A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (34 page)

“How did you do that?” I ask.

“Do what? Swim? Oh, that is easy.”

I punch him in the arm. “No, stupid! How did you dry yourself off so quickly?”

Laughing, he says, “I know what you meant. I’m just teasing you. That is one of the cool things our Fae abilities allow us to do.” He sits down next to me and nudges me in the side with his elbow. “What were you thinking about while I was swimming? I could tell you were in deep thought.”

I feel my cheeks turn a lovely shade of flushed and halfway grin. Yeah—there is no way I’m telling him I was checking him out. I will stick with half of the truth. “Just about my dream.”

“Tell me about it.” Cohen says as he lies back in the sand and folds his arms behind his head.

I raise a curious eyebrow at him. “Seriously?”

He looks at me and smiles. “You bet. I want to know what was going on in that crazy head of yours while you were missing out on spending time with your kick-ass best friend. It sounds like you were one busy girl.”

“You have no idea.” I lie down on the sand beside him and tell him everything—summarized of course. To explain my whole life, I mean dream, in detail would take days. I expect him to ask a million questions, but he never says a word. He just lets me talk. When I’m done talking he rolls over on his side with his head propped on his hand. He draws a smiley face in the sand and then smoothes it out to doodle something else.

Looking at me, he finally speaks. “That is a
very
detailed and long dream. But I guess it would be long; you were asleep for three months.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I sigh. “Cohen?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you think I’m crazy if I said I didn’t want the healers to make me forget?”

He looks at me for a brief moment. “No. If it makes you happy to remember then there is no reason anyone should make you forget.”

I smile and laugh. “Yeah… It’s just… I’m scared I will never get over Luke, even if he is some made-up person. He was so real to me.”

Cohen’s face goes grim for a moment, but he forces it into a smile again. “Unless… You fall in love with someone else. That would help you get over him.”

I think about what he says, but his words sound foreign. Fall in love with someone else? That seems impossible. “Maybe.” I say as I shrug my shoulders.

The sun is starting to set, and it is getting a little chilly with the breeze. I wrap my arms around myself and when I do I expose the scar on my elbow. Looking at it I remember what happened when Cohen touched me. I start to ask him about it but then decide against it. I like having Cohen as my friend, and I don’t want to make things awkward. It seemed to have freaked him out too; so it is probably best to leave that topic alone.

“You should probably head home. It’s starting to get dark.” Cohen says while standing up and brushing the sand off his clothes.

I stand up and brush my black tank top and white shorts off. I look up at him. “Yeah, the healers are coming. What should I tell them?”

“Tell them what you feel is best for
you.
They won’t do anything if you don’t allow it.”

“Okay. Well I guess I better go. I had a good time. Meet you here tomorrow?”

“You have to train tomorrow. How about I come watch you train so I can laugh at you?” He says with a smirk.

“You better watch out. Once I gain control of my Fae abilities I may be able to take you down.”

With his chest puffed out and a cocky grin, he says, “Yeah right! If you had any recollection of me you wouldn’t be saying that. I’m pretty bad ass.”

“We’ll see about that. My nickname is Tuff after all.”

He shakes his head and laughs. “Only because you fell out of a tree and didn’t cry.”

I roll my eyes. “See you tomorrow then?”

“Wouldn’t miss getting to see your ass kicked for anything.” I punch him in the arm and laugh. Cohen stands there and watches me as I leave. He insisted on walking me home, but I told him I was fine. Once I’m through the grass and down the trail a little, I stop.
What just happened?
When I was with him I didn’t think about Luke, except for when I was telling Cohen about him from my dreams. I may get better after all. I smile inwardly as I think about all the ones who care about me here and truly believe this has always been my real reality.

When I get to the end of the trail, I see Harim sitting on the front steps to our house. He stands up when he sees me and smiles. “Hey, sis. Did you have a good time?”

Walking up the steps I say, “I really did. That place is awesome! Kind of unexpected, though. I never expected there to be an ocean that close to our house.”

“Gaia is a magnificent world.” He says with a smile.

“From what I’ve seen so far, it really is.” Harim gets up to go inside, and I follow him. When we walk in, there are two men that I am assuming are not Fae. They don’t have the black hair or green eyes that set Fae apart from others.

HOLLY

MY MOTHER STANDS
up from the couch. “Holly, these two men are the healers. They are going to do everything they can to help you remember your life here and forget that silly dream I’ve heard about.” I swallow hard and look at the two very tall, lanky men.

“Nice to meet you.” I say nervously.

The man with the red hair plants a genuine smile on his face. “I would say nice to meet you also, but we have met before. Hopefully, when we are done here you will remember me.” I smile back and nod. I notice Stella standing in the corner with her arms crossed over her chest. Her face hardens when she notices me looking at her. I smile, trying to ease the tension between us. I hate that she doesn’t like me. Like Harim said, maybe things can be different between us now. My inner thoughts are interrupted when the healer with the red hair starts speaking again.

“Holly, are you ready?”

“I guess so.” I say with a shrug of the shoulders. Everyone except for Harim and the healers leave the room. I look at him confused as to why he didn’t join mom and Stella when they left.

He shakes his head. “I am not leaving. I want to be here when you remember.” I smile and turn to look at the men that are supposed to fix the problem—me. I am about to tell them my request to remember my dream, but I don’t. It is probably best that I forget.

I am instructed to lay flat on the couch and close my eyes. I feel like they are about to perform an exorcism, and I start laughing. This is just silly. I sit up, interrupting the odd words they were mumbling, causing them to abruptly stop.

“Holly!” Harim says, shocked that I am making a mockery of them.

“What? I can’t help it! This is just silly!” I start mimicking their trance like stares and mumbling unintelligible words. Now Harim is laughing. The two healers—yeah… Not so much.

“Do you plan on making fun or being healed? I do not appreciate your making a joke of us.” The blonde headed one says.

Silencing my laugh, I say, “I’m sorry; it is just hard to take this seriously. Try again.” I lay down and am doing everything I can not to burst out laughing again. I can still hear Harim fighting his own laugh which causes me to burst out laughing again. I sit up, laughing so hard that I snort.

“Harim, could you please put her to sleep? It seems it will be the only way to accomplish our task.” Irritation is evident in each word that leaves the red head’s mouth.

“Holly, is that okay with you?” Harim asks.

I look to the healers. “I am not meaning to be disrespectful. I really appreciate what you are trying to do. I have a problem with handling awkward situations with humor. I’m sorry.” I look to Harim. “Go ahead.” I lay back and feel Harim breathe in my face, causing me to quickly fall asleep.

When I wake up, I jump when I see Cohen pacing back and forth around the room. I am not in the living room anymore; I am in my bedroom. When he sees me awake, he stops and stares at me expectantly. It takes me a minute to completely wake my brain up to realize why he is staring at me like that.
He wants to know if I remember my past
. I don’t know how to tell him that I don’t. It didn’t work. I still don’t remember a thing except my dream. Luke’s face appears in my mind, and I lay back and close my eyes trying to keep the image of him in my mind for as long as possible. I almost forget Cohen is in my room as I focus my mind on Luke. Cohen is being respectful by giving me my moment to myself, and all I can hear is his breathing. After the image of Luke disappears from my mind, I open my eyes and sit up. Cohen is still staring at me—waiting for me to speak. Too bad I am not going to say what he is hoping for.

He holds his breath as I speak. “I don’t remember anything.” He lets out his breath and walks to the bedroom door and opens it. Harim, my mother, and Stella practically fall through the door when he opens it. Cohen shakes his head at them, and they all let out a simultaneous sigh of disappointment. Cohen’s expression has turned from a look of worry to a look of anger. He pushes past the mob at the door and storms out without a word. Harim, my mother, and Stella walk into the room after he leaves. It is still dark out so it must be really late at night or really early. They are all yawning so I assume they haven’t gotten any sleep tonight.

My mother speaks first. “I am so sorry, dear. Maybe it will take some time to take effect.”

“Oh, would you just stop it, mother?! You know if the healers were successful, its effects would have been immediate! You are all going to have to stop sugar coating everything! What happened is not fair, but she is going to have to move on with life eventually! Whether she remembers everything or not!” Stella says while pouting like a child. I really want to slap her for yelling at mom like that. Mom is just trying to hold on to the little bit of hope she has left. What a wench. Maybe we won’t get along after all.

“Stella…” Harim’s face is hard from anger. He starts to say something but quickly stops himself and looks at me. “Holly, I’m sorry it did not work. Do you still remember your dream?”

“It’s okay, and yes.” He smiles at me because he knows I truly did not want to forget the life I lived in my dream. A crazy, chaotic, drama-around-every-corner life. I laugh out loud at the thought of how crazy of a dream it really was.

“We need to get sleep. It is only a few hours before sunrise, and Holly needs to train tomorrow.” Harim says, and everyone agrees.

After everyone leaves the room I lay back down—trying to fall back asleep.
Soooo not happening.
I get up and take a hot bath to try to relax myself. That did not help either. I get dressed and decide to go to paradise. Seems like a good place to relax and kill time. I tiptoe down the stairs and make a quick run to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I nearly have a heart-attack when I feel a hand on my back. Helen is standing behind me in a house-coat with wide eyes.

“And where do you think you are going?” She says with serious eyes and her hands placed firmly on her hips.

I hang my head and shift my feet nervously as if I’ve been caught stealing from the cookie jar. “Ummm…Paradise.”

“And you were taking something to eat before going?” Geez, is she the freakin’ snack police?

“Yes ma’am. I am hungry. I never ate dinner last night.”

Laughing, she says, “Oh, stop looking like you have done something to be guilty of! I saved you some dinner. I will warm it up for you.” I let out a sigh of relief. I thought she was going to scold me like a child. She starts rummaging around the kitchen, and I sit down at the table. I watch her as she starts the microwave and wonder why she doesn’t just use her Fae abilities. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen anyone use their abilities. Well, besides Harim breathing in my face to make me fall asleep, Cohen instantly drying his clothes, and the healers doing
whatever
they were doing.

Helen sets the food in front of me. My mouth waters as I look at the lasagna, green beans, garlic bread, and glass of milk. I literally devour all of it. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I started eating. Helen is sitting at the table, watching me eat in silence.

I take a drink of my milk and wipe my face with a napkin. “Thank you. That was so good.”