Page 68 of In All My Dreams

Her body turns toward me, but her arm remains pointing out the window.

“Protect, protect, protect,”she hisses out before turning her attention back toward some invisible force outside.

Her second arm comes up, pointing in the same direction.

I tear my gaze away from her twisted, heinous features, and my eyes follow down the length of her arm until I, too, am looking out of the window.

It's nearly a full moon tonight, which helps illuminate the property below us. I see the willow tree, its long fronds swaying in the night air. The lake just passed it, its water eerily still. My eyes move to the small dock that juts out over the lake—that’s when I see them.

A dark figure is standing at the end of the dock. I can’t make out clearly who it is. I can only make out the dark clothing they are wearing. Is it a man? A woman? I can’t tell.

But what I can see, what I can make out clearly despite the lack of light, is the pattern of a nightgown.

A nightgown with glow-in-the-dark unicorns printed on it.

The glowing unicorns are like a beacon in the night against the dark fabric of the figure.

Whoever is standing at the end of the dock has my daughter hanging limply in their arms.

“Protect,”my mother hisses next to me again.“Don’t trust.”

I tear my eyes away from Auden and the dark figure and stare at my mother’s ghost.

“Is this what you keep trying to warn me about? Is someone trying to hurt my daughter?” My voice shakes with each word.

My mother’s depthless gaze turns toward me, and her dark eyes look sad, if that’s even possible.

“Yes,”she whispers.“Protect.”

My feet can’t fly fast enough as I race out of my childhood bedroom, leaving my mother’s ghost and her warnings behind me as I run as fast as my legs can go to save my daughter.

Crane Manor won’t take her from me.

I hit Ian’s number again as I’m racing down the stairs.

“Come on, come on, Ian, answer your damn phone!” I scream into the phone when it sends me straight to voicemail again.

“Ian! Auden is in trouble! I don’t know where you are, but we need your help at the lake! The dock!” I yell into the phone as I slide into the kitchen.

I throw open the back door, and I hit the pavement outside with bare feet, running past the willow tree, the fronds whipping toward me furious, almost as if they are tentacles trying to pull me into their sinister grasp.

The usual sounds of wildlife are strangely absent, like they also know something terrible is in play right now. The only sound I can hear is the sound of my own stuttered breathing.

“AUDEN!” I scream, my voice breaking as I force my lungs to keep breathing. My chest feels like a molten blaze as I struggle for breath.

I reach the wooden dock and stop short, a strangled, surprised gasp escaping my lungs when the dark figure finally turns toward me and reveals their true identity.

“You?” I choke out.

The dark figure flashes me a small, sad smile as they shift Auden’s weight beneath them.

“It’s time for you to pay for what you did, Georgia.”

29

Lydia

20 Years Ago

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