fine.”
Both men gave me a look, and I threw my hands up in the air. “Fine, fine, I’m going.”
I walked over to the waiting EMT and watched as Aaron and Jacob talked. Too much noise in the area for me to hear what they were saying, but they each stole furtive glances my way. Surprise, surprise, they were talking about me. Wonderful.
“Your heart rate is elevated, ma’am.”
“I bet it is.” I yawned in spite of myself, and frowned at the EMT’s overt concern. “I’m fine.”
He shrugged. “If you say so, ma’am, but you should probably get some rest. De-stress.”
De-stress? This guy clearly didn’t know who I was. “Thanks, I’ll take that under advisement.” I hopped off the back of the ambulance and made a beeline to the guys, just as Lucy emerged from the house with Dustin.
“I know you wanted to keep this on the down low, but there’s no keeping this mess under wraps,” Aaron said.
“I know.”
“We’re going to have to bring everyone in now, Zoë.” Jacob grimaced.
“I know.”
“Well do you know how much of a mess you’ve made,” Dustin fumed, “by not telling anyone about your personal crisis?”
“I know!”
All the noise around me stopped. Actually, everyone stopped. It was the oddest thing, like someone had pressed a giant pause button where we stood.
“Kind of, but not quite,” a smooth male voice mused.
Not now. I groaned and turned to face Jareth.
He wore the normal church robe and sash set-up, with his hair touchably well-coiffed, and his mouth held a smirk.
I was not amused. “What do you want?”
He ran his hands down the front of his robe. “I was preparing for a service when I heard you and sensed all that power you’re pushing out into the Universe.”
Well, that wasn’t good. “Explains the vestments, but why are you here?” I glanced around him and waved a hand, but no one else moved, not even a blink. Nope, it was just he and I inside my head.
“You know how energy flows, right? When you’re looking at someone? It should be like water, colored by their auras, so yours is usually like molten silver.”
He can see auras, too? I will not be intrigued. I crossed my arms. “Your point?”
“If you could see and feel you right now, you’d find it’s clogged up, stagnant, with bright points of red screaming out. You’re not shielding, so it’s shooting out into the Universe. Those of us who are tied to you—”
I stomped a foot. “You’re not tied to me.”
“Those of us who are tied to you,” he continued, amusement painted on his face. “You’re like a beacon light in the darkness, a siren song. I had to come and see. Resistance was futile.”
Not amused. “So, we’re dreaming again?”
“Not quite.”
“My patience is wearing thin, and you’re treading on dangerous grounds, Jareth, so spill.”
“The short answer is I’m in your head while you’re with your friends,” he gestured to the people around me before stepping in front of Jacob. “And loved ones.”
“You leave him alone.”
He gave me another smirk. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of bringing him into our rendezvous. I share you with him enough as it is.”
In my mind or not, a headache bloomed behind my eyes. “What do you want, Jareth?”
“You.”
“That isn’t even on the table.”
“So you keep insisting... with your mouth.” He drew out the last word, like it was some piece of decadence on his tongue. “We’re linked—” He raised a hand. “Yes, yes, I know, we’re not linked. Whatever floats your boat, Zoë. I have so much to show you. You’ll see it my way soon enough.” He leaned in and kissed me square on the lips.
“Jareth!”
“Good day, little witch.” He winked.
For a second, I swore I saw that glowing eye from my vision. No fucking way. “Jareth!”
He was gone, and everyone was moving again.
“We have to go.” I jumped off the curb and grabbed both Jacob and Lucy.
Everyone gave me a confused look. Weird, the whole mob mentality thing, but I didn’t really have time to talk to them about my mental conversation with the prime suspect.
“Look, my sister isn’t here. My niece isn’t here. I’m trying really hard to avoid a massive meltdown in front of so many lovely people, and I just had a possible epiphany.” Well, I didn’t think Jareth counted as an inspired thought, but here I was. “I know we have cop stuff to do, Dustin, but it’s going to have to wait, so I can follow this lead.”
Dustin shook his head. “Lucy needs to get checked out, or Healy’s going to be pissed.”
I started toward the car. “Tell him to join the club.”
He waved a hand, and several uniforms moved into a small arc in front of us. “Not negotiable, Zoe. She gets checked out, or she doesn’t leave with you.”
Growling, I turned to face him.
Jacob laid a hand on my arm, and shook his head when I looked at him. “You don’t have to fight all the battles, sweetheart.”
I stomped my feet. “Fine. Lucy goes with you. We will be waiting in the car.” I spun on my heels and walked to the car at a pretty good clip.
Jacob and I piled into my car. “So you want to talk about it?” he asked.
I gave him my deer-in-the-headlights response.
He returned a small smile that said he was trying to be patient. “You zoned out in the middle of the bitch fest, but you pop back in raring to go? What’s going on, Zoë?”
“Okay, so what’s going on is something incredibly weird, and my brain is on the fritz. Let’s get away from here, and I’ll answer any questions, I promise. Can we do that?”
“Can I suggest that we stop somewhere and feed you first? You haven’t eaten since... yesterday? Maybe?”
“More like the day before that, but before you freak out, we’ll hit a chain on the way home, okay?” I yawned.
“Fine,” he bit back, “but I’m driving. Drowsy driving is just as bad as drunk driving, and after the day I’ve had, I am not going to end up dead in some accident.”
“But—”
Jacob snagged the keys out of my hand. “Get in the back, babe. Take a nap. We’ll leave when Lucy’s done. “
I frowned and shot him my best glare, but he didn’t budge. “Oh, fine.”
