Chapter 65

JUNE.

“Dad,” I stammer, even with just one word. My voice is shaking so bad that I can barely get it out. I don’t think I can even stand properly. I’m just clutching the phone to my ear, my grip on it so tight that the edges are buried in my palm. “Dad, I didn’t….”

“I know, honey,” he says warily, and memories with him start to come back to me. I feel close to him again, just like that. “I heard a lot about what’s happening there in the city. I’ll do my best to come back. I will come back, I promise.”

“What’s going on?” I rush into my bedroom to talk more with him. “Can you turn on your video? I want to see you.”

There’s a long silence that follows. I sit on my bed, staring at the window, waiting for him to talk. At last, he starts. “June… I don’t think I can. I’m not supposed to even make this call. You seeing me would give up my location and that’s just something I can’t do. Not right now. I have to bide my time.”

I don’t say anything. The disappointment that hits me is becoming a little too much for me to bear. There’s a huge lump in my throat and it can’t be swallowed back. I know I should be happy with just this, and I am, but this conversation just brings up all the old mysteries concerning his job. I never found out what it is.

But I just say, “Okay. Take care there, then. I will see you… when?”

“As soon as possible,” Dad says. “I have to go now.”

I wait for him to turn off the call, as all the joy I got from it slowly drains out of me, replaced with the usual anxiety and sadness that always comes after a conversation with him.

But he doesn’t. Not yet.

“Look, June,” he says instead, his voice dipping lower. “I know things are not good in there, with the disappearances and stuff. With you so closely involved… I expected it. I’m not angry. I think you can make it out of there. I don’t think you will be in harm’s way.”

Confusion hits me. It feels like he’s wrapped up in a fever dream and he’s casting it all to me. “Dad, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. The disappearances are over. They caught the man who did it. He said that there are more like him, but do you really think they would try? It wouldn’t be smart—”

“June, there are things you don’t understand.”

“Then explain them to me.”

Pause, then a very stern, “No. Not right now. If I talk longer they would be able to trace this call, and I don’t want that to happen—”

“They,” I repeat. “Who’s they? Who are you working for, Dad? Is it illegal, and that’s why you never bothered to explain to me?”

As usual, he ignores all of that. I don’t know what else I expected from him, honestly. But the sadness still grows inside my chest as he says, “I need to go.”

I can’t even bring myself to say anything to that this time. I just wait.

But then he says, right before he turns off the call, “Stay away from the Konstantin boy.”

“Dad!” I yell, trying to get his attention so that he would tell me why, but he’s already out. The frustration that takes over my body is so great that I almost throw my phone out the window, but then my door opens and Tiffany peeks in like a little child.

“June?” she asks in a small voice. “Can I sleep here tonight? Mom and Dad won’t be coming back.”

“Of course,” I say, trying my best to decompress but tears are already drumming behind my eyes. “Come in, Tiffany. Everything will be alright.”

I’m not sure if I’m saying that to her, or to myself.

Stay away from the Konstantin boy….

* * *

It wasn’t intentional, but I did stay away from Seven for the last couple of days. Granted, things are busy now that the school trip to the beach in the neighboring city is coming up, but the absence of him still makes things… strange.

I don’t know what my dad meant by that. I didn’t try to call him, even though I wanted to. That was the first rule I learned from him: no calls from work. Whatever his work is.

It kept me up at night, everything he said right down to his last warning. So much so that when the trip finally comes, the only thing keeping me awake is the iced coffee that Tiffany bought for our little group.

We’re boarding the bus now. The boys are separated from us. Seven is right across the field, waving at me and mouthing, “I will see you there!”

I try my best to wave back and give him the same enthusiasm, but I feel like if I don’t sit soon, I will die.

We all get in, and I take a seat next to Tiffany, who brings out a bag of croissants and hands it over to Amelie and Nancy at the back, before handing me a saucer-sized cookie.

“We didn’t get to eat breakfast, and I don’t think this thing will reach the city by afternoon,” she explains as she bites into one. “We would be starving. The trip is going to be four hours.”

“Oh,” is the only thing I manage to say, also taking a bite and washing it down with the coffee. But even though it’s strong as hell, I find myself drifting off. My exhaustion is finally catching up to me. “It’s going to be a long drive. I better sleep.”

“Okay,” Tiffany says kindly. She’s been so kind for the past days, even though I know that she and Vlad are still not good. But I think he did agree to talk, because she seems to be in a good mood. Now she’s taking out a neck pillow and securing it around me herself. “Sleep, June. You look horrible.”

“I heard,” I say dryly, watching her smile before drifting off to sleep.

And the dreams come, full force.

There’s no slow descent from the darkness, no slow transition to colors. One blink, then I’m with Seven.

We’re lying down on a checkered picnic blanket in the middle of a clearing. There are tiny flowers all around us, ranging from pink to purple to white. It’s so pretty, and the sun is setting on the horizon. Seven is smiling, his hand on my neck, fiddling with the necklace.

“Give it to me,” he whispers, his smile still in place even though I hear his voice. “I want it. Right now.”

I assume he meant the necklace. I have given it to him before, but this time, for some reason, I feel reluctant. “No.”

“It’s not yours.” The smile is frozen on his face, his lips unmoving even as he speaks. “You just found it. It’s not good for you to keep things that aren’t yours. In our world, they would have your hands for that.”

“Seven,” I say. As a plea. As a warning.

But he suddenly seizes my throat. His hand is impossibly tight around my neck. I can feel all the air leaving my body and blocked by my body at the same time. I try to scratch his hands to make him release me, but he just tightens his grip until I can feel myself convulsing with the lack of air. I stare at him, watching his skin slowly sprout scales with the brightest gold color. His pupils become straight and upright, the eyes of a predator….

“JUNE!”

The sound of my name wakes me up. I gasp, clutching my chest, only to find Tiffany frowning over me. But she’s not alone. Nancy and Amelie are staring at me too. Amelie looks worried. Nancy looks like she wants to smile.

I don’t know why, but that creeped me out more than the dream.

“Bad dream,” I just pant, taking a bottle of water and drinking nearly half of it. I look around the bus and see that we’re the only ones around. “What happened?”

Tiffany smiles. “We’re here. Now get up, Seven is waiting for you.”