Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (17 page)

   Though it could have been one of a hundred lakes in the world, it was not one that he had ever seen before. “You know this place?” he inquired softly.

   She turned back to him, the sorrow momentarily slipping from her as she grinned brightly.
“Oh, very well.
It’
s L
ake
Waldorph
. Chris and I used to spend three weeks every summer at the camp just beyond those woods. Those were wonderful summers.”

  
Devon focused on the lake again;
horror fill
ed
him as he turned from its smooth surface back to her. This was not only his dream, he realized
with a start,
but also
hers
. Though he
was the one that
had brought her into
the
dream, it was her mind that had created the setting. It was why she was not telling him the things he wanted to hear from her. It was why her sorrow and reluctance were real.
It was why things were not going the way he wanted them to, because they were also going her way.

  
H
is body beg
an
to go numb with the shock and disbelief filling it. He knew how the
ir minds had connected, knew
he
had been the one to do it. But he
’
d had n
o
intention of ever letting such a thing happen. But wh
ile
asleep
,
his subconscious must have reached out to hers
. It had
tak
en
hold of her mind
,
and drawn it in. He had never had any intention of
ever
seizing hold of her mind, but apparently his
subconscious
had not
felt the same way
.

   Devon bit back a curse, not wanting to frighten or upset her anymore. There was no reason for her to know what had happened, how this had occurred
, or the reason that it felt so real was because there were two minds creating it
. It was better for her to continue to consider this just a strange, oddly real dream.
She could never know what he was, what he was capable of, what he could do to her. He didn
’
t know her well, but she would run screaming
if she knew the truth
, and he would not blame her in the least.

   The only problem was that no matter w
hat she said, or what she
wanted
,
he was afraid that this dream might mean she
wouldn’t
have an option. And
he feared that
neither did
he
. They barely knew each other, but his ability had taken them both over, and brought them
both here
. He had never had such a thing happen
b
efore, had never lost control of his ability
in such a way
. Even when he had been a novice
, floundering and uncertain of his powers, he had never lost control of them.

  
He had a bad feeling that he
finally
knew what
all of
th
is
meant. He just didn
’
t want to recognize the
truth of it
.
He still didn’t even have a place to stay
in town
yet
and hadn’t
intend
ed
to stay
in town
for much longer.
Now he was fearful that he may not have a choice about staying or going.

   Wrapping his fingers through hers, he shut his thoughts off, not wanting to deal
with them right now. He knew that it would only result in a tangled mess of confusion that he was not in the mood to sort through. For now, all he wanted was to hold her, talk to her, and make both of their dreams come true.

   “Would you like to sit by the lake?”

   Her face lit with pleasure, her eyes sparked merrily. He knew in that moment that he would do everything he
could to make her smile like that as often as possible. “I would love to.”

   He led her slowly down to the water, stopping at the edge of the lake. The water lapped gently against his feet. “Just as warm as I remember,” Cassie whispered.

   “Why did you stop coming to camp here?”

   She shrugged, her hand tighten
ed
briefly
as a tremor of tension raced through her
. “There wasn’t any time for camp once Luther and Melissa came.”

  
He stared at her in surprise
;
his eyebrows dr
e
w tightly together as he thought over her strange words.
“Who is Luther?”

   “Melissa’s father,
adoptive father,” she amended.

   Devon shook his head in confusion. “I don’t understand
.
W
hat does he have to do with the fact that you could no longer go to camp?”

   She turned toward him, holding her hair back as the breeze
briefly
picked up. For a moment grief enveloped her
and that lost look filled her eyes again. B
ut then
her gaze cleared, and
she smiled brightly at him. She squeezed his hand
before
st
an
d
ing
on tiptoe to
kiss him briefly. Devon started in surprise
;
he enjoyed
the playful demeanor that
suddenly
enveloped her. He was certain that it was not an attitude she had very often.

   “This is a dreary topic for
such
a
wonderful
dream
, and one that I do not want to think about right now
.
I think about it to
o
often during the day.”

  
Devon
was once again
confused as to what she was talking about. What did Melissa’s adopted dad have to do with anything major in her life, other than taking care of her friend
,
and maybe driving them to the movies or dances once in awhile? Those things were certainly not something that would occupy her thoughts often during the day, at least not as often
as she had just suggested.

   Before he could question her further, she tilted her head to the side
, l
ooking impish and
striking
. “
I would much rather go swimming.”

   With that she released his hand and plunged into the water. Her beautiful laughter trailed off as she
dove
beneath the surface. Devon stood in shocked wonder for a moment before shrugging negligently.
It had been a very long time since he had gone swimming, and he could think of no one he would rather do it with.

   Cassie burst back to the surface, inhaling
deeply
.
Her skin glimmered in the light of the s
u
n,
her dress was tight against her and
drops of water cl
un
g to her as she smiled beckoningly at him. Excitement spurted through him. She was tantalizing, irresistible, and completely delicious looking. He could not refuse her as he began to wade into the warm water.

  
He was only feet from her when her
head tilted to the side, her eyebrows drew sharply together
and
irritation flitted over her delicate features.
“What is that noise?” she mumbled.

   “What noise?”

   He
cou
ld hear nothing except for the gentle lapping of the waves against their skin. “Alarm,” she whispered.

   And then she was gone. Horror
and terror
filled Devon as he looked frantically around for her. It took him a few moments to realize that she had simply awakened. She
had not disappeared for good. H
e
still
couldn
’
t help the disappointment that crashed over him in
suffocating
waves. He had wanted more time with
her, wanted to enjoy her more, hold her more. He had not wanted this to end so soon.

   Retreating from the lake he returned to the shore, ignoring the feel of the grass now. It did not matter as much without her here to enjoy it with
him
.
Sighing, he slid to the ground, draping his arms over his knees he stared at the serene lake that
Cassie
had placed here. He want
ed
to know
more
about her.
He w
anted to know about her days at camp, her childhood, and
life
experiences both happy and sad. He wanted to know everything that there was to know about her, and he was tired of being avoided all the time.

   He did not care about the confusion and doubt that resided inside of him
;
d
id not care about her strange talk, or the fact that he had lost control of his ability. There was only one thing that he care
d
about now.
It
no longer
matter
t
hat Cassie
fought him every step of the way
,
h
e was going to get closer to her in real life. He was going to make their dream come true.
 
 

CHAPTER 8

   Cassie breezed into the kitchen, humming cheerfully under
her
breath as she grabbed an apple
from a bowl on the center island. Her grandmother looked up at her in surprise, freezing in the act of beating some scrambled eggs. Her eyes widened, her delicate strawberry colored eyebrows drew sharply together as her azure eyes tracked Cassie’s every movement.
Reaching over he
r grandma
turned down the country song drifting softly from the radio.

   “You seem much happier today.”

   Cassie nodded, stopping to drop a kiss on her grandmother’s soft cheek. Though she was in her late fifties, she barely looked a day over thirty. Only soft laugh lines marred the corners of her eyes and mouth. Her shoulder length
,
strawberry blond hair
,
was
pulled into a lose ponytail that bounced against her neck.

  
“A little.”

   “Did you finally get some sleep?”
   Cassie nodded, a small smile flitt
ed
over her mouth as she recalled the night of sleep she’d had. Though she knew that it had only been a dream, and could only
ever
be a dream, it had still been wonderful. It had still left her feeling warm, and alive
,
and strangely loved this morning. Her gaze darted to the window as Chris emerged from his house.

   “Yes,” Cassie answered absently.

 
Though she had woken up strangely revived and optimistic, the sight of Chris
’s slumped shoulders
reminded her that this was not some strangely realistic dream. This was her life. And in her life, there was no room for hope and optimism. There was no room to have feelings for
someone
, because in the end they would only both get hurt. Though she reminded herself of these things, she could not stop the excitement and eagerness that filled her at the thought of seeing Devon today. She was playing with fire, and bound to get burned, but at this moment she could not put the matches down.

   “Luther is working you all to
o
hard,” her grandmother muttered before returning to her eggs.

   “We’re fine, grandma.”

   She glanced sharply back up at Cassie. “You haven’t been fine for the past week.”

   Cassie shrugged as she shoved
t
he apple into her bag.
She didn’t want to meet her grandmother’
s eyes;
she knew how sharp the woman was. She would not see past Cassie
’s pretense of being fine.
“I
was just a little stressed
over school
.”