Free Vision In Love (Legends of The North Book 1) by Liz Bower Page A

off? You don't even see them, do you?"
    "Well, no. I hadn't thought of that. There's only Jess now ..."
      He glanced her way and his face looked like someone had just told him that Neanderthal man had been a giant hoax. She wanted to help him, but she had no idea what was bothering him.
    "I better get her home," he stated as he stood.
    Emma opened the door for him as he half-dragged, half-carried Jess out of the house. At the bottom of the path, he turned toward Emma and said, "I am sorry."
    "I know, but you don't need to be." She stood and watched his slow progress towards his house until he rounded the corner and disappeared from her sight. The silence of the night seemed to grow louder as the sound of their footsteps faded. Emma looked up at the sky, but the stars were covered with clouds; darkness surrounded her, and she felt an ache in her chest. A loneliness like she had never felt before as she slowly closed the front door on the dark night.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    Emma's legs thrashed beneath the covers, finally kicking them off. Too hot. As she writhed around on the bed, she began to cough.  
    Smoke. She couldn't see anything for the thick, grey smoke wrapping itself around her like a snake coiling for the kill. Tears streaming, lungs burning, she lurched forward and fell to her knees. From this height, she could just make out the riverbank, her lungs beginning to ease as the smoke thinned down there. She crawled forward but as she stretched a hand out towards the river, the smoke cleared, replaced by something falling.  
    As red rose petals drifted all around her, she caught one. Through the red haze, she saw the silhouette of a man rising from the river. She crawled to the edge of the river to try to get a better look at him. But the closer he got to her, the more he sank into the river, until his face disappeared beneath the surface. She grabbed for him, trying to pull him out but her hand came away empty, grasping at air and dripping water. Screaming his name over and over, the world slowly went blank.
    "Matt." Her hand grasped for him but only tangled in the sheets. She pressed a wet hand to her chest. It had been Matt. He had been drowning in the river and she couldn't reach him, couldn't help him. Turning, she switched on the bedside lamp. It was four a.m. She ran a damp hand through her hair; she could hardly go round to his house at four a.m. to check on him. Even if she did, what would she say? "Sorry to wake you, just wanted to check you didn't drown during the night."  
    She rubbed a hand across her eyes, a headache starting. Last time, she hadn't recognised the man in the river. Was it just Matt this time because he'd been on her mind when she'd gone to bed? She had no idea; these visions made no sense to her. If she was honest, they scared her because she had no idea what was happening, had no idea how to stop them and no clue why she was having them. With a sigh, she got up to change out of her wet pyjamas. That, at least, was something she could do.
    After only another four hours of sleep, Emma awoke, tired and irritable. She hastily drank a cup of coffee and ate a slice of toast then headed out the door, dragging Barney behind her. She wanted to see Matt, check that he was all right. It was stupid, because she knew he'd be all right, but she just wanted to see it with her own eyes.  
    As she turned off her street and onto his, she wondered if she'd be welcomed after how things had been left the night before. Clearly, something was troubling him, but he didn't trust her enough to talk to her about it. She didn't know what she could do to change that. Her breath came out on a sigh as the sadness that thought brought hit her. She wanted to be the one he turned to, wanted to help him. More than anything, she wanted to take that look off his face, the one that made her want to cry for him. Barney pulled towards his house, but she kept walking.
    Coward , she said to herself, but it didn't stop her looking