The Ultimate Sacrifice, Talia Jager [novels to read .TXT] 📗

and the salty air was heavy all around us.

I pulled away and suddenly the campus reappeared. “What the hell?”

He smiled unsurely. “I told you. I can take you anywhere.”

“You’re a dreamer!”

“Yes.”

Just then the bell rang, signaling our curfew to return to our own rooms. We stood and he walked me back to my building. “Think about it, Kassia. I can take you away…even if just for a little while.”

I nodded, and while my body and heart yearned for another kiss, I turned and quickly entered my dorm.

Mira, Auralee, and Noe were anxiously waiting for me to fill them in on my night. Of course, Auralee and Noe knew quickly. Poor Mira had to wait for me to actually respond. I filled them in on my evening with Daxton.

“A dreamer? Wow…” Mira spun her earring. “There are a couple of them here, right?”

“Yeah, girls, I think. I’ve never been close enough to them to find out what it was like,” Noe responded.

“Auralee, can you ever see or hear what they’re dreaming?”

“Not like you’re asking. I don’t think. Maybe if I knew it was happening, I could try.”

“What was it like?” Mira asked.

“Like I was really at the beach. I could smell the salty air, feel the warm breeze, and see the sun setting. It was a scene from my dreams.”

“That’s cool,” Noe said.

“It was, but freaky too. We were physically here, but we were there too. It was weird.”

After a few more minutes of talking, Noe took Auralee’s hand, and they snuck back to their room.

Unfortunately, Daxton’s dream earlier didn’t take away my nightmares that night. I woke to a quiet room and breathed a sigh of relief. Mira was sleeping and I was still me. I tried to go back to sleep, but instead I tossed and turned. I finally got up and went to the window seat.

Before doing a sweep of the courtyard like I usually did, my eyes shot over to the window I had seen Daxton at, but he wasn’t there. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or sad. I guess I felt a little of both.

A few evenings later, I saw him sitting by the tree in the courtyard. I walked up to him. “Okay.”

“Okay? Okay, what?”

“Take me away.”

He smiled. “When?”

I thought about it. “No time like the present.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Is there someplace quiet we can sit?”

There were a lot of people outside tonight, so I looked around, trying to think of a place we could go. “Behind that building, there’s a garden. We can go there.” I started walking, and he followed me.

The garden was full of flowers and vegetable plants. I sat down on one of the benches scattered around it. Daxton sat facing me. “So, how do we do this?” I asked.

A smile spread across his face, making his dimple appear. “Close your eyes,” he whispered. Slowly, I did. Without another word, he took my hands, and immediately we were somewhere else, this time high on a mountaintop. We could see everything for miles and miles. The sky was a deep blue and the trees below were greener than any I had ever seen. As I glanced around I noticed the air felt thin.

“Amazing!” I whispered. “Can we talk when we’re like this?”

“Obviously,” he answered.

“Can other people hear us?”

“No.”

“Can you only go to realistic places?”

“What do you mean?”

“What about a fantasy world? Like purple trees and unicorns?”

Our surroundings changed, and now we were in a place where the trees were purple and a unicorn drank from a nearby brook. “Awesome!” In the dream world, I let go of his hands and walked around, exploring. Everything felt so real. Carefully, I walked up to the unicorn. She turned toward me, and I was able to pet her. She felt soft and silky.

I walked back to where Daxton was standing and sat down. The grass was blue, the sky pink. Daxton sat down next to me. “Do you feel okay?” he asked.

As odd as it all was, it was relaxing. I felt calm and peaceful here. “I feel great.”

“Good. Can I show you anything else?”

I thought about that for a minute. “No. I think I need to process this first.”

Our eyes met and I felt myself blush. With the back of his hand, he softly brushed my cheek. With his finger, he lifted my chin up just a little, and then he traced my lips. He looked into my eyes as if he was asking for permission. I parted my lips and leaned closer to him. I could feel his warm breath as our noses almost touched. Slowly, with the anticipation growing, our lips met and he gently kissed me.

When he pulled back, I opened my eyes, checking to see if he was done. He was giving me his quirky smile. We were back to reality, back to evening time on campus. “Did we really just…kiss?” I asked.

Without answering me, he leaned in faster this time, brushing my lips with his, waiting for that signal my mouth would ultimately give. I could feel my heart racing, and my breathing quickened, as did his. I could feel his tongue just touch the outside of my lips, exploring a bit. I surprised myself when I let out a little moan. His fingers were in my hair now, dancing upwards as the kiss grew more passionate. And then almost as quickly as it had started, he pulled back a little, taking my lip with him for a second, leaving me wanting more.

My body was burning with power and I kept my eyes closed. I was scared if I opened them, I’d hurt him. I tried to settle the power back down inside of me. It scared me, how my power was taking over when I wasn’t mad. This was completely new territory for me, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Are you okay?”

I held up my finger so he’d wait a minute. Just breathe. When I was sure the power was gone, I opened my eyes and nodded.

“We should go. We’ve been out here a while.”

Speechless, I nodded again. He walked me back to my building. “Thank you,” I said to him, “for sharing your gift.”

“For you, anytime.”

Upstairs, the girls were all over me for every detail. I felt bad that Mira was the only one who wouldn’t know unless I told her.

I can’t believe you got to go to dreamland,” Auralee said.

“I can’t believe you wanted to go somewhere with purple trees!” Mira laughed.

Noe sighed. “But those kisses…He likes you.”

Auralee scoffed. “A lot!”

After their appetite for details was satisfied, we all went to bed.

I slept better that night, but not through it. I found myself at the window again, but this time it was closer to dawn than midnight. When I sat down, he was there in his window. He held up his hand and I mine, and then he disappeared back into his room. Strange. I looked down. The rest of the yard was quiet.

The next night as I was walking from the dorm to the dining hall, Arian jumped out from behind the bushes.

“Jeez.” I jumped. “What do you want?”

“What are you doing to Daxton?” she asked.

My eyes widened. “What?”

“He’s drawn to you. Won’t stop talking about you. He’s never been like that before.” She walked toward me.

“I didn’t do anything to him. Maybe he likes me?”

“Why would he like you? You’re a self-centered bitch.”

A surge shot through my body. “Excuse me?!”

“You and your table, you and your friends, you think the world revolves around you,” she taunted.

I narrowed my eyes as the power grew. Breathe, just breathe.

“You need to leave him alone.”

Don’t give in. Don’t hurt her. I wasn’t sure how long I could do this. Where was Mira?

“Arian! What are you doing?” I heard Daxton’s voice. When he saw my face, his eyes grew wide with concern. “Arian, get out of here!”

Inside my head, I screamed at him to get out of the way. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I knew I’d lose control if I said it out loud.

He put his hands on my cheeks and our world faded. We were floating in the air, up near the clouds. “Relax, Kassia,” he told me. “Let it go, let the anger go. She’s no longer here. There’s no threat.”

Looking in his kind eyes, I saw my own eyes all wild. I took some deep breaths and soon felt my body relax.

“There you go. Feel better?”

“How did you know this would work?”

“I didn’t.”

“But you could have been hurt.”

“I don’t think you could hurt a friend.”

“I’m glad you’re confident in what I can and can’t do. I’m not so sure.”

He laughed. “Are you ready to go back?”

“Not especially, but I figured we’ve got to look pretty dumb standing in the middle of the yard.”

“Probably.” The clouds disappeared and I was standing again on the ground. There were a few people around staring at us, but Arian was nowhere in sight. “Where were you going?” he asked me.

“To get a snack.”

“Let me walk you there.”

“Sure.”

He walked with me to the dining hall, sat with me while I ate, and walked me back to the dorm. “Have a good night.” He leaned in and his soft, supple lips touched mine gently. He smelled sweet tonight; his lips tasted like cookies. The kiss left me feeling tingly inside for the rest of the night.

I wanted to go out on a real date with Daxton, but because I was grounded, I couldn’t. I thought about sneaking out, but more than likely, somebody would tell. I would have to involve Mira.

“Mira, I need a favor.” I used my sweet, innocent voice.

“What?”

“I need you to ask Zane out on a double date with Daxton and me, and tell Eaton you’ll supervise me in town.”

She burst out laughing. “I was supervising last time! I didn’t do a very good job. You think he’ll forget that?” She took her hair out of the clip it was in and brushed it out.

I twirled my hair around my finger. “Can you at least try?”

“It won’t work. I’m telling you, there’s no point.”

“This sucks.”

“This is where I’d say ‘I told you so,’ but I’ll refrain since you’re my best friend.”

I picked up the pillow next to me and threw it at her. “I wish I had a different gift,” I said sadly. I walked over to the window seat and sat down. “I feel trapped.”

Mira threw the pillow back at me. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. If you want a double date, then you’ll get it, but it might have to be on campus instead. Or would you rather go out alone since the only reason to double date would be to get off campus?”

Now I really did feel bad. “I always want you with me, Mira. You’re like my other half. I’d love for you and Zane to go out on a double date with us. But Daxton and I have done the dining hall date already, what more is there?”

Her eyes twinkled. “Wait and see.”

The next day at breakfast, Mira surprised the boys. “Kassia and I are inviting you both out for dinner tonight.”

Daxton and Zane looked at each other and then back at us. “You’re asking us out?” Daxton inquired.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“I thought you were grounded, Kassia.”