That was what I wanted. It was so simple and yet so completely and hopelessly impossible. With nothing left to hang on to, I curled into myself and sobbed uncontrollably.
“Hey … you okay?”
I recognized the voice—how had my dreams known his voice?—but when he crouched down next to me, I skittered away.
“Don’t touch me!” I snapped.
He held up his hands to show he was harmless. “Okay, okay,” he said with a smirk. “You were the one chasing me.”
I glared at him. It was an impressive show of restraint on my part, when the truth was that having him physically in front of me was wreaking havoc on my body and my brain. My heart was pounding fast, and my mind played a loop of every moment we’d shared in my dreams.
I forced myself to remember he was a stranger. Quite possibly a dangerous stranger. I needed answers from him, but I also needed to stay strong.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought you were hurt.”
“I am hurt. I twisted my ankle.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be chasing strange men through the woods, then.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t pretend you don’t know who I am.”
His eyes widened in shock for a moment. “You reme—” Then he twitched his head briefly to the side, as if flicking away an unwanted thought, and his face relaxed. Only the clenched muscle in his jaw gave away any tension.
“You must be mistaken. I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
“Really? You look at most girls like you were caught with your hand in their purse?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking—”
“And then you ran away. Full speed, even though you knew I was trying to catch up with you. That’s not normal. That’s not how you act with a stranger.”
The man pursed his lips and pressed his right fist to his temple, a gesture I’d seen him make so many times I almost lost my grip. Somehow I managed to stay steely eyed.
He lowered his fist and smiled, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“I reacted poorly,” he said stiffly. “I don’t have a good answer for why, other than I like to keep to myself. I only came back because you were hurt, and it seemed irresponsible to leave a girl all alone in the middle of nowhere. But if you’d rather I left …”
“No.”
“Fine. Let’s take a look at your ankle.”
He crouched down and raised his eyebrows, asking for my leg. I stretched it out toward him, and as he took it in his hands, there was a crashing sound in the foliage behind us.
“Oh my God, get away from her! What did you do?”
I wheeled to see a red-faced Ben leap into the clearing and shove the man back.
“Ben!” I objected.
“Easy,” the man said, rising. “She’s hurt. I’m just looking at—”
“Get. Away. From. Her,” Ben growled.
“Ben, stop,” I said.
He looked at me, confused, then turned back to the man. His whole body leaned forward, like a pit bull straining against its leash. In another situation it might be funny: lanky, bookish Ben even dreaming he could pose a threat to this brick wall of a man.
The man backed away. “It’s not broken or sprained,” he said, nodding toward my ankle. “It’s just a strain. She should be fine by tomorrow.”
Ben kept his eyes on the man, but he spoke to me, his voice calm and studied. “What you need to do is simple, Clea. Tell him he doesn’t affect you. Command him to leave you and never come back. Say you compel him to go forth and wander the world forever on foot.”
Had he lost his mind? “What are you talking about?”
“Ancient mythology,” Ben said. “It’s how you get rid of an incubus.”
“A what?” The man laughed.
Ben wasn’t amused. “Do it, Clea.”
“Please … don’t bother,” the man said, holding up his hands. “I’ll get out of your way.”
He made a move for the woods, and I was about to scream “NO!” at the top of my lungs, but I didn’t have to.
“STOP!” Ben leaped for the man, his muscles taut with rage. He grabbed the man’s wrist and held it in front of his face. “Where did you get this?”
My eyes grew wide as I realized what Ben had found. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it myself. On anyone else I would have, but seeing this man in the flesh had my head spinning with so many other things.…
The man was wearing my dad’s watch. A silver Omega. He and my mom had bought each other matching ones the first day of their honeymoon, and they rarely took them off. On the rare occasions when one of them thought they’d lost their watch, the world stopped, and we had to drop everything and turn the house upside down until we found it.
That watch was on the man’s wrist.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “It’s just my watch.”
“Bullshit.” Ben unclasped the watch and pulled it over the man’s hand, then tossed it to me. “Clea?”
My hands shook as I inspected the watch. It was true, there were many watches out there that looked just liked my dad’s. It wasn’t impossible that this man would have the same make and model.
Then I turned the watch over to look at the back of the casing. Engraved in fine italic print were the words GRANT—YOU HAVE ALL MY LOVE FOREVER. VICTORIA .
There were some scratches below the engraving, but that didn’t matter. The watch was without question my father’s.
My whole body was trembling now. I felt sick fury boiling inside me even as I struggled against tears. “What did you do to him?!” I screamed.
“Nothing,” the man objected. “I did nothing. You’re right. The watch isn’t mine. A man gave it to me.”
“Liar,” Ben snarled.