Existence

Chapter 13

"Sarah."

"Sarah, I need to talk to you."

Jed stood in front of her, wearing a familiar, old Transformers T-shirt. When she was seven, she had tried to feed the yellow bot honey because of its name, leaving a big, sticky stain. The look on Jed's face now looked just as upset as the day she'd left that stain.

"Come here, Sar."

Sarah frowned, taking a step forward. How much closer did he need her to be? She couldn't tell where they were. Their surroundings were a blurry, green haze and the floor felt as hard and bumpy as stones in cement. Jed was the only clear image.

He ran a hand over his face. "I need to tell yo—" Jed's image rippled, as if he were underwater. "You know how Alex and I—"

Sarah found herself involuntarily nodding her head, as if she understood what Jed was trying to tell her. She tried to speak, but her mouth seemed glued shut.

"—well, he didn't— and..." he turned away and blew out a breath, the sound stuttering as he faded in and out of view like a hologram. Sarah feared he would melt into the background. "I'm sorry, Sar, but— listen, don't trust— okay?"

"Jed," she finally managed to say, "what—"

'ROOAAARR!'

A furry, brown paw swept through the air, sending Jed flying. He landed somewhere in a blurry heap, unmoving. Sarah would've run to him but the huge bear responsible for the attack blocked her path. It snarled and lunged straight for her.

Sarah bolted upright in her bed. Faint beams of moonlight came in through the window, illuminating a section of wooden floor. She stared at the pool of light, rubbing at her chest as if it would stop her heart from beating too fast.

"Just a dream, Sarah," she murmured. "Just a dream."

Looking for a distraction, she noticed the dress she had worn earlier that day in a heap on the floor. She had been too frustrated to put it away properly. Her attempt to eavesdrop on her cousin and his friends hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped.

Sarah had successfully reached the statue undetected and had overheard Casey mentioning a Shifter camp he and Byron had found nearby. He'd left Byron there to trail after a Shifter soldier. As he told the boys his findings, Thomas had appeared at Sarah's shoulder, distracting her long enough to miss the moment the boys left the village square.

She'd wanted to go look for them, but Thomas had seen this as an opportunity to explore the village for what he was looking for without worrying about unwanted supervision. They'd checked three houses, a bakery, and a flower shop before Thomas had called it a night.

"You know," Sarah had said as they made their way back to the guesthouse, "if you told me what it is you're looking for, I could help and make this go a whole lot faster."

Thomas grinned. "What I'm looking for... it's difficult to explain. Just leave the search to me, sweet Sarah."

And so she'd gone to bed, head full of thoughts and questions accumulated throughout the day. Apparently, it hadn't been enough to give her a dreamless sleep. Sarah shuddered as she remembered the bear, how close its sharp teeth had been as it lunged. No, she wasn't going back to sleep any time soon.

Tugging on a pale pink dressing gown over her nightdress, Sarah tiptoed out of the guesthouse. Thomas had chosen a room up on the second floor, but Sarah didn't want to risk accidentally waking him up.