Free Breaking Normal (Dream Weaver #3) by Su Williams Page B

flame—all music to wrench the night terrors from the gentle mind of a child. The child I prepare to devour with savor.
     
                  Eddy’s deep-throated growl drew me from sleep. My lungs groped for air, and cold sweat trickled down my back. “Son of a bitch!” That seemed to be my new favorite curse. Eddy parked himself in my lap, his body tense and aware of the presence of a Wraith nearby. I buried my face in his fur and tugged on his long velveteen ears. “He killed them because they knew Sabre.”
                  “No.” Nick sat in shadowed corner of the room. Somehow I wasn’t shocked to find him there—maybe even a little relieved. “Not just because of Sabre. The torment was meant for you. He meant for it to push you over the edge—to birth your nightmares—so he could feed.”
                  “Then it’s my fault they’re dead?” Most kids of divorced parents blame themselves for the break in the relationship. If they’d behaved better…if they hadn’t argued so much… Were my parent’s deaths on my hands?
                  “No. It’s Thomas’ fault they’re dead. His plan. Not yours.” Nick tried to appease my guilt, but the knot twisted in my insides anyway. “You can print my memories of him if you need proof.”
                  I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can’t know your memories aren’t tainted.”
                  Nick hauled in a frustrated sigh and stood. The light from the setting sun fell across his dark eyes. “No,” he said again. “I don’t suppose you can. But—someday, Em, you’re going to have to learn to trust me again.”
                  I scrubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and groaned. “Yeah—I suppose. Someday.” Silence filled the room with a heavy apprehension.               “So he was around, darkening my moods, even before he killed my parents?” Nick simply nodded. I thought of the darkness that had infiltrated my mind. About the desire to slice a razor-thin blade through my flesh. How many others with urges to self-harm were out there somewhere? Alone and hurting? Because of Thomas, and others like him. “So, Mom was just—collateral damage?”
                  Nick nodded again. “Thomas didn’t care. As a Wraith, the only thing that truly drives him is his desire for the high of the nightmares. All he wanted was to invoke your dreams for his fix. And perhaps, discover and absorb your burgeoning abilities.”
                  Nick held fast to his oath to my father to protect me. He watched over me each night outside my home, hidden amongst the Ponderosas and saplings. He was keenly aware of the darkness that Thomas cast into my dreams, and batted away the night terrors as he soothed my vanquished soul. He kept me in the dark about the Caphar—until my powers overtook his. Until I cornered him—until I tased him and left him writhing on my bedroom floor.
                  “I only came to watch over you while you slept. I’ll leave you to your thoughts.” His voice resonated with misery, but I couldn’t let his emotions sway me. He was right about one thing: I needed to learn to stand on my own two feet. He tipped his head. “Goodnight then.”
                  “’night.”
                  He stepped back into the shadows and evanesced from the room.                            
                 
                 

Chapter 10  Survivor
     
                  Rico DeLaRosa. The rapist. He sat only feet away from me, and only a cold, one-way mirror separated us. Probably a good thing—for him. Sweat trickled down my neck, despite the chilled the glass pressed against my hands. Two Spokane City detectives sat with him in the claustrophobic room with barren walls, a battered grey desk, and three chrome office