Chapter Thirty-Four
“Can you remember what you were dreaming about?”
Samantha looked up into Vince’s face once the tears dried from her eyes. At first, he thought she wasn’t going to be able to tell him. Then, she turned and looked over at the gray lamp sitting on the dresser. “All I can remember is trees. Cold water.”
His heart was breaking but he nodded. “I understand,” he said and grinned at her. So, Mykella was trying to contact her, he thought.
But that wasn’t all she could remember, thus she continued, “A young girl.” She closed her eyes. “Reddish hair. And someone else walking around her. Dark person, I think wearing a robe,” she said.
A chill ran down his spine. “Could it have been a cloak?” He was afraid of the answer and when she looked back at him, she nodded an affirmative, which put Vince over the edge.
He stood up so fast that it frightened her. When he reached the door, he turned and looked back at her. “I’ll be back,” he said and then disappeared through the door.
Krieger turned off the television and looked up at Vince behind a confused expression. “Are you sure?”
Vince had explained the dream to Krieger as soon as he met the man in the living room sitting on the couch drinking his coffee. “I’m positive. You said it yourself; she doesn’t have the mental ability to make things up like that.”
“Do you realize what this could mean?” Krieger replied and stood up just as fast as Vince had done off Samantha’s bed.
Vince walked over to the large bay window and watched the traffic pass the house. “I have my fears, yes. But, what does it mean to Mykella? Why hasn’t she told me?”
Krieger reached down and picked up his coffee cup. “Has it ever occurred to you that, maybe, you haven’t been asleep after her encounter with Orion?” He took a sip from his cup. “But, as it is, I think he’s just trying to frighten her, make her weak.”
“It just doesn’t make sense to me. Why go through all the trouble with connecting to her dreams? I mean, right now, she’s an unborn child. What could he gain?”
“You don’t see it yet, do you?” Krieger asked in awe.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“He’s gaining everything.”
Vince gave the Professor an inquisitive expression.
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“He has proved to Mykella that he can enter her dreams whenever he wants to. With that embedded in her mind forever, she is more likely to become afraid of him sooner.”
Vince shook his head and went over to the couch and sat down. “I still don’t understand it. I know he’s making the rules, but he could at least give us a clue as to what his rules are.”
Krieger smiled and took a seat next to Vince. “Well, Son, I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky,” he said and placed his cup down on the table. “Tell me more about the Oracles and how Orion got the gift.”
“You want me to repeat it? I don’t know how it can be of help.”
“I don’t know if it’ll help or not. But right now, I need something to hear that’ll help me think of a plan.”
Vince smiled at the other man. “You can do that? Hear one thing and think of another at the same time?”
Krieger sighed and locked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. “How do you think I get through my lectures? Sometimes you kids ramble on blowing fluff up my ass all day long. I need something else to think about, otherwise I’d go crazy.”
Vince laughed and almost fell off the couch. “All right,” he agreed and began telling the tale of Ilias and the Oracles once again.
When the tale was completed a second time, Heather entered the room escorting Samantha to a chair. “She’s not feeling too good right now. I told her to sit and rest,” explained Heather and helped Samantha into the chair and then glared at Vince and her husband. “If either of you upset her, you’ll have me to answer to,” she said and then exited the room after giving Samantha a reassuring smile.
Almost at once, Samantha turned and faced them. “When’s my baby due?”
Krieger turned and looked at Vince, who looked at him in return. Vince didn’t actually know the due date; he wasn’t there when she went to the doctor and she had never told him. “Very soon,” was all he could think of saying. It wasn’t a lie. It would be very soon before Mykella enters the horrible world.
“Are you going to be there?” She was looking at Vince now.
There were a million things he wanted to say to her, but he knew she shouldn’t know the things he knew. Besides, he didn’t think she would remember anything he told her anyway. He really did want to be there with her when he got his first glimpse of humanity’s warrior. But he knew deep down that that may not happen. He may still be in Ireland. Or, he may be –
“Yeah, I’ll be there for you,” he said behind that large rock in his throat.
Krieger looked at him and felt sorry for him, for he knew, too, the struggle Vince was facing. He never understood the depth with which Vince’s feelings went. He and Samantha knew each other their entire lives; he offered up his undying love to her, Mykella entered his world, and then the plane crash that took her mind away from everything they had worked upon. He didn’t know how deep his feelings went in regards to Samantha and Mykella and his part in the Great War.
Perhaps if he had known how deep the emotions ran, Krieger would jump ship. Vince had vowed to take his part of the war to his death. If his friends were by his side, the end won’t be as painful to endure, but to face it alone – he would do it if God demanded it.
“Will you,” she began. They knew she was about to say something uncomfortable to her. “Will you take care of Mykella for me?”
This he had not expected. “I’ll be with you, taking care of her.”
“No,” she shook her head with tears in her eyes. “Does it look like I can raise a child? I can’t even remember my damned name some days. Is that a way to bring up a child? She needs someone to watch over her, to teach her how to survive.”
They stared at her for a while. How much does she really know? Was this just all coincidence?
Vince could think of nothing to say, except, “Yeah. I’ll watch over her. I’ve already promised her.”