Hunter's Curse (6 page)

After the visions stop and I can focus on the world around me, I realize what I’ve done. Nana warned me long ago that I can’t redeem a pure soul. She told me the consequences of doing so and I didn’t really believe her until this moment.

I don’t have control over Hunter’s soul like I would have if he’d been evil. I can’t redeem him. Hunter’s cursed to share my life and body and I’m cursed because even if I manage to rid myself of the HPA without having to come back here, I’m stuck with Hunter until I return him back to his body or he chooses to release himself.

I blink my eyes a few times. I’d never let anyone know that. I want Dr. Sullivan to be afraid for her son. I want her to think his life truly lies in my hands and I can destroy him if I want to.

I take a deep breath and pull Hunter from the void in my mind. His presence sits heavy on my soul and I feel bad he was the one I chose—but I needed him. I needed someone Dr. Sullivan would want to see alive again.

“Mom? Mom! What have you done to me!”
Hunter’s voice rings in my ears.

“She can’t hear you,” I think to him.

“Let me out of here, please, I don’t deserve this!”

“I can’t, Hunter. I’m sorry. You’ll get used to it,” I think.

Dr. Sullivan waves her hand and I draw my eyes to the doctor. Hunter’s body lies lifelessly on the floor and Agent Chris picks it up and swings it over his shoulder. Dr. Sullivan whispers something to him, and he exits the room without looking back.

“His body will die without his soul so you must use medical intervention to keep it alive,” I say.

“What? Are you kidding me?”
I push Hunter’s voice away.

Dr. Sullivan nods. “Agent Janie will take you where you need to go. Again, you have three months. If you don’t return with the information we’re looking for, plan on spending the rest of your life running—but just know—we will find you and I don’t give second chances.”

“I’ll get what you want,” I say.

“What about what I want, Jackie?”
Hunter asks.

His use of the nickname my brother called me stings and I think, “Don’t call me that.”

“I can call you whatever I want, monster.”

I sigh. “Shut up or I’ll toss you in the void.”

Hunter doesn’t answer me.

I turn to face Agent Janie and she doesn’t meet my gaze. Instead, she waves at the door and I walk across the room and step into the hallway with her behind me. Dr. Sullivan clears her throat and I look over my shoulder.

“Take care of my son, Jacqueline.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, Dr. Sullivan. He’s not going anywhere.”

I follow Agent Janie down the hallway and to an elevator. We cross through an empty lobby and I step out into the cool night air. I can’t believe I actually survived being captured by the HPA and I can’t believe they agreed to let me go. Maybe I’ll actually survive in the world without my brother protecting me.

I will survive in this world—better than that—I might actually get to do more than survive. I’ll actually get to live.

HUNTER

Agent Janie pulls into the parking lot of the train station. Her cell phone rings and she holds her hand up, stopping Jacqueline from hopping out. I only see what Jacqueline sees and I feel trapped behind a glass window, watching the world from eyes I have no control over.

“Yes, Dr. Sullivan. I understand. No word about this to anyone,” Agent Janie says. “A transfer? What about Agent Chris? Oh, okay. I’m dropping the creature off now and I’ll go pack my bags. Thanks for the opportunity. Yes, I’ll remind her.” Agent Janie hangs up the phone and shifts in the seat. “Dr. Sullivan said don’t try anything stu—”

Jacqueline raises her hand and cuts off the agent. “I won’t. I know what the deal is.”

The world shifts as Jacqueline opens the door and hops out. She slams the door shut, but doesn’t walk away from the van. I concentrate on moving Jacqueline’s arm, but nothing happens. I’m really just a soul without a body and no one except the two agents, my mom, the board, and Jacqueline will ever know I’m here.

A hopelessness so despairing rushes around me and I imagine everything that was taken from me.
“Tell Agent Janie she better not show her face when I get back to my body.”

Jacqueline taps on the window and Agent Janie rolls it down. “Hunter wanted me to tell you that he forgives you and hopes to see you again one day.”

“Jackie!”
Anger grips at me. My voice and emotions are the only things left that I have control over and they feel stronger than ever.

Jacqueline blinks a few times but doesn’t respond to me.

Agent Janie nods and puts the van in gear, leaving me stuck in Jacqueline’s head for who knows how long.

I sigh.
“What now? How long do you think it’ll take?”

“I don’t have the answers. I don’t even know if I’ll be successful,” Jacqueline thinks. She strolls up to an automated, self-serve ticket kiosk and pulls out a few dollars from the wallet my mom returned to her before we left. She gets a train ticket to a town I’m unfamiliar with and grips it in her hand.

“Are you kidding me? You better be successful. I want my body back.”

She sits on a bench on the platform and thinks, “Well, I want my life back.”

“You have a life, Jackie. You have two since you stole mine.”

“I did what I had to do,” she says. The sound of her voice around me is level and calm. It annoys me and I want to push her buttons and get under her skin—make her regret ever taking me in the first place.

“I hate you,”
I say.

Jacqueline stares at the tracks. “The feeling’s mutual, Hunter. Now, please, be quiet so I can think. I have to figure things out if you ever want to see your body again.”

I can’t hear Jacqueline’s personal thoughts, only the ones she thinks toward me, but she must be having them. She probably can conceal anything she wants from me.

“What happens if you don’t?”

“I will.”

“But if you—”

“Hunter!” Jacqueline’s voice echoes around me and she pushes me into the void in her mind. Darkness surrounds me and I lose access to her sight. Fear seeps into my soul as I hover in the black abyss feeling like nothing—like I don’t actually exist anymore. The only hope I have is that I know I once existed and maybe I’ll exist again. I hope I will, at least.

“Jackie, please! I’m sorry!”

“You promise to stay quiet now?”

“Yes.”

I don’t say anything else because I’m terrified she’ll send me back to the void. Instead, I lose myself in my memories. I think about my mom and how she cursed me to this horrible prison. I wonder if she regrets it. Only time will tell, because right now, it’s just me inside Jacqueline’s mind and an uncertain future. What if I don’t ever get one? What if this is it?

I push the morbid thoughts away. I have too much to fight for to just give up. I will get my body back. I’ll figure out a way.

It’s the hope of existing in my body again that keeps me from losing myself in a bout of hopelessness. Hope is what will get me through this. Besides my memories, hope is all I have left.

The train screeches to a stop at the station and Jacqueline gets up. “Get ready, Hunter. You’re going to see the world like you’ve never seen it before,” she thinks.

“Great. Just like I always wanted.”

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DESTINED FOR DREAMS.

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1
. A TERRIBLE HOST

NADIA

The room spins and my stomach lurches. I feel so sick from hunger that I can barely stand. I grip the small wooden table in the hallway and blink until my vision restores.

My chest tightens and I drag my feet forward. The lobby to the dormitory is empty this time of night and the only light glows from a flat screen television that was accidentally left on.

I keep my feet moving. If I stay out here any longer, I won’t make it back to my room at all. I cross through the lobby and a glass door slides open into another hallway. The ceiling is much lower and the air is stuffy.

“Twenty more feet,” I say out loud. “Keep walking. You can make it. You’re not hungry. You’re not hungry. You’re not hungry.” I chant the words over and over like an anthem, but it doesn’t help.

I’m starving.

I stop at my closed door and touch my hand to the doorknob. I don’t twist to open it, but instead turn to face the closed door behind me. A small whiteboard is nailed to the wooden door. A red heart is drawn on the whiteboard and the name Alyssa is written across the heart in black block letters.
Just go in quietly. Alyssa said you could use her anytime you needed.

I wish Alyssa never made the offer in the first place. She doesn’t understand what I’ll do to her. She’s going to despise me for it. I hate that I let my hunger get so out of control that I’m outside my best friend’s dorm, dying to give her nightmares. Creating nightmares is my sustenance.

I run my finger along the door and count to myself. I stare at my plaster white fingers. My long nails are tinted blue and dark purple veins pulse on my wrist. I haven’t been outside in daylight in weeks, and it shows. I’m bound to the night the longer I resist. But it’s okay; I love the night.
You’re lying.

The door swings open.

A small nightlight shines from below her desk and casts shadows across the wall and her bed. She doesn’t stir when I click the door shut.

I swallow hard. Alyssa is hidden under her dark brown comforter. On her night table is a stack of books and a small reading lamp. Tacked to her walls are hundreds of sketches. They’re so full of detail and accuracy that the drawings could be mistaken for black and white photographs.

I glide across the room, my feet above the threadbare carpet, and run my fingers over a drawing of a moon setting on water. Below the glittering path of moonlight, a body lies in the sand and a giant fishtail cuts through the waves. It’s surreal and magical, and I’m not sure if it was a vision or her imagination.

I plant my boots on the carpet. I’d give anything to leave the Creature Council’s compound. If my father didn’t work here, I’d go somewhere else far from this place. But, he’d never let me leave. It’s his way of protecting me. He doesn’t want to lose me like he lost my mother. The images Alyssa sketches will always be of faraway places to me. Places I will only ever see in dreams.

I look away from the wall. I can’t torture myself anymore with ideas of the outside world. This, standing in Alyssa’s room while she sleeps, is my world. I just wish I didn’t hate it so much.

I kneel next to Alyssa’s bed and tuck my white hair behind my ears. It’s lost all its pigmentation during my failed attempt at a hunger strike. When I don’t create nightmares, it reveals me as the monster I am. I’m frightening enough at the moment that everyone in the compound is uneasy around me. Once I eat, I’ll look more human again.

I pull back the dark brown comforter just enough to see Alyssa’s gorgeous red hair sprawling over her pillow. Her creamy complexion is flawless and she looks as beautiful asleep as she does awake. She’s so alive and full of life compared to me, with my withered, stringy hair and gaunt figure.
You’ll look less like a nightmare inflictor soon.

But I am a nightmare inflictor—just like my father.

I run my hands over Alyssa’s hair and press my thumbs to her temples and rest my fingers on her scalp. My vision fades despite my open eyes. My whole body trembles as I force my way into her head.

I’m overwhelmed by a falling sensation as I manifest myself into Alyssa’s dream world. Gray fog swirls around me and I wave my hand, blowing it away. As it clears, my eyes widen in wonder. Dreams are always so magnificent and breathtaking. I wish I could dream on my own.

I stand in the center of a vibrant valley speckled with red, yellow, and orange poppies. A crystalline waterfall rushes over a black rock cliff and into a translucent lake. I glide to the pebbly shoreline and peer at glittering silver fish swimming with a gracefulness I wish I had.

Stop messing around.

I pull my hands from my pockets. This is the part I love and hate the most. It’s why I’m called a nightmare inflictor—because I ruin the best dreams. I destroy them and devour them.

I shift and force my feet to touch the ground. I’m no longer an observer to Alyssa’s dream, but a participant, and by the time I’m through, she’ll regret her offer. Even the toughest people can be frightened by their dreams.

My cracked lips curve into a smile. I taste the sweet chocolate flavor dripping onto my tongue just from breathing the air. Every dream tastes differently, but they’re all mouthwatering and fulfilling. The deep, insatiable hunger starts to subside the moment I run my hand over the crystal clear lake.

The water churns and darkens and the fish pop up to the surface. Their dead bodies smell rancid and I turn away toward the field of poppies.

Each step I take leaves an oily footprint that seeps into the vibrant green grass, killing it. I bend over and tap the blossoming flowers and they shrivel up and disintegrate. Everything I touch rots and decays, turning this beautiful paradise into a hellish place fit for monsters like me.

Laughter echoes through the air and I jerk my head in its direction. I crave the very noise I’m hearing and it cuts short, leaving me in deadening silence. I stomp up the hillside and smile as every plant dies around me. The azure sky darkens as gray clouds roll in. Thunder booms and I lick my lips, sensing a tinge of fear coursing through the air. I breathe deeply, sucking it into my soul.

“We have to run for cover, love,” a deep, masculine voice says.