Unraveling of Avery Snow, The (3 page)

Chapter Four

Amanda

I was standing in the middle of a room. Not the same room from before—where I would meet Landon, Henry, or whoever he would be in the dream—but it was more like a study. The shelves were lined with books and a large, oak desk sat in the corner. The windows were adorned with mahogany drapes and you could see the ocean from even the center of the room. I heard a voice behind me speak and got chills. Not from fear, but from excitement. Her voice became clearer as she walked closer to me. I turned around and faced an angel. Her crystal blue eyes looked kind and gave me a feeling of calm. Her wings were pure white and her blue dress stood out in the room. I smiled at her and she smiled back. Pulling her long, blonde hair back, she draped it behind her. I assumed it was so I could see her face better. I didn’t speak for a few minutes. I wasn’t sure if this was really happening or if it was my dream. I had met Ianni before in dreams, but was this for real?

“Are you real?” I finally asked her.

She laughed. “Yes I am very real. As real as I can be for you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I cannot come to you except in dreams. So I am as real as I can be in your mind really.” She offered another smile and continued, “I am your new Spirit Guide, Amanda. I have replaced Ianni.”

My smile faded instantly. I didn’t like the
sound of Ianni being replaced, but I suppose it had to be done.

“So why are you here with me?
For introductions?” I put my hand on my hip.

“No
, not really,” she said. “More so to talk with you about a few things. I will admit, I am new at this. I can’t break the rules to talk to you.”

“Why not?”
             

“I guess you can say that I am not ready for trouble.”
She started biting her fingernails.

“Nervous habit?”
I asked.

“Yes, sorry. I
am a little nervous. Like I said, I am new.” I felt guilty now. Why was I being so harsh to her? It wasn’t like she did anything to me. I relaxed and dropped my attitude.

“Sorry. I am not trying to be rude,” I apologized. “I am not sure why I am feeling this way towards you.”

“I think I know why. Come with me.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door heading to a small balcony. Once outside she dropped my hand and stood in front of me.

“Do you know this place?” she asked me. “Does it look familiar to you?”

I looked around at the view. The ocean spread before us was as blue as Amanda’s eyes. The sand was white and I noticed a large patch of high grass starting at the footpath. It was beautiful, but I didn’t recognize it at all.

“Nope.
But it’s breathtaking.”

“Well i
t should be breathtaking! You picked this house to spend your life with Adam in. Of course, you were Elsie then.” Here we go again; more visions and revisits of the past. I had wanted to move forward and now my new guide wants to bring me to my old house.

“That’s great and everything
, but why are you telling me this? And furthermore, what does this have to do with why I feel so much angst towards you?” She turned and looked out over the ocean.

“You feel the way you do because your soul is accustomed to
Ianni guiding you. You’re having trouble trusting me as your new guide.” It made sense. My soul had been with Ianni for centuries. I knew, and wanted, only her. Nothing against Amanda, but she wasn’t who I was used to. “I brought you here to talk because this was one of your favorite homes. You loved it here. But you didn’t die here.” I remembered that vision. I had died of cancer; it was painful and awful. “I know it’s not a great memory, but that is the life where I met you first.”

“You met me here?” I asked in awe.

“Yes. Before I became a guide, I was a greeter, greeting souls who had recently passed on.” It took me a moment to register it all. “When you died as Elsie I was there to bring you home. I was the one who helped get you settled in and brought you to your other family.” I may remember my past lives, but I don’t remember my time in Heaven. I didn’t remember her, but of course I believed her. I knew that once you died you went with the other family you had from all the lives you lived. You made a home that was comfortable for you and you waited for the others to arrive. So she was telling me she helped me get home and wait for Adam.

“
Why are you here now, in my dream?” I asked, puzzled for a moment. She looked out towards the sea. The smell of the ocean was strong against my face. It was such a real dream.

“To let you know I am watching you and I will guide you. You also need to be aware that danger is s
till lurking.” She turned, a serious look on her face. “Just because you defeated Benjamin and Dedrick does not mean the attacks will end. Please be careful.” She touched my cheek and I woke up in a panic.

The room spun and I felt dizzy. I reached for my lamp to turn on the light because the darkness was overwhelming.

“
Ianni,” I screeched. She came running instantly. I think the girl hardly sleeps.

“What is it?” she asked breathlessly.

I grabbed my heart and stuttered, “I-I m-met my new guide and she had news. Bad news.”

Once I finished telling
Ianni what Amanda had to say, she sat silently for several moments. I waited patiently for any advice. Finally she spoke, “I have something to tell you now.” I leaned back on my pillows. I had no idea what she was going to say, and had to settle my already shaken nerves.

“I had been visited by John Grey while I traveled here. I w
as on a bus from where I fell.”

“A real bus?”
I asked. Heck, I didn’t know if it was a real bus or if they bused her from heaven. I knew very little of Ianni’s fall; she didn’t really speak very much of it. It seemed she wanted to close that part of her life.

“Yes
, Avery, a real bus,” she laughed. “Anyway, believe it or not, he came to me as an old lady.” Now I laughed. Envisioning Mr. Grey as an old lady was hilarious. He had come to me as an old man, but I had no idea his real form.

“He warned me then about keeping you safe. Once I was a little settled he came here to the apartment,
and I met him by the pool one night. He told me about this female Dark Guide who was following us.” This had gone from bad to funny to terrible. A new Dark Guide? “He showed her to me and I have been watching for her. I have not seen any sign of her so far, but she did come to me on Christmas morning.” My mouth fell slack. “She came to me in a dream. All I can say is I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Worry me? Heck
, Ianni, I am totally shocked.” I wasn’t exactly mad at her; I was confused. Why would she shelter me? Could I not handle this stuff?

“She said she wants retribution for what happened to
Dedrick … he was her lover.”

If
this got any worse I would jump out of the window. Maybe I couldn’t handle it and she was doing the right thing by not telling me about it. “Dedrick had a lover, eww.” The thought was beyond gross.

“Yeah
, it’s not a pretty thought. Sadly she wants to get back at you. The rest of the news is hard to hear.” She paused, so I motioned for her to go on. “Instead of going after you, Avery, she said she will kill everyone you love so you can feel what she feels.” I closed my eyes and tried to think of happy thoughts. Lambs, clouds, butterflies … but the only thing I saw was death. Death of those who love me. Why? I was the one targeted by Dedrick because I was an Affinity?

“Avery
, I don’t know what to say to assure you. But if your guide came to you, it means they are trying to keep you safe. It’s a good sign.”

“A good sign would be no dark one’s lingering around me or those I love.” I sighed. What could I do to make this better?
If there was anything to do at all.

“I know John is watching you. I see him from time to time,” she said quietly. I could tell she felt ner
vous now. It wasn’t her fault, none of this was. She saved my life.

“I wish I could see him, too.”

“Maybe you will, who knows. He will protect you, Avery.” I knew that was the truth. John was a strong Watcher. He had a connection with Ianni and I felt secure in that. It was the one thing that was good about this situation.

“What do we do,
Ianni?” I asked her helplessly.

“I do not really know what we do. We just
be careful. Try not to let this get you down so she has no way of entering our dreams.”

“Right, got it.”
I remembered that Dark Guides entered our dreams when we were at our weakest. They preyed on our weaknesses and took advantage of us. I had to be strong so that didn’t happen.




The rest of the day went by in slow motion. My mind couldn’t help but go back to Amanda’s warning. I had a ton of questions for her
, but had no way to ask. She had come to tell me something, but how did I get a hold of her? I tried to push the thoughts of this new dark angel to the back of my mind, but I found it hard to do. Unfortunately I had to go into work, so Ianni promised me she would try to contact John somehow. Now that she was human I wondered how she would do it. Maybe she still had some sort of angel connections.

About an hour into my shift
my phone rang. It was Dallas.

“Hi,” I answered, a
smile immediately forming on my face.

“Hi, p
rincess, how is work?” His voice sounded so sexy.

“Not good because you’re not here.”

“Well I can change that. Come to the office.” He hung up and I took off towards the main office. The residents probably thought there was some sort of emergency because they never saw me run otherwise. I saw him inside holding a bouquet of white lilies.

“For you
, princess,” he said as he handed them to me. “Dinner tomorrow?” How could I say no to that? I nodded immediately.

“I have to get back to the restaurant
. We are hiring a new chef. See you at your house at six.” He kissed me and left. I stood shocked.

“What just happened?” I asked Kerri who had seen the whole thing.

“I think Dallas gave you some beautiful flowers and asked you to dinner. Then took off.” She was so to the point. I laughed and put the flowers in an old vase. They looked so pretty in the staff kitchen that I decided to leave them there for everyone to enjoy. Working here could be depressing at times. Getting used to residents and then seeing them pass away took it’s toll on you, so the flowers would do us all some good.

After my shift finally ended I drove home
, taking the coastal highway. I wanted to breathe some ocean air. It reminded me of my dream. I wondered where the actual house Landon and I shared was now. It would have been neat to see it. I pulled off the highway and took the road to my house. I noticed a car coming in my direction, and once my headlights hit the driver I realized it looked a lot like Landon. I slowed down to look behind me as the car passed. It wasn’t his car, so it couldn’t have been him. Landon drove a wreck of a car. For some reason he had an attachment to it. But maybe the new Landon had forgotten that attachment like he forgot me. I paid attention to the road until the car behind me flashed its lights. I pulled over to let them pass when the car I just saw pulled up behind me. The windows rolled down and it was Landon.

“Hey
, like my new ride?” he asked. I did like it. In fact, it was beautiful. It was a Camaro, much like the one I had test drove but couldn’t afford. How did he afford this?

“It’s beautiful! Actually,
I am very jealous. What are you doing out so late?” I yelled over the engine.

It wasn’t like Landon to be out at this time. What I knew of him was he slept late and went to bed early.

“Dropping off my date,” he said with a smile. Ugh! I glanced at the clock; it was almost 2 a.m. I didn’t want to think about why he was dropping her off at this time. “Wanna race?”

“That must be a joke. I drive a Honda
, dork.” He laughed at my comment.

“Okay well how about breakfast then?”

“At two in the morning, Landon?”

“Yeah
. Denny’s, it’s always open!” he said. I don’t know why, but I nodded my head. He took off and I followed, cursing myself the whole drive there. I had no idea why I had said yes to him. When he parked and got out of the car I knew why; because he had charm and charisma. It was undeniable, that was for sure. He opened my door and grabbed my hand, and that was all it took.

We sat still with our hands together, looking upon the ocean. I didn’t want to be anywhere except here. I loved being with him. He made me feel young and adored. Even after all these years of marriage. Everyday felt like the first.

“Elsi
e, I think we need to have kids,” he said out of nowhere.

“Adam
, I do believe we talked about this already. I do not want to have kids now. It’s too late in life for us.” He looked disappointed. We were in our forties so how would we be good parents? I knew lots of women who did it, but for me it wasn’t in the cards. I was pushing 45. It was too late. I found him too late in life.