Some Quiet Place

Yet Nightmare still doesn’t attack. Even when I notice him behind some shelves in the library, watching me and Joshua study, even when he passes the doorway to one of my classes and winks at me.

It’s one of the slowest days I’ve ever experienced. At the end of it, Joshua kisses me on the cheek. “I have to go home real quick,” he tells me. “But I’ll swing by your place later, okay? Make sure you’re never alone.”

His concern causes more spasms in my wall, more digging in the hole.

Sophia, for once, ignores me when I pass her group. She’s been acting this way ever since the town found out about Tim—instead of mockery and pranks, she now pretends I don’t exist. It’s the best she can do, I suppose. Sally doesn’t talk about any of it, of course, but my brother does. Some of Sophia’s friends see me and look away. Most with guilt.

At the end of the day, I get into my truck with no trouble from Nightmare. Get on the road. On my way home. Back to Charles. Safety is only a few miles away.

And then he appears in the back of my truck, his eyes gleaming back at me in the rearview mirror. I slam the gas pedal all the way down, intending to knock him off balance and leave him behind in a cloud of billowing gravel.

Pop. One of the tires explodes beneath me.

Now I smash on the brakes, open the door, and fly out of the driver’s seat, heading for a field to my left just through a line of trees. I don’t bother checking to see what’s ruined the tire. Nightmare expected it to happen; he’s already disappeared. I’m a blur through the trees. There’s no way he can possibly catch me. Where is he? I turn …

… and he wraps his hand around my throat.

“Sleep,” he purrs. His grip tightens, just barely. A fierce desire to curl up and succumb to darkness creeps over me. I fight it but my eyelids are so heavy, as if my eyelashes are made of iron. Somehow, I manage to lurch away from the Element and stumble in the opposite direction, back toward my truck. I hear Nightmare sigh impatiently. “Fine, have it your way.” When I glance back, a gun materializes in his hand. Not real, not real, I tell myself in a daze, staggering.

A sharp pain billows through my shoulder and down my back. I gasp, faltering, and as I do so he shoots again, another bullet slamming into my lower back. Colors swim before me and unbearable waves of heat spread through my body. I stumble to my knees, rendered helpless. For a shivering instant time stands still. Then I drop, landing face-first into the dirt.

I watch his shoes approach, all shiny. I’m powerless.

“You do like to make things harder for yourself,” Nightmare says, squatting beside me. “It’s quite amusing.” He reaches down to grasp my chin, turning my head to the side so he can see my face. I can’t speak; it’s so hard to keep my senses straight with all this pain burning through me. My vision begins to cloud until the face leering down at me is nothing but a blur—all that stands out are those voracious eyes. The whiteness of his shirt.

“ … please … ” I manage to say, moaning.

“You’ll be fine. We both know you’ll heal.”

My head starts to pound and I can’t suppress another moan. A rock is digging into my stomach, but I hardly notice it compared to the agony of the gunshot wounds.

Lying. It’s all I have left. “ … not one of them … ” I say, tears slipping out the corners of my eyes.

Nightmare rests the butt of the gun in the dirt, leaning on it. He balances gracefully on the balls of his feet, as if he wants as little dirt touching him as possible. “I beg to differ, my girl,” he replies. “As I said, I’ve been looking for you, and even though you’re wearing a different face, I know. Not to mention the fact you have those abilities. How foolish do you think I am?”

The pain is consuming. I make a strangled noise. The Element shakes his head, sighing. “Our kind really can be so arrogant. As you’re finding out, we’re not everlasting. I’ve drained more of you than I can count. And we just keep coming back!” He smirks. “It’s a game that never ends. Kill Guilt once, and a new one pops up to take her place.”

At my silence, the monster cocks his head yet again, examining every inch of me. He doesn’t seem to be worried about anyone driving by and seeing my abandoned truck. After a minute, he sighs. “Well, let’s get this over with.” He reaches down again and digs his finger into my hair.

He begins to drag me through the long grass, and I barely feel the pressure on my scalp before the rest of the pain tightens its hold on me, and my world goes dark.

Something soft against my cheek. Something cold. I stir but don’t open my eyes. Instinct drives me deeper into the shadows. But then the soft, cold thing on my face leaves and quickly returns in a decidedly less pleasant manner. Slap. Frowning, I come awake. My vision is swallowed whole by a pale oval. I swallow to wet my throat. “Where am I?” It comes out as a croak.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe.”

I blink rapidly, and the oval solidifies and becomes a face I would recognize anywhere. “Fear?” He’s lying next to me, head propped up on his hand, looking down at me with a gentle light in his eyes. His fingers brush a strand of hair away from my face.

“What—” I start. My memory chooses that moment to come back in a roaring current and I let out a gasp. My hands clutch at Fear’s shirtfront of their own volition. I sit up, head swimming. “We have to get out of here.” I look around, and Fear’s nearness must be affecting me, because my heart is pounding against my rib cage so strongly that it just might break it. “Nightmare—”

Fear shushes me, smoothing my hair back from my face. “Don’t worry about him,” he says. “He won’t touch you.” Dimly, I realize that I’m drenched in sweat.

We’re on a bed in a huge, shadowed room. The sheets are twisted around my waist, pearly white. The walls are elegant, painted in a muted shade of lavender. There’s one large window to my right, and curtains have been drawn over the glass. It’s warm in here, a feeling of safe isolation crowding close. My pulse slows.

The Emotion shifts so that his hip rests against mine, and I lift my chin to look up at him. I didn’t think I’d see him again. Where is Rebecca? I study his expression, wondering what this means. Before I can open my mouth and let out a torrent of questions, he tells me, still in that calming tone, “Nightmare just needs to know where your father is.”

The words bring the dread back in a rush. Forgetting Rebecca and the rest of the questions clogging my throat, I shift uneasily, struggling to breathe. “M-my father? Tim? Is Nightmare here? Where are we?”

Fear lowers his mouth to mine. It’s so startling that every coherent thought flees my mind. Fear doesn’t wait for me to recover. His palm brushes over the bare skin of my stomach and his lips are sweeter than anything I’ve ever tasted. He shifts so that his body is turned toward mine. My back falls against the mattress and I drown in the fire of Fear. His hand becomes a fist in my hair. Different sensations gust through me, and for the first time in my life, I feel that place down there tingle. My grip tightens on his shirt and I pull him closer, as if every part of him isn’t already fused to me. This is what I wanted that day in the hallway, this is what the illusion stops me from—

Fear pulls away so abruptly that our lips make a smacking sound. “Just tell me where your father is, and I’ll go relay it to Nightmare so you won’t have to,” he says with a drowsy look in his eyes. “Then I’ll come right back.”

I open my eyes. “W-what?” The haze of lust begins to ebb. My brow furrows and I look up at Fear. His expression is impatient, demanding. After a moment I tell him, my voice a rasp, “I have no idea where Tim is.”

He shakes his head, caressing my spine. This time the touch doesn’t distract me. “Not Tim. You know I don’t mean Tim. Please, Elizabeth, just tell me. Then this will all be over and you and I can be together.”

I stare. “No, Fear, I don’t know who you mean. Charles kicked Tim out, and he left. Who are you talking about?”

He stares at me three full seconds. I count them. One. Two. Three. Then, without warning, the beautiful Emotion screams. Before my eyes, a cut slashes across the mouth that just kissed me with such passion. He rolls out of the bed and hits the floor with a dull thud. I scramble to reach his side and Fear rolls, holding his stomach. “He’ll kill me if you don’t tell him!” he says through his teeth. Then he jerks and lets out another cry of pain. Blood spurts from a fresh wound in his gut, caused by an invisible weapon held by an unseen hand. I try to cover the gushing hole with my shaking fingers, shaking my head