By the time I had finished my shower, my body had nothing left to give. I collapsed on the bed next to Drake.
"Feeling any better?"
"I feel cleaner, which is a step up from being covered in blood."
His face fell. The pain in his eyes compelled me to reach for his hand, but my heart kept a distance I didn't know how to bridge.
"Hey, guys, you're not going to believe this." Brad held up his laptop and flinched in pain from the movement. He had showered after me, and now all of his bruises were at least clean. "Someone donated $500,000 through my website to help us rescue the kids. And I've got emails from large scale media outlets who want in on the story."
He smiled like a kid at Christmas. "There are thousands of responses. This is amazing."
Drake sat up. "Maybe we should wait to attack. We could muster up some backup, go in with guns blazing?"
My forehead wrinkled in worry. "Maybe. I don't know. We should check in with Luke and Lucy before we cancel our plans." Postponing our assault would give me and my baby time to recover. It would be safer, smarter, and likely more successful.
But a shadow of doubt nagged at me.
Drake massaged the tension out of my shoulders. I tried not to pull away at his touch. His bloodied knuckles had already started healing, but the memory of fists pounding into bone and flesh would haunt my dreams for a long time to come.
"Why don't we connect with them in the morning before we leave? It's late, and you're exhausted. Expending that kind of energy right now is probably not the best idea."
He had a point. "Okay. Set the alarm. First thing tomorrow we move forward with our plan."
Brad shut down his computer and unpacked his clothes for sleep. "What plan would that be? Do we have a real plan?"
"Sure we do," I said. "We go to the Rent-A-Kid center, and... improvise based on what we discover when we get there. What could go wrong?"
My attempt at humor was met with frowns from both men.
"I'm going to bed now. See you guys in the morning."
Drake tucked the covers around me and kissed my cheek. "I've got to make a call to Father Patrick and let him know what's going on. I'll be back in a minute."
He took his cell phone and left the room.
My body screamed at me to sleep, but too much had happened. I needed to know what Drake would say to his confessor, and his mind was so familiar I could easily slip in without him knowing.
I pushed aside the guilt with memories of the hamburger meat Drake had made of the man who attacked us. I had to know if I could trust him.
The conversation played out in my head as clearly as if I too were a part of the call.
'Father, forgive me for I have sinned.' Drake's voice sounded broken, lost.
'What is it, Son? What's happened?'
'I killed a man today. He was a bad man who would have killed Sam and our child, but still... I beat him until he couldn't even be recognized as human. Am I going to hell?'
'You don't believe in hell.'
'But you do. Father, I'm losing Sam. I can see it in her eyes. That's the worst kind of hell there is for me. What do I do?'
'You keep loving and keep fighting for what's right. You give her the honesty and intimacy that has always been denied to you—and you let her make her own choices.'
Silence stretched on and I had to fight my own emotions so they wouldn't bleed into Drake's awareness. He hurt so much. I wanted to reach out to him and comfort him, but I didn't know how.
'Unless I can talk Sam out of it, we will be attacking tomorrow. We need your help.'
My concentration faded. I couldn't hold onto the conversation. Exhaustion claimed my body and blissful nothingness claimed my mind.
***
I float outside myself, through the door and into the world beyond. Darkness claims me like a lover, each star a song for my soul.
A girl meets me under the light of the moon. She too hovers in between realities. Her long brown hair flows around her as if she were a mermaid swimming in the sea.
Her kind, brown eyes spark recognition. "I know you, don't I? From somewhere? Another life, perhaps?"
She smiles with heart-shaped lips and takes my phantom hand. I'm surprised that I can feel her skin, her touch, as if she were real. As if any of us were real.
"Yes. I am Desirai. We went to school together, before you left. I'm a Dream Walker. Lucy has been captured and I need to tell you what's happening at the school."
Lucy. My best friend in the whole world. How I've missed her. How I've longed for her presence through all this insanity.
"Is she hurt? Is Luke?" I am surprised by these feelings of panic in my ether body.
"They're fine, but not for long. Come, I must show you."
I let her lead me to the Rent-A-Kid center. What had once been home now looks like a prison. I'm saddened by the armed guards and reinforced fences, by the beauty they have destroyed. "What's happened here? This is worse than I thought."