The Hidden - Jessica Verday [28]
“I was being held down in a forest by some trees. And I think they were talking to me?” I shook my head. “I can’t remember. But I saw something red …” I glanced over at the picture of Kristen. My heart started to pound again, and my hands grew shaky.
I knew without a doubt that Vincent had been here. He had moved it just to mess with my head.
“What can I do?” Caspian said.
I didn’t know what he could do. I couldn’t explain what was happening to me.
“Do you want some water?” he asked. “A blanket?”
“Just give me a minute.” I tried to breathe deeply. Tried to make everything go back to normal. “Actually, I think I will take that water,” I said.
Caspian moved to get up.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“I’ll get it.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.”
“I know. But I want to stretch my legs.”
He nodded, and I got up slowly, limbs quivering like a fragile dandelion stem blowing in the wind. The bathroom felt like it was miles away, and my hand was still shaking as I turned on the light. Gripping the edges of the sink, I stared into the mirror, searching the eyes that looked back at me. There weren’t any answers there, though. Only a cool blue reflection.
I turned on the water and cupped my hands together, bringing the cold, crisp taste to my lips. My cheeks were deathly pale, but the water I splashed turned them bright pink. When my legs felt more stable, and my hands were calm, I ventured out of the bathroom. Caspian was waiting by the door for me.
“Maybe you should switch rooms,” he suggested.
“Why?”
“Because of what happened here. You never really dealt with it, Abbey. You just moved on.”
I sat down on the bed. “Isn’t that what people are supposed to do?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “All I know is that you came back to the place where you were attacked, and now you’re having nightmares. It sounds like a problem with a simple solution to me.”
“I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but I’m fine. Really. Me having weird dreams is nothing new. It’s no big deal.”
He looked at me sternly. “I’m worried about you, Astrid. I only want what’s best.”
“I know you do. But if I give up my bedroom, then it’s like he’s won. I don’t want to give him that power over me.”
Caspian nodded. “I get it.”
I glanced around the room, feeling antsy and restless. It was early, only 5:19 a.m., but I didn’t want to go back to sleep. Spying my oversize sweatpants lying next to the bed, I got up and pulled them on right over the pajama bottoms I was wearing. My sneakers were there too, and I reached for them next.
“What are you doing?” Caspian asked.
“Going for a walk. Wanna come?”
“Of course. Call me crazy, but staying here as my girlfriend roams around outside in the dark while some crazed supernatural being stalks her isn’t my idea of a good time. Where are we going?”
I walked over to the window and cracked it open. “To the cemetery. I want to see Nikolas.”
The moon was almost full as we slipped through the side opening of the wrought iron cemetery gates, and it illuminated the grassy roads that covered the vast grounds in front of us. Once we got away from the main path, we headed for the woods that would lead us to Nikolas and Katy’s house.
It was a bit creepy walking through the dark forest where the foliage started to grow denser, the tree branches thicker. Springy ferns and wild moss pressed in on us from every angle, and I tried not to think about the dream I’d just had about Vincent.
“I wonder what would have happened if I’d never heard of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’” I mused out loud to Caspian, trying to distract myself as we walked toward their house. “The town I grew up in, the school I went to, the places I visited? It’s like all along, this was meant to be. My whole life was building up to this.”
“To what?”
“You. Me. Nikolas. Katy. I mean, who could have guessed that the legend would be real and I’d meet the characters from Washington Irving’s story?” I shook my head. “It’s funny. Good funny. Not bad funny.”
A small wooden bridge came into view, but I came to a stop before crossing it.
“What’s wrong?” Caspian