River raised an eyebrow. “I’m your brother. Do you actually think I can relax when something this big is upsetting you? And before you ask how I know it’s big, I know you. It’s written all over your body language. All that’s left now is for you to tell me what you saw, then we can make a plan of action.”
“It’s dangerous, River. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.” Dangerous was an understatement.
“You let Everly work on some of these cases. Why not me? I mean, yeah, my niece is cute, but I can drive.”
Ten snorted and started to laugh. “You got me there.” He took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes. In the dream I heard shouting and then a gunshot. Two people were screaming. I tried to run toward the sound of the voices, but they kept moving further away. When I was finally able to break free from whatever was holding me back. I saw a body lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Celestina was hovering over it. She was one of the people screaming. I couldn’t get a good look at the body. When I tried to move closer, the picture got blurry. I realized Everly was nowhere to be found. She was the other person screaming in the dream. That was when Ronan shook me awake. He said I was shouting our daughter’s name.
“Wow,” River said, shaking his head. “I don’t even know where to start with that.”
“There’s one more thing.” Ten tried to picture the body in mind. All he needed was one small clue. Ronan’s platinum wedding band, the ridiculous strawberry charm Everly put on his left sneaker. Something,anythingto help Ten identify that it was Ronan.
“Okay, now you’re scaring me.” River reached out and took Ten’s left hand.
Ten was scaring himself as well. “I think the body is Ronan.”
“What?!” River’s mouth hung open, making him look like a fish out of water. “You just said the person lying on the ground was too blurry to see clearly. What makes you think it’s Ronan?”
“Intuition and the fact that Everly was screaming. All I could think was that’s the way she’d respond if something happened to her father. It was this cry of pain like I’ve never heard in my life. It must have been for Ronan.”
River frowned and nibbled his bottom lip. He looked as if he were building up to something. “What if Everly’s screaming because she’s been kidnapped or hurt?”
Ten’s eyes widened. With his sights set firmly on Ronan, he hadn’t bothered to run that scenario. He had to admit that River could be right.
“Have you spoken with her? If anyone can help with your vision it would be Everly. She’s crazy gifted.”
Ten smiled. He loved his brother’s faith in Everly. “There’s one last piece of the puzzle. Everly’s gift isn’t working.”
“I had no idea psychic powers could come and go.” River wore a concerned look.
“I accidentally locked my gift away before Everly was born. Thankfully a friend was able to teach me how to get it back. Now, I can turn it on and off at will. I taught Everly how to do it too.”
“Do you think that’s what she’s done here? Everly somehow managed to lock her gift away?”
“I thought so until just now.” Ten took a deep breath. He could feel the pieces fitting together in his mind. “Everly couldn’t read me or tell me anything about my dream. That’s why she thought her gift was broken. But, when we were at the circus rehearsal yesterday, she knew who Celestina was without being told her name. There were a few other things she said in the last twenty-four hours that told me her gift was working just fine.”
“It’s just not working in relation to your dream.”
Ten nodded. “I think so.”
“What would cause that kind of thing?” River looked exhilarated, as if he were enjoying helping Ten solve the mystery.
“Well, I can tell you that my gift doesn’t work so well on myself. When I tried to see my own future, things go foggy. Sometimes I can see a detail here or there, but nothing of consequence. Maybe Everly’s going through the same thing, but with me instead of herself.”
River shook his head. Fear flared in his eyes. “When you were telling me about the dream, you described the body lying on the ground as being foggy. The closer you tried to get to it, the less you could see. What if the body isn’t Ronan?”
“It’s me.” Ten felt his heart pound in his chest. He tried to take a few deep breaths to slow the beat down, but it wasn’t working. “I need to call Ronan.”
“Phone’s ringing now.” River held up one finger and started whispering into the phone. A few seconds later, he set the phone down on the table. “We’re meeting at Jude’s house in fifteen minutes. The kids are all at your house. I didn’t tell Ronan what we’ve been talking about, just that there might be a development in the situation with your nightmare.”
A development was putting it lightly. This was major breaking news. Ten thought back to the way Everly was screaming in his dream. He’d originally thought his daughter was screaming for Ronan, what if she was screaming for him?
The realization hit Ten like a tidal wave. How many times had Ten nearly lost Ronan? He’d been shot half a dozen times alone. He was always trying to figure out what he’d do if the worst happened to Ronan. What if the worst was going to happen to him?
Could Ronan stop it from happening? If so, would that mean Ronan would be the victim instead? Or Everly? Ezra?
Ten felt like his entire world was crashing down on him. His brain spun over how he could possibly save his own life.
What if it was already too late?
