Chapter 28

What struck Cassie as she lay waiting for her heart to slow was the unnerving sense of calm she felt having just escaped a dream that could have very well ensnared her mind in the real world.

Cassie opened her eyes and sat up in bed. She drew the covers back, her movements meticulous, as if she needed to prove to herself that she was indeed as calm as she appeared and not in some state of shock.

Cassie's nightgown fell back into place as she stood up. She chafed her hands along her arms. Outside her window, gray clouds clung to the top of the mesa and slid down into Haven. The trees at the edge of the property were frosted in powdery white, and flakes floated past the window.

She sat within the bay window and pressed her hand to the glass. The cold that settled into her fingers was nothing like what she had felt in the dream.

I can hear only the living.

Cassie stared at her hand, watching the glass fog around the outline of her fingers. She was alive. Stephanie Fowler was not. Ergo, she could not have been in Stephanie's head. It must have been someone else.

Was the dark figure Victor Mann? Was it his mind Cassie had touched?

Cassie shivered and pulled her hand from the glass. She pulled her nightgown around her body and drew in her shoulders. The idea that she could get into Victor's mind without even trying was frightening. It meant Victor must have visited Haven every year about this time, to obtain another...

Another what?

Cassie's sense of calm began to evaporate. Perhaps Victor was probing her mind instead to keep her from helping the others. She remembered how Nyssa had gone after Cassie first because she was "the dreamer," the one that could foil Nyssa's plans. Perhaps Victor believed the same thing of her.

And I got protection against it just in time.

She rose from the window. Her thoughts strayed towards Heather, the other Harbingers, and how they had forged their precious link. Her pussy tingled.

"No, no, don't think about that," she chided herself as she headed to her teapot.

The heat in her sex would not dissipate even as she struggled to put her dream into perspective. Why would Victor go after her if he were trying to keep his operation a complete secret? Why use Terri Hollis as a feint? Why use stealth via Diane? The hypothesis was not holding up.

But the only other explanation was Stephanie.

"Stephanie is dead and can't be in my dreams," Cassie declared as she poured her tea, as if hoping that hearing it would make her own convictions hold more truth.

I can't talk to the dead. That would mean that part of me is...

The cup stopped just short of Cassie's lips, her hand shaking too much. She grabbed her wrist with her other hand, splashing a few steaming drops on her nightgown. A drop scalded her thigh, but she ignored it. She lowered the cup, where it rattled and splashed before she could let go.

Cassie felt a chill that no amount of tea could dispel, yet the notion was ludicrous. How could part of her be dead? One was either dead or alive, not some of both. Richie could receive thoughts from the dead, but he was very much alive.

But this is different, I actually interacted with...

Cassie felt sick. She couldn't complete the thought or she would retch. She would talk to Jason again. There had to be an explanation. Or he was wrong about Stephanie. Or the article he found was bogus. Or the name was wrong.

Cassie flinched when she heard a warbling noise from the bedroom. She rushed for her cell phone by the bed. "Hello?"

"Um, hiya, babe."

Cassie blinked. "Ned?"

"Uh, yeah. Look, this is gonna sound kinda weird ... in fact, I really hope it does ... but is there anything goin' on there?"

"Going on? No, I just woke up. Why?"

"Ya sure? Nothing happened 'bout mebbe ten minutes ago?"

Cassie gasped. "You mean you actually sensed--?!" She nearly bit her tongue in her attempt to silence herself.

"Okay, babe, what happened?" Ned demanded.

Cassie fell to the edge of the bed. "It was just a dream, that's all."

"Just a dream? Nothin's 'just a dream' with ya."

Cassie ran her fingers through her hair. "Dammit, Ned..."

"Whoa. Now I know something's goin' on if it's 'nuff ta make ya curse."

"All right, yes, something happened, but it's only the same dreams I get every Halloween. I just..." She clenched a hand into a fist, punching the mattress beside her. "No, that's not right. Goodness, Ned, I've been horrible about this. I've kept it from everyone and I shouldn't have. It never got like this, and I never thought it would be associated with what's going on in Haven with Victor Mann and the girl that he--"

"Jeez, Cassie, slow down, I'm not followin' all that."

Cassie forced herself to take a breath. "Then let me get it all straight in my head first before I try to explain it any further. Can you be ready for school about fifteen minutes early?"

Ned snorted. "Babe, I'm usually outta this place earlier than that. I told my parents the bus arrives a half-hour earlier than it really does jus' so I can get outta the house and have some time away from 'em. No prob at all."

"All right, then I'll come by and pick you up and that will give me some time to explain it to you."

"Harry won't give ya hell fer this?"

"Oh, he'll probably object, but I'll just overrule him."

"Gotta admit, I'm amazed that yer parents haven't told him ta keep me away from ya."

Cassie's jaw clenched. Her parents had spoken to her on the point just a few days before the Halloween dreams began. They had warned her in no uncertain terms not to feel any sort of "infatuation" towards him. Yet by ending the conversation with the statement "you have been taking the pill regularly, I assume," her mother had implied that she tacitly accepted Cassie having sex with him. Just as long as she didn't feel anything for him. Try but don't buy.

Her mother's attitude towards relationships made her want to scream.

"Don't worry about it, Ned, please," Cassie said. "I better get ready for school if I want to get out of here early."

"No prob. Catch me at the west end of my block."

"All right. Bye."

Melinda's eyes narrowed as the door to the bathroom opened and her naked sister strolled out. She tried to look at Heather without really looking at her, focusing her attention on the steady strokes of the hairbrush in her hand. Melinda winced as the brush caught on a tangle.

Heather bent down to reach one of the lower drawers of her dresser. Melinda averted her eyes from the swell of bare pussy between her sister's thighs, yet her own tingled in response anyway. She thought she should say something, but no words would come to her.

Heather straightened up, tossing panties and a bra onto the bed. She turned and looked at her sister. "Yes?"

Melinda hesitated, then shook her head. She frowned as the brush caught again.

Heather gazed at her little sister as she picked up the panties. "You pissed at me or something?"

"Huh?"

Heather stepped into her panties and pulled them into place. "You've barely said a word to me all morning."

"Oh." Melinda ran her brush through her hair a few more times. "I guess I just didn't have anything to say."

"You didn't talk much last night, either."

"Well, I didn't have anything to say then, okay?"

"Yeah, right."

The brush caught again, and a single tug failed to clear it. Melinda growled as she grabbed her hair above the brush so it would stop pulling at her scalp while she disentangled it. "Shit. Now it's two things I don't have anymore with all the sex: clean panties and untangled hair!"

Heather picked up the bra. "That's more like it."

Melinda's eyes narrowed again. "More like what?"

Heather hesitated, then shook her head as she slipped on her bra. "Never mind."

Melinda dropped her hands, the brush slapping her thigh as she stomped forward. "No, come on, you were going to say something! What is it? More like what?"

Heather hooked her bra closed and tugged the straps once. She lifted her hair and let it fall down her back. "No. You're just going to get in a snit over it, and I don't want to deal with it."

"I don't have snits!"

Heather snorted.

"Okay, then I have a right to them, considering what you've been doing to me and everyone else."

"Am I doing it now?"

Melinda paused. "No, I guess not," she said, trying to hide her surprise. "Thank God for small favors, huh?"

"Considering you're giving me lots to think about in that area, it's more than a small favor, runt."

"What are you talking about?"

"You always go around this long in the mornings naked?"

Melinda's eyes widened. She looked down at herself. "Shit. I didn't even realize."

"Yeah, I know, believe me."

"And you're not--?"

"No, I am not making you go around naked. And it's not just you. Know why you saw me naked soon as you woke up? Sometime during the night, I couldn't stand sleeping in even just my nightgown and panties. I had to take them off."

"You slept in the nude?"

Heather smirked. "Why's that a big deal?"

"Well ... I ... it should be!"

"Just like you should be dressed by now?"

Melinda frowned and threw her brush atop her dresser. She dropped to the edge of the bed, folded her arms, and stamped her foot once.

"Yeah, that really helps."

Melinda didn't respond. She stared straight ahead.

"You want to know what I meant before when I said 'that's more like it?' Fine. I meant 'that's more like the whiny brat I'm used to.'"

Melinda's head whipped around. "Fuck you, Heather."

Heather cast a level look at Melinda.

Melinda tried to return it, but her eyes shimmered. She shrank back. "Stop looking at me like that."

Heather remained where she was, folding her arms.

Melinda's eyes burned. "I've got a right to whine, okay? You completely messed everything up for me with Jason!"

"What?"

"He used to call me almost every night. Or send me email, even if it was short. He stopped doing that after you started screwing with everyone's sex drive. And you said you weren't interested in stealing him from me!"

Heather was about to retort when she saw her sister's eyes glisten. She relented and let out a tiny sigh.

"So are you going to finally let up now? Is that why you're not having me lick your pussy this morning? You going to give him back to me? Or maybe he's sending you emails instead. Maybe you finally got what you wanted. You got him drooling over you again like he used to before the summer."

Heather's jaw tightened. "Yeah, okay, Jason is sending me emails a lot."

Melinda rose from the bed along with her fury.

"And they're all about you."

"Huh?!"

"He's frustrated as hell with you, Melinda, and frankly so is everyone else. It seems like every time you open your mouth it's to whine about the same thing for the fucking millionth time, or to diss someone, or to make fun of someone's idea. And the way you treat Richie--"

"Don't pull that one on me!" Melinda bellowed. "You did the same thing!"

"But I stopped and you didn't."

Melinda fell silent.

"Melinda, you can't imagine how many times I was tempted to keep you so horny all the time that you couldn't think straight just to stop you from getting on everyone's nerves. And before you go off on me for that, kindly note that I didn't do it and that I never intend to do it."

"Yeah, okay, fine, I know, we're on the same side."

"No, you don't know that, or you certainly don't act like it. Yeah, I know, you said you were trying not to be mean to people. I guess you did go with that for a bit, or at least you tried, but you've hardly been trying anymore."

"What the fuck do you want from me?!" Melinda shouted, wiping one of her eyes. "I'm only a freaking kid!"

"Yeah, well, news flash for you, runt, so are the rest of us, but we don't have time for it anymore."

Melinda's mouth opened, but no words came forth. The bitterness of her sister's tone had taken a few seconds to come through.

Heather sighed. "Yeah, that's really it, isn't it? My biggest worry should be who I'm going to be dating when the holidays get here. Yours should be figuring out how to be popular and not just be 'Heather's sister.' Jason's should be when the next Star Trek flick is coming out. Richie's should be how he's going to go a winter without baseball."

Melinda stared, her eyes still burning even as they brimmed with tears. She tried to work her mouth and throat again to speak and failed once more.

"Yeah, I know what you're going to say. You don't know who you are or what you're doing anymore. Join the freaking club. You have no clue how much I'd love to go back to the way it used to be, with me and Diane ragging on you and gossiping about boys and going to the mall. Shit, if I didn't have that stupid thing with Ms. Hollis for the party, I might've said yes when Brad asked me out. Then again, think about this: if we didn't get involved in this Darkness shit, you wouldn't have hooked up with Jason."

Melinda uttered a tiny, horrified gasp and gave her sister a stricken look.

"Grow up, Melinda," Heather said in a low voice. "The rest of us have. Or at least we're trying to."

Melinda's lower lip trembled, but she fought back the sob that threatened to rise into her throat. She swallowed hard and wiped her eyes again, sniffling once. "This is so not fair."

Heather heard more despair than whining. "Yeah, I know."

"I was only thirteen when this started! I didn't even get to be a teenager!"

Looking at her sister now, Heather had trouble believing that Melinda was the youngest of the Harbingers. The speed at which Melinda's body was developing could not be normal. Whatever force pushed them along in their fight had forced physical maturity on them, but could do little for the emotional side. Heather realized that Melinda was not immature but simply denying maturity.

"Even when this is over... if it's ever over ... I still won't get to be a teenager," Melinda said, sullen.

Heather forced a small smile. "Yeah, but you have to admit, how many teenagers get this much sex?"

Melinda rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Don't claim you're not enjoying it. I don't really sense you even resisting me anymore."

"What's the point?"

"That never stopped you before."

"Okay, yeah, fine, I like it."

"Even when you did it with Ned?"

"I'm not supposed to! I'm Jason's girlfriend!"

"For crying out loud, you still are."

"But this isn't normal," Melinda said. "And now I have to do it with everyone else to keep up this link or whatever it is."

Heather grinned. "And that doesn't turn you on even a little bit?"

Melinda folded her arms and turned away from her big sister, moving one leg as if trying to hide her pussy from sight.