Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) (18 page)

Daniel began walking towards us without saying a word. He looked like a zombie, desperate and focused on one thing... and that one thing was me.

“Daniel, where is Collin?” I asked, an eerie feeling rushed through me and I hoped there was a logical explanation for what was happening.

He didn’t answer my question and there was no change in his expression. I kept my eyes focused on him and suddenly, Daniel stopped; his body froze where he stood and I watched in horror as his body crumpled to the floor. When he hit the floor, another image came into view behind him.

“No!” I gasped.

Jackie stood facing us, her eyes just as black and cold as Daniel’s. She wasted no time coming towards us, her eyes focused solely on mine, a look of determination on her face.

“Jackie, what’s going on?” I called out to her, hoping she would answer me, but there was no response.

“Run, Meredith,” Blake said, pushing me back down the hall.

We both ran, taking a right into the kitchen. I was only a few feet from the door when the kitchen table slid in front of me, blocking my way. I turned around and found myself face to face with Jackie. The wickedness in her eyes made my whole body shiver.

“Let’s not make this difficult, Meredith. It will be so much easier if you just come with me and don’t fight back,” she said, slowly walking towards me.

Blake was in front of me now, taking a protective stance and slowly pushing me backwards. I looked behind me and noticed that we were running out of room and quick. If we were going to get out of here alive, I needed to do something. I glanced around the room, seeing the wall on my left covered with a collection of plates. I closed my eyes and concentrated on flinging the plates towards her, one by one. As they began to fly across the room, Jackie reached up her right hand, deflecting each one. At the moment the last plate shattered on the floor, I opened every cabinet door in the kitchen and dishes from every direction began to fly towards her. She held up both hands, deflecting most of them, but she was not able to fend them all off. As a number of dishes hit her at once, causing her to collapse towards the floor, we made our move.

Blake shoved the table out of the way and finally we were able to reach the door. It took only a couple seconds before he scooped me up in his arms and we were flying. I tried to process what the hell had just happened and how Jackie and Daniel could’ve turned on me like that. It made no sense. Daniel had said he would be my protector only days before and I felt like Jackie and I had been getting along just fine. What was going on? Then my stomach clenched as I thought about Collin. The last time I had seen him he was standing in front of Jude’s house, the same house where Jackie and Daniel had been, and both of them were now coming after me looking crazy and possessed.

After a couple minutes, Blake and I landed back at the clock tower. He carried me up the spiral staircase, set me down, and turned on a lantern behind him.

“Are you alright?” he asked, coming back over to me and cupping my face in his hands.

My whole body was shaking. “Yes... I’m okay.” I exhaled loudly. “What the hell was that?”

He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m not sure, but you’re safe now.”

Neither of us spoke about what happened for the next hour or so. I think he was waiting for me to bring it up, but I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. It was hard to even think about. Daniel and Jackie looking like crazed zombies coming after me. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get their black and soulless eyes out of my head
.

When I laid down on the makeshift bed Blake set out for us, my mind began to wander. I tried to push what happened earlier tonight out of my mind, but even when I shut out those thoughts, more depressing ones entered my mind. All I could think about was how drastic my life had changed over the last couple months and it caused me to wonder if this is how it would always be. Would I ever have peace in my life again? Would I ever get a happily ever after? Or would my life always consist of learning spells, trying to ward off dark magic, constantly running and having to worry about the people I loved being hurt?

Not only were Jackie and Daniel trying to hurt me, but Abby was out there somewhere and we still had no clues as to where she was. She could be hurt, scared, or confused. It killed me to know that she may be in this position because she was trying to find me. Blake and I had not had time to even talk about Abby, yet. I wondered what he was feeling—if he was worried or how often his own thoughts must be drifting to her.

“Blake?”

I felt his body shift and turn towards me. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“No, just thinking,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

“About?” he asked, his voice guarded.

“Abby.” I paused, taking in a deep breath. “Do you think she is, um—?” My voice trailed off as my throat tightened. As much as I wanted to know what he thought, I wasn’t sure how to ask the question.

“Alive?” Blake asked, finishing my question for me.

There was silence for a moment and with each second he didn’t say anything, my fear grew. “Well?” I asked, a spasm hitting my heart. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“She’s alive. That’s about all I can say at this point. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can still feel her presence. I can’t say much more than that, though.”

With that thought, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep, knowing that we would have a lot of planning to do in the morning.

As I drifted off to sleep, the image of a girl came into focus. It was difficult to see her features because of the distance separating us, but I looked harder, desperate to see her face. I noticed the girl was walking down a cobblestone street. Street lamps flickered above her and there was a quiet stillness surrounding her. The girl stopped and looked to her left. I followed her gaze to a large building down an alleyway. She turned left down the alley and disappeared into the building. The next image that entered my mind was me standing, facing that building. I walked forward and stopped at the large window at the front of it. Slowly, I began to see my reflection come into focus, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t my reflection staring back at me... it was Abby’s.

“Meredith,” the reflection spoke.

“Abby!” I screamed at the reflection. “Abby, where are you?”

The vision of her began to fade until she was gone. “Abby,” I screamed, calling her back.

“Meredith, wake up.” Blake’s voice pulled me out of my dream. He was lying beside me, softly shaking me awake. When my eyes focused, I saw him staring down at me, a panicked look covering his face. “Bad dream?” he asked, moving the hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear.

“Abby.” I breathed heavily. “I saw her. She’s in a... building or store somewhere. I’ve seen it...” My voice trailed off as I tried to remember where I’d seen that building from my dream.

“What else? Tell me as much as you can.” Blake’s voice was urgent.

“She said my name.” My mind was going in so many different directions. I was trying to understand what the dream meant; wondering if Abby was trying to tell me something. Then, it hit me. A memory of the store or building—whatever it was—entered my mind. I had seen it the day I ran from Collin. When I was searching for a hiding place and before entering the train station, I saw a cobblestone street full of old buildings. If I was right, then we were just about ten minutes from there, or just a few seconds if we flew.

“Blake,” I said, my breath catching. “Abby’s here in London... I think I know where she is.”

He smoothed the hair away from my face. “You need to calm down for a minute. It could’ve just been a dream.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t just a dream. It was her and she was trying to show me something. I can’t explain it... I just know.”

“Could be,” he stopped and hesitated for a moment, “but it could also be something else.”

I swallowed hard, meeting his gaze. “What else could it be?”

“Well, it could be that someone is putting that in your mind. It could be a trick. With all that has happened, I feel like Jude does know something about Abby, or he may even have her himself. What if he’s trying to find you and he’s trying to lure you to him—putting things in your mind in order to draw you right to him.”

My stomach squeezed at the thought of him having Abby. The more I thought about it, though, the more I knew there was only one way to find out. We had to go to the building that was in my dream and see if Abby was there. No matter if it was a trap or not.

“We have to go,” I told him as I began to pull myself up to a sitting position. Blake’s hand was on my shoulder, stopping me halfway.

“We need a plan,
if
we plan to go there.” I couldn’t ignore the way he stressed the word
if
. In my mind, it wasn’t an
if
we go... it was a
when
we go.

My eyebrows turned in, confusion filling me. How could he be like this? “Blake, this is Abby we’re talking about.”

“If Jude is trying to lure you there, Abby wouldn’t want you to put yourself in harm’s way.”

“Well, Abby isn’t here to tell me that now is she?” I countered.

He sighed, shaking his head. “No, but I am.”

“Blake, I get it. I know it may be a trap, but it doesn’t matter what you say, I have to know that I’m doing everything in my power to find her. We can’t just sit around and not look for her.”

“No, I’ll go and see what I can find out; see if it’s safe for you first. Have you forgotten what happened earlier with Jackie and Daniel? They looked like they were possessed and wanted to kill you.”

I closed my eyes and tried to drown out the events from earlier tonight. “I want to go to that building. I can’t explain it, but I have a feeling Abby’s trying to tell me something.”

Blake stood up in one swift move, raking his hands through his hair and began to pace the room. The look on his face was heartbreaking—it was as if he was torn and lost at what to do next—but I knew that I had to remain strong.

“I can’t let you do that,” he said, his voice was firm.

“Are you going to physically restrain me if I try?” I asked.

He stopped and turned to face me. “If that is what it comes to, yes. I’m not going to let you walk into a trap and get yourself killed.”

“Well, I’m not going to sit here and leave Abby out there,” I said, trying to keep my voice at a decent level. “So, what you do suggest we do about it?”

He pinched the space between his eyes, looking more frustrated than I had ever seen him. “Dammit, Meredith, you and your stubbornness are going to be the death of me!”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, worried that he was about to give me a resounding no. As much as I would have liked to tell him I was going to do this with or without him, it was clear that he could restrain me if he wanted to.

“Meredith,” he said my name in a slow and calm voice, then paused for a moment. “I love you for wanting to save my sister, but I can’t let you do this.”

My chest clenched, knowing that I was on my own with this. I also knew that it would be a miracle to get away from Blake. I would have to come up with something fast because there was no way I could live with myself if this was a clue from Abby and something bad happened to her. So, I would do this with or without his help.

“Okay. I understand and I see your point,” I lied, hoping to buy myself some time and figure out a plan to get away from him.

He kneeled down, bringing his eyes to my level. “We’ll figure something else out, I promise.”

As he sat there and stared into my eyes, I was secretly planning a way I could leave the clock tower and get to the building I saw in my dream. After a few moments, it became clear to me what I would have to do. I would never forgive myself and I knew that he would never forgive me, either.

I pulled away from his gaze and stood up; slowly dusting myself off, wondering if I could actually go through with this. My focus returned to Blake and from the look in his eyes it was clear he knew what I was doing. The betrayal and hurt I saw reflected in his eyes was almost too much, but I told myself to stay strong. My feet moved backward towards the staircase as I kept my eyes focused on him. Abby told me that she had never seen anyone with my abilities when it came to controlling people and objects. I knew that my power was stronger than Collin’s that day in the warehouse and I hoped that it would be strong enough to withstand Blake as well.

“Don’t do this, Meredith.
Please
,” he pleaded, motionless, as I focused with everything in me to keep him there in that same position.

“I’m so sorry. I have to at least
try
and see if she’s in there,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

Don’t think about it too much, just keep focusing on keeping him in place,
I thought to myself. I reached the first step and turned to run down the stairs. I kept the image of Blake in my mind, hoping he would stay in the stilled position long enough for me to get out of the tower and give me a small head start on flying.