Collide (19 page)

Stay where you are
, I say to Josh.
We’re coming
.

No need
, Josh says.
There’s no one here
.

Promise me you’ll stay put
. I squeeze David’s hand. “Found him.”

“The safe house?”

“Yeah,” I say.

David nods, his foot pressing harder on the gas pedal.

The car speeds along the empty highway. David never releases my hand as I stay focused on Josh, determined to maintain my connection to him. I can’t dislodge the lump in my throat or ease the tightness spreading across my chest. Something is wrong. He isn’t safe.

I turn to look at David, his mouth stretched in a straight line. “David—”

My words die before they leave my mouth, engulfed by images I can’t ignore: Josh, the lake, water. . .

Too much water. . .

The moon hangs high overhead, casting long shadows against the landscape. Murky water surrounds my ankles and calves. I edge forward, ignoring the cold that slides across and under my skin. Dark emotions fill my senses, pounding against my thoughts until there is nothing but a terror too real to dismiss.

Help me,
I think
.

There is no one to hear my pleas, no one to care.

I continue forward, each step bringing more water to surround my body. Fresh agony carves into my mind. The moon dips behind new clouds and the landscape is blanketed in darkness. Water rises to my waist, sending new shivers down my already frozen skin.

Fear joins my pain in equal measure. I close my eyes and will the dream, the nightmare to end. It’s no use, my subconscious refuses to acquiesce and the vision continues to unfold.

The lake rises to engulf me in a watery prison. I glance in every direction. There is no shoreline, no way for me to escape.

Only water.

In every direction.

My body tightens. Each moment that passes increases the heaviness of my cells. I kick to keep myself from slipping below the surface of the lake. My head bobs for a moment before dipping deep into the water, the weight of my body too much to overcome.

I kick again . . .

And again . . .

And again . . .

My body refuses to release from its watery grave. My mouth opens and liquid fire pours into every crevice until my lungs burn. I tilt my head upward, longing for the surface above that glitters just out of reach.

One more powerful kick, that’s all I need to save myself.

My lungs scream for air, cramping as I kick my legs together again.

The surface pulls further from my grasp. Panic constricts my chest, the pressure to breathe, too great. I clamp my jaw shut and will myself free from the hell I’ve created.
This isn’t real,
I tell myself
. Get a grip on yourself.

My body nudges upward.

Sinks lower.

Ropes appear around my legs, binding them together. Weights pull at my ankles and I plummet faster.

I can’t control my need to breathe.

My mouth opens.

Water fills my lungs.

I . . .

scream .
. .

“Dakota! Dakota!” David shakes me as I gasp for air, my body trembling.

Tears overrun my eyes. My chest cramps painfully and I struggle to inhale another sharp breath.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. We’re almost there.” The panic in David’s voice mirrors my own. He turns the car down the long drive toward the house. And the lake.

The lake
.

The dream—the vision—slams back into me with more force than I can handle. The car begins to shake in unison with my emotions as I again feel water crushing down on me from all sides.

“Josh!” My mind separates from itself. Terror replaces thought, agony. . . reason.

“Dakota,” David says from somewhere far away. “You have to calm down. You’re making the car shake so much I don’t know if I can control it.”

The car wobbles harder. Terror slams into my thoughts and any ability to control my fear abates. A new scream swells within me. I resist and the car swerves.

Shakes.

“Dakota!” David yells, his hands tight against the wheel. “Stop!”

Josh fills my thoughts. He’s drowning.

Dying.

My body slams against the door as the car swerves harder and David tries to regain control. The tires skid against the gravel. Burnt rubber fills the air.

“Josh.” His name is nothing more than a whisper on my lips as my lungs again begin to burn.

The car pitches and spins. David slams both feet on the brake, his arm across my chest. “Hold on,” he yells.

Trees, buildings, cornfields—it all passes in a blur as the car jumps the curb and plows through a fence.

Water fills my thoughts.

The screech of tearing metal fills my ears.

The acrid scent of gasoline fills my senses.

And my mind goes. . .

Blank.

THE ARCHITECT STUDIED JOSH, NOTING THE WAY HIS SKIN MIRRORED THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE
. He may have only recently retrieved his memories, but his gift with psychic camouflage was as unmatched as ever.

Find me
, she breathed to Josh for the second time.
Save me.

Josh chewed his jaw, his expression hard. A smile curled the edges of her lips. Message received.

She crouched through the trees and low shrubs that lay between her and the safe house. Josh followed, careful not to be seen.

Tires screeched along the pavement and gravel on the other side of the house. The Architect’s eyes rolled back. Her vision cleared in time to witness a car as it careened into the fence. “You’re too late,” she whispered to no one specific. “You can’t help him now.” With a slight nod of her head, the Architect willed the others into unconsciousness before returning her focus to Josh.

Find me
, she thought again.
Find Mom
.

Josh shifted his attention toward the accident and paused for a moment.

“Oh no you don’t.” The Architect crowded Josh’s mind with images of Mom, the lake, danger.

Josh’s head snapped back, startled. He peered into the thicket.

“Yes.” The Architect’s voice was more a thought than a sound. “Come to me.”

Josh strained against her command, his hands balled into fists by his side.

“Come on,” she says a little louder this time.

Josh clenched his jaw and expelled a tight breath. Squaring his shoulders, he walked toward her, his skin again reflecting the landscape around him.

Pangs of doubt gnawed at her insides. She didn’t want to hurt Josh.
He
wasn’t the one responsible for her current life.
He
wasn’t the center of her vengeance.

Glimpses of her deepest fantasies tickled the edge of her consciousness. A life with Josh. Love with him.

You were everything to me
, she said to the private world she’d created in her head.
Until my father died, and you abandoned me
. The images twisted and bent along with her mood.

Josh stopped, his head down and eyes closed.

“Get it together,” the Architect said under her breath. She’d only have one real shot at this. She couldn’t mess up, not with so much on the line.

Josh tilted his head. His mind attempted to reach hers, brushing against the periphery of her thoughts. She stilled, refusing the invasion. For now.

Josh stepped out from the tree line and stood on the shore of the lake, staring at the Architect, her figure outlined in moonlight.

“You,” he said, his body stiff and prepared to fight. “Where’s my mom and dad?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Josh. It is Josh, isn’t it?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I remember you. But I don’t understand why you’d hurt the people trying to help you.”

The Architect took a step closer, her arms outstretched and her palms open. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. I was asked to find you. That’s all.”

Josh hesitated. “Me? Why?”

“Something about your mother,” the Architect looked at Josh from under her eyelashes. She wasn’t ready to threaten him. The way Josh was hesitating, maybe she’d be able to win his trust after all. “They told me to tell you where she is.”

“Who is ‘they’?” Josh’s voice was low and stilted.

“I don’t know. I never met them.” The Architect rocked back on her heels took a step back. “They tossed my house, caught me and held me captive for a couple of days. They told me someone would come to this house and I was supposed to wait and tell them to go to this address.” The Architect held out her hand to Josh, a small slip of paper folded between her fingers.

Josh studied her hand.

A heartbeat passed and the Architect could sense his internal struggle. Almost, she thought. “So, are you going to take it or what?” She nudged the slip of paper toward him.

“Why should I trust you?”

Josh’s thoughts rammed into hers, taking the Architect by surprise. She mentally pulled away, but not before he saw her plans. “I guess you shouldn’t.”

Doubt again tugged at her heart.

Too bad she’d learned to ignore that part of herself years ago.

Josh charged into the Architect. She flipped over him before he fully processed what was occurring.

“You’re no match for me now, Ninja. Not even close.”

Josh stiffened at the name she used for him. “So it really is you,” he said more to himself than her.

“Why are you so surprised? Did you think you were the only one who could curry favor with the Creator? You and your sister.”