January Dreams by Carrigan Richards (best fiction books of all time txt) 📕

will be okay.” He presses his lips against mine and softly kisses me. He starts walking back up the stairs.

“Wait. Don’t leave me here, Vincent. Please.” I’m practically begging on my hands and knees.

“A few more days. That’s all.” He trudges up the stairs, opens the door, and locks it once he closes it.

I have to find a way to break the door down. I have to get out of here. I wait until I hear him leave, but I can’t hear any footsteps above me. It’s like I’m in a sound barrier or something. I look around the room but there isn’t anything I can use to wail at the door. Unless I take apart the bed.

I charge up the stairs and slam my body against the thick door. Of course, nothing happens. I scream and beat against the door until my voice has gone hoarse and my fists are tender. Defeated, I sink to the top stair. I’m such a mess. Crying and shaking and scared for my life. I can’t believe everything that’s happened. I’ve been dating a complete sociopath and I defended him. Repeatedly. What does that say about me?

How in the hell does he know about mine and Casper’s dreams? None of this makes sense. He knows something that he’s not saying. These thoughts race through my mind like the lights on a Simon Says game.

Leaning my head against the door, I think of ways to escape. How I wish I was at home or with Casper. I wish my mom was holding me or Casper could rescue me, not to sound like a damsel in distress. I can get out of this. I will escape.

Chapter Forty-Six

Casper and I have run from our homes once more and the beautiful morning light breaks the horizon as we hold each other.

He looks at me with so much love. “I’ve found the witch. She can turn us into mortals. No one will ever find us.”

“Mortals? How?”

“I don’t know the details. She said to come to her when I’ve found you. I want to be with you forever, Megan. Every time they rip us apart, it nearly kills me.”

“I will do whatever it takes to be with you.”

He kisses me with hard edge, and he holds me tightly against his body. I melt from the softness of his lips and from the heat of his touch. I revel in the hope that we will be together.

“Come on.” He takes my hand and we walk through the woods to an old shack.

The door opens and an old woman with long white hair emerges.

“I see you have found me,” she says, and invites us in with her long bony fingers.

We exchange wary looks, step inside, and sit at a round table with her. It’s dim inside with cobwebs and clocks. Clocks everywhere. Each ticking at different times. There are thousands of vials and bottles filled with different colored liquids. Candles light the entire shack, which looks much bigger inside than outside.

“So, you want to become mortals,” she says, her voice light and smooth.

“Yes,” Casper answers.

The old woman raises an eyebrow. Her blue eyes are glossed over, and her skin is lucid and wrinkled. “Why do you, immortals, want to become mortal?”

“The Elves and Sprites are constantly at war because of us and other reasons,” Casper says. “We wish to be together forever without being ripped apart.”

The woman nods with a cunning smile. “How miraculous? An Elf and a Sprite fell in love and doomed us all.”

I tense, gripping Casper’s hand. “Is there no hope for us? We never meant to hurt anyone with our love. We just—”

The witch raises her hand to stop me. “I feel your love. It is overflowing. It’s radiant like the sun. If only others could see your beautiful aura.” She purses her lips and watches us in silence for a few moments. “Perhaps making you into mortals is the right thing to do. You will be gone, therefore, maybe the wars will end, and we can have peace again.” She scoffs. “But don’t hold your breath. However, I’m willing to try.” She turns to her shelves of vials and takes two. She faces us again. “Now, you must listen to me very carefully. Once you are mortal, know that you will die in each lifetime. You won’t be a true mortal, because you will reincarnate after each life. Dreams will bring you together.”

“Bring us together?” I ask. “Won’t we already know each other?”

“Being mortal is different. You start a new life and live however long that life is, you die, then you start over in a new life. You may not know each other. You may hate each other or find each other at the very end of your lives or worse never find each other. Years in a mortal life are longer than our immortal ones.”

“So, there’s no guarantee we’ll be together?” My voice shakes and Casper tightens his grip.

“I would say that about anyone else but you two. Your love is stronger than I have ever seen. Even if you ended up hating each other in a life, you would eventually remember who you are. Remember, dreams will bring you together. It might take a while for you to remember what the dreams mean.”

“What kind of dreams will they be?” Casper asks.

“Of your immortal life together.”

“Once we turn mortal, we cannot return to the immortal world?”

“If you can find me, or find someone like me, you can give up your mortal life and return here. If you possess the Nuummite Jewel, you can return as well. But know this, they will never stop looking for you,” she warns.

“But they’ll never know we’re in the mortal world,” Casper says.

“No. They won’t.”

“Except Vincent has the Jewel, Casper,” I say. “He could