Isabella and A.J. sat with Nick in the kitchen while Nicole, Brian and Cassandra watched television in the living room.
"Are you serious?" Nick asked Isabella. "I can go into her dreams?"
"Yes. I've done it before."
"Yeah?" Nick said. "How then?"
"Okay," Isabella started. "First of all, you have to be there when she falls asleep, not after. Just watch her and concentrate on going into her mind."
"Sounds easy enough."
"But..."
"Uh, oh," Nick said.
"You have to remember that you're going into her mind and her dreams. You don't know what character you're going to be or what she's going to make you do. When you first start out you have no control over who you are or what you do. She does."
"Okay."
"Once you get used to it and gain more power, you can get control over things like your character, setting, etcetera, etcetera. But one thing you must be careful of is that if you do something physical, like a fight, and you don't control your emotions, you can physically hurt her."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. She could wake up with bruises, or she could even end up dead. There will be a point where you can bring your souls together and you two can actually talk like you were alive and together again. And I'm not talking about in her dreams. I'm talking about you two being able to communicate outside of the dream world."
"How long will that take?"
"It depends on how fast you can develop your skills. Eventually if the bond is strong enough you can talk to her and touch her when she's awake and she will be able to hear you and feel you. But it will take time and work."
"How come you guys can't do that?" Nick asked.
"Because," A.J. started, "we never thought about developing any of the skills and even now we're still learning about all of this."
"Yeah," said Isabella. "We really have no reason to bother anyone because A.J. and I are together. But we know that you want some link to Cassandra."
"You have no idea," said Nick.
"Okay," said Isabella. "Any questions?"
"Just one," Nick said.
"Yeah?"
"How do I get her back?"
Isabella and A.J. both sighed.
Nick was set and prepared to go into Cassandra's dreams. He remembered every instruction that Isabella had given him. You have to be there when she falls asleep. Watch her, and concentrate on going into her mind. He also remembered the warnings. In the back of his mind, he was scared. He didn't know what scene he would be thrown into, nor what would happen to him once he was there. Nick watched as Cassandra emerged from her closet, took down her hair and slowly climbed into her bed. As she clicked off the light on her nightstand, Nick closed his eyes to concentrate, and wait, and wonder.
When Nick opened his eyes, he felt a huge wave of despair descend upon him. A despair that would have been impossible for the spirit that he was only a few hours ago. He noticed the scene that he was in: He was in a dark room lit by fifty or so candles strew across a fancy carved mantle with a fire burning below in a fireplace. The hardwood floor that he was standing on, glistened in the candlelight and cast his shadow across it. He stood next to a table that was draped in a white, silky cloth and had red rose pedals sprinkled over it. He saw a figure enter the room. The figure had on a long red, silk dress with a vine of white roses wrapped around them and a vail of black silk concealing their identity. Nick felt himself being drawn into the part that he was supposed to be playing. "Take off your vail," he said. "Reveal your identity."
The figure did as they were told and he realized that it was Cassandra. But a different light burned in her eyes.
"I will always love you," he started. "If the sun stopped shinning, if the moon never rose, if the world ended, I would still love you." He stepped closer. "You'll always be in my heart. If anything could last forever, it's what I feel for you."
She only glared at him as if he were a stranger.
"Lady of Red and Keeper of White, do you not hear my words?" He didn't understand the words that he was saying but he understood that his character was just a figment of her imagination.
"I hear them," she finally said.
"Maybe our past has changed me, but I'm no fool, I really love you."
Still silence from Cassandra.
"I have come to you as I was called! As you wished!"
"Maybe nobody has called you," Cassandra said coldly. "Maybe you have come on your own and you are your own master. And you may hate and disregard your heart's content. Do you find me beautiful?"
"Very much so-"
"I know what you see. I don't need to see it, and I hate your cold heart! Something binds us together, but you are so full of hate and so am I!"
Spellbound, Nick stared at her.
"I hate you!" she continued. "Do you think I asked to be this thing that I am? Go back. I never called you. I don't speak to you, except to send you away from me." She turned and walked toward the mantle, her red heels clicking on the wood floor. One by one, she blew out each candle until the room fell smoky and dark.
The next morning when Cassandra woke up, she had a strange feeling. She knew that she had had a dream last night, but she couldn't remember what it was about. "Nick was there..." she said aloud, letting her thoughts voice themselves. "And there were a bunch of candles and we said a lot of weird stuff..." She shook her head and slowly walked downstairs. Somewhere in the back of her mind she expected to see Isabella there cooking breakfast for everyone, but she only saw Mercedes and Brian talking in the kitchen.
"Good morning, Cassandra!" Brian said jumping up.
"Yes, hi!" Mercedes chimed.
"Nice to see you guys, too," Cassandra said sleepily.
"Oh, can we get you anything?" Brian asked.
"No, no. I'm fine." She gave both of them a weird look. "Why are you guys acting so strange?"
Brian and Mercedes exchanged glances. "Well..." Brian said timidly. "Aren't you going to start crying, or faint, or something?"
Cassandra gave them a look, and then laughed. "Is that all that you guys think of me? Cute, very cute."
Brian and Mercedes let out a sigh. "Well," Brian started timidly. "It's just that, well, you've just gone through a terrible trauma, and, um, we all know how you act after a recent trauma." Brian paused and waited for a response.
"Much to your surprise," Cassandra responded, "I am doing okay. I'm not going to let this get to me because I know that it won't do me any good. So I'm just going to take each day as it comes. Although there may be days where I do need you guys." She paused then smiled. "Is that okay with you guys?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Brian said enthusiastically. "That's perfect."
"Yeah," Mercedes agreed.
"Good," Cassandra said. "But Brian, how are you holding up? You're so worried about me, but I'm worried about you. You guys were close."
"You and I," Brian said, "were very, very close to him. You even took it a step further, which I don't want to think about." They laughed softly. "You guys had a relationship that was totally different from ours. Yours was more in depth, what with all the probing that both of you did to each other. Ours was more a brotherly one. I feel like I've lost a close brother. But I dunno about a passionate tie." He glanced at Mercedes then settled his arm around her. "I don't know what I would do if I lost Mercedes."
Mercedes blushed and looked down.
"Look," said Cassandra. "The way that I figure it, we've lost..." She paused to count on her fingers. "Well too many people. But what's one more? Huh?" She shrugged but then heard a strange voice in her head.
Cassandra, wake up, it said. Cassandra, you have to wake up! it repeated.
She shook it out of her head and got up. "I'm going to go get dressed," she said and ran upstairs to her room.
Mercedes turned to Brian. "She is in such denial."
Brian nodded. "So am I."
"We all are," Mercedes finished.
Cassandra closed her door quietly and clasped her hand over her mouth to try to stop the gush of sadness that was swelling up throughout her body. She went over to her bed and sat down on the edge, facing the other bed. She put a finger under each eye to stop the flow of tears, and thought to herself. I have to put on a show for everyone, she thought definitely. I have to make them think that I'm okay. They should have put me in some mental hospital somewhere by now. I wonder how Brian is really handling this. All that crap that he was saying to me and Mercedes was just a show also. But I can't cry in front of anyone. No one can know the extent of my damage. It'll be like pouring salt on my bleeding heart. I must be strong. She stood up and inhaled a deep breath. She let it out noiselessly and headed towards her closet, determined to start over again, without the help of her friends, her sister, or her husband.
That night, Isabella, A.J., and Nick were all playing cards in Cassandra's room on her floor. She was asleep and unaware of the heated poker game that was going on in her room. "I win!" A.J. shouted, throwing his cards down. He jumped up and started to dance around.
"A.J.," Nick hissed. "Not so loud, you'll wake up Cassandra!"
Isabella and A.J. sighed. "Nick, remember?" Isabella said. "She can't hear us."
"Oh, oh yeah. I forgot," Nick said, looking down at his cards. He threw them down onto the pile, stood up, and jumped onto Cassandra's bed.
"Nick, are you okay?" A.J. asked.
"Oh, I'm just fine," Nick replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"No, Nick, what's wrong?"
Nick leaned over and licked the side of Cassandra's face. "I can still taste her. You know?" He bit his lip and a tear rolled down his cheek. Cassandra moved uneasily in her sleep and rolled onto her back, facing Nick. Nick brushed his hand across Cassandra's face and she moaned his name softly. "If she only knew," Nick said, almost in a whisper. "If she could just see me. If I could just hold her in my arms and just tell her how much I love her. How did I let her get away from me? Love is so easy for me to feel, but I can't say it to her, I can't show her. If she could just see what I see and know that it's all her. I don't know what to do! If she only knew that I was here. Oh God." Another tear fell from Nick's eye.
"I think that we should go," Isabella said and A.J. agreed. They quietly slipped out of the room.
Nick stood up. "I need to get into her dreams," he said to himself. "But she has to be awake." He paced for a second and then glanced over at her. She began to toss in her bed and mumble. He watched her intently.
"No," she said. "No-"
"If I could only be in her dreams right now, I'd know what-"
"Nick," she breathed. "Nick...Why?...No...Nick!" She shot up from the bed and look around. "What a nightmare," she said and fell back over onto her bed and tried to force herself back to sleep.
"Perfect," Nick said. "She woke herself up." Nick sat down on the end of her bed and concentrated.
The next morning, Cassandra sat up and rubbed her head. "Two nightmares in one night," she said outloud. "Freaky." She got up and went downstairs.
"Good morning," Mercedes said to her. "Hey, you look awful."
"Good morning to you, too," Cassandra said. "Yeah, I had two nightmares last night, but I can only remember the second one."
"Ooh, tell me about it."
"Um, okay." Cassandra closed her eyes and tried to put herself back in the dream.
Cassandra stood in front of a garden of roses, in a long, light blue velvet dress. She was outside standing in a field of fallen, red leaves. Suddenly, she heard a crunch of leaves and felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Can you tell me what to do?" a voice behind her said.
"Excuse me, what are you talking about?" She tried to turn around but the man held her shoulders from behind so she couldn't turn around.
"You are everything to me," he said.
"Me?"
"Yes. You. Don't you remember the way that you used to look at me?" She didn't know who the man was. His hands went down around her neck. She thought that he was going to strangle her, but he very delicately touched her diamond heart necklace. "You still wear it."
"Of course I do. Tell me who you are."
"You tell me something first. Why do you wear it?"
"Because the love of my life gave it to me."
"Who would that be?"
Cassandra sighed. "I grow tired of these games and I will answer no more of your questions."
"Please, just answer me one last question."
"No," Cassandra refused.
"Then just think about it, will you?"
"That could be arranged-" The man spun her around so she was looking up at him. "Nick," she said. "What's your question?"
He paused. "Don't you want me back? What can I do?"
"That's two questions."
"But yet, you've already answered them both."
"How-"
Nick held his hand up to her mouth. He reached down and picked a rose from the garden, never once removing his eyes from her. He handed her the white rose. "Because you still wear my necklace..."
"And that's when I woke up," Cassandra finished.
"Cool," Mercedes said.
"Actually, it isn't cool. If you had only been there. The emotions were so real, I can't even begin to describe them. It was like Nick was really in my dreams. Like his soul was really in my dreams."
"Hey, stranger things have happened," Mercedes said.
Cassandra only nodded.