I slowly dosed off into what I thought would be a peaceful sleep but I was dead wrong. It started off peaceful but it warped into one of my worst nightmares. I was with my mom in the kitchen the night she died. I was never driving, so I never had to call her. I was helping her make spaghetti; I just finished putting the spaghetti in the pot of boiling water when the kitchen faucet erupted with water. It was unreal and no matter what my mother did the water kept spewing from the faucet. As I turned to help her one of the pans caught on fire. I rushed to turn it off; once the knob was off I turned back to my mom. Suddenly the whole top of the stove burst into flames. "Mom! Mom!" I yelled as I tried turning off the other knobs. Nothing was working, she yelled for me to get to the door before the room started to burst with flames.
She slipped on the floor as the living room was consumed by flames, trapping me as smoke started filling my lungs. I started coughing more as the flames grew closer. I heard her yell my name as the house exploded. I was sent flying through the flames and was thrown out the door. Everything went black, and then suddenly everything came slowly into focus, like my eyes were adjusting to a bright light.
Once my eyes focused enough to realize I was surrounded by people I didn't know. I tried to move and realized I was strapped to something. I started to panic as someone stepped closer; it looked like I was on a boat. The more I struggled the tighter the restraints got. Once the person was in front of me my breathing started to become erratic. They forced a hood onto my head as I as I thrashed around. I screamed and struggled more as I smelled smoke and me feet started to burn.
As quickly as I was pulled into it I was pulled from it. The atmosphere was calmer and safer; it was Faye's grandfather's lake house. I was completely thrown off when someone called my name. I turned around the living room to find Jake standing there.
"Jake?" This couldn't be real Jake and I aren't at the lake house, we are at a motel.
"Cassie are you alright? You were having a nightmare so I brought you here." He said as he carefully came closer to me.
"Where's here?" I said in a shaky voice as I glanced around, waiting for flames and people who were trying to kill appear.
"I pulled you from the nightmare into a dream; I figured this would be a good place to make you feel safe since its familiar."
"How are you doing this?"
"Magic." He just smiled at me.
"Of course." I stated while rolling my eyes. "How is it possible though aren't we both asleep? How can you do magic while sleeping?" There was still so much I didn't know about magic.
"Well I was awake, I even tried to wake you but you wouldn't wake up. So I tried something a little different, I took your hand and calmed you down. I closed my eyes and pulled you here." I sat down on the couch and he took a seat next to me.
"So what happens if you let go of my hand, are you stuck here or will you disappear?" I was baffled by that fact that Jake could get into my dreams but I was glad he did.
"I'd disappear; it only works if there's physical contact." He just shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal. "So do you want to tell me about what happened? It seemed really bad." I swallowed the lump in my throat and explained to him what happened in the nightmares. He actually understood and listened to everything I said. I was honestly surprised that I opened up as much as I did. "Come with me." He suddenly said while getting up and holding out his hand. I gave him my hand and he helped me stand up.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see just come on." I sighed but let him lead me through the house and outside. There was a small smirk on his face the whole way. We walked all the way to the dock at the lake. The next thing I know is he's shirtless wearing swim trunks and I'm wearing a black bikini.
"Really?" I said raising an eyebrow at him.
"What it's just a swim suit."
"I tiny one." I squeaked as I tried covering myself.
"Could be worse." He said with a cheeky grin.
"How could it be worse… Don't answer that." I felt my cheeks start to warm up. Jake seemed to be able to get under my skin way too easily. I should hate him for lying and betraying the circle but I didn't.
"Come on relax and swim." He said just before jumping into the lake. I sighed as I got splashed with water before jumping in.
"At least the water isn't cold." Which I was glad for I didn't need that kind of shock to my system. We swam around for awhile before we decided to play twenty questions. "What's your favorite color?"
"Green, what's yours?"
"Blue. Why'd you leave Chance Harbor?" I was curious as to why he left; god knows Adam bitched about him enough. But he ended up leaving his family behind and somehow became a witch hunter.
"I left after I found our families book of Shadows." He looked away for a second. "I didn't want Nick involved with magic, I was at the boat fire and no one knew. I didn't want what happened to our parents to happen him. But it happened anyway." You could see the regret on his face.
"What do you mean you were at the boat fire?" I said in disbelief.
"I snuck into my parents car when they left to go to the boat, I didn't want to be left behind. I honestly don't remember what happened I just remember that I was there."
"I'm sorry Jake." I had no idea what to say, but he brushed off the sadness.
"Now I get to ask two questions. If you had a choice would you have come to Chance Harbor?"
"I've always want to see my grandmother, so even if my mom wouldn't take me I'd turn eighteen and come by myself." It was true when I occasionally saw my grandmother she would come to us. We never went to her.
"What's going on between you and Adam?" I gave him a dirty. "What it's a valid question, Diana doesn't seem too happy with you and Faye made that comment about boyfriend stealer."
"I'm being blamed for Adam and Diana's break up according to Mr. Conant it's written in the stars that we are supposed to be together. Mr. Conant told Diana which upset her so much that she broke up with Adam. I got blamed for Adam's behavior because he seemed to act like a jealous boyfriend whenever I was around you. And well Faye's pissed because you won't give her the time of day, and the kiss at the lake house was proof enough for her to call me a boyfriend stealer. I'm tired of the drama and being put in the middle of things when I did nothing."
"So because Mr. Conant said something, you got the blame for it."
"That's my life right now."
"That's kind of harsh."
"I've been dealing with it since coming to Chance Harbor; it just seems like a normal thing now."
"It's not fair to you."
"Life's not fair I'm just dealing with it."
We finished up our game of twenty questions and continued to swim around. We even took turns splashing each other. Since it was a dream we didn't have to worry about pruned skin. It seemed like hours which it probably was. We were just having fun and it was great. It was just friends having fun with nothing to worry about. What was going on in the real world didn't matter right now.
"Cassie, I'm going to go, we'll be waking up soon." He sounded a little disappointed when he said it.
"Okay see you when we wake up." He nodded before disappearing but the lake house scene stayed. I pulled myself up onto the dock and dangled my feet into the water. It was peaceful and I didn't want to wake up soon but it wasn't up to me.
Suddenly the lake house begun to fade and everything went black. I blinked a few times, and realized I was in the motel room. I was nice and toasty and didn't want to move because I was comfortable. I went to stretch and froze in place. There was a pressure on my side that shouldn't be there. I glanced down and didn't know what to do. Jake's arm was wrapped around my waist and I didn't know what to do.