Aven's Dream (29 page)

Taking out my U.S. History textbook, I flipped to the map and drew a line from St. John’s in Canada to Oregon. My hands went clammy as I dropped the pencil on the desk. Inhaling, I thought back to the night in the park when Will had talked about receiving a
message
that someone had wanted him to return here. And I had simply absorbed it as another of Will’s ambiguous statements that I would never understand.

Or was the trail of missing people from Canada to Oregon the
message
that had brought Will here?

I shivered as I clicked through the pictures of the missing, knowing that unless someone knew what to look for, it was unlikely that anyone would ever make the connection between these seemingly random missing person reports, especially since the trail had begun in Canada and then spanned half a dozen states in the U.S. Law enforcement
might
notice in a couple of decades—if any bodies were ever found. It would end up being a cold case mystery on one of those shows. My stomach lurched, and I took a shallow breath.

“
Aven.
”

I pushed away from the desk with so much force that my chair flipped backwards. An arm shot out and caught me before I hit the ground. Turning, I looked up at Will. Then I swung out in frustration. He caught my hand before I could connect with his chest.

“That’s going to hurt you, not me,” Will said gently.

“Dammit, Will!”

His eyes flickered to the computer screen.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would help to frighten you any more than you already were.”

“
This
…” I waved to the screen. “It was him, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Are all those people dead?” I asked woodenly.

Will nodded once.

“And
that
was what brought you back here?”

But I already knew the answer. I looked down. He was still holding my hand in his.

“That’s more than a dozen people who won’t go home to their families. And it was all to bring you back here …”

My head started to spin, and I couldn’t help visualizing the last terrifying moments of Fidatov’s victims.

“Why didn’t he just kill me like all the others?”

“They were bait; you’re the endgame.”

My stomach lurched again, and my legs began to shake. In an instant, Will had gathered me up and carried me to the bed, setting me down gently like I might break. A stab of pain pierced me as I thought about what Fidatov was capable of.

“What about
my dad
? Sean? What if he …”
kills everyone I love
?

I turned and watched Will’s face closely.

“Fidatov,” Will hissed the name, “would never risk such a direct attack until he is certain he has the advantage. But make no mistake.
You
represent a reasonable risk to him. If he thinks I’ve dropped my guard, he
will
take you.”

I shivered and tucked my legs beneath me.

“Where did you go today?”

“I followed him. All the way to Portland. And I imagine he was pleased when he evaded me and doubled back—until he found Edmond waiting for him.”

Will smiled bitterly.

“
Edmond
?” I asked.

“Yes. You’ll meet him this weekend.”

“He was the one watching me while you were gone?”

Will nodded.

“What did you tell him about me?” I asked.

“That I love you beyond reason.”

“Oh,” I blushed.

“He says I’ve gone girl crazy.”

“But he’s okay with me being … human?” I asked, blushing.

Will nodded again.

“And Gen cannot wait to meet you. She doesn’t believe I’ve fallen in love. Her exact words were:
Il est fou à lier
.”

“What does that mean?” I frowned.

“Literally?” Will laughed. “Crazy as a loon.”

“Terrific. Wait—
she
? I thought
Jean
was a guy’s name,” I said, imitating his French accent.

“
Genevieve
is my other companion. We call her Gen for short.”

I knew that I should have been worried about Fidatov, but now I was more worried about meeting Will’s companions. Darcy suddenly jumped up from where he had been at the foot of my bed, and I shook my head. So much for him being a guard dog—he hadn’t even moved when Will came in the window.

“Your father is here,” Will said. “Would you like me to go?”

I didn’t want him to go, but I also didn’t want to push my luck with my dad.

“Maybe come back later?” I asked.

I got up from my bed and walked to the window. Looking out, I saw my dad taking stuff from the backseat of the Volvo. As soon as he started walking toward the house, Will stepped to the windowsill, reaching back to touch my cheek. Then he was gone. When I turned back, I saw that Darcy had already abandoned me, and I followed him out the door toward the stairs.

“Hey, Dad,” I said as he walked in the front door.

He looked around, and I could tell he was looking for Will.

“How are you doing, sweetie?”

I’m being stalked by an immortal serial killer who showed up at my school today
, I thought.

“Fine.”

“You want to get out of here for dinner?”

I quirked an eyebrow.

“Uh, sure. What’s the occasion?”

“Dr. Pitt—David—asked if we wanted to have dinner. His son just graduated from UC San Diego, and I thought you might want to talk to him about schools.”

I swallowed and quickly tried to hide my horror at the thought of going out to dinner with complete strangers.

“Where are we going?”

“The sushi place over on Pearl. We haven’t tried it yet.” He studied me. “Are you going to change?”

I looked down at my outfit and thought, ‘
Nope
.’ Then I sighed and nodded, heading back to my room to sift through my closet. After a minute, I found a black scoop-necked top that was almost fancy, and at least I wouldn’t stain it if I got soy sauce on it. I liked sushi, but chopsticks were not my friends. Quickly I combed out my hair, put on some lip gloss, and grabbed the black ballet flats out of my closet.

By the time I got downstairs, my dad had changed shirts and was waiting by the door. I smiled, but it was forced. I would have been so much happier if dinner had just been my dad and me.

“Ready?” he asked.

No
, I thought, smirking as I realized that I never said half of what I was really thinking during the rare times my dad expected me to do something objectionable—like having dinner out with complete strangers.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I mumbled under my breath as I went over to the closet to get my jacket.

My dad opened the front door and waited for me to walk out ahead of him. I glanced around the street and felt my heart pump faster when I saw a motorcycle—Will’s—parked down the street. Farther down there was a black SUV—also his. I was relieved when my dad got into the Volvo without noticing the protection detail on our street.

“How are classes?” he asked as he started the car.

“Everything’s good, except Trig.”

He frowned.

“Do you think you’re going to need a tutor?”

I winced.

“I hope not. They’re expensive, right?”

“Maybe I can find someone through the university.”

“I could ask Will,” I said tentatively.

My dad looked over at me.

“He’s in Calculus this year—and he’s free,” I added.

“You know, I tried tutoring your mom when she was finishing up grad school. She was stubborn and didn’t like getting ‘
bossed around by a Ph.D. know-it-all
’,” my dad said humorously.

“Well? Were you a bossy know-it-all?”

“Probably,” my dad laughed.

He turned on the radio, and I looked back and saw a motorcycle and the SUV a few cars back. It made me wonder what Will would be doing if we had never met. My dad turned onto Pearl and parked on the street.

“I probably should have let you drive—get some practice in before you take the driver’s test.”

“Practice with my bossy know-it-all dad?” I teased.

He looked across the street and saw someone.

“There’s David. And that must be his son Tyler.”

I swiveled in my seat and saw two men standing in front of a huge black Mercedes sedan.

“Uh, Dr. Pitt’s in the same department as you? You should ask for a raise.”

My dad laughed, and I opened my door and got out, trying not to feel so insanely nervous. It was stupid to get this edgy over a dinner, but with the way things had been going lately, I didn’t need any more surprises. We started walking toward Dr. Pitt, who looked a couple of decades older than my dad—graying and a little paunchy. The younger man standing next to him, who I assumed was his son Tyler, was a little taller than his father, but easily half a foot shorter than Will. He had wavy, light brown hair, shifty light-blue eyes. The slight smirk on his face—and the cocky attitude that he emitted like cheap cologne—told me all I needed to know. The college-age version of Jason Everett and Scott Adams.

“David,” my dad said as we reached them. “This is my daughter Aven.”

“Hi,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Aven, you’re prettier than your picture.” I glanced over at my dad, wondering what picture he had at work. “This is my son Tyler. I’m sure you two will have a lot to talk about with you leaving for college next year.”

“Hi,” I said as politely as I could.

When Tyler Pitt looked me up and down, I dug my fingers into my palm and forced myself to keep smiling. Okay, so maybe my first impression had been right. Jerk. Creepy jerk.

“Hi,” he said back in a mocking way that made me squirm.

It reminded me of the morning Will had shown up at school in a super-psycho mood because of the sunny weather. At least he had had an excuse—he had been trying not to drain me of energy. Tyler Pitt on the other hand—he was one of
those
guys. The kind that lived to make other people nervous. I could tell. He reminded me of the character from some movie I couldn’t remember the name of. Prep school jerk playing games with girls to entertain himself. As we started walking toward the restaurant, I struggled to think of something to say. Inside, the host showed us to our table, and I prayed for a spot with individual seats, but instead it was a booth. I slid in, and my dad sat next to me, leaving me across from Tyler Pitt.

“So you graduated from UCSD,” I said, trying to sound like I was interested. “Did you like it?”

“Better than here. Anything’s better than here.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I like Oregon,” I said sweetly.

“You’ve been here since the summer?” he sneered. “Just wait. Another couple months, and you’ll be begging to go back to Southern California.”

I smiled.

“I doubt it.”

Picking up my water, I looked out the window toward the street, and my heart sped up when I saw Will standing on the sidewalk watching me. Right now I wanted more than anything to be with him instead of the jerk I was sitting across from. Smiling, I lifted my fingers toward the glass and watched as Will took his phone from his jacket pocket. A second later my phone buzzed in my jacket.

Does your dinner companion know you’re spoken for?

I nearly laughed when I read Will’s text. Then my dad nudged me. I looked up and shrugged when I saw Dr. Pitt’s son was on his phone, too.

“Aven, I’m sure Tyler would be more than happy to show you around the area while he’s in town,” Dr. Pitt said.

I stared at him blankly, hoping someone would save me from the worst possible suggestion in the world.

“I, um … I actually got to know the area really well over the summer,” I muttered.

I glanced over at Tyler, hoping to find the same sense of dread in his expression, but he was still on his phone.

“Aven, to be fair, I think you spent most of the summer in the bookstore,” my dad said.

Oh my god! I was going to kill my dad when we got home. When the server came over with waters, I let them order. I had already lost my appetite. Glancing over at Tyler Pitt, I decided it was best to put in a modicum of effort so that I didn’t embarrass my dad. But he was going to owe me for this.

“So … what was your major?”

That
was
what you asked people in college, right?

“Poly sci.”

“Oh. Are you thinking about law school?”

“That’s what the old man wants,” Tyler said in the same mocking tone.