The Watcher - Anna Strong 3 by Jeanne C. Stein

Author:Jeanne C. Stein
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-02-09T02:34:51+00:00

CHAPTER 26

“ANNA. ANNA. WAKE UP."

Second time in as many days I've heard those words. This time, though, the voice is high-pitched and tinny. Like one of those munchkins in the Wizard of Oz.

Something shakes my shoulders. "Come on. It's over. Wake up."

I don't want to wake up. Wherever I am is quiet, peaceful. No pain. No noise. No light. No hunger. Over the rainbow?

"Am I in heaven?"

The laugh is loud. Rude, even.

I burrow deeper into whatever I'm lying on and refuse to open my eyes.

"You're crushing me. Get up."

Suddenly, I'm aware of movement. Beneath me. Something is squirming, trying to escape.

Oh my god. Am I back in that motel room in Santee? Have I done it again?

I pop one eye open, fight back a wave of nausea and spy an unfamiliar face with bright red hair.

I have done it again. This time with—what? This guy looks a little strange and the length of his body stops somewhere just below my waist.

I screwed a midget?

The nausea is stronger, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut again. Still, the spinning continues. It's like the horrible, out of control feeling from a bad drunk just before you pass out—or throw up.

"Don't even think about it."

The voice screeches in my ear.

I jump up and away. A midget in a bright green jumpsuit stares at me. How did I get in that movie?

"Thank the gods."

"What?"

He frowns. "Will you snap out of it?" He waves a hand. "See where we are?"

I tear my eyes off the face of the munchkin long enough to sneak a look around.

We're in the middle of a dirt road. There's a car with a smashed front end—

A flash of recognition. The car? I touch my cheek. The skin feels rough, and it tingles.

A memory hovers just out of reach.

I shake my head. Concentrate.

The midget stirs. "Come on. I have places to go, things to do. I can't wait here all day."

"Listen, Casper—" That automatic response snaps everything into place.

It must show on my face because Casper—er, Avatoar— grins. "At last. Jeez, Anna. It doesn't usually take so long for a vamp to come back. You were really out of it."

I arch my back, working out a vicious kink. "I thought you said that would only hurt a little?"

He shrugs. "If I told you it would hurt like a son of a bitch, would you have agreed to try?"

His tone, his expression, his very words are certainly different from the rather ethereal character who used to tell me things like "don't forget who you are."

I raise an eyebrow. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Casper?"

He answers with a withering look.

I approach the front of the car. Cautiously. Don't want to bounce off the damned wall again. A tentative probe confirms that, as I suspected, I'm now on the other side of the barrier.

There's a hole at my feet. Big enough for the two of us to have squeezed through.

"Want to tell me how you did that?"

"Pretty obvious isn't it?"

I look from the hole to Avatoar.

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