Iris Johansen - Final Target

The call was as alluring as a siren's song. Don't yield. Stay clear.

"You're part of me," Cassie said.

"No."

"Lonely."

"Then come back with me."

She felt Cassie's ripple of fear. "Bad."

"Not anymore."

"Lonely. Safe now. No monsters. Together we'll find it. Come back."

Melissa was lonely too. Why not stay and let herself be - She was drifting closer to Cassie. She made a tremendous effort and jerked herself free. "No, I'm going away. Good-bye, Cassie ."

"Lonely…"

"Melissa."

She opened her eyes to see Jessica's face above her. She was so tired, she could barely speak. "Hi. It's…okay, isn't it?"

Jessica nodded. "Cassie's sleeping?"

"Not yet. But she will be soon. The nightmare's over." She reached out and took Jessica's hand. "Don't look so worried. We're both fine. Where's Travis?"

"Outside in the hall." She paused. "He…helped?"

"I know you'd like me to say no, but we couldn't have made it without him." Her eyes closed. "And you didn't have to leave him out in the hall. He…knows about me."

Jessica stiffened. "What does he know?"

"That I'm a freak."

"You told him?"

"He figured it out for himself. He's very comfortable with it. Not like you. Poor Jessica…"

"Poor Mellie."

"No, I'm learning…It's not like I thought. There's so much more going on with Cassie. I had a weird feeling she's hiding something."

"What?"

"I don't know, but things may not be what I thought. And she's so lonely, Jessica. It hurts me that she's so lonely."

"You said Donny was lonely."

"Not like this."

"Weren't you lonely when you were in your forest?"

"No, I had you, Iknew you were there. Maybe out of sight, but you never left me."

"Cassie has people who love her."

"But she's afraid to let them in. She's afraid if she lets anyone into her tunnel, the monsters will get in." Her grip tightened. "The monsters are terrible, terrible creatures. We can't let them in."

"Cassie can't let them in."

Melissa tried to smile. "I did it again? The monsters frighten me as much as they do her, and it kind of throws me back."

"We have to get Cassie to let us in so we can bring her back."

Melissa nodded. "It's just that…"

"The monsters?"

"Think of your worst childhood nightmare and multiply it a hundred times and you'll realize how Cassie feels." She closed her eyes. "Good night, Jessica. I don't want to talk anymore. Go hash this out with Travis. He's probably listening at the door. I'll see you in the morning." She heard a chuckle from the other side of the door and called, "Good night, Travis. You did very well tonight."

"Eavesdropping is exceptionally rude," Jessica told Travis.

"She didn't mind."

"But I did. If I'd wanted you in the room, I'd have invited you."

"And if I'd waited for invitations in my line of work, I'd be a pauper. You don't gather information by standing politely to one side. I wanted to know what was happening with Melissa, so I listened." He took her elbow. "Come on. I'll make you coffee."

"I don't want coffee." She bit her lip. "I want to talk about Mellie. I'm sure what's happening is only temporary. She's not really…"

"You want me to promise I won't call the local funny farm and tell them to bring the straitjacket for your sister?"

"There's nothing wrong with her."

"I believe that." He looked at her. "Do you?"

"Of course I do." She rubbed her temple. "I'm not taking this very well. This psychic stuff's not my cup of tea."

"Then let me handle it."

"The hell I will. Mellie's my sister. All I want from you is for you to not hurt her."

"That sounds very familiar," he murmured. "You two aren't as different as I first thought. Never fear. I'm not going to use anything I hear in this house to hurt Melissa."

She gazed at him suspiciously.

"Why should I? It's nothing to me."

She nodded slowly. "That's right, none of us is important to you."

"I can't let you be important." He smiled. "But that doesn't mean I don't admire you both. I think I'm even starting to like you."

"Amazing."

"Yes, it is. So can I make you coffee? We can both use it, and since I'm going to be around, we might as well call a truce."

She stared at him without speaking. His principles were questionable and he was different from anyone she'd ever known. There was a blunt honesty about him she found oddly comforting. "You have truces only when there's war. If you keep helping Cassie, there's no war." She started down the stairs. "One cup of coffee."

Go to sleep, Melissa told herself. It was all right now. Cassie had drifted off.

It had gone better than the last time. After Travis had come, she had been able to step out of Cassie and see her with a little detachment. Not much, but she'd take anything she could get.

And Cassie had been forced to recognize Melissa as a separate entity, which was real progress. But the impression of something that wasn't quite right, that wasn't as it seemed to be, still bothered her.

And what was Cassie searching for?

Together we'll find it.

She should have asked Cassie what she was trying to find. The chance had slid right past her because it had been such a struggle to leave.

Next time…

"May I come in?" Travis asked from the doorway. "If you're too tired, I'll go away."

"I'm tired." She turned on the lamp. "But I'm probably too charged to sleep, so you might as well come in. Sit down, Travis, and tell me what you want from me."

He smiled. "Maybe I don't want anything. Maybe this is purely a social call." He sat down in the chair beside her bed. "After all, we did share a rather unique experience tonight."

"You wouldn't have crept up here after you left Jessica if you'd wanted to socialize."

"You make me sound like a cat burglar."

"Have you ever been one?"

He didn't answer the question. "It's true Jessica doesn't know I'm here. I didn't want to upset her. She's pretty protective of you."

"So why are you here?"

"I thought we should get to know each other." He chuckled as she raised her brows. "No, not in the carnal sense. I have no intention of taking advantage of you when you're-"

"Rode hard and put away wet?"

"Good God, what a ghastly image."

"It's how I feel at the moment. Cassie's not easy." She propped a second pillow beneath her head. "Okay, you don't want to screw me. And I doubt if you're going to tell me anything about yourself, so the getting-to-know part is aimed at me. Right?"

"Right."

"Why?"

"We've already established how curious I am."

She could see the curiosity in his face. His expression was alert, searching. "Didn't you find out enough about me from Jessica's book?"

"From her point of view. But information can always be slanted."

"Jessica is intimidatingly honest."

"We don't always see things the same way. Didn't you ever want to give your viewpoint?"

She should probably tell him to go away. She was none of his business. But she suddenly realized she didn't want him to leave. "What do you want to know?"

"What do you want to tell me?"

"Look, don't pull that bull on me. I'm a psych major."

He laughed. "Sorry. You grew up here at Juniper?"

She nodded. "It's a great place for a kid to grow up. I was the baby of the family and my parents and Jessica spoiled me rotten. She was my idol and I was a real pain in the ass to her." She looked away from him. "And then, after the accident, I was an albatross around her neck."

"I'm not asking you to talk about the accident."

"But the accident is the dividing line. It's like looking at before and after pictures. I can talk about the accident. Jessica says it's good for me to keep it out in the open. I think she's scared that if I repress it, I'll explode or something."