Page 18 of Destined Chaos
A girl smiling as she held a baby wrapped in a pink blanket in her arms. She kissed the baby’s head. A man appeared. The little girl was gone, and Libby was standing in front of him wearing the boot on her foot.
His hands rested on Libby’s arms. Panic flashed in her eyes.
“She’ll always be mine, never yours.”
Fear, livid and real, crushed through me as I lunged for Libby to save her, but the man stepped back into darkness, dragging Libby, screaming, with him.
Her screams had my eyes flying open. She jackknifed into a sitting position, her gaze darting around the room as she clutched the blanket to her chest.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She spun in my direction and blinked as if I and the room were coming back into focus. “Bad dream.”
Her labored breathing slowed back to normal as I laced my fingers and rested them on my stomach.
“Your dream couldn’t be worse than mine. A man was dragging you into the shadows…”
“Saying I’m his and not yours,” she said and rolled on the bed to stare down at me. “You were there, in my dream. The spirits in the house must be affecting you too.”
“Spirits?” I asked.
“It was one reason my mom took me and left. It was like the ghosts in this house targeted us. I had a play area in the attic. Dinky somehow got locked in, and the door wouldn’t open. It took eight hours before someone found him. My mom assured me it was just old rusty locks, but then other stuff started happening.”
“She wouldn’t listen?”
“I tried to tell her it was spirits in the house doing it, but she kept saying it was the Slaughter curse and that someone was playing tricks on me. It wasn’t until a ghost shoved me down the stairs and she found me broken and bleeding that she believed one of us was going to die.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, watching the faraway look in her eyes return.
“Something in this house wants me dead.”
8
Libby
Hugh and I stayed up talking most of the night until neither of us could stand it anymore. When a chill settled over me, I glanced at the fading fire and squirmed off the air mattress to throw more kindling over the dying flame, stroking it back to life. The room heated up again as I stood by the window, staring out at the accumulating snow. Grabbing the blanket, I wrapped it around my shoulders and used the crutches to get into the kitchen.
I wasn’t prepared to entertain guests, not that Hugh was a guest. After last night, I’d moved him into the category of acquaintance. He deserved that for helping me out where others would have just dumped me at the hospital and left. He seemed like a decent guy, so unlike my ex, whose main priority had never been me. I’d been okay with that for far too long. I texted Dinky to drive my car up the mountain. He had a spare key for everything in my life and it was coming in handy. I only hoped he’d get the text with the spotty cell service on this mound of dirt and trees.
I was debating on making a smoothie, worried the sound might wake Hugh up when he appeared behind me.
“You’re a health nut?” he asked.
“Sort of.”
He grinned. “I figured when you wouldn’t eat a donut and then again last night with the lasagna, but no worries. The longer you stay, the quicker I’ll convert you and show you all the finer things you’re missing out on.”
I was grabbing the blender out of the sink from where I’d washed it and let it dry overnight when my boot caught on the cabinet and I nose-dived forward. My hair flew into my eyes. The blender flew across the room. Hugh caught me again.
“I’m starting to think you like falling into my arms.” He brushed my hair out of my face and stared down at me. His gaze lowered to my lips before lifting again.
“Funny. I never had a problem catching myself until I met you.”
His chest vibrated with a chuckle as he righted me, making sure I was standing on two feet before he let go. “So, I’m going to leave my emergency kit here with you, seeing how you weren’t prepared to stay the night, and I’m going to head down the hill to find you a water heater and get that going. Then I’ll deal with getting your car up here.”
“No need. I called Dinky this morning. He’s going to drive it up when he brings Mr. Johnson.”
“Okay, then. I’ll deal with the water heater.”
