Free Requiem by Jamie McGuire Page A

air was knocked out of me. I couldn’t
believe what he was saying, but I was too tired to argue. Tears
welled up in my eyes, and I looked away from him.
    “ Nina….”
    “ I get it…it’s
okay.”
    “ Let’s just try it. See if
it works. I’ll start out just outside town, and then come a bit
closer every half hour. If you have the dream, we’ll
know.”
    “ This is ridiculous!” I
said. “How are you going to find the damn book if you’re
experimenting with my dream?”
    “ She has a point,” Bex
said.
    Jared frowned. “I have to know.”
    We tested his theory. The first night, I lay
in bed for what seemed like an eternity, waiting to fall asleep.
Being alone in our bed felt so cold and depressing. My fingers
traced the wrinkles in the sheets, remembering the first time I
woke in his bed. That perfect morning, after the night he told me
who—and what—he really was, seemed like light years away. A tear
formed in the corner of my eye, and slipped over the bridge of my
nose to the white fabric beneath me.
    Jared began just on the outskirts of
Providence. When he felt I was asleep, he made his way to the loft,
a block at a time, every ten minutes or so. He was just over two
blocks away when he felt my anxiety. In Shax’s building, it was
apparent the moment Jared backed off, because my surroundings
blurred away, forming into the halls of my old high school.
    The alarm bleated, and my eyes peeled open.
Two full nights of sleep. My body felt a bit closer to normal.
Jared walked in the front door, trotted up the stairs, and crawled
into bed beside me, wrapping his warm arms snugly around me. We
didn’t speak, we were just still, letting reality sink in.
    “ Why would Dad do this? It
doesn’t seem fair,” Bex said from the first floor.
    Jared didn’t answer. He simply pressed his
forehead against my temple and sighed.
    Night after night, I slept alone. Jared used
that time to harass every connection he had, and pursue every lead
to learn the location of the book. Seconds after I woke in the
mornings, he was at my side.
    The days slowly returned to normal. Lectures
in class were written down, and my hours at Titan were used for
work instead of naps. Beth gladly decreased the number of times she
fetched coffee, and excuses to Grant.
    One afternoon she brought me a file and sat
in the plump, green leather chair in front of my desk. She had
bought new clothes, and her auburn hair had a new shape to it.
Still short, but different. Embarrassed that I had no idea how long
it had been that way, I took the file from her and sat it to the
side.
    “ I love the shoes,” I
said.
    “ Thanks,” she said, picking
one foot off the floor to bring the yellow stilettos into view.
They boasted a big bow on the side, and the heel, sole and strap
were black. “It’s a lot easier to dress for work when you have
money. Thanks again, Nina. Things at home have been a lot better
since you hired me.”
    I shook my head. “You know I don’t mind.
You’ve been a huge help around here.”
    “ Things seem to be better
for you, too.”
    “ I feel better.”
    “ Have you heard from Ryan?
No one’s heard from him since he joined that special
thing.”
    My mouth turned to the side. Most of the
time I tried not to think of Ryan, the sand, or the bullets flying
every where while he carried his his pipe bomb backpack.
    “ No,” I said.
    Beth nodded. The desk phone rang and she
stood, pushing Line One and answering without hesitation. “Nina
Grey’s office…no, that file is in the…oh Lord, Sasha, I’ll just
come find it for you. How long have you worked here?”
    Beth hung up the phone, and I smiled. “Don’t
let her take advantage of you. Do you want me to say
something?”
    “ No. I do plenty of that,”
Beth said, winking.
    “ I’m heading home. Will you
lock up for me?” I asked.
    “ I always do,” she said,
waving behind her.
    Jared stood beside his SUV with a smile,
waiting with arms wide. He had let me fall asleep