Part 36 (1/2)

She ran and ran and ran, and came to a dead stop.

And there he was once again. The figure that had seemed to be behind her... but was not. It was the horned creature, who had been before her.

She screamed, seeing him stretch open the great wings of the cloak he wore, ready to entrap her within the folds.

Fingers, yes, touching her now, stroking over her face, her arms, her arms... the arms tightening around her.

She screamed, breaking free.

”No... I ran away, away. I ran away. To the other!” The creature began to laugh and laugh. And again the voice came, like an evil caress.

”Don't you see, we are one and the same.”

She awoke with a violent start.

Daylight flooded the room. She could hear birds chirping.

She was drenched in sweat. She swung her legs off the bed, eager to reach the bathroom and douse her face in cold water. The room was chilly and she fumbled around with her toes to find her slippers.

She looked down.

Little pieces of dirt dusted the carpet. She frowned, then lifted her feet. The soles were encrusted with earth and bits of gra.s.s.

Impossible...

She pressed her face between her hands, swallowing back a scream. She leaped up and headed immediately into the shower, furiously scrubbing her feet, because, once the dirt was gone, the impossible image was gone as well. She swore, for the water, whirling into the drain, carried a touch of streaky red...

Blood.

She'd scratched the bottom of her foot. She couldn't recall the pain, or the blood on the sole when she had seen the dirt, but then...

her feet had been dirty. Now, they were bleeding as well, so it seemed.

Had she walked outside in her sleep? Lord, these nightmares were truly getting to be too much. So real...

She should have called Martha-told her about the dream, and her feet.

Martha! She wanted to see Martha right away, and feel her practical sense of sanity and reason!

Megan finished her shower, dressed quickly, and raced out of the room. ”Aunt Martha!”

There was no answer, just a note on the kitchen counter. ”Out shopping, dear-make yourself at home!”

So, she'd have to wait, but she would talk to Aunt Martha, and there would be sense made of it. Maybe she had taken a few steps out when Finn had left last night... maybe they had dragged the dirt when they had come in, and she had picked it up from the carpet onto her bare feet then. Certainly, that was the logical explanation.

Finn.

She wished he was with her. She should tell him...

Maybe not. He'd been insisting it was her, that she had dreamed things, that he had not. But that wasn't true. He was having dreams as well. Behaving far too strangely.

Better to talk to Martha. To someone with a little distance. She couldn't tell Finn about this, and she certainly couldn't tell Morwenna, who would read far too much into it.

She tried to tell herself again that they must have tracked dirt in onto the carpet.

Ridiculous, and she knew it.

There had been too much dirt for such a simple explanation! Whether she wanted to believe it or not, that was the truth!But then again-she hadn't been walking in the woods in the wee hours of the morning, that was for certain!

Maybe, she forced herself to admit, she had been sleepwalking, and actually had gone outside, and then walked back in and crawled into bed. She couldn't have wandered all around town, and made it out to the cemetery!

And yet...

The vivid memory of the dream was uncannily real.

Despite the late hour he went to sleep, Finn was up and in the dining room by ten. Susanna gave him something of an evil glare, since he had made it just in the nick of time for her to cook, according to the hours listed on the Huntington House brochure. He was pleased to see that though there were no adults remaining in the room, Joshua and Ellie were still at the table, apparently waiting for their parents to go back to their rooms for their coats.

When Susanna was out of the room, he leaned forward and whispered to the children. ”Mr. Fallon is a Wiccan. He told me that he was preparing a protection potion for the house.”

Ellie sat back in her chair, gaping.

Joshua shook his head doubtfully. ”Do you think he was telling you the truth?”

”Well, I heard him chanting one of his spells, and it sounded like a good one to me.”

”How come he looks so creepy, then?” Ellie asked.

”I don't know, I guess he's just a creepy-looking guy,” Finn said.

”I still think we should keep an eye on him,” Joshua said.

”Well, we can do that. And hey, you two, you stick with your folks around here, no matter what. People can be weird, you know.

Most people are great, but you know, there are those who would hurt others. And Halloween can be fun, or a little kooky, too, right?”

”Right,” Joshua said gravely.

”Creepy-like Mr. Fallon,” Ellie said.

He nodded with a half smile. Actually, after last night, his own opinion of Fallon had changed. He had looked like a truly pathetic Ichabod Crane then. Somehow, roles had changed, and Finn hadn't felt like a wayward, maybe dangerous, guest, but somewhat more mature than an old man chanting spells in a kitchen.

He smiled again at the kids. ”We'd better hush for now-Susanna is bringing my eggs.”

Susanna came back in, obviously huffing and sniffing at the rudeness of guests who came into breakfast at the last minute. Finn smiled at her as sweetly as he could manage.

”Thank you so very much; you're so kind.”

When Susanna left again, Ellie burst into laughter. Both children were still laughing when their parents came for them. They looked at Finn, puzzled, but seemed pleased enough to see the kids happy. They all told him good-bye, and to have a nice day.