Dreamfever Read Online Free Page A

stone—the looking stone—the archway would become a portal leading to the Dream universe.
    Josh was sitting on the floor with the redhead’s feet in her lap.
    â€œI’m sorry about that,” Will said. “With the gun.”
    â€œIt’s all right,” Josh replied. “Her coming out of the Dream like that was … well, unexpected.”
    Josh didn’t say, Freakishly similar to last time, when my grandmother got killed and my best friend got her soul sucked out and my stepmother got beaten into the ICU and almost lost a baby she didn’t even know she was carrying.
    Josh didn’t say that, because she didn’t talk about Feodor. Not ever.
    As Will broke open a plastic tube of salts and held them close to the girl’s nose, he got his first good look at her face. He had never seen a beauty quite like hers. Delicate, feminine features were laid over a heavy—almost masculine—bone structure, and the combination made her appear both winsome and strong. Her dark red hair hung all the way to her waist, even tangled into early-stage dreadlocks as it was.
    She was beautiful in spite of her current state, which included shadows beneath her eyes so dark and deep that they looked like Halloween makeup, a scratched and swollen chin, dirt lines discoloring her broken nails, and chapped white lips.
    Almost immediately, the girl woke with a grimace and began trying to rise.
    â€œWait a sec,” Josh said. “Take it easy. You fainted.”
    The girl looked around the room with large gray eyes and an expression of distress that suggested she thought she might not have woken up at all.
    â€œWhat’s your name?” Josh asked.
    The girl stared at her, panic-stricken. “Am I dead?”
    â€œDefinitely not,” Josh said.
    The answer relieved some of the anxiety in the redhead’s face. “Are we still in the Dream?”
    â€œNo,” Josh repeated.
    â€œIt’s a miracle,” the girl murmured.
    She closed her eyes, slowly this time, and released a long sigh. Josh and Will waited for her to open her eyes again, but she didn’t, and when her breath began to deepen, Josh said, “Did she pass out again?”
    â€œI think she just went to sleep.” Will touched the young woman’s shoulder. “Miss? Can you wake up?”
    He gave her a little shake, then a less little shake, and finally her eyes opened again.
    â€œYou need to stay awake,” Josh said. “You might have a head injury.”
    Will assumed Josh was making this suggestion based on the fact that the redhead had visible injuries to her hands, neck, and face, and blood stained her ripped turquoise jacket.
    The young woman’s eyes fluttered shut and then dragged open again. “May I sit up?”
    â€œSlowly.”
    Once sitting, she insisted on climbing to her feet, and she took a few slow steps toward the archway. Josh stayed close by, as if worried the redhead would try to leap back into the Dream.
    â€œI didn’t catch your name,” Josh said.
    The redhead made no reply. She touched the stone archway with one hand, then passed her fingers through the empty space between the pillars. Will noticed that her right pant leg was torn vertically and something dark had seeped through the back of her jacket. A patch of hair had been torn out of her scalp.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said, turning back to them. “You’ll have to forgive me. I can’t recall my name. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite catch it.”
    â€œYou don’t remember your name?” Josh asked. “What about where you’re from, or how you ended up in the Dream?”
    The redhead shook her head. “Nothing.”
    â€œYou don’t remember anything ?” Josh asked. Her tone had gone from skeptical to incredulous. “You have…” She hesitated before using the word, as if embarrassed to put forth such a