Forsaken by Sophia Sharp Page B

like this.”
    “Hunter, you have to tell me!”
    “I’m sorry, Maria.” He said that in the barest whisper, so quietly that Nora thought she misheard the words.
    “What? Hunter, what is going on? Tell me!” Nora felt herself on the verge of tears. She was scared, emotionally drained. Terrified, really. And uncertain. “Who are you?”
    He looked at her. His eyes were red, too. “I’m sorry, Nora. You deserve to know the truth. And you will. I’m going to tell you everything.”

Chapter Thirteen
    ~Revelations~
     
    They sped down the freeway, away from the city where Nora had grown up. Where she’d met all her friends. Where she’d had her first crush. Where she’d gotten her first kiss. Where her family still was – her mother and father, her younger sister, her big loving dog. They sped away, and Nora looked sadly out the window.
    “Where do you want me to start?” Hunter asked her.
    “Start with who you are.” Nora turned to watch him and met his gaze. “Tell me who you are. I barely know a thing about you.”
    He sighed and looked forward at the road. When he spoke, he didn’t look at her once. “I’m not like you, Nora,” he began. “Not entirely. I’m not…human.”
    “What?” Her heart pounded wildly, threatening to burst from her chest. “What do you mean?”
    “I’m something else,” he said sadly.
    “Are there others like you?”
    “Yes, there are.”
    “Those men chasing us…are they like you?”
    “Yes.”
    She took a deep breath. Did she really want to hear this? But she resolved to know the truth and blew out a pent up breath. “Tell me.”
    He sighed again. “If I do, you’ll want to run from me. You’ll want to run and hide forever. But you can’t, now. I wish I could let you go, Nora. I wish I’d let you go before. But if you go now, they’ll find you. No matter who you’re with, no matter where you go, they will find you. And I can’t let them do that.”
    “Hunter.” She studied him. His distress was obviously sincere. She reached over to take his hand in hers. She held it tight. “You can tell me.”
    He paused for a long moment and took a deep breath. “There’s folklore about me. About…things like me. Legends and stories that are told to scare children into behaving. Tales about things that go bump in the night.”
    “Would I know them?”
    “I’m sure you would.” He tried to pull his hand away, but she wouldn’t let him. His skin was ice cold silk.
    “Tell me. I’m not afraid.”
    “The dream world I showed you,” he started. “It’s restricted to those of my kind. We’re the only ones who have direct access to it, who can go there at will. Humans…they can only drift in and out without realizing it.” He shook his head before continuing. “But I discovered that I had the ability to draw humans in. To explore their dreams, together with them. Like I did with you.
    “When I learned to do it, I thought I was unique. I thought I was one of a kind. But it turned out that every one of my kind could do it. Everyone could draw humans in like that. Except that…it’s prohibited. By ancient creed, we’re forbidden to do that.
    “When I brought you in, I thought we were safe. I haven’t had contact with any of the others for a very long time. I had hoped most had thought me dead, or dying. Or had long forgotten about me. I still don’t know how we drew their attention.
    “It shouldn’t have even worked that way. We entered your dream. They couldn’t have been watching. They know the rules, too. They abide by them better than I do. For them, the creed stands above all else. Above their own lives. They weren’t allowed to be there, either. But they were – or at least, one of them was – and he saw us.
    “And for that, I’m sorry, Nora. I’m sorry for dragging you into all this. I’m sorry for my carelessness. I know I should never have done it. I should never have shown you what I did. Believe me, I fought the urge as much as I