Darkness Falls(9)

Likewise, whoops and laughter punctuated the dance party’s music. Bright light pierced through the trees and she knew that she only had to go a little farther and she could dance the night away—with no aching feet.
But it didn’t feel like Maze was there.
No, not there. Her tracks had disappeared, but Jordan could feel them anyway, and her sister’s steps led…
That way.
Everything was so easy here. A mere impulse and things happened.
As she followed the path, the trees seemed to open obediently before her. The shadows were spooky dark and deep, but that was okay, she wouldn’t hold a grudge against the night. Any moment now she’d see her sister. “Maze?”
Sure enough, Jordan heard her voice.
“I said I’m not going back there,” her little sister said.
“You will. It’s the job,” came an unkind response from a male. So mean. “It’s what you’re paid for.”
“Then I qu—” Maisie’s last word broke off into a squeak of a scream.
Jordan’s heart chugged, and the sense of wellbeing broke away like ice on a windshield. It slid right off her as she leaned into a run.
Danger. Maisie was in danger.
She ran forward through the trees, but she knew she was getting nowhere and would never reach her sister—how many times had she had this nightmare?—so for the first time in her life, Jordan changed it up and held on with her mind to the place she wanted to reach. At last she felt herself draw closer.
She broke through the trees to find her sister suspended five feet in the air, trembling in an unseen grip, her chest jerking as if she were attempting to inhale, but couldn’t. Her feet in her funky red heels hung limp.
“Maisie!” Jordan grabbed hold of her ankle and calf, but couldn’t bring her down.
And Maisie clearly couldn’t answer. She was suffocating.
“Help!” Jordan shouted, but her voice wouldn’t travel. “Help me!” she screamed. But no one could possibly hear.
The dark seemed to press in from all sides, now malevolent and cruel. This is a Rêve, Jordan told herself. No one can get hurt in a dream. They’d done studies. This was merely a manifestation of her own fears.
She wanted the Rêve to end now. “Envoi!”
Distress was supposed to wake them up. And both she and her sister were most definitely distressed.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a rushing, dark blur. She heard fast breaths, not her own, not her sister’s, but definitely two, as if grappling.
A man’s voice cried out and Maisie fell abruptly to the ground, coughing and gagging.
Jordan wrapped her arms around her sister, while trying to scootch her back from whomever or whatever was scrambling in the dark. How to get out of here? How to wake up?
She wanted her money back.
The dark flashed, and this time she saw it had a human shape.
Blink. To the right.
Blink. Higher to the left.
Blink. That guy again!
Blink. Definitely fighting something.
Static roar filled her head and then in a sonic gulp—silence.
And that water taxi guy—the one from the beach—was left over.
He was a dark man-shape looming above her. “Is she okay?”
Right. Jordan wiped Maze’s dark pink hair from her face to check.
“I’m fine,” she croaked, pushing back, and wiping under her eyes.
“What’d he want?” the guy asked her sister.
Maze shook her head. A shudder ran through her. “I don’t know.”
Which lit Jordan’s fire. She’d heard Maze talking to the guy. She’d heard her say, “I quit” to him. Lil’ sis was lying. Oh, this was just classic. She knew, all right.
“Did you let him into the Rêve?” the beach man demanded. “He wasn’t an Envoi guest.”
“I—I went for a walk,” she said. “And he came out of nowhere.”
Typical Maisie bullshit. There was no knowing what to believe with her. If she hadn’t still been trembling, Jordan would’ve shaken her. This was exactly why Jordan had emptied her savings account so that her little sister wouldn’t go alone. She was always in some kind of trouble.
Jordan bit down on her anger, addressing the man before her. “Is he gone now?”
The hot water taxi guy—guess she’d have to like him now—nodded.
“I woke him in the waking world. He shouldn’t be able to find his way back without help.” He added a pointed look at Maisie.
Everyone knew she was lying, then.
“Thanks.” Jordan stood up. Left her sis in a ball on the ground. Reached out to shake his hand. “I thought Rêves were supposed to be safe.”
“Would’ve been,” he said. Then cursed. “Looks like I’m out, too.”