Disclaimer: All characters are property of Meg Cabot. Not mine. Don't sue.
A/N: Please note that this story has been entirely redone. If you read it before, things have changed. The writing has matured as well, thankfully.
ALSO, For the sake of this story Twilight did NOT happen. This is post-Haunted.
Enjoy and Thanks for reading.
The names of the girls are the results of my research so nyah.
I've boosted the rating up to M because of some chapters that I'm not sure are T. :/
This wasn't the 21st century. I was back in my dreams with Jesse. It seemed like I was in some living room this time. There were 4 different girls of various ages, some of whom looked familiar from previous dreams. He had the same clothes on as he has had for the past 150 years. This cannot be the moment before he died. In front of his sisters?
But soon I realized that wasn't the case. In fact I could see, hear, and feel every single detail in this dream: something peculiar because it took my years before my dreams even gave me something besides blurred faces.
"Hermano, take care of yourself until we get there tomorrow!" the oldest chastised Jesse.
"Por Supuesto, Isabel," he mocked her. "By the way you worry, it makes me wonder if you are older than I."
Isabel smiled. All the girls were chattering away as my vision soon blurred and my face felt wet. I wanted to reach out and touch my cheek but it seemed I was bound to do whatever this dream had in store for me.
I couldn't tell what the girls were saying anymore but suddenly they all stopped.
"Ria, why are you crying?" came from what I could tell was the youngest of the 4 girls I was looking at.
"Julia, why is Jesse leaving us?" came this unexpectedly childish voice from my throat.
How old am I in this? And where is Jesse going?
I watched through the child's eyes as Jesse wiped the tears away from them.
"Ria, I am not leaving you. I'm just going to be there waiting for you. I could never leave you," he said calming me/Ria.
"Really" I asked as a child would.
"Of course!" He said smiling and giving Ria a hug.
I gasped and sat up abruptly. A little too quickly.
"Ouch," I said grabbing my head. I didn't clunk heads with either Jesse or Father D, just gravity caught up with me.
"When did you get here Father Dominic?" I looked down to realize I was on the floor with the books around me, "Yikes, what happened?"
"Jesse said he put his hand on your shoulder and not a moment too soon you collapsed. You stopped breathing shortly after at which point he came and got me from the office," Father Dominic explained.
"I stopped breathing?" I asked, completely shocked. They nodded their heads. "Wow. I only get them this bad when I am sleeping."
The confusion showed on their faces. I sat up more upright as I leaned against the bookshelf.
I explained, "Some of my more visual premonitions—if I can call them that—tend to come while I'm sleeping. My mom had first noticed that I would stop breathing in my sleep a long time ago. They are—I mean, were—convinced it was some sort of sleep apnea thing. I know better. But look, I'm totally cool; I've readjusted to the fact that I'm back in the real world so now I can keep working," I said standing up with the help of the bookshelf.
"I don't know. I think it would be better if you went home," Father Dominic said.
"No. No, look. I'm totally fine," I said touching my nose with my pointer fingers and alternating my hands. "See? I've got this. Look, if Jesse doesn't have anything else to do, he can keep watch if you would feel better. Please?"
"It's fine, padre," Jesse said backing me up. Yes! Score one for Team Zohra!
"Well if he is here, then it's fines. But don't forget to come see me at noon before you leave," he said.
"Got it," I said giving him my cheesiest smile.
Father Dominic left and as soon as the library doors closed, I whipped around to face Jesse.
"We need to talk,"I said as he quirked up his scarred eyebrow. I motioned toward the table and he followed. I pulled my chair and waited for him to be seated. He must have worked hard to learn not go through that.
He sat down and without giving him a moment to breathe I asked, "Who are Isabel, Julia, and Ria?" I was on the offense: I'd never had a premonition like this before. It made me feel like Rogue from the X-men.
His eyes grew a little from shock and a little it seemed out of love. He smiled, "They were my sisters. Is that what you saw just now?"
Huh. "Ria was the youngest, I assume?" He nodded in response to my question.
"Where were you going that caused her to think you were leaving her? I mean granted it was only a day from what Isabel said. Like what happened?" I asked. Sensing hesitation on his behalf, "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I get that this might be hard on you."
"It's fine. I just hadn't thought about it in a long time," he said with his physique clearly relaxing. "I came here. To Carmel. That conversation happened the day I died," My eyes softened. That was horrible. "I was leaving a day before so that I wouldn't be late for the wedding."
"I'm sorry," I said softly.
"It's quite fine. I've had over 150 years to get over my death," he smiled kindly.
"Who's wedding was it?," I asked. The look I got back provoked my next question, "You died the day before you were to be married, didn't you?"
He nodded only to cause me more sadness. This sucked. I mean that was a horrible way to go.
"How did it happen?" I whispered. "Did you love her?"
That changed his mood. "No," he spat. "She was my cousin. My father's brother's daughter."
As the books started to shake, I realized that this was not a minor quake but courtesy of my supernatural friend. "Ok, sore subject. Got it," I said putting my hands up defensively. The shaking stopped shortly.
"You should talk to Susannah about this. She knows of all this," he said as I'm assuming a peace-offering.
I smiled. This was more than he had to give me, but it was nice of him to do so. "Thanks. Sorry if I went too far with that last question," I said. I also added as an afterthought, "And for keeping you here to watch guard. I just needed an excuse to ask you about this."
"You're fine. Thank you."
Huh? I quirked my eyebrow up at him this time.
"For reminding me of that memory," he smiled.