Dream Bound: Book One | ✓ [COMPLETE]

Dream Bound - Chapter Eighteen

                                          Dream Bound

                                      Chapter Eighteen

                                           day twelve

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” I said “but you are officially insane.” We were trekking through the dense forest that surrounded Coldwater Falls in the shape of a half moon. In thick of the forest, way deep in, it wasn't as chilly. The chill was still there—an invisible ghost clinging to our backs as we picked our way through.

 A few feet in front of me, Colton chuckled. “You might call it insane, but some people call it having fun.”

 “Oh, please. Your idea of fun is jumping off of things and free falling from dangerously high places,” I grumbled, fishing through my memories of flying with Colton, jumping off of Coldwater Falls' cliff with Colton. A twisted feeling in the pit of my stomach told me there would be many more of those events to come.

 “Dangerously high places?” he repeated, sounding overly humored by this. To him, it was an exaggeration by a milestone. To me, it was a literal fact. The two-hundred and six very human bones in my body could vouch for this. Five days ago, Colton had taken me rock climbing.

 The unfortunate snapping of my rope resulted in an injured arm—luckily that had been the extent of the injuries. It had happened so fast—so out of the ordinary to Colton, that he hadn't had time to save me. On his part, this was an old wound torn open. Nearly a week had passed since the incident—a few of those days we'd spent not talking—and I could tell that he was still hung up about it.

 “Do I need to remind you about my very own free fall? The one where I–”

 I didn't miss the rigid tightening of his shoulders. “No.” I waited for him to brush up on the upbringing of last week's event with a joke—but he remained silent, carrying himself in such a stance that I knew I'd made a mistake bringing the subject up.

 I clamped my mouth shut, rolling my lips in. How could I have been so stupid? It was easy to forget what being a guardian angel meant to Colton. His fallen angel status was already a step down in the angel world. It was hard for me to connect with that side of him. Had my memory not been wiped—that might have been easier. He remained a foreign stranger to me, the only familiarity was the spiritual binding between us.

 That, and the fact that in my “former life,” I had known him for three years. It was hard to wrap my head around.

 “Your favorite places, then,” I spoke up, the silence pushing my mind in directions I didn't want to step foot in. Not yet. I had plenty of time to dig up those memories—the answers I needed. “Shall I name them for you? I believe the first one would have to be the sky. Coming in close second would be rooftops, wouldn't it? We never tried skyscrapers. How about we try those next? A fun mixture between the sky itself and a rooftop.”

 “Your words, not mine.” Some of the ice melted from his tone. His shoulders relaxed a bit—his pace slowing. I could see the side of his face now, instead of his the back of his head. Because this was Colton's smart-turned-stupid idea, I'd made him carry the surfboard. I opted for the small sports bag—w hich held our suits and a fresh set of clothes.

 We took turns changing behind a broad tree. I went first, scooping my hair up into a ponytail after cramming myself into the wetsuit. A pinch at the nape of my neck stung my skin. I wiggled the metal chain free, staring at it before it hit me. Just the other night—when I'd slipped into another one of Colton's memories, this necklace had been the portal. I was certain Colton would've demanded it back the moment I came out of the memory, but he'd completely overlooked it.