Son In Law Madness

Chapter 15: Gone

*Sasha*

"Sasha," Amanda said, giving me a shake.

I yawned and blinked owlishly at the clock. "Sweet mercies of the White Queen, Amanda, it's nearly dawn. Don't you have class this morning?"

"I do, but I was on the dorm phone all night with Chelsea-boy trouble-and the line beeped, so I switched lines, and it was Lucas," Amanda said hurriedly.

"Lucas Black?" I asked, peering at her in the low lighting.

"Do we know another Lucas?" Amanda responded with an eye roll. "He's waiting for you on the line right now."

I wanted to tell Amanda I didn't want to talk to him, roll over, and go back to sleep, but I wasn't going to make her into my errand girl. With a groan, I pulled myself out of bed and padded down the hall in boys' boxers and an oversized T-shirt to take the phone.

"Lucas," I groused. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"I need you," Lucas replied without preamble.

I blinked, pulled the receiver away from my ear to stare at it, then put it back to my ear to listen once more.

"... dream dancer?" Lucas was saying.

"What?" I asked. "Look, Lucas, if you're going to phone me for s*x while you're drunk and then..."

"Haven't you been listening?!" Lucas asked, exasperated.

"I was trying to figure out if you'd lost your mind... so... no...?" I replied.

"For the Moon Goddess's sake, Sasha, I'm talking about the temple, not s*x," Lucas said.

I felt my cheeks get hot and was glad he couldn't see me this mortified. "Oh. Um... sorry... um...."

"Forget it. Not important right now," Lucas sighed.

"Okay, so, it's still almost two in the morning," I said, shifting the phone to my other shoulder.

"I need you to use your dream dance abilities on something I found in the temple. I'll explain when I see you," Lucas responded. "Get dressed and meet me outside your dorm in fifteen minutes." "But-"

"No buts. Get a move on," Lucas ordered.

I grumbled something under my breath but agreed. After hanging up, Amanda cornered me in our dorm room.

"So?" she asked. "Did Mr. Yummalicious call you for some... private time?"

I shook my head, then nodded, then shook my head. "No... I mean, not the way you're thinking. He needs me to use my dream dancer gifts to help him with something." I kicked off my pajamas and yanked on a sports bra, panties, pants, and a sweater.

"Your dream dancer gifts? Please tell me that's a new euphemism for s*x," Amanda whined.

I looked at her and couldn't help but laugh as she stood there in frilly, pink, nearly see-through lingerie and was worried about my s*x life. "No. I can't believe he remembers I am a dream dancer. I haven't used my abilities around him since we were kids."

"You two really need to go at it and get it out of your systems," Amanda lamented. She plopped down on her bed. "Well, I'll have high hopes for you anyway. Have fun, and do everything I would do."

I snorted and strode out of our dorm room just as Amanda was snuggling down to go to sleep.

By the time I got downstairs, lan was already standing next to Lucas's sedan, holding the back door open for me.

"We have to stop meeting like this," I said to the long-suffering chauffeur.

"All part of the job, ma'am," he grunted back, though he didn't sound particularly happy about it.

I gave him a sympathetic look before Lucas reached over and tugged me inside the car.

I almost landed in his lap.

"Home, lan," Lucas barked, and the chauffeur quickly closed our door and got behind the wheel, turning us back in the direction of Lucas's house.

I settled myself next to Lucas, smoothing down my sweater self-consciously. "What is this about?"

"I've been debating whether to bring you in since last night," Lucas murmured, raking a hand through his hair. It bounced back into its stylishly messy-on-top coif. "I'm still not sure this is the right decision." "Bring me in on what? What decision?" I asked, starting to get peeved. It was nearly sunrise and I should have been getting ready for a new work-study.

"We found something," Lucas said, looking at me, his gray eyes troubled. "Brady and I went to the temple last night, and we found something."

"In the temple?" I responded. "What was it?"

"Well, there isn't exactly a temple anymore. As soon as I took the artifact, the whole thing collapsed." Lucas stared out the window as though watching it happen again. "I brought it home. I have a cousin, Eliza, who might be able to shed some light on it, but she's far away and won't get here for weeks."

"The archeologist," I remembered.

Lucas nodded. "But you also showed us once when you were starting to use your powers that you were a dream dancer. I don't know if you use your abilities much anymore...."

"It's not like they go away, Lucas," I said dryly.

"That's what I'm counting on," Lucas replied. He slid his hand over mine and squeezed it, looking back from the window at me. "It's in my house. I'm going to show it to you when we get home. But if it's... something truly evil... that you think is going to hurt you... I'll destroy it, and that will be that."

I stared into his silver-flecked gray eyes. It was like they danced with stars. I shook my head-not the point. "You're really worried about me," I said.

"I am," Lucas admitted. "But I can't think of any other way to see if this is the thing that's been haunting you."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll try. I'll try, Lucas, but you have to know I can't control what I see. It'll reveal what it reveals, whether it makes sense or not."

"I'll take it," Lucas said as we pulled into the pea rock driveway in front of his house.

lan dashed around to let us out, but Lucas was faster. He gave me his hand and pulled me out of the sedan as lan huffed off to the side.

Lucas's arm went protectively around my waist as we mounted the stairs into his home.

"Is it in the foyer?" I asked, my muscles tensing a bit. If Lucas was nervous, I had the feeling I ought to be scared out of my mind.

"No, no, of course not. Phoebe might stumble on it there. No, it's in my office," Lucas said.

His office-last time we'd been in there, we'd had one hell of a fight. Now I was letting him take me there to study what might be a cursed object. I was starting to really not like that office of his. Brady stood at the top of the stairs, just out of view, so when we reached the upper landing we both jumped.

"You're not seriously going to have her look at it," Brady hissed, his voice low.

Ah. Phoebe must be asleep, I assumed.

I reached out and patted Brady on the shoulder. "It's okay," I said, proud my voice wasn't quivering. "I'm happy to do it."

Brady grumbled something, but followed us to Lucas's office just the same, stopping right outside the door. He'd drawn his line in the sand.

Lucas went behind his desk and opened a wood panel that looked like a drawer, but actually housed a safe.

Immediately, I felt a sense of dread, even before I saw the black-veined, white marble orb in Lucas's hand.

"I... don't think I should touch it," I wheezed as my lungs seemed to fail me and I backed away. "Please put it back in the safe."

"Destruction it is," Lucas grunted, slipping it back in the safe. "I'll bring it back to the construction site and use the tools there to break it apart."

"I am totally on board with that plan," Brady said from the doorway.

I put a hand to my head, my other hand going around my belly. "I don't feel well."

Lucas's eyes lit with worry and he put his arm around me again. "Let's get you back downstairs," he said, ushering me out of the office. "I'll get you some wine to settle your nerves. I'm sorry I brought you here, Sasha. It was a mistake."

"No, it was good to at least try to figure out what it was. I'm sorry I couldn't help more," I replied, seeing Brady slip back into his bedroom.

"No, I'm sorry," Lucas began, settling me on the sofa.

The world spun a bit and I groaned. "Lucas. Just get the wine, please."

"Right, of course," Lucas said. He trotted off in the direction of the kitchen while I fought a dizzying haze that had come over me.

It was hot... so hot in here.

I pulled at my sweater, finally lifting it over my head without thinking.

Lucas returned just as I was about to slide it off my arms. I froze. He froze.

"Sasha?" Lucas asked throatily, his eyes on my bra.

I quickly dropped my sweater back down despite the heat. "Sorry. It's just so hot...."

Lucas's eyebrows pinched together. "It's not, Sasha. It's actually a little cool in here." He sat down next to me and offered me a glass of wine.

I tried to take my glass, but my hands were shaking too much.

Lucas set his glass down and leaned over me, putting the glass to my lips.

"Oh, Sasha, my princess, what have I done?" Lucas breathed. He pulled the glass away, his eyes now focused on my lips.

Now my world spun for a different reason. I licked my lips, and Lucas groaned, leaning in closer.

When his lips were a hairsbreadth from mine, the air around me shimmered and became hazy. Through the haze, I could see Lucas reaching for me, but his touch went right through me and he disappeared. No... I disappeared.

I was left in a void, surrounded by darkness. Panic seized me as I desperately looked for a way out.

"Lucas!" I called out, but my voice echoed back to me, hollow and empty.

The darkness seemed to press in on me, suffocating me. I felt myself spinning and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. But that only made the sensation worse. I was alone, lost in this void with no escape.

***

When I felt myself stop spinning, the flicker of torchlight illuminated the world around me.

I was in some ancient building, the air carrying the scent of the ocean. I knew from that scent alone I was no longer in the capital.

Columns rose around me in long rows, seemingly without end in all directions. These I recognized as being quite similar to the ones that had been removed from old structures to create new ones in the capital and elsewhere.

Only these were uniform and meant to be there. I could feel it.

I also felt overwhelming fear and dread, which slapped over me as soon as I had my footing in this new place. It drove me to my knees, though I knew it was not my own. It was coming from this place. The whole structure emanated with it.

It hurt... it hurt so much, a harsh pounding in my head and then a slitting pain.

I pressed my hands to my head and screamed.

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