Death Sleep ~ Book Three

twelve.

Liza stood nervously outside Quinn's front door waiting for someone to answer. A woman with black hair and intense dark eyes opened the door. Worry had etched her forehead, but Liza could also see laugh lines at the corners of her eyes.

"Ms. Hernandez?"

"Are you Liza?"

Liza nodded.

"Come in."

Liza entered the dimly lit house. The curtains had been drawn and all the lights were off except for the occasional lamp. But the soft light that emanated from the lamp wasn't nearly enough to fill the entire room.

Quinn's aunt motioned for Liza to sit down on the couch. When she did, she didn't join her. She only stood, rubbing her arms as if she were cold and bouncing from foot to foot.

"So, you do what he does? Go in people's dreams?"

"Yes. But I don't go unless I'm invited. And I don't go to kill them."

"I wish you could kill him."

"So do I."

They were both silent for a moment.

"You'll want those items. I'll go get them."

Liza nodded and stayed on the couch. When she returned, she carried a small shoebox in her hands.

"You sure this is going to work?"

"Ms. Hernandez, we have no guarantees. We just have to try."

She nodded, still spooked.

"He came to me, you know. Almost killed me."

"I'm sorry..."

"I want him gone. Quinn deserves better than that. He's a good boy. He didn't mean to do anything to you. It was his father's fault. He has something inside him. Something he can't get rid of that his father put there."

Liza looked at her, suddenly very curious.

"What do you mean? Something inside him?"

"My sister wasn't fully dead when they found her. Just...." She shook her head. "Anyway, she was able to speak before she died. She kept saying, he put something inside him. Over and over again. I've seen how it works. Quinn is one person one minute and the next he's like a zombie doing something he wouldn't normally do. Sometimes, I'd hear him talking to himself like he's talking to somebody else. I figured it had to do with seeing my sister die the way she did. But when they found him, he was just a zombie. He doesn't have any memory. They think their counseling did all that for him, but I know better. That boy was tampered with."

Liza's heart thudded in her chest. What were they dealing with here? Slowly she nodded her head and Quinn's aunt showed her to the door. Just as Liza was about to step off the porch she grabbed her arm.

"The part that isn't tampered with loves you. I hope you can forgive his actions. They aren't his."

Liza looked at her a moment before his aunt released her arm. Unsure of what to do or think, Liza just turned and went home.