A Boat Made of Bone (The Chthonic Saga) (32 page)

“What now?” Ty whispered. Kate felt his eyelashes brush against her forehead.

I can do this. I can.

“Come with me,” Kate said quietly. She took his hand and led him to her room. She let go, went to her desk beside her bed and flipped on the lamp. When she turned around, Ty was standing in the doorway with his hands shoved into the pockets of his skater shorts. His head was tilted down, his eyes had a seductive light in them, and a slight grin touched the corners of his lips.

Kate slipped her shoes off and tossed them into her closet. Then she went to Ty, took his hand in hers and interlaced their fingers together. “Is this cool?” she asked.

He nodded, bent close to her and kissed her lips softly. “Of course.”

Kate pulled him into her room all the way and shut the door behind him.

20: An Impossible Discovery

Kate immediately noticed that the dragonfly ring was on her finger when she woke into the dream. This was the first time she hadn’t had to find it somewhere or have Will give it to her.

She was in the bedroom, the one with the four-poster bed and the black ceiling with encrusted gems like stars in a night sky.

She searched for him, but Will wasn’t there. Previously she’d always become conscious in this room wrapped up in his arms, so it was unsettling to be there alone. Her first thought was that she’d just wait for him.
He
will
come,
she reassured herself but it didn’t do much to give her the confidence that he really would show up.

For a few minutes she sat on the edge of the bed, running her fingers over the red velour cloth of the bedspread. The silence was deafening. She tapped her toes to fill it with noise. Alone in the room, Kate became hyper-aware of how huge it was. A window seat beneath the towering, curved bay window took up the corner of the room, but the three panels were covered with dark blue, heavy curtains, as they always had been in the dream, so a glimpse outside couldn’t even entertain her. She stood and turned, doing a complete revolution to really absorb this room that she’d been able to largely ignore for the most part.

The walls were covered in a dark wallpaper. Tall stands held flickering candles. A partition stood in one corner, the kind royalty once stood behind to change their clothes for privacy from their servants. Exquisite courtly romance paintings hung on the walls—pre-Raphaelite styled renderings of defining moments of love. One of them caught her attention. Kate moved to study it beneath the accent lighting shining directly on it. A placard beneath it announced it as a Waterhouse painting—”Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus.” A blast of cold seemed to send shivers rippling across her arms and neck.

She turned and strode away, ignoring the grisly scene of Orpheus’ head floating in the water.

Huh. Interesting room,
Kate thought to herself, intentionally trying to not think of the painting. She was alone. Who knew what frightening things might lurk in the shadows. Well. She had never noticed so much of the room before. It was just part of the scenery. A backdrop to what happened between her and Will in the bed.

There was another window, a single one also covered by a curtain, and a door to the outside next to it. That door led to a balcony, and she only knew because occasionally she and Will took it to go outside.

Kate had hoped that perhaps she’d find some sign of Will in the room. But so far there was nothing. She meandered aimlessly to one of the windows above the velvet window seat, considered for a moment, and then as an afterthought, threw the curtain aside.
It will be nice to get some light in here,
she thought.

She was startled to see a dark, foreboding sky with ominous black clouds hanging low over the wet, shadowed land. Flashes of lightning danced across the sky, connecting in chains that popped and sizzled and were gone as fast as they came. Thunder rumbled and shook the windows. Rain pelted against the glass in a nerve-wracking staccato that made a chill pass through her heart.

She’d never seen it rain in the dreams. Never.

“Scary,” Will said behind her. She jumped and turned.

“Will! You scared me,” she whispered, breathless. She ran a hand across her forehead.

He shrugged and smiled, but there was something new in his face. A hint of dismay. The start of something Kate didn’t want to get into. She’d seen it before. It was the same look she’d seen in Tom’s face when he finally left her.

“Sorry, Kate. I thought you heard me come in. Er, appear . . . Here?”

“I didn’t. It was the storm, the—the thunder, maybe,” Kate said, glancing over her shoulder. The wind had gotten bolder outside.

“Probably. That was probably it,” he said absently, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He crossed his arms and frowned, staring into the distance, past Kate, out the window behind her. The dark blue curtains hung disheveled at the edge of the bay.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked, lurching toward the obvious. She couldn’t hold back. She didn’t want to. Something was bugging him and she needed to know what. Even if it hurt. What did she have to lose, really? A dream? It was never hers to begin with. Was it? Besides, there was no way Will would call things off. Things . . . things were good. They were great, really, if you could overlook the fact that they were only ever together in dreams and that Will was dead. True, sometimes that was hard to deal with. But otherwise, things were absolutely fantastic. They had . . . something. A burgeoning love. Didn’t they?

His eyes flickered to Kate’s before darting away like a dragonfly, like the one on her finger. She glanced at it. The glow from the track lights above the bay window reflected over the iridescent colors of its eyes and torso.

“Nothing, er, well, something, but I don’t want to bother you with it,” he said, standing up suddenly and rubbing his hands together. “So, what do you want to do? Dinner? Dancing? Maybe we could travel somewhere exotic?” He forced a smile, but it was empty. His eyes continued to look troubled.

“Yes, maybe, but only after we talk. What’s bugging you? There’s something you’re not telling me. You can tell me. You really can and I wish you would.”

“No, no, it’s nothing, Kate, everything is fine. It’s all just fanta—” he stopped. His hands, which he’d been gesturing with vehemently, excitedly, dropped to his sides in surrender. He closed his eyes, his chin drooped to his chest and he seemed to shrink slightly as though defeated. He dug the thumb and forefinger of one hand into the corners of his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose like he had a headache. “It’s not OK. No. I’m sorry. Things are bad. I—I didn’t want to tell you. I thought I could pretend like everything was fine, but it’s not, and I can’t. I’m not that great of an actor around you, Kate.”

Oh no. It’s over. The honeymoon, er, whatever it’s been, is gone. Sayonara. Here comes the breakup.

Can a dream break up with me?

Kate was cold inside. She wanted to kiss him, to throw herself at him, to distract him from the horrible moment rolling toward them like a giant boulder in an ancient, booby-trapped Nepalese temple. Her mouth dried out. Her voice choked in her throat, but somehow she managed to locate it. “What—what’s wrong, Will? What’s not fine?” She settled on the window seat and looked at the fingernails on her right hand, the hand with the dragonfly ring on it. She began to push a cuticle down, to fiddle with the skin, trying to tame it with the thumbnail of her other hand. Maybe if she focused hard enough on it . . . maybe this whole dream would fade. Maybe it would change and the bad thing would never happen.

“I don’t know how to explain this. It’s confusing to me. I’m confused. I don’t even . . . I’m not sure what’s happening,” he said. He jumped to his feet and began to pace, walking back and forth between the bed and the bay window where the storm outside continued to rage.

“Will, just say it. I can handle it. I’ve been through—,” she said, but he interrupted.

“I’m not dead, Kate.” He stopped and stared at her. Kate stared at him, not comprehending what he’d just confessed. She noticed the dark circles under his eyes, the way his skin drooped around his mouth, and the mottled color of his skin. It was weird because he was a dream. Kate was dreaming. But he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

Wait. Did he just . . . ?
“You’re not dead?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m not. I’m alive.”

“Well, uh, that’s great. Right? Maybe I can find you—”

“You can’t. I’m alive, but I’m not on Earth.” He spoke over her in a tone of finality. A tone that said he was upset.

“—and we can . . . What? Ha ha, right,” she said, brushing off his statement with a fake laugh. “Where are you? I’ll come find you. Er, if you want me to, that is.” 

“This is what I’ve pieced together,” he said, sitting down next to her. He turned, rubbed the palms of his hands over his 1970s jeans. “I died on Earth, but I wasn’t dead, because I was still aware, I just . . . I just didn’t have a body, I guess. I’m pretty sure I saw a light.” His brow furrowed. “I think I was supposed to go toward it. Don’t hate me for this, but instead of doing that, I wandered off. Well, OK, it was a woman. A beautiful woman came to me and asked if I wanted to live again. For so long, I’d been hideous—I was sick when I died. I’d been sick for years. Sick and ugly. When I saw her, I went to
her
instead—oh this is so embarrassing to admit—instead of going toward the light.” His eyes, which had been on the storm outside, shifted toward her nervously, as though he was concerned she’d tell him he made a huge mistake. He went on, his gaze going back to the storm. “Of course I said yes. I’d done an awful job at living before. I wanted to try again. I went with her. And then I woke up in the strangest place. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s not Earth . . . it’s somewhere else. Somewhere awful.”

Kate studied him, listening and thinking. They were both quiet. Finally, she prodded him, hoping for more. “What, is it like hell, or something?”

“Maybe. Maybe it is. When I’m dreaming with you, I can’t remember all of it. I just know that it’s not good. I think—Kate, I think I’m a prisoner. Trapped. I died, but I can’t die now. I’ve been living on this other world since I died on Earth.”

It sounded crazy. It sounded like he was messing with her. It sounded like she should punch him and walk away and forget about whatever plot he was dragging her into.

But. There were the dreams. There was the fact that he was dead, but she was with him now and he knew things about the life of Will Hawke that the average person wouldn’t know. And judging from the intensity in his eyes and the set of his mouth, he believed whatever he was telling her. He wasn’t just roping her in only to tell her how gullible she was, which happened sometimes when friends thought they were being clever and hilarious—Ferg, to be specific.

“So, you’re trapped in hell?”

He nodded and swallowed. “Crazy, I know. I really wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t believe me.”

Her eyes drifted to the dragonfly ring on her finger. Kate stared at it absently as she began to speak. “I believe you. It’s just—weird. Unexpected.” She laughed nonchalantly. “I thought you were going to break up with me.”

“Oh Kate, really? Never. Never.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. “I care for you. More than I’ve ever cared for anyone. And . . . well, I might break up with you, I have to admit. But only to protect you. I’m dead, Kate. I can’t give you what you need. And—” he stopped. His hands dropped from her shoulders and he shifted his gaze to the black ceiling and its stars. “If I did, it would only be because I don’t want you to stop living your real life.”

“That’s my decision, not yours.” She was quick to say it. It spilled out almost before Will finished his own words. “Besides, I know. I know my life and these dreams are different. I wish they weren’t, but they are.”

“I understand. I feel the same way.”

“Then let me find you. You’re alive, Will, somewhere. If I can find you, I will.”

“How? I don’t know where I am. All I know is that I’m not on Earth, and wherever I am, you won’t be able to go.”

“Can’t you find out where you are? I mean exactly, and then tell me? Maybe it
is
on Earth,” she said, a hopeful tone entering her voice. She turned so one leg was on the window seat and the other was balanced on the floor.

“I’ll try. I do know for certain it’s not on Earth.”

“Why the dreams, Will? That’s what I want to know.”

He shook his head and tapped his cheek with a finger. “I’ve been wondering the same thing. Unfortunately, I haven’t come up with an explanation.”

“Well, it’s been going on long enough. There are constants too, you know? It’s not just random, like it was at first. This room, for example, we’ve been coming here a lot. And there’s you and me, and then this. This ring,” she said, holding her hand up to show him the dragonfly ring.

A smile broke across his face and she felt a warmth shoot through her. She hadn’t seen that cheering expression in a while. He wrapped his long fingers around her hand and then interlaced them with hers. “You’re wearing it! I didn’t even have to convince you this time.”

Kate’s heart raced at his touch. It was as though they’d just begun dating and were both unsure of their feelings for each other. The significance of him holding her hand was monumental. Was she a girl on a first date with a guy she’d been pining over for months? She was stunned to find herself feeling that way.