yay!! sequel time!! if you haven't read New Magic, don't try reading this, it'll confuse you!! and as always, remember to review!!
yes, this story has Jake in it (i promise this time!)
disclaimer: i own nothing... promise.
~wwsadd
Old Nightmares
The shadows engulfed them both, and animalistic cries rented the air. It was hard to breathe, like the light took the air with it, and I was alone… utterly alone. I ran toward the shadow, toward my friends, trapped in its fatal depths, but it was like running headfirst into a brick wall, and I couldn't get through.
I listened as the two wolves gasping and howling their last breaths called to me. Needing help, needing me, and I couldn't do anything.
Something, or someone, was hissing. "Why have you come here?" It seemed to ask, the sound was harsh and almost painful. I tried to turn, but everywhere was just more of the shadow.
"I'm on a mission; I'd suggest you stay out of my way." I snapped. "What the hell are you anyway?" I asked.
The hissing voice seemed to laugh maliciously. "Ancient magic, summoned to eradicate those that protect our enemies. And what are you? You should not even have to power of speech right now." It retorted, sounding slightly angered. I wasn't in any pain, just starting to feel suffocated by the swirling darkness.
"I'm a tutore; my magic is as ancient as yours. And who are your enemies? The last time I checked, the Quileutes only had one enemy." I said cautiously. I slowly let in images, or tried to. All I got was the feeling of drowning in darkness, endless, cold darkness. It seemed to stretch back forever, through time and space, and forward into eternity.
It seemed to be pure evil. No body even held it; my guess was that none could. "The enemy of the ones with the power to summon me, are my enemy. That is the way of our world, young one. Your friends have angered the ancients- I am who they send to clean up the mess." It continued to hiss. I was beginning to feel like I was going to freeze to death, the darkness was so cold. I tried to summon the Power I had inadvertently stolen from Chase, wondering if it would have more of an effect on this monstrosity.
It cleared my head a bit, and lessened the bite of the dank chill, but did no more than that. "Well that's real noble of you and all, but what mess have they created? They saved their tribe over and over again; shouldn't you be rewarding them or something? Instead of killing them off, being cowardly by attacking them one by one and not giving them any sort of a chance to fight back? Some ancients you must have." I cried.
A ripping snarling seemed to reverberate through the shadows. "Do not question the ancestors. They are the ones who decide the fate of our kind. They answer to none."
I woke up screaming. Sarah shot up in her bed five feet away. I gasped a couple times, trying to regulate my heartbeat. "Sorry." I said, crawling out of my bed and hightailing it for the door.
Making it to the bathroom, I splashed cool water on my face, glaring at my reflection. I hadn't slept through the night since I had battled Chase. It had been over two weeks, and I was plain worn out. My brown eyes looked sad, even to me, and there were deep shadows under them. The most frustrating part was that I couldn't tell if the nightmares I had every night were premonitions, or just my subconscious voicing my deepest fears.
Something told me it wasn't just my overactive imagination.
Yanking my long messy hair back into a sloppy ponytail, I padded back down the hall, in my favorite old sweats and a worn old tank top. But instead of entering my own room, I tiptoed past it. Sarah needed sleep too, and it wasn't fair for me to keep her awake with my screaming.
I quietly wound my way down the various hallways, my arms wrapped around myself. Stopping at a large wooden door, I hesitantly knocked, immediately feeling like a bad person. Quickly regretting it, I hoped I hadn't woken him and stepped back from the door, only to have it swing open swiftly.
"Rainy? Are you okay? It's three forty in the morning." Tyler said, pulling on a shirt and rubbing his eyes, instantly waking up the rest of the way.
"I… Sorry. I've been keeping Sarah awake the last two and a half weeks, and she needs some real sleep. I shouldn't have bothered you." I stuttered, looking down at my feet. Tyler automatically grabbed my hand and pulled me into his room, shutting the door behind me.
Leading me to the edge of his unmade bed, he sat down next to me, slinging an arm comfortingly over my shoulders. "What are they about?" I looked at him confusedly. "Your nightmares. That's why you're keeping Sarah up- she says you scream in your sleep." He said, his earnest eyes full of concern.
"Every time I close my eyes, I see Seth and Jake, dying while I'm sitting here at boarding school, pretending that I don't have any bigger concerns than the grade that 0'Connell is going to give me on my Advanced Literature essay. I don't even know what is real right now- and it's so scary Ty." I finished, my voice a whisper.
Tyler rubbed my shoulder soothingly. "First of all, O'Connell thinks you're some sort of undercover novelist or something, he won't give you less than a ninety-five on anything you write, even if all you do is draw stick figures all over a blank sheet of notebook paper." He joked.
"And second, we agreed that there is nothing any of us can do right now, so you need to relax- you're going to make yourself sick. We'll figure out what's going on with Jake, we'll find Seth, and we'll all live happily ever after." He said with a grin.
I tried to smile, but it must have come out wrong. "And third." He said sternly, glaring at me playfully. "Your friends are real, your family is real, and your completely whipped jerk of a boyfriend is real. Your bravery and stubbornness are very real, just like your loyalty. Everything else is just a bunch of Hocus Pocus, and we have to laugh it off, it's the only way we'll make it through being us." He said wisely.
"Damn, for it being three thirty in the morning, that was deep." I teased. "You know, you may be the youngest, but I'd venture a bet that you're the smartest Son of Ipswich." I said sleepily, stifling a yawn. Now that I had some good perspective back, all I wanted to do was sleep.
He laughed, ruffling my hair. "Hey, I'm not the youngest, you are." He argued, and I smiled. No longer fighting the losing battle with my eyelids, I curled up on his bed.
"I'm hijacking your bed; it's too far to go back to mine." I mumbled, not waiting for an answer before I drifted into a blissfully dreamless slumber.
The next morning was hellish, even sitting next to Sarah in Calculus. "Where the hell did you go last night?" She hissed under her breath.
"Tyler's room. I didn't want to continue to wake you up all night, and usually Ty comes up with some ingenious reason why I should stop freaking out so much… so I went to pester him and I just fell asleep in there." I said under my breath.
She pretended to take down notes. "Do you think you should maybe take some sleeping pills or something? If you don't start sleeping soon you're going to land yourself in the hospital."
"What would be the point?" I asked angrily. "It'd burn through my system so fast that it wouldn't help. And even if it did, all it would do is trap me in my nightmares, at least right now I can wake myself up." I said decisively.
Her eyes widened. "You want to wake up screaming? I'm about to start sleeping at Caleb's Ness, you haven't slept for more than three hours at a time in almost three weeks. What are your nightmares about?" She asked hesitantly. She hadn't straight out asked me that yet, I thought she might be afraid of the answer.
"I need answers, Sarah, and I need them soon." I said quietly dodging her question, while diligently writing down everything that was scrawled on the large whiteboard.
"Have you told Reid? Or Tyler? Or anyone?" She asked, picking her pencil back up and beginning to doodle on the edge of her notes.
"Not yet. It didn't come up last night. And I haven't seen Reid in four days. I've heard from him once in that whole time." I said, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. "I figured we'd meet tonight, it is a Thursday after all. And I'll tell them then. Not that there's much they're going to be able to do."I said shortly.
"You know they have midterms this week. It's Harvard; even Reid has to study if he doesn't want to get kicked out before he's been there an entire semester." She whispered. "Caleb has been around even less than that. He's more focused than your boyfriend is. Look whose got the whipped Son now." She said pointedly. I stuck my tongue out at her, and we both dropped the subject.
When we arrived at the Danvers' Mansion that night, I surprised myself by actually being nervous. "Honey, I'm home!"Sarah called animatedly.
I trailed behind her, dropping my bag on the counter and sliding down to lean against the dark wood. Sarah had flopped down in Caleb's lap, next to Pogue and Kate. Tyler was sitting up on the counter, and Reid was in the insanely comfortable armchair, looking like he had a migraine.
I pulled my knees up and leaned my chin on them. "You look tired." Pogue noted, taking the ornate pillow that was on the floor and chucking it at me. I flashed out and grabbed it, rolling over onto my stomach and laying my head on it.
"Well that's what happens when a person doesn't sleep." Sarah muttered. I glared at her and stuck my tongue out. "What? No offense, but it's pretty obvious that you're completely sleep deprived." She said. "You really need some drugs or something."
I laughed harshly. "Considering how quickly alcohol burns through my system, I'd have to take an entire bottle every night. I might call Carlisle tomorrow and ask him for a prescription though." I sighed, letting my head fall back down to the pillow.
"Maybe you should sleep during the day instead." Kate suggested.
"I'm skipping Lit tomorrow then, apparently I could hand in a paper with random doodles all over it, and I'll still get an A." I sighed. "Right?" I asked, opening one eye and looking pointedly at Tyler.
"New rule, I'm not responsible for anything I say after two in the morning." He said.
"Awe. But that whole thing about Hocus Pocus was so touching! So that was all bullshit?" I demanded, sitting up and throwing the pillow at him.
"No, that was true…mostly. And by the way, you talk in your sleep. A lot." He said, tossing it back to me.
"Damn it." I cursed, more to myself than to anyone else. "You, keep your mouth shut."I said, raising the volume of my voice. I threw the pillow at him, hitting him in the face.
"And I only do that when I'm really tired." I defended, pulling myself up and clambering around the coffee table and letting myself fall into Reid's lap. His arms automatically pulled me closer, and I knew he was about to ask me what Sarah was talking about.
"Well then maybe you should not pass out in my room at four in the morning." Tyler shot back, flinging the pillow back at me, but aiming too wide and hitting Reid in the face.
"Why were you in his room at four in the morning?" Reid asked, throwing the piece of decorative fabric behind the big plasma screen TV. I pouted.
"Because she was trying not to keep me awake all night. Thanks for that by the way- maybe you should switch rooms." She teased.
"What do you mean?" Caleb asked, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion.
I shrugged. "I have nightmares; I tend to wake up screaming." I said, trying not to make a big deal out of it.
Reid stiffened, entirely alert now. "I didn't know that." He said.
"It's not a big deal, you've been busy." I said, trying not to sound like I was accusing him of anything. I buried my face in his chest inhaling his somehow spicy scent, and winding my arms around him.
"So…what are you doing this weekend?" Kate asked, obviously wanting to ease some of the tension.
"I'm thinking about going home. To Seattle. I put it off for two months, but I've gotta go sort out some things, see my parents, try to get a hold of Leah…Seth's sister." I added quietly, when I got confused looks.
Reid's arms were tight around me; I could feel the disapproval radiating from him. But it was Caleb who spoke, of course. He was the rightful decision maker, and order giver when he felt the need to be. "Okay, but not alone."
"It's my family." I said incredulously. "It's the safest place in the world for me to be. And it wouldn't be for you guys. The wolves are not very inviting to the living proof of other archaic legends, or do you not remember Seth's reaction to you?" I snapped.
"Obviously it's no longer very safe. This fight, the one Jake is in, is not just your fight, we're a team, remember?" He asked.
"Look, I'm not negotiating on this, I need to go do some serious research, and I need to figure out where the hell Leah and Seth are. That's all. And then I'll be back." I grumbled.
"I'm not compromising either; you need to start trusting us." Caleb said brutally. I flinched, it wasn't that I didn't trust them, and that wasn't fair of him to say. I just glared, refusing to say another word. It seemed that everyone could see were were having some sort of battle of the wills, and no one spoke for nearly five minutes.
"I'm headed out; I have a lot more studying to do before tomorrow." Reid said shortly, pushing me off his lap, standing up, and stretching. I could tell he was angry, and I wasn't sure what it was about.
"I'm out too, I need to pack and write that essay. Peace." I said, and followed Reid out.
He was about to get in his car when I grabbed his hand. "What is your deal?" I asked, all the sleepless nights finally causing me to snap.
"Get in." He said, looking pointedly at the passenger side before sliding in and shutting his door, effortlessly breaking my grip. I raced around the front edge of the car and slipped in on the passenger side, just as the engine roared to life.
"Should I be worried?" He asked sharply, winding down the dark, slick highway, going nearly as fast as I would, and without the heightened vision.
I was confused. "That we're going to crash? Possibly." I said. Instead of slowing down, he pressed on the gas harder. "Reid, slow down. And tell me what is wrong."
The car didn't slow, but he did throw a quick glance at me, and the expression on his face broke my heart. "About you. I know I've been busy, but I should have realized that you weren't as okay as you kept saying you were."
I shook my head vehemently. "No, it's not a big deal Reid, I mean, after everything that has happened, nightmares pretty much just come with the territory. Ty talked me out of it, I'm sure I'll be better now."
"I don't know what's going on with you, but Tyler does." He spit.
I felt my mouth fall open. "What are you trying to say?" I asked forcefully. "I'm sorry that I didn't want to add more stress to your life when you're already so busy- by bothering you with things you can't fix. I didn't want to do that to you- Tyler and I are friends, very good friends, but just friends. I thought we'd already been through this." I said, raising my voice, jumping to the conclusion that he thought I would screw around with his best friend behind his back.
The classic car spun out around a sharp corner, narrowly missing falling clear off the street. "That isn't what I meant Rainy. I trust you, and I trust him. All I meant was that maybe he's better for you than I am. I told you from the start that you deserved better than me." He said, the harsh note of pain evident in his voice. "Tyler has always been the better man, obviously he…"
I was completely derailed. Tyler had filled in for my missing best friend since I had first come to this new place. He was the one that I trusted to keep things in perspective, no matter what. He made me feel like my life could be normal, or if he couldn't, that normal was overrated. But the idea of the two of us together was just wrong. I couldn't imagine wanting anyone but the arrogant, stubborn, amazing guy in the seat next to me.
"Pull over." I finally managed to choke out. Something in my voice must have convinced him, because the car screeched to a halt on the dark rocky shoulder, mere feet from the dark looming forest. I crawled shakily over to him, situating myself so I was facing him, one leg on each side of him.
The car was off, and I shivered in the frigid November air. The black long-sleeved t-shirt I was wearing was more fashionable than practical. I sighed, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting my fingers curl through his hair. "Answer me one question. In five words or less, tell me what you think I deserve, because I think you're confused." I said, catching his icy eyes and holding his gaze.
It took him a moment to answer. His hands were lightly on my waist, and he absentmindedly softly traced the small tattoo on my hip, a habit he had gotten into that drove me completely crazy. It was hard for me to stay focused, but I wasn't letting him off the hook this time.
"You deserve someone that will be as perfect as you." He said quietly. I snorted, using my arms as leverage to pull myself closer to him.
"You overestimate perfect, Reid. Perfect is boring, and safe, and tedious…try again."I said.
He sighed. "You deserve someone that won't continually screw up." He said, his voice hard, averting his eyes, as hard as I was trying to hold his gaze.
I laughed lightly. "You're under the impression that I want a fairytale…again. How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want perfect, I don't want safe. If you don't take risks, your life will never be worth living. I thought you used to believe that." I said, knowing I wasn't going to be able to sit still much longer if his fingers didn't stop outlining the star on my hip.
"I did. I usually still do." He finally said, looking back at me. "I just don't want to hurt you." He added, and I couldn't help it anymore.
I pulled my face up to his, crashing our lips together. The electricity ran through my veins, my mind disengaged but my senses went into overdrive. I hadn't realized how much four days apart could affect us, but I wasn't complaining when one of his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, pulling me so close to him that I could barely breathe. When his other hand started to inch up under my shirt, I didn't hesitate; I shifted and ran my hands roughly down his swimmer's abs. His fingers were tracing patterns on my bare ribs, and I gasped, feeling like I was about to drown.
We never went further than this, despite Reid's reputation, and the way he'd been in the past, he never pushed me further than I wanted to go, and most of the time he was the one that stopped us- personally I thought it must be because he didn't want to screw this up by throwing something as complicated as sex into the equation.
The sound brought us both back to our senses, and Reid chuckled lightly. "Sorry." He said, dropping his hands back to my hips, breathing as raggedly as I was.
I giggled. "Do you feel the electricity?"I asked, still out of breath. "You really want to tell me that this is wrong? You don't want to hurt me, so stop trying to convince yourself we shouldn't be together." I said, lightly kissing his cheek.
"Momentary lapse in judgment." He said, smirking. "It's just been a hellishly long week, I missed you." One of his rare genuine smiles flashed across his face.
"So you told me to dump you for your best friend? You are such an idiot." I said with a grin.
He pouted at me, "That's why you love me though…right?" He asked.
I leaned in to whisper the words in his ear, the shudder that passed through his body caused me to shiver too. "That's why I love you." I agreed.
what'd everyone think?
next chapter's preview:
"How do you suddenly know so much that I've spent the last five years trying to keep a secret?" He asked, frustration finally coloring his tone.