Before I Wake

“Yeah.” I leaned back in my chair and relaxed a little. “I owed you at least that much, and I’m sorry that Madeline has no pull in the court of public opinion.”

Nash huffed, and I could smell the whiskey on his breath. “Yeah, me, too.”

“You know, if you didn’t openly hate me—if we hung out like we used to—the rumors that you stabbed me would die pretty damn quickly. I’d never hang out with my attempted murderer.”

He thought about that for a moment, and when his eyes closed, I thought he’d fallen asleep sitting up, until they opened again. “I could do that. We could try the friendship thing, if that’s the best I’m gonna get. But I can’t hang out with him.”

“Nash—”

“Kaylee, he’s my brother, and he stabbed me in the back. I know you’re an only child, so you can’t really understand, but I can’t… I can’t see the two of you together. Not yet.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “I guess that’s fair. But I think you should talk to him, even if I’m not there. You don’t understand how much he loves you.”

“And stealing my girlfriend was supposed to show me that?”

“He didn’t steal me, Nash.” And frankly, I was getting tired of being talked about like a car or a piece of jewelry with no free will of its own. Like I’d had no choice in the matter. “I made a decision. I’m sorry about the way it happened, but I’m not going to change my mind.”

His eyes closed again. His next words were slurred with both alcohol and sleep, and I wondered if he’d even heard what I’d said. “Can I stay? It’s raining… .” He laid down on his side without waiting for my answer, and Styx scooted closer to him for warmth.

I sighed. Then I unfolded the blanket at the foot of the bed and pulled it up to Nash’s shoulders, and his eyes popped open. He grabbed my arm and his gaze gained coherent focus, just for a second. “I saw Scott tonight,” he said, and shock raced through every nerve ending remaining in my undead body.

“What? When did you see him?” But Nash’s eyes were closed. “Where did you see Scott?” I shook his shoulder, but he was out cold. “Nash!” I shook him again, and his eyes opened, but didn’t truly focus on me. “Where did you see Scott?”

“Out…side…” Then he closed his eyes and started snoring.

* * *

“Outside?” Tod said, before I’d even realized he’d arrived. “Outside where?”

“I don’t know. Here? His house? Somewhere between?” I pulled two sodas from the fridge and kicked the door shut. “He walked all the way here, so he could have seen Scott anywhere. Assuming he really saw him at all.” I shrugged and handed him one of the cans. “I mean, he’s drunk. Who knows what he really saw?”

“It was Scott.” Tod accepted the can I gave him and popped the top. “I stopped by the hospital on my way here to check, and his room’s empty. I guess that’s why his stuff was half packed when we were there earlier.”

“So, what, they let him out? Can they do that?”

“I don’t know.” Tod gave me an apologetic shrug. “You’re kind of the resident expert.”

“Don’t remind me.” But I couldn’t argue. “I got out when Uncle Brendon Influenced my doctor into signing the papers. But I wasn’t hearing voices and cowering from every shadow. I can’t imagine any doctor worth the paper his degree’s printed on letting someone like Scott out of the hospital.”

Before Tod could reply, something tapped the front door three times, and I crossed the room to peer through the peephole. “What the hell is he doing here?” Sabine demanded as soon as I pulled the door open. She pushed past me into the living room in a pair of jeans and a snug black tank top, without bothering to wipe her bare feet on the mat.

“The usual,” Tod said. “Self-destructing in slow motion.”

I shot a frown at him. “Your guess is as good as mine,” I said to Sabine, staring out into the dark after her, just in case. But I found nothing out of place except for her car, which was parked on the wrong side of the street, in front of the neighbor’s mailbox.

“My guess is probably better.” She dropped her keys on the coffee table and headed for the hall, ignoring Tod when he called after her.

“He passed out, Sabine. You may as well let him sleep it off.”

“So, what?” I said when she’d disappeared around the corner. “They let Scott out—for no reason I can think of—and he heads straight for Nash’s house?”

“Or for yours,” Tod said. “We don’t know where Nash saw him.”

“Do you think he’s still possessed?”

“How much did he drink? He’s out cold,” Sabine said, rounding the corner into the living room again to eyeball the half-empty bottle of whiskey. “Who’s possessed?”

“It’s a long story.” I sank onto the couch next to Tod and folded my legs beneath me.

Sabine shrugged. “It’s not like anyone here’s missing out on sleep.” Maras only needed around four hours a night, and Sabine had already gotten nearly that much before I called and woke her up.

“Okay, but hold it down.” We were trying not to wake my father up, and I couldn’t mute her voice—much to my own frustration. “There’s this guy named Scott who used to go to our school—”

“Scott Carter?” Sabine interrupted. “The frost junkie?” When I could only stare at her in surprise, she rolled her eyes. “Nash’s my best friend, Kaylee. We talk.”

Good to know. I’d assumed they’d skipped straight to body language.

“How much do you know?” Tod asked.

“Nash and two friends got hooked on frost—breath from Avari, the hellion I met in the cafeteria.” The time she’d tried to sell me out so she could have Nash to herself. “Doug died, Scott went insane, and because Nash isn’t human, he got off with withdrawal and total abandonment from the one person who should have been there for him, no matter what.”

“I didn’t… That’s not…” I gave up trying to explain that I hadn’t abandoned Nash, and that frost wasn’t what broke us up. “What matters now is that Scott’s out, and Nash says he saw him tonight.”

“Okay, why are the two of you talking about a visit from an old friend like that’s worse than Nash being passed out in her bed. Which we’re going to discuss later, by the way.” Her dark-eyed glare narrowed on me. “You could have at least given him a shirt, Kaylee.”

“Like you’re an expert on when it’s appropriate to wear a shirt,” I snapped, thinking of the time she’d pulled hers off and jumped Nash, with me in the next room, and Sabine bristled.

“This seems headed into girl-fight territory,” Tod said. “Should I make popcorn?”

I elbowed him in the ribs and glared at the mara. “The point is that Scott shouldn’t be out of the hospital. He wasn’t just a little unbalanced, Sabine. He suffered permanent brain damage from the frost, and Avari sent him enough visual and auditory hallucinations to make sure there was no doubt about his mental instability.”

“So, how’d he get out?”

“We’re not sure,” I admitted. “But he was half packed when we saw him tonight, so it looks like he was actually released.”

Sabine frowned. “You saw Scott tonight?”

“Sort of. We went to see if he’d ask Avari some questions for us, but when we got there, he was possessed, so we wound up dealing with Avari directly.”

“Well, then, it sounds like you’ve answered your own question.”

Tod glanced at me in question. “Is it just me, or is she making even less sense than usual?”

Sabine rolled her eyes again. “You knew he was possessed because he wasn’t acting like himself, right?” she said, and we both nodded. “So couldn’t he have been possessed long enough to convince the doctors that he’s all cured off the crazy?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, and I was pleased to see that Tod looked no more convinced.

“He was bat shit when we saw him a couple of months ago,” he said.

“Yeah, but for all you know, Avari could have been playing all sane and healthy during his doctors’ appointments for a while, right?” Sabine said.