“Where are you? Please, don’t leave me!”

Justin appears in front of me, the shadows close to him. “I’m right here, Valerie. Just take my hand.”

I reach out and intertwine my hand with his and watch in horror as the shadows coalesce and seep from his body into mine. No matter how hard I try to get free they claim me. They claim my soul.

 

I jolt upright, screaming. The fear of Justin being swallowed by shadows has my heart pounding.

“Valerie? You ready yet?” A voice is calling me, but I can’t determine who through the buzzing in my ears.

I go to climb from my bed when I realize I’m tucked in tightly. What the hell? I barely sleep with the covers on, why on earth am I tucked in like a frigging burrito?

A banging sounds on the door before it flies off the hinges, smashing into the ground while I watch a thoroughly confounded Jaxson take a step into the room, a fierce expression on his face until he sees me staring at the destruction he caused. His face shuts down, but not before I see worry.

“You know you could have just knocked, right? I mean, did you really have to break down my door?”

He looks down at the door, obviously destroyed from his impact, and reaches up to run a hand through his hair. “Uh, I guess not. Next time, though, you should probably answer when someone calls you.”

The smirk that crosses his lips brings a smile to my face. “Next time I will answer when you call out. Now what’s up?”

“Your dad wants to talk to you before we leave but I have an early class this morning, so you need to hurry up.” He doesn’t stay and offer an explanation, turning on his heel and leaving me to wonder if he’s at least going to fix the door.

I hurry around and get dressed, hoping Dad will be in a better mood today. He yelled at me last night, something he’d never done before. I don’t recall what happened after he left but I must have come to bed.

My bag is waiting by the door and I grab it before I leave, glad that Jaxson was able to keep at least the outer door intact.

The moment I reach the door to the main house I can’t help the little sliver of dread that my dad is going to further berate me for going off with Justin, but what can I say; he intrigues me.

As I walk into the kitchen I see my Dad sitting at the dining table, two cups of coffee in front of him. He sees me and smiles. “Valerie, good. Take a seat. Cassandra and I would like to have a word with you.”

Ugh, great. Sure enough Cassandra walks in after I take a seat, closing the door behind her.

I watch them and wait for one of them to speak but they both remain silent. Screw it, I’ll go first.

“I’m not going to stop hanging out with Justin. No matter what you said last night I think he’s a good guy, just shadowed by old stigmas of the so-called academy dissension. I mean, is it really fair to judge a person’s value by the school they go to? No.”

I cross my arms over my chest, making it clear I’m not backing down.

Cassandra purses her lips and her gray eyes narrow. “I understand you think you are being nice and that Justin seems like a nice man on the surface, but just be careful. You’re an adult Valerie. It’s not my place or your father’s to tell you who to spend your time with. We can only hope you make the right choices.”

Oh, that’s good … I guess. Why did they call me in here then?

As if Dad heard my unasked question, he grins. “I have some good news, Valerie.”

“Huh?” I look over at Cassandra hoping for some kind of clarification, but the only change is the huge grin on her face.

“What’s going on?” I ask my dad, getting impatient.

“The evidence I told you about? The reason I’m leaving? Well, if it’s accepted by the judge you will be free from all charges.”

“What?” I ask, sitting back in my chair, not quite believing it. It can’t all be over like that? It hasn’t even been a week!

“I know this is quite a shock, but if everything goes as planned all the charges will be dropped and your probation nullified.”

I open and close my mouth, unsure what to say. I mean, it doesn’t feel real. “This feels too good to be true. Are you sure? What is this evidence?”

Dad frowns and looks down at the table before meeting my eyes. “I can’t tell you quite yet. I promise the moment it becomes concrete you’ll be the first to know.”

“Does this mean you are any closer to finding out what happened to Nat?” I ask, hope in my heart that I can finally find out answers.

My dad sighs and Cassie pats his back comfortingly. “No, unfortunately. No such luck, but your friends were right about it being mainly synthetic blood at the scene. There wasn’t enough of Nat’s blood for it to be a fatal wound according to the forensic team, but that still doesn’t leave us with any answers as to what could have happened.”

Cassie claps her hands before I can reply. “Okay, enough of this morbid talk. Valerie, you still have classes today. Your father also asked me to get you a phone when I went out this morning. The boys are all waiting for you in the car. They wanted to take you for breakfast rather than have me cook because I have to go to the medical center soon.” She hands me a phone in a pale blue case and I take it, getting to my feet and grabbing my bag. “Oh, I put my number in there in case you need it. I won’t be home when you finish classes but Jax is going to cook dinner so I expect you to be home for it. Just because you are close to being off probation doesn’t mean you can disrespect my rules.”

I nod at her, taking in her stern expression. She’s definitely not someone I want to cross. “Okay, thank you for this. I will see you when you get home. And Dad, please tell Sally and Jessica my new number when you get there. I would love to speak to them.”

He smiles and gives me a big hug as I go to leave. “Stay safe. I’ll be home before you know it.”

I head into the garage where the guys are all waiting in the car. Carter and Cooper are in the back seat and I slide in next to Carter. He scoots over to give me room but I’m still pressed against the door with my bag on my lap.

Once we get to campus all the guys climb out of the car and surround me, stopping me from moving. “Uh, what’s up guys?” I ask, each of them giving me blank looks.

Jaxson speaks and I meet his amber gaze. “We know your father is leaving today. We just wanted you to know if you need us, we’re here.”

“Oh.” It’s not exactly what I was expecting them to say. I guess it’s sweet they are trying to look out for me. “Thanks, guys, but I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then. Let’s get to class. Valerie, you’re with me today. The others all have different classes to get to.”

Zane, Cooper and Carter wave goodbye before taking off, playfully joking and nudging each other. I follow after them, Jaxson close to my side. “You know you can do your own thing, right?” I inform Jaxson as we walk into our first class. “You don’t need to stick with me today. I’m happy to learn the ropes by myself.”

He chooses a seat and gestures for me to sit beside him. I sit down and put my bag in the aisle seat beside me. Jaxson faces me, his amber eyes showing an expression I don’t quite understand. “You are not some burden, despite what you may think. We all enjoy your company. Now sit, be quiet and listen to the professor.” He grins as a tall, elderly man walks into the class.

“Welcome, class. Today we’ll be discussing the mechanics between worlds. Whether it’s possible or not,” he says in a deep voice, turning to write what he said on the whiteboard behind his desk.

Crap, what class is this? Sounds way out of my league. Oh well, at least I can drop it at the end of the month.

The lecture goes on and I’m surprised that Jaxson seems thoroughly interested in the topic. I take notes where I can, but all the talk about parallel dimensions and possibility of worlds outside our own makes me tune out. Instead I think about Sally and Jessica, wondering what they’re doing without me?

“Ms. Jones?” The teacher calls my name at the same time I feel a nudge from Jaxson’s elbow.

The professor looks up at me expectantly while I sit with a blank look. I have no idea what he wants. “Uh, sorry? What was that?” I ask, a blush rising on my cheeks when Jax chuckles beside me.

The professor walks around his desk, to the bottom of the steps and smiles up at me. “I asked you what you thought of parallel worlds. Do you believe they could exist?”

I think about his question, not quite sure how to answer, when Jaxson whispers under his breath. “Just be honest. He respects honesty.”

I take a deep breath and wonder how to answer. “Well, I believe that parallel universes may exist but we will never find them. Humans have lived on Earth for this long and we’ve never heard of their confirmed existence. I know scientists out there have talked about parallel realities, but my friend used to say that if there was such a thing we would have concrete proof by now.”

At least that’s what Nat used to say. She used to talk about parallel universes all the time. She was absolutely fascinated with them. We used to explore the woods after school with Sally and Jessica because she was convinced we would find some kind of doorway into another world. Sally and I humored her, but Jess was just as intrigued.

“Interesting theory,” the professor smirks up to me. “I would love to meet your friend.”

My smile must project the sorrow I feel. “She passed away,” I state, my voice getting a little choked up.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, the onslaught of emotions gripping me.

“Professor Jacobs, I think I’m going to take Valerie home. I don’t think she’s feeling too well,” he explains. I open my eyes to see him and the professor exchanging a look.

Professor Jacobs turns his gaze to me with a nod. “Okay, Valerie. I hope you feel better.”

I don’t get a chance to say anything, Jax thanking him before he grabs my bag and reaches back to hold my hand as we leave the room.

I’m in too much of a sorrowful mood to say anything. Jax guides me down the hall where he stops, moving my body into a little alcove. He reaches up and wipes away tears that have run down my cheek. I look down at the ground, not sure when I started crying.

Using my sleeve I wipe them away and meet Jaxson’s amber eyes. The concern there has my heart beating faster. If he’s kind to me right now, I’m going to sob my heart out.

“Just hold it together until we get to the car, okay?” he reassures as I nod, glad he didn’t ask me to tell him what’s wrong.

We walk the empty halls, the silence between us tense. I know he wants to know why I shut down in class. He goes into the office and the secretary looks up at me with kind eyes as I sit down. Jaxson mutters a few unheard words and she lets him go behind the desk, straight into the office.

The secretary walks around her desk and crouches down in front of me, holding out a box of tissues. “Are you alright, dear?” she asks, her voice filled with kindness.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just dealing with some stuff,” I respond as I take a tissue from the offered box.

She nods and gets up, leaving the box in the empty chair beside me. As she sits down she speaks again. “It’s never as bad as it seems, Valerie. Bad things happen but sometimes it’s better if we learn to focus on the good. If we don’t, we drown in the negative.”

I sit here pondering her words when Jaxson comes out followed by the Dean. They walk straight to me. Jaxson is still holding onto my bag and looks down at the box of tissues with a small smile. “Come on, Val, let’s get out of here.”

I wait for the Dean to say something but he must see something in my eyes because his expression changes from wariness to sympathy. “Take a break, Valerie. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.”

Jaxson leads me out the front and to the car when a thought occurs. “Um, we can’t exactly take the car. How will the others get home?”

“Don’t worry, Val, we’ll be back to grab them when they finish classes. The rest of the day is just about you. You can talk, cry, scream, beat the shit out of a tree for all I care, but you need to vent.”

“I don’t need to vent. I just need a breather.”

He turns the car off before we’ve even moved to fix me with a glare. “Don’t lie to me. Your friend died, Valerie. You’re bottling up everything inside you and if you keep doing it, it’s going to kill you.”

I remain silent at his words and he sighs. “Look, I didn’t mean that to sound so abrupt. We’re going to a favorite place of mine. It's somewhere I go to deal with my crap. I’m hoping it will help you too.”