He went directly to the hidden drawer in the mahogany desk. Rebecca gave him a key and his nervous hands shook as he opened the drawer and pulled out the ancient book. The book always made him nervous when he was near. A surge of power went through his hands as he placed it on the desk.
He was getting used to the power surge after handling it so many times in the last month. Natalia said the current was because its power recognized his power. That was laughable. He had no power. It was like being a knight without a sword or an archer without a bow. It was unbelievably frustrating.
His fingers seemed to itch to open the pages and flip through the Grimoire. He was close to breaking the witch code on the book. Maybe tonight would be the night. According to Tomas’ journals this Grimoire was from one of the most powerful witch lines in existence—the Matthews family. According to his grandmother, despite the fact that they held their father’s name, Winters, they were also from the Matthews line on their mother’s side of the family. Natalia believed that was why the book recognized his power even though he had little access to his own personal gift.
He opened the book to the first page and focused on the strange words that stared back at him. Ever since Rebecca had given him the book he’d struggled over the text on the first page. Natalia told him most likely the key to decoding the book was somewhere on this page. It’d been two weeks and he’d tried everything from anagrams to the first letters or last letters of each word. In fact, he’d tried every letter combination available to him on the page and nothing worked. To say he was getting impatient was an understatement.
“How is the challenge coming along?” Sundae Monroe’s wispy voice echoed quietly in the room, effectively breaking his concentration.
He sighed heavily. Sundae was an example of why it was important to never judge a person by their appearance. She was a tiny girl, probably the smallest in her class. At one time Hunter thought she was doll like—she definitely looked as fragile as a porcelain doll. Her long moon colored hair with two black streaks framing her face only helped with the illusion. Her pale skin and sky blue eyes actually gave her a ghost-like appearance. But according to Rebecca and Natalia, Sundae was one of the worst types of supernatural beings. She did her damage in the dream world. She was a modern day, albeit pretty, ‘Freddy Krueger’ and not someone you wanted to upset. “Hello, Sundae.”
That was all the invitation Sundae needed to enter the office and approach him, tentatively, slowly.
“Any luck finding the key?” she asked quietly.
“No. I’m afraid I’m hopelessly deadlocked. The secrets in this book are protected well.” He pressed the palm of his hands into his eyes to help him focus.
“Maybe I can help?”
“How? Do you have witches blood?” he asked, genuinely curious.
“No. I’m one hundred percent a dream weaver, and that’s how I can help you.”
He shook his head confused. “Then I don’t understand. This book can only be unlocked by a witch.” He shut the book. A strange level of protection overtook him.
“But you aren’t exactly a witch either.” Her voice was eerily cold, using logic against him.
“Maybe not, but the book recognizes me.”
“I’m not your enemy, Hunter. Let me help you.”
“Again I ask, how?” Talking to Sundae was as frustrating as the book’s code.
“Simple, I help you in your dreams.”
Hunter laughed. “No way! I know about you, Sundae. I won’t allow you in my dreams.” Did she think he was mad? She’d killed people in the dream world, helped Gabriel brand his sister, and gods only knew what else she had done.
“You can’t keep me out. I’m only asking permission now because I promised Rebecca I won’t give her any more dreams without her allowing me to. You’re her brother, so I extend the same courtesy to you.”
“No thank you.” He stood up. Sundae scared him to the core and the way she was looking at him made him even more uneasy.
“You have no need to be frightened of me.” She smiled sweetly—even that smile made his skin crawl. He knew better than to let her know she had any power over him. It was a survival instinct that he’d learned to listen to long before he ever met Sundae or learned of his own ties to the supernatural.
“I’m not!” His words were rushed and his body language gave away his apprehension. Her satisfied smile proved she knew the truth.
“You are. Don’t worry, that is wise. People should fear me. I can do horrible things. I have done horrible things.” Her eyes stared past him, into some faraway place he couldn’t see. She returned her attention to him and shivered. “But I really can help you. You stem from the family line that created the book, correct?”
“I guess.”
“Okay, my thought is the answer is in your subconscious. Dreams are the tools of communication from the subconscious. I can help you unlock any secrets that might lie there.”
She was making sense, despite his rational fear. She may be onto something. But he didn’t completely trust her motives. “So why do you want to help me?”
“Because your sister told me once that I should try giving dreams to help people, and you need help. In a way, I’m indebted to her and so I’d like to help you.”
He chuckled. One thing he was learning about Sundae was that she was honest to a fault.
“So you won’t hurt me?”
“I promise. But I can give you a secret to help you in case you don’t trust me.”
“What’s that?”
“You can do anything in your dreams. All you have to do is think it, wish for it really hard, and you can manifest it into reality. If you feel threatened create a moon rock sword and run it through my heart. It will kill me and break our connection.”
Hunter swallowed hard. She just told him how to kill her. She just gave him her greatest weakness. He didn’t want to kill her. While this information was scary, it also said she was honestly trying to help him.
“That’s a secret we aren’t allowed to tell anyone. I trust you to keep my secret.”
All Hunter could do was nod. He would. “Okay, let’s do this. What should I do?”
“Lie down on the couch.” He did.
“But I’m not tired.”
“No worries.” She knelt beside him and placed one hand on his. An electrical current shot up his arm at her cold touch. Without another word she blew some shiny dust over his eyes and after one heartbeat he was falling asleep. Copyright@2014 Jami Brumfield
Get the book here and read how the dream turns out.
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