Free The Dream Thief by Kerry Schafer Page A

my heart running down like a clockwork toy. Blackness leaches into my brain, relaxes all of my muscles, dissolves my pain. In the distance there is a sound of muffled weeping but it doesn't matter. I try for one more breath but my chest wall does not rise. For the space of a minute I drift above my emptied body, looking down and then…
    I came to, flailing and gasping, immersed up to my neck in cold water. Will's face loomed over me, his hands clamped around my shoulders. Behind him I saw the lightning tree and the outside of the barn. A solid, smooth surface was beneath me and my feet and hands beat against something that rang like cymbals on contact.
    "What the hell?" I floundered upward and Will stepped back, leaving me standing naked and dripping, up to my knees in the green water of an untended water trough.
    Dried blood crusted the side of his face; his hair was matted with it. A dark bruise stained the skin under his right eye. My body felt unnaturally light, disconnected, and I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't dreaming.
    Before I could say a word Will shook his head, then grimaced and put his hand to his temple. I couldn't feel his pain, though, or his heartbeat. And that was it, the thing that was wrong.
    "You're not dreaming, J-Bird. Come out of there and let me get you warm; you're shivering."
    I just stared at him, dazed, remembering the clamor of images and sensations that had knocked me out. I died. His brow creased, his eyes the color of storm clouds just before rain. "Are you okay?"
    "I—think so. Where's Marsh?"
    Will put his hands around my waist, the heat of his skin against mine a glorious thing. It took all of my remaining control to not just throw my arms around his neck and cling to him in a full out meltdown. He hated me, I reminded myself. For good reason. He was helping me because we were bonded together with that weird melding thing.
    And then it hit me. We weren't. Not anymore. That was why my body felt so light. I couldn't feel the throbbing of his head, was not aware of the beating of his heart. If I got up and walked away there would be no invisible string between his heart and mine. This fact hit me with an inexplicable sense of loss. To cover it up, I bent down for my shirt.
    Will stopped me. "I wouldn't put those on."
    I looked at him blankly.
    "The dreams, J. They spilled all over your clothes. Lovely as you are, I didn't strip you naked for the fun of it. Here." He pulled off his own shirt and slipped it over my head, putting his hand to the back of my neck and lifting out my hair, holding it away from me and wringing the water out of it.
    Shivering wracked my body and I clamped my teeth together to keep them from chattering. "Catch me up. What happened?"
    " Coles Notes version? Marsh and I were fighting while you smashed the jars. I had him pinned, and then…"
    His voice broke and he stopped and swallowed. "I felt your heart stop beating. Marsh didn't matter, then, Jesse. I'm sorry. All I could think about was you."
    "You let him get away?"
    "That's my J-bird." He didn't sound angry, though—more amused, and I realized what I'd missed.
    "Wait—I actually died?"
    "No pulse. No breath. I figured it was the dreams that did it."
    I let the truth of this wash over me. The tears were going to come now, with or without permission. I sniffed and scrubbed my cheek on the shoulder of Will's shirt. It smelled like him, and that didn't help.
    "Talk to me, J." His hand was warm under my chin, turning my face up, making me look at him.
    "You've saved me three times now! And all I've done is hurt you and blown you up in a shitty revenge dream and almost get you shot. Oh—not to mention getting you tangled up in some weird ass cosmic bonding thing—"
    "Shhhh. Look, J-bird, I know you hate me—"
    "I don't, Will. I was so stupid. There had to be somebody to blame, and all the time it was me…" My voice totally broke up then and I knew I was a mess and that my eyes would be