Page 122 of Sweet Nightmare

The second we get sand beneath us, I start to roll off of him, so grateful to have land beneath me again that I don’t care about the rain or the wind or the lightning tearing the sky in two. I just want to lie on the sand for a moment.

But Jude obviously doesn’t feel the same way, because he’s up again in seconds. He runs up the beach with me still on his back and doesn’t stop until he gets us completely clear of whatever wave might roll in, no matter how high it goes.

Only then does he help me off his shoulders before collapsing beside me on the beach.

My throat is raw from salt water, my eyes feel like they’ve been scoured with sandpaper, and my lungs burn with each breath that I take. As soon as I find the energy to actually move—I roll over to look at Jude, who is currently stretched out on his back, bent arm over his eyes to shield them from the rain that continues to pour down upon us.

“What are you doing here?” I demand. My raw throat burns in protest, but I don’t pay any attention to it. I need answers. “You went through the portal a long time ago. You were safe at the warehouse in Huntsville.”

He doesn’t answer, just shakes his head back and forth as he continues to suck air in at an alarming rate.

I know I should wait until he catches his breath, know I should give him a couple of minutes to recover, but that will also give him a chance to put his armor back in place. And no. Just no. I am beyond tired of omissions and evasions and half answers that don’t tell me anything.

So, even though every muscle in my body is screaming at me, even though I’m still shaking from exertion and shock, I force myself to sit up and push his arm away from his face so I can see his beautiful eyes. I expect them to be shuttered, distant, as they so often are. Instead, they’re burning hot and more than a little wild as he sits up to meet me.

But he still doesn’t answer, just looks at me in a way that has every nerve ending in my body going on high alert in all the best ways. Still, I need answers. “I’m serious, Jude. Why are you here? You were safe and—”

“The portal broke,” he answers abruptly. “And your mom came through on the other side. The second I saw her there without you, I knew you hadn’t made it through, so…” He trails off with a shrug.

“So you what? Just dove into a breaking portal?” I ask incredulously.

The corners of his lips twitch in his almost Jude smile as he reaches forward and rubs a finger over the small dimple in my chin. “I already told you, Satsuma. I’m not okay living in a world without you in it.”

I let the ridiculous citrus name go and focus on the rest of what he has to say. It’s hard not to when my entire body lights up from the inside, an inexplicable warmth moving through every part of me. But still, I need more.

“What about the nightmares?” I ask. “You said we could never be together. You said you loved me, but—” My voice breaks as the tranquility I felt in the ocean slips away in the face of all the pain of our last encounter.

Jude grows solemn. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. Or how the fuck I’m going to learn better control over these nightmares.” His jaw tightens. “I just know that when I thought you were…”

This time it’s his voice that breaks. He clears his throat, tries again. “When I thought you were dead, I…” And again, his tight throat won’t let the words pass.

So I fill them in for him, a strange confidence flooding me that’s been missing from our relationship—and everything else I do—for far too long. “You realized how foolish it is to try to run away.”

Jude gives me a look. “I’m not so sure I would say foolish—”

“Maybe not, but I would,” I tell him.

He ignores me and continues. “More like futile. I spent three years staying away from you. I don’t think I have it in me to try to do that again.”

“Jude.” I reach for him just as a chorus of screams rings through the air.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

TIME TO

MANTICORE UP

I whirl around just in time to see another huge wave crash down on the beach. It carries a bunch of students with it, only a few of whom manage to actually crawl up the beach before the wave drags the others back out to shore.

“Shit!” Jude takes off running back toward the water, and I’m right behind him—or as behind him as I can be when my exhausted body threatens to collapse with every step I take.

But people are dying, drowning just like I was, and I have to at least try to save them. Especially since Luis and the others might be out there.

Simon, thankfully, is already on it as he pulls a waterlogged Ember out of the sea. Each of the three versions of him is carrying a different version of her, all of whom he drops at our feet as he yells, “Take care of her!” before turning and racing back into the ocean.

“I lost Mozart!” Ember gasps before rolling over and coughing up a bunch of seawater.

“It’s okay,” I tell her even as my stomach drops. “She’ll be okay, right, Jude?”

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