-Zoey’s POV-
When I came to, the familiar orange had dyed the interior of the photography club room, signaling the end of the day. And seated at the chair before me was Tristan Collins, staring down at his phone with nocturnal eyes already seasoned by the sandman’s magic dust. He must have been sitting there for a long time. His fatigued expression plus the evening orange was throwing me for a loop.
“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my face.
His eyes darted up towards me then returned to his phone. “6:42.”
The end of daylight savings had disoriented me this week. I had thought that it was much later than that. That said, I had been sleeping for about six hours. We both missed our classes to be here. This means that, at the very least, he was willing to continue humoring me to some extent.
“You haven’t been wearing your glasses lately,” he said.
“Oh, you’re right. I suppose I haven’t felt the need to now that I have a gun at my hip.”
A lie. I had avoided doing so in order to give Warren less of a reason to start talking about me. So far, no one had mentioned anything about my spy glasses, so it’s safe to assume that he was still keeping it a secret.
Still, the fact that Tristan had noticed it at all was concerning. The situation was clearly different. Something in him had changed since that day with Gwen. I had underestimated just how deeply she’d sunken her teeth into him, and forcefully pulling her away caused more damage than I had anticipated. Just how deep was the bond they’d formed in the past week?
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“I turned them away. I said you were sleeping.”
I wondered if anyone important planned on showing up today. It all seemed like a blur to me.
“Oh, did they ask why you were in here while I was sleeping?” I’d only meant to tease him, but he didn’t respond to my question at all. He was battling something; it was clear as day on that dumb-looking face of his. There, I saw the conflicting feelings within himself that prevented him from entirely cutting me off. I don’t know what those feelings are, and I don’t know where they come from. I can’t just hack him and find out the way he can hack me. The dynamics at play in our relationship were only fair insofar as I can continue to take advantage of those feelings. I can’t reign him in the way I did with Gwen or Lawrence. I have no second-strike capabilities against Dream Paralysis. If he decides to mess with me, then my life is over. That’s why I need him to like me.
“Why don’t I drive you home?”
When I offered it up playfully, I felt hundreds of pointed blades run through my body for an instant. His razor-sharp gaze, the concentrated malice he had directed at me in that moment was like a visual execution. Time was frozen as our eyes met. If I hadn’t still been half-asleep, I might have even flinched at such a sudden look of disgust and anger.
“No need,” he said finally. “I’ll find my own way.”
With those words, he got up from his seat and left the room, leaving me to wonder just what the future would hold for the two of us. His reaction was cold, sure, but I supposed that this was just how things were going to go when I do something like what I did. It’ll take a lot of effort to build his trust again. After this stuff with Lawrence was knocked out of the way, winning him back would have to be my number one priority.
I contemplated all of this as I was seated in my car in the driveway of my house, unwilling to leave and head inside. The reason for that was simple. There was another, unfamiliar car that was also parked in my way. Guests were so infrequent for our little home that one would be tempted to assume that Carla had no friends at all. And yet, there it was. Another large chunk of steel sitting right before me, indicating that, yes, that woman did, in fact, know how to communicate amicably with other human beings. Of course, there was no need to ask who the other human being was that would bother giving her their time of the day. The man I had been ruining my sleep thanks to.
Our little agreement seemed to have worked out so far. I hadn’t felt any hacking attempts since that time with Laura, so he may not have been willing to get on my bad side yet. At the very least, my week of fun was being respected. But that was only because he thought that I had the other half of the twin spirits. Once he figures it out, who knows what will happen? I needed to resolve all of this other stuff and get myself back on Tristan’s good side to deal with this guy.
“Guess I should head in.”
I sighed and finally got out of my car. I didn’t know what to expect. No, sorry. That’s a lie. I know exactly how Carla acts in front of other people. The performances she’s capable of putting on are all Oscar-worthy masterpieces that would put all of Hollywood to shame. Unfortunately though, I didn’t think I had the stomach for that kind of feature film. I hit the lock button on my car remote then went through the door.
“Oh, honey! Welcome home!”
Not to my surprise, Carla Brahm greeted me like the loving mother we both knew she wasn’t. The reason for that was as obvious as it was disturbing. But for me to not play along would cause too much of a headache whenever that man, Dr. Oliver, finally left. He sat at the table, his greasy hair hanging over his face like it always did. The black sweater he wore was quite homely compared to what I’d seen him in the last two times we’d met, which unnerved me. Why was my arch enemy, this sleazy dirtball of a man, making himself at home here?
“Thanks mom. How was your day?”
“Oh, it was fantastic. I’m almost done preparing dinner. Why don’t you stay and chat with Ollie while you wait?”
It was a rare thing for Carla to offer me food that she had prepared. She’s been pretending that I’m a ghost since the divorce, so I don’t think I’ve ever had her cooking since then. My diet has consisted mostly of my own prepared meals or takeout, all funded by the allowance that man sends me every month. His own way of fulfilling his paternal obligations, no doubt. But in any case, I did not mind the current situation. It allowed me my own sense of freedom in numerous ways. Staying out as long as I wanted, eating whatever I wanted, and doing whatever I wanted. So long as I wasn’t a drain on her life in any way, we peacefully co-existed while pretending that we both did not exist.
“Sure, mom.”
But in a situation like this, where Carla wanted to put on the act of a good parent in order to impress strangers, we had no choice but to get along. It’s not like I had much of a choice when, now that I’m 18, I could legally be kicked out with no recourse. It didn’t matter anyway. It was probably better that I could speak to this man in person, especially with a neutral third party in the room. Thinking that, I took my glasses out of my backpack and turned them on after sliding them onto my face.
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“Hello Fraulein,” he said after sipping some tea from a porcelain cup. “How was school today?”
“Oh, you know. Lots of learning, lots to learn.”
“I see. Well, you don’t look very tired, so you seem to be handling it well.”
You don’t look very tired.
Those were his words of choice. Cutting right to the heart of the matter, was he? I peered into his own face. Though there were some wrinkles here and there that showed the signs of his aging, for the most part he appeared rather well-rested. He must have trusted me not to hack him if he was getting enough sleep. Or perhaps he was using some kind of drugs to keep himself awake. Or maybe… he was lying to me about something related to the transfer of the powers. Either way, there was no point in thinking about it. This wasn’t something that the internet could answer for me. There was no way to find out for certain without experimenting using Tristan
“I can’t maintain my honors without being well-rested,” I said.
“Oh, an honor student. How diligent. Were you studying all this time?”
“No, I run the school’s photography club. We stay back every day to work for the school’s benefit. Stuff like taking ID photos, photographing and recording school games, and we even do Instagram shoots for students who are willing to pay.”
“Oh, splendid. You’re quite the little work horse, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you could tell?”
I continued to examine his expression. His cold smile hid his true feelings. Those dark eyes that looked over every inch of me, searching for any hint of a weakness that he could exploit. I had two more days of this ceasefire. Starting on Monday, I needed to be prepared for what he’d do next. And so, looking for a weakness starting now wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“So how did you two meet?” I asked, leaning forward playfully.
“Funny story,” he said. “Turns out your mom went sleep-driving the other night.”
“Sleep… what?”
“Oh Ollie,” Carla said. “You don’t have to tell her about it.”
Of course, I knew exactly what he was talking about. But I needed to play dumb. Not to fool him, but mom herself.
“It’s fine, hun. She should know about it. See, what happened was apparently, your mom went driving in the middle of the night, bought herself some beer, then drove back home, all in her sleep. It was strange. So strange in fact, that the police officer who she’d talked to about it decided to consult me, a licensed psychiatrist, because he thought that she’d lost it.”
“So, what was it?” I asked.
“Just some stress. It might even be related to you.”
“Related to me?”
“Yeah. She took your car, took your phone, and wore your glasses. I think everything about that night points to her having some subconscious feelings about you. To be honest,I think she’s adorable for it, caring that much about her daughter.”
“Oh stop it,” Carla said, returning to her cooking.
“Ahem. Anyway, this is all to ask, do you think you could be a little kinder to your mom?”
“What do you mean?”
He was undoubtedly full of shit. A psychiatrist who brazenly breaks doctor-patient confidentiality in such an unapologetic manner was a sham, even without considering the professional boundaries concerning dating patients. What was his real job? What does Carla actually know about this man that she let into this house? And how did he manage to seduce her to the point where she wouldn’t even question any of it?
“She says that you don’t seem to appreciate her as much and that it’s causing a strain on your relationship.”
And for her to lie like this.
“Oh, really? Sorry mom. I didn’t know you felt that way.”
I lied through my teeth. If she was going to lie then I should too.
“No no Zoey, don’t worry about it. I understand that the divorce has been rough.”
“Yeah, but that’s no reason for me to take it out on you. I mean, if you’re so stressed that you’re sleep-driving to take a load off then it’d be weird if I didn’t feel responsible, right?”
She laughed. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
It was a house of lies. Everyone in this room was taking turns lying to reach their own personal goals. Oliver, if that’s even his real name, snaking his way into my life to get his hands on Dream Paralysis. Carla, lying about the state of our mother-daughter relationship with the hopes of impressing and perhaps even marrying Oliver. And I, who was trying to balance both of their lies at the same time despite being on neither of their sides at all. Yes, this is what human beings are. Every single relationship can be traced back to nuclear doctrine. It will always inevitably end up this way. Without some leverage, we can’t trust other people to not ruin our own lives. This feels like home to me. It reminds me of when that man still lived with us.
After a short delay, we finally had dinner. Carla had prepared an appetizer of tomato soup, then followed it up with her old classic mustard pork chops and a side of zucchini rice. The meal reminded me of a time before high school, when that man would take me out bowling as a child. I wasn’t fond of it, but Carla needed a break from having me in the house all the time, so I went through with it anyway. Then on the drive home, he would ask how it was. When I answered, it always felt like he wasn’t truly listening. That he’d only asked as a courtesy and couldn’t care less how my day had gone. His responses were either bland or non-existent, and his eyes were squarely focused on whatever was in front of him. That’s who my parents were.
“Well, I’d better get going,” Oliver said, standing up from the table. The two of them had chatted for about fifteen minutes after dinner, but it seemed like that was about as much as he could stand to pretend to like Carla.
“Oh no, please. Stay the night. We won’t mind your company.”
You mean you won’t mind him sharing your bed, I thought.
“Apologies, I wish I could. I have a wedding to fly to in the morning so I can’t stay. I would have quite loved to spend more time with you though, Carla.”
“Oh doctor…”
The two of them shared a peck and a warm embrace before he broke it off and headed towards the door. I had thought that that would be the end of it, but he suddenly called out to me.
“Fraulein, do you mind moving your car? It seems to be in the way.”
“Oh, I’ll get it.”
It was something I’d done intentionally. If not for this, I doubted that I’d get to talk to him without Carla’s prying ears. I followed behind him as he picked his coat off the rack and left through the door. Moving the car didn’t take much effort. There was enough space for four cars in the driveway. Two rows, two columns. His car was parked deep in the driveway, right next to Carla’s. To block him, I merely parked ever so slightly diagonally so that he wouldn’t be able to exit without my help. Fixing it was as simple as straightening out on Carla’s side so that he could get past me.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling my way.
“What?”
“I was just thinking about how neither of us have tried linking with one another to steal the spirit.”
“Well, I did say I’d give it to you after a week.”
“Yes, you did say that. But it does beg the question: what kind of person would just willingly hand over a power like this to someone they’ve never met before?”
“It’s too dangerous,” I said. “You know far too much about it. I can’t just openly antagonize you. The least I can do is use this week to have as much fun as I can, then relinquish it when my time is up.”
“And have you? Had fun with it, I mean.”
“It’s been a mixed bag. I think that this weekend should be really fun, though.”
“This weekend? What’s happening then?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just some high school stuff.”
“I see. Well, I won’t get in your way with it so long as you don’t reveal it to other people.”
“Trust me, I’d be in big trouble if others found out.”
He laughed.
“Hey, what are you two talking about over there?”
Carla opened the door and looked out at us with barely disguised jealousy coloring her face.
“By the way,” he said, lifting his hand. “I feel like I should mention that there’s more to this power than you seem to be aware of.”
I furrowed my eyebrows.
“What do you mean?”
What was he about to do? I don’t know, but I was on my guard. It was like he’d suddenly pulled a gun out of his jacket and pointed it my way. What exactly was he going to do, and what could I do to counter it?
“Look over at her, not me.”
As he said the words, he snapped his fingers, and Carla, as if following a command, fell suddenly to her knees.
“Oh…” she muttered. “Doctor, doctor it happened again!”
“What…?” I was flabbergasted. What was that? What did he just do?
“Ah, so you weren’t aware of this?” His grin grew. “If you’re under the impression that I need to be asleep to link with you, then you’re sadly mistaken.”
“Then…”
“I’m just letting you know what you’ll have to deal with if you decide to antagonize me.”
He flashed me a cool smile, as if he’d just gotten done telling me some good news, then slipped into his car and drove off. I ran over to Carla to see how she’d been doing, but she nudged me off then went back inside. She had no interest in mending our relationship. But that suited me fine. Like I said, the freedom was better for me. The real issue is how I’d deal with him after Monday. The realization that Dream Paralysis could be activated while awake was a nightmare for me. Not just because of him, but because of what Tristan could do if he ever figured it out.