Chapter 196
HANNAH
I woke up with a jolt; eyes wide and staring in the semi-darkness of the room, sweat running off my skin and soaking the sheets, heart slamming painfully in my ribs from the dream I had just had.
No. Nightmare was the word.
Every single detail of it stood out in my mind with hellish clarity. Asher, thin and pale with half his head bashed had stood at the edge of a deep hole. The surface of it was as black as night. And though I couldn't see into it, I had gotten a sense that it was crawling with nameless things waiting down there with eager greed.
He had my wrist in a death grip and I couldn't pull away. With his injuries, he shouldn't have been that strong. He should have been... dead.
And yet there he had been, glaring at me with unspeakable hate in his eyes, pulling me slowly and surely to the edge of that pit, his long and yellowish fingernails digging into the soft flesh of my wrist so hard it drew blood while I screamed in horror and tried to dig in my heels.
He had died and now wanted to take me with him.
A shudder ripped through me. I sat up and yanked the sheets up to cover my naked body though I was much colder on the inside.
The dream was a bad omen. I knew it was.
I sat there for a while, still shivering, my arms wrapped around my body, the breath rasping in and out of my lungs, the image of Asher's horrible dead face right in front of my eyes.
Chase stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. I darted a glance at the open window, and saw for the first time that first streaks of dawn across the sky. It was morning already.
"You're up early," Chase said, shutting the door gently. "Hope I didn't wake you."
"No," I replied, hardly recognising the sound of my own voice.
It sounded low and harsh and very very terrified.
I felt rather than saw Chase stiffen. The lights clicked on. One look at me and he was hurrying over to the bed.
"What's wrong?" he said. "Tell me."
"Had a bad dream," I croaked.
"Go on," he urged.
And so I told him all about it. His face grew graver with each word out of my mouth.
Finally, he said, "I would have given a lot to tell you right now it was just a dream... but I can't not after the other dreams you have had in the past. I think this one is an omen, a warning of some sort. Asher is alive somewhere, plotting his revenge, trying to drag you into the dirt with him."
"I thought it was finally all over," I said bitterly. "What do I do now? Just wait until he makes the first move? The worst part is he still hasn't returned to school. No one has an idea of where he could have gone after his father died. It's worse... waiting."
"I know," Chase soothed. "You're not alone in this. I'll protect you. I'll tell Jace and Cade about it too so they'll be on their guard. There's no way that worm's getting past the three of us. Now... how about turning that frown upside down?"
I did what he wanted. I smiled. But deep down I was worried. Worried and scared.
I would tell Willa about the dream, and tell her to ask her friends if they knew of any place Asher could be lurking in. Willa's friends got around and knew every bit of gossip going around in the territories. They could have picked up something worth knowing.
I took a quick shower and got dressed. By the time I was done, a hesitant daylight was seeping through the clouds. I figured Willa had to be up by then.
I gave a perfunctory knock, opened her door and felt my jaw drop.
Willa was still asleep but she was not alone in her bed. Lying next to her was Devin. A shirtless Devin with one arm around her.
What the hell?
Without thinking, I grabbed a pillow and threw it in his face. Devin jerked up, eyes dazed and blinking, eyes staring around and rolling, one blond curl pressed against his cheek. Now he didn't look cool at all, just slow and a little stupid.
His sudden movement had startled Willa awake.
But I didn't have eyes for her. Only him, the creep who had somehow managed to worm his way into her bed.
"What are you doing here?" Willa cried.
Still glaring at Devin, I said, "I should be asking you the same but keep shouting. You'll bring everyone down here in no time."
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